Les énoncés définitoires en discours : une analyse diachronique dans le domaine du commerce

The use of terms in discourse is characterized by the presence of definitions aimed at explaining and clarifying their meaning in a given field, both for specialists and for non-specialists. This defining activity associates with terminological units, thus considered in their textual dimension, over time since their appearance in the language as neologisms. Although the question of definitions can be explored from different angles for the general language and for specialized language, in this paper we are interested in the automatic identification and analysis of definitions in a diachronic corpus. We intend to reflect on the data offered by these definitions with the objective of offering a terminographic description focused on the diachronic aspect of terms. After automatic identification, we will observe the definitions in two phases of terms: the moment of their appearance in the French language and the moment of their dissemination and lexicalization. Our attention is focused on the definitions characterizing the French terms in the commercial field in a diachronic perspective, within the DIACOM corpus.