Portfolio

Glossary

2008-01-18T20:58:00.003+01:00

affix = a morpheme attached to a root to form a new word

allomorph = variant form of a morpheme (meaning same, sound can vary)

antonym = word pairs opposite in meaning

bahuvrihi or exocentric compounds = meaning can be guessed, AB is C (e.g. “laptop”)

circular definition = assumes a prior understanding of the term being defined

co-hyponym = e.g. „Sitzmöbel“ and „Ablagemöbel (under the hyperonym “Möbel”)

componential analysis = to analyze a word according to its semantic components [+/-]

compound = a word that consists of more than one element

Concordance = shows a word in the context of the text in which it is found (e.g. Google)

Corpus analysis = analysing words by doing concordances

database = organized collection of data

definition by nearest kind and specific differences = popular dictionary definition, e.g. “poodle” = “dog” (nearest kind) “with a haircut” (specific difference)

derivation = process of changing the meaning and/or lexical class of a lexeme by adding a morpheme (to only 1 root, otherwise it would be a compound)

determinants or modifier = in endocentric compounds:e.g. milkman (modifies the head)

determinatum or head = in endocentric compounds: e.g. milkman

dictionary = list of words with their definitions

document content = topics, objects, persons, events, …

document object = paragraphs, characters, lists, tables, graphics, …

document rendering = appearance/ layout

document structure = organized like a table, hierarchical and linear structure

dvandva or bicentric compounds = meaning is calculated according to the formula, AB is A and B (e.g. “whisky-soda”)

encyclopaedia = written compendium of knowledge

etymology = the origins of words

font = consists of a co-ordinated set of graphemes

generalisation = e.g. animal is a generalization of bird because every bird is an animal

grammatical morpheme or closed class morpheme or functional morpheme = mark syntagmatic relations of different kinds, within and between words. number is fixed

grapheme = the atomic unit in written language. Graphemes include letters, Chinese ideograms, numerals, punctuation marks, and other symbols.

hyperonym = a word whose extension includes the extension of the word of which it is a hyperonym

hyponym = a word whose extension is included within that of another word

inflection = modification or marking of a word so that it reflects grammatical information

inflection marker = free or bound morpheme that indicates the grammatical function of the marked word or sentence (e.g. the suffix -s in dogs is a plural marker)

IPA = International Phonetic Alphabet/Association

irregular inflection markers = may involve changes in the vowel and/or final consonant of the morpheme

KWIC concordance = Keyword In Context, most common concordance format

lemma = the canonical (authorized) form of a lexeme (z.B. der Stamm / Infinitiv eines Wortes oder einfach eine Nummer à der Lexikon-Eintrag, der sich am besten für das entsprechende Lexikon anbietet)

Level 1 Derivation or Stratum 1 = including stress-shift (e.g. celebrate à celebrity)

Level 2 Derivation or Stratum 2 = no stress-shift (e.g. happy à happiness)

lexical morpheme or open class morpheme or content morpheme = form the roots of simple words. new items can always be invented at any time.

lexicography = Practical lexicography is the art or craft of writing dictionaries. Theoretical lexicography is the scholarly discipline of analyzing and describing the semantic relationships within the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language.

meronomy = “part-whole-relationship” e.g. body (supraordinate) includes arms and legs (both subordinate)

meronym = see meronomy: arms and legs

morpheme = the smallest unit in a language which carries meaning

morphology = the study of the structure of word forms.

non-simplex word = including both derivations and compounds

opaque meaning = the meaning is not clear

orthography = set of symbols used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs correctly, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization

ostensive definition = “Definition by pointing” à conveys the meaning of a term by pointing out examples of what is defined by it

phoneme = the smallest unit in a language which distinguishes meaning

phonemic transcription = same as phonetic transcription

phonetic transcription = visual system of symbolization of the sounds in a language

phonology = describes the way sounds function

pragmatics = concerned with bridging the explanatory gap between sentence meaning and speaker’s meaning

prefix = an affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach

recursive definition = defines a word in terms of itself. has to avoid an infinite regress

regular inflection markers = suffixes attached to lexical morphemes

SAMPA = IPA written by computer keyboard (e.g. @ for schwa)

