Relationship and dependency between linguistic and non-linguistic forms of concept representation

Abstract

In this paper we determine the relationships and dependencies between linguistic and non-linguistic forms of concept representation in two levels of knowledge, expert and student, in the field of aeronautics. More specifically, for the specialized level, we select texts on aircraft fuel systems used by Spanish mechanics to repair the jet Mirage F1. In total, by creating systems of concepts, we delimit 119 concepts related to fuel feeding phases and parts of fuel systems. At the student level, we choose books studied by these mechanics during their training period, which has provided us with 100 concepts on the same subject as the expert level. After isolating these concepts, we determine which of them are the linguistic and non-linguistic forms that represent the concepts of our sample in the selected documents. The only non-linguistic forms found are illustrations. As linguistic forms we discover terms, definitions, explanations, and texts or terms inside illustrations. Finally, we study how these forms relate and depend on each other leading us to a better understanding of concept relationships in technical writing at the expert and student levels.