Focusing on Darwinism, David Hull argues that the protean character of conceptual systems is explained by their nature as historical entities which evolve. If they evolve as biological species do, Hull argues, then they cannot have an "essence" — a set of tenets that all and only instances of the conceptual system has throughout all time. There are no tenets a scientific research program must retain to count as an instance of a particular program. I advance two considerations against this view. First, research programs require a critical cohesiveness among their tenets to inspire and guide research. Second, it is the function of such programs to guide the search for answers to families of questions in a particular domain in a particular spirit. These factors dictate that conceptual systems must retain certain key tenets. This re-emergence of a sort of essentialism does not bar the evolution of conceptual systems, provided we recognize that there are patterns of evolution other than the one Hull considers (anagenesis). It also implies that conceptual systems simply evolve differently than species do. I defend this position by illustrating two episodes of conceptual evolution: the dispute between William Bateson and the British biometricians over discontinuous evolution, and the formation of Neo-Lamarckism in 19th century America. / Master of Arts

In the North Scandinavian area of investigation, which is in focus in this dissertation, seal-hunting has been an important means of livelihood from prehistoric times up to the present. The Swedish-speaking seal-hunters' conceptual system for seal during the 20th century is analysed here. The analysis is mainly based on oral recorded interviews with hunters from the coastal areas around the Gulf of Bothnia – from Norrbotten and Västerbotten in Sweden, and Österbotten in Finland. A cognitive perspective is applied in the analysis, in which focus is on the hunters' knowledge of the seal with the purpose of investigating the construction of the hunters' conceptual system for seal. The dissertation's theoretical starting-point is taken in cognitive linguistics and cognitive anthropology. The investigated vocabulary contains 150 different words for seal. The analysis also includes the cultural and ecological context of the hunt. The hunters' conceptual system for seal is characterised by breadth and variation. There is regional variation in the construction of the conceptual system in the investigated area. In addition to that there is also variation with regard to different hunting seasons, something which is apparent both in the vocabulary and in the structure of the conceptual system. The summer and autumn hunt was not particularly complicated and there was consequently no need for categorising the seal. During this season a limited conceptual system with more general terms was used, which included all seals that were hunted at that time. The late winter and early summer hunt, on the other hand, required an immense amount of knowledge, for example with regard to ecology. In that connection the hunters used an extended conceptual system for seal. The analysis of the conceptual system of the late winter and early summer hunt is based on three different scenarios in which the categories for seal direct the actions of the hunters – in locating the seals in the ice environment, in the hunters' actions during the hunt and in the utilisation of the seal as a resource. A number of categories for seal which were used during the late winter and early spring hunt are the same in the whole area of investigation and can be said to constitute a cognitive and communicative basic level. / digitalisering@umu

Terminological equivalence is one of the central issues in translation. To secure equivalence in translations for special purpose languages, the translator has to structure the terms of a given text by reference to a conceptual system and thus identify - independently for both the source and target languages - the conceptual system in which a specific term is embedded. Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries are indispensable tools for any translator. However, due to the importance of the conceptual systems in specialised-language translation, a specialised dictionary has to fulfill higher requirements than general dictionaries. As a matter of fact, a dictionary suitable for specialised-language translation should follow an onomasiological rather than a semasiological approach to lexicography. In this paper, the author studies the basic requirements for a bilingual dictionary that is intended to be of practical use for specialised-language translation, taking a user's perspective when discussing the problem of equivalence between terms in two languages. This is based on selected concepts taken from the field of accounting (IAS/IFRS and national accounting rules) that are translated from German to Spanish and vice versa. While the dictionaries examined are generally well prepared, the study shows that none of them includes information necessary to a translator for ensuring a correct translation. / Series: WU Online Papers in International Business Communication

