COVID-19 e lavoro terminologico: riflessioni a posteriori

Abstract

In Italy, the state of emergency related to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 ended on 31 March 2022, after more than two years. It had lasted for 26 months. Throughout this period, the Italian government issued over nine hundred legal provisions and a large number of public announcements (video messages, live streams, press releases, etc.). The result was a terminological pandemic (Ralli 2020). In this paper, we analyze the impact of the pandemic on terminology and terminology work. In particular, we highlight the most relevant characteristics of the COVID-19 terminology (i.e., dynamism, variation, and ambiguity), focusing on the ensuing challenges from a methodological point of view. We also deal with terminology from a contrastive point of view by comparing the terminology used in the German-speaking countries with the terminology chosen for South Tyrol. Such choices were often aimed at limiting the regionalization of German as a minority language in this province.