ISO 1087:2019

Overview

ISO 1087:2019 - Terminology work and terminology science - Vocabulary is an international vocabulary that establishes basic terms and definitions used in terminology work and terminology science. The standard provides a systematic, purpose‑oriented set of foundational concepts (e.g., object, concept, designation, domain, terminology, intension) and prescribes the layout and presentation of terminological entries. It is intended as a reference for anyone involved in creating, managing or researching terminologies. Note: ISO 1087:2019 excludes terms specific to computer applications in terminology work.

Key Topics

• Core vocabulary for terminology work and terminology science: reality & language, concepts, definitions, designations, terminology work activities, terminological data, terminology resources, and natural language processing.
• Concept modelling: definitions of intension, extension, characteristics, delimiting characteristics, and hierarchical relations (generic and partitive).
• Entry structure and editorial rules: entries follow ISO 10241‑1 format-entry number, preferred/admitted terms, abbreviations, definition, examples, and notes.
• Scope and exclusions: establishes foundational terminology but does not include computer‑application‑specific terms.
• Supporting materials: Annex A provides concept diagrams and concept models to illustrate relations between concepts; a bibliographic index and alphabetical index are also included.
• Standards alignment: prepared in accordance with ISO 704:2009 principles and drawing on other ISO terminology sources (e.g., ISO 10241‑1, ISO 24156‑1, ISO 18841, ISO 5127).

Practical Applications

ISO 1087:2019 is a practical reference for:

• Terminologists and lexicographers creating consistent glossaries, vocabularies and termbases.
• Standards developers and technical committees harmonizing definitions across standards.
• Translators and subject‑matter experts working in language for specific purposes (LSP) who need precise concept‑level distinctions.
• Information architects, ontology engineers, and NLP practitioners who require clear definitions of concepts, concept relations, and terminological data for modelling, tagging, or algorithm training (while noting the standard itself does not define software‑specific terms).
• Researchers and educators in terminology science who need a shared vocabulary for methodology and analysis.

Related Standards

• ISO 704:2009 - Principles and methods of terminology work
• ISO 10241‑1 - Presentation of terminological entries
• Other referenced ISO documents used for source definitions (e.g., ISO 24156‑1, ISO 18841, ISO 5127)

ISO 1087:2019 is essential for anyone building reliable terminologies, aligning multilingual vocabularies, or applying principled concept modelling in standardization, translation, and language technology projects.