Overview - Linguistic Society

CourseCourse

LexicographyLexicography

Linguistic Institute 2017

Dr Helene Schmolz

University of Passau, Germany

[email protected]

Information Information TypesTypes

OverviewOverview

1. Information Types

1.1 Meaning

1.1.1 Division into senses

1.1.2 Meaning description

1.1.3 Equivalents

1.2 Pronunciation1.2 Pronunciation

1.3 Spelling

1.4 Etymology

1.5 Grammatical information

1.6 Usage

1.7 Information on relation with other lexemes

1.8 Examples & citations

Sources

1. 1. TypesTypes ofof informationinformation

From OALD 2010

� Meaning

� Pronunciation

� Spelling

� Etymology

� Grammatical information

1. Information 1. Information TypesTypes

� Grammatical information

� Usage

� Information on relation with other lexemes

� Examples & citations

� Sense division

� Meaning description

� Equivalents

1.1 1.1 MeaningMeaning

Source: http://clipart-library.com/clipart/188664.htm

� Lumpers vs. splitters

� Criteria of subdivision (Svensén):

◦ Morphological

◦ Syntagmatic

◦ Semantic

1.1.1 Division 1.1.1 Division intointo sensessenses

◦ Paradigmatic

◦ Pragmatic

◦ Real-world knowledge

� Relationships between senses

� Ordering of senses

� Criteria of subdivision:

◦ Morphological: form of the word,

e.g. singular/plural, inflection


finance: sing. “management of money”

pl. “money resources”

◦ Syntagmatic: combinations with other words,

e.g. collocation, transitivity/intransitivity for verbs

hold: ~ an office (“have”, “control”)

~ an opinion (“have”, “express”)

~ a course (“maintain”)

� Criteria of subdivision...

◦ semantic: identifying the semantic components of a word

→ componential analysis


cup

teacup: small container like a bowl,

◦ paradigmatic: replacing words by other words,

e.g. synonyms, antonymscaution: synonym “carefulness”

synonym “warning”

teacup: small container like a bowl,

usually with a handle and a

saucer, used for drinking tea

paper cup: a cup made of paper,

without a handle

� Criteria of subdivision...

◦ Pragmatic: use of word in a particular field/discourse or

situation/style level


base: Geometry: line or surface on which a figure stands

Biology: end of organ attached to trunk

Chemistry: substance forming salt with acid

◦ Real-world knowledge

page: sheet of paper

servant

Chemistry: substance forming salt with acid

� Which type of meaning division is used?


centre: middle

town/city

building

express: [countable] a fast train

[uncountable] a service for sending things quickly

seller: person who sells sth

a product that has been sold

[uncountable] a service for sending things quickly

weave: ~ sth into sth

~ something together

morphology: (biology)

(linguistics)

ship

lightship: a small ship that stays at a particular place at sea and

that has a powerful light on it to warn and guide other ships

airship: aircraft without wings, filled with a gas that is lighter than air

� Relationships between senses:

◦ Linear order of senses


◦ Hierarchical order of senses

� Ordering of senses

◦ Historical development

◦ Semantic proximity

◦ Frequency of occurrence


Source: http://clipart-library.com/clipart/95214.htm

� How can you describe or explain what a lemma

means?

� Types of meaning description in monolingual

dictionaries:

◦ Synonym definition

1.1.2 1.1.2 MeaningMeaning descriptiondescription

◦ Lexicographic definition

◦ COBUILD definition

◦ Examples only

◦ Usage of words

� Synonym definition

◦ Levels of synonyms:

• Denotative meaning

• Connotative meaning

• Pragmatic characteristics


complete synonymy

vs. near synonymy

◦ Format:

• Two or more synonyms to avoid ambiguity

• Synonyms are chosen that are known to the user

hue: colour, tint

� Lexicographic definition

◦ intension: content of the concept, distinctive features

◦ extension: range of the concept, all members


motor vehicle: road vehicle driven by an engine

motor vehicle: car, motorcycle, moped, van, etc.

