In this article we demonstrate that the classification of the scientific knowledge, throughout the centuries, has been reflected in the organization of such knowledge and in the elaboration of the documentary information in institutions which have been responsible for its preservation and dissemination. We support this assertion and demonstrate its clarifying value through the analysis of the dialectic tension that establishes itself between the systems of classification and the retrieval systems. Such tension determines the semiotic process called documentary representation, and makes possible both, coding and decoding enunciations of the documentary information. Concluding, we recommend that the development and management of documentary languages should take into account the dynamics of coding and decoding enunciations of the documentary information.
documentary information; terminology; documentary languages