Dans un monde globalisé, les territoires de la périphérie du monde entrent dans un processus de changement continuel sous les contraintes de multiples acteurs, transnationaux, étatiques et locaux. Cette thèse s’est fixée comme objectif de révéler la spatialité de ces changements ainsi que les jeux d’acteurs qui y contribuent dans le cas de la Bolivie. Les hypothèses, qui postulent un irréversible processus d’autonomisation des territoires, ont résisté à l’épreuve des faits : les bouleversements politiques et sociaux intervenus pendant la période de la réalisation de ce projet. La thèse présente d’abord un positionnement épistémologique qui propose d’articuler l’espace et ses acteurs dans une perspective modélisatrice. Elle expose ensuite un cadre systémique de mise en cohérence des éléments de structuration et de changement territorial qui place, au centre, un système idéel construit à partir des signaux échangés par les acteurs afin de maîtriser ce changement territorial : signaux de domination, de pression ou de séduction engendrant des relations d’exploitation, de conflits ou de coopération. Ce système idéel est relié à des sous-systèmes matérialisés (organisation politico-administrative, système de villes et espaces de l’économie) qui subissent l’impact des changements étudiés. En effet, les politiques territoriales sont les rétroactions d’un tel système. Le traitement de chaque sous-système matérialisé correspond à un changement d’échelle géographique. Les modèles spatiaux à base de chronochorèmes complètent l’étude dynamique du changement. Ces choix méthodologiques permettent une lecture géographique des résultats suivants : - L'efficacité des mouvements sociaux réside moins dans la matrice sectorielle et professionnelle que dans leur assise territoriale .-L'État concentre ses réformes sur le sous-système matérialisé de l'organisation politico-administrative car il semble n'avoir prise ni sur le système des villes, ni sur les espaces et territoires de l'économie. Il n'est jamais parvenu jusqu'à présent à un accord qui lui aurait permis d'équilibrer dépenses sociales et investissements productifs. Un consensus social devra également être trouvé pour rendre viable un État plurinational. L'État concentre sur lui la majorité des signaux et établit ses politiques territoriales en fonction de leur pression. - La toute puissance technologique et financière des acteurs transnationaux se heurtent à l’efficacité des mouvements sociaux. Toutefois, ces acteurs restent à terme des pièces importantes d’un jeu où , pourvoyeurs d’activité et d’emplois, ils continueront à produire de l’espace et à consommer des territoires / In a globalized world, satellite territories undergo continual change process constrained by multiple, transnational, public and local actors. This thesis aims to reveal the spatiality of these changes as well as the sets of actors who contributed to it in Bolivia. The assumptions, which assume an irreversible process of empowering territories, have withstood the proof of facts : political and social upheavals occurred during the period of the realization of this project. The thesis starts with epistemological considerations which propose to articulate space and its actors in a modeling approach. Then the thesis presents a systemic conceptual framework providing coherence within territorial structuration and changes which focus on a system built from the signals exchanged by the actors to control this territorial change : signals of domination, pressure or seduction, generating relation of exploitation, adversarial or cooperation. This conceptual system is connected to effective subsystems (politico-administrative organization, system of cities and territories of the economy) which undergo the impact of the studied changes. Indeed, territorial policies are the results of the feedbacks of such a system. Dealing with each effective subsystem needs to focus on different geographical scales. The spatial models containing chronochorèmes supplement the dynamic study of the change. This methodological approach allows a geographical reading of the following results : - Social movements’ efficiency is better explained by its territorial origin than the sectoral and professional matrix. - The government focuses its reforms on the politico-administrative sub-system because it seems not to have stranglehold either on the system of cities, or on economics territories. Until now, it never managed to achieve an agreement which would have enabled to balance welfare expenditures and productive investments. A social consensus will have also to be found to make viable a multinational nation. The nation concentrates the majority of the signals and establishes its territorial policies according to their pressure. - The technological and financial all-power of the transnational actors face up to the effectiveness of social movements. However, these actors remain in the long term important providers of activity and employment and will continue to produce space and to consume territories