� COBUILD definition

◦ full-sentence definition

house: A house is a building in which people live...

defeat: If you defeat someone, you win a victory over them...

contextualizing part explanatory part

motor vehicle: car, motorcycle, moped, van, etc.

� Examples only

� Usage of words


walk: The baby is just learning to walk.

The door opened and Jo walked in.

� Usage of words

e.g. for function words

and: used to connect words or parts of sentences

Which type of meaning description is used?


furniture: tables, chairs, beds, etc. that can be moved

fundraising: The hospice is planning a major fundraising

event for June.event for June.

nosy: If you are nosy, you are too interested in things

that do not concern you, especially other people’s affairs.

big: large

who: used in questions to ask for people

� Controlled defining vocabulary

◦ Limited number of different words

◦ Advantages:

� Meaning of these words known to user

� Many of them are the most frequent words in a

language


language

◦ Disadvantages:

� Inexact definitions

� The most frequent words are also the most

polysemous

� Definitions not shorter

� Bilingual dictionaries

� Source and target language

� Find counterparts (equivalents)

� What are problems in finding equivalents for two

languages?

1.1.3 1.1.3 EquivalentsEquivalents

languages?

◦ Language-specific differences

◦ Culture-specific differences

From Svensén

(2009: 255)

� Three main types of equivalence:

◦ Full equivalence

e.g. leap year – Schaltjahr

◦ Partial equivalence

boyhood

girlhood


Kindheitgirlhood

divergence

convergence

◦ Zero equivalence

Kindheit

� Three main types of equivalence...

◦ Zero equivalence

� Referential gaps

e.g. politics, historical events, holidays (e.g. Boxing

Day), geography, education (e.g. A levels), food (e.g.

Schnitzel, apple pie), flora and fauna


Schnitzel, apple pie), flora and fauna

� Lexical gaps

e.g. snow in Eskimo languages, camel in Arabic,

terminology of kinship

� Transcription systems

◦ International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

◦ ‘respelling’ system

1.2 1.2 PronunciationPronunciation

From: Jackson (2002: 103)

� Syllables

� Alternative spellings

e.g. judgement/judgment

� Differences between British/American English

e.g. theatre/theater

1.3 1.3 SpellingSpelling

� Alterations because of inflectional suffixes

e.g. cry/cried

From: http://ourcommunitymedia.com/theater-clipart/

� Information on the history of the word

→ example: OED

1.4 1.4 EtymologyEtymology

� Irregular inflection

e.g. foot – feet, bring – brought, bad – worse

� Word class

� Other grammatical information:

◦ Singular/plural noun

1.5 1.5 GrammaticalGrammatical informationinformation

◦ Countable/uncountable noun

◦ Transitive/intransitive verb

◦ ...

� Varieties

� Formal vs. informal use

� Effect (e.g. humorous, derogatory, poetic)

� History (e.g. obsolete, rare, archaic)

� Topic/field (e.g. medicine, music, astronomy)

1.6 1.6 UsageUsage

� User-based: frequent errors, frequency of

lemmas, collocations etc.

From: http://www.okclipart.com/Error-Clip-Art30jrknnajc/

� Synonymy

◦ Sameness of meaning, e.g. light = shallow

� Antonymy

◦ Oppositeness of meaning, e.g. buy ≠ sell

1.7 Information on 1.7 Information on relationrelation withwith

otherother lexemeslexemes

◦ Oppositeness of meaning, e.g. buy ≠ sell

� Hyponymy

◦ Hierarchical relationships, e.g. orange/banana – fruit

� Meronymy

◦ Part-whole relationships, e.g. wheel/engine -- car

� Advantages:

◦ Help to clarify meaning

◦ Serve as syntactic models

� Authentic (edited or not) vs. invented examples

1.8 1.8 ExamplesExamples & & citationscitations

Overview - Linguistic Society

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