Sanskrit = a classical language of India

semantics = the study of meaning of (parts of) words, phrases, sentences, and texts

simple word = lexical morphemes form the roots of simple words

specialisation = e.g. bird is a specialization of animal because every bird is an animal

sublemma = subordinate dictionary entry?

suffix = an affix that follows the morphemes to which it can attach

superfix = e.g. produce (noun), produce (verb); (changing stress)

synonym = word pairs more or less same in meaning

syntagmatic relation = culturally determined pattern of association between pairs of lexical units

syntax = the study of the rules, or "patterned relations" that govern the way the words in a sentence come together
tatpurusa or endocentric compounds = 2nd part central item, AB is B (e.g. “milkman”)

taxonomy = the whole relation of hyperonyms and hyponyms etc.

thesaurus = a dictionary which lists words with similar, related, or opposite meanings
transparent meaning = the meaning is clear

word root = the core form of a word

zero affix = the word class changes but the orthography stays same (e.g. address)

zero derivation = the act of adding a zero affix

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 1

2008-01-17T12:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture One, 17th of October 2007

Introduction

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

The first session was mainly an introduction and overview of the course and its concept. First of all was given an overview of the topics: Language History, Language in Society, Language and the Mind, Building Blocks of Language and Applying Linguistics.

2. Learner's Diary

Properties of signs

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Why is a portfolio important?
A portfolio can help to understand the weekly lessons and to have an easier access to in the internet. For other students a portfolio makes it possible to share information with the writer. In addition to this the writer gets to know important skills of modern media. It is important to reflect the lessons again afterwards.

What should a portfolio contain and how are these components defined?

A portfolio should contain a summary of the lecture, this is called a learner’s diary, where the main topics of the lecture are described and evaluated. Additionally, it should include a glossary to explain technical terms of every lecture and the answers which been given.

Why should a portfolio be on a website?

With a portfolio you can exchange information with other students and lecturers are able to observe your learning development. So this is the easiest way of access at any time.

How do you make a website?

You can create a website by uploading an html document onto an online server on the internet or you can go to the "hers" and upload your files there. This html document needs to have a certain form, otherwise it does not work.

Prepare reports for discussion on …

What are the following, and how old are they?

Indo-European

Indo-European is a family of languages having more speakers than any other language family. It is estimated that approximately half the world’s population speaks an Indo-European tongue as a first language. The Indo-European family is so named because at one time its individual members were prevalent mainly in an area between and including India and Europe, although not all languages spoken in this region were Indo-European. Today, however, the Indo-European languages have spread to every continent and a number of islands. It should be stressed that the term Indo-European describes language only and is not used scientifically in an ethnic or cultural sense. The languages classified as Indo-European are sufficiently similar to form one major linguistic division. The characteristics Indo-European languages share with respect to vocabulary and grammar have led many scholars to postulate that they are all descended from an original parent language, called Proto-Indo-European, which is believed to have been spoken some time before 4000 B.C., perhaps before 8000 B.C. or earlier. Since there are no written records of Proto-Indo-European, it apparently was in use before writing was known to its speakers.

(Encyclopedia information about Indo-European The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2001-2005, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.bartleby.com/65/in/IndoEuro.html, 22.10.2007)

Proto-Germanic

Proto-Germanic is the hypothetical common ancestor (proto-language) of all the Germanic languages, which include, among others, modern English, Dutch, German and Swedish. The Proto-Germanic language is not directly attested by any surviving texts, but has been reconstructed using the comparative method. However, a few surviving inscriptions in a runic script from Scandinavia dated to c. 200 are thought to represent a stage of Proto-Norse or Late Common Germanic immediately following the "Proto-Germanic" stage. Some loan-words from early Germanic which exist in neighbouring non-Germanic languages are believed to have been borrowed from Germanic during the Proto-Germanic phase.

(Wikipedia article "Proto-Germanic language". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Germanic, 22.10.2007)

Old English

Language spoken and written in England before AD 1100. It belongs to the Anglo-Frisian group of Germanic languages. Four dialects are known: Northumbrian (in northern England and south-eastern Scotland), Mercian (central England), Kentish (southeastern England), and West Saxon (southern and southwestern England). Mercian and Northumbrian are often called the Anglian dialects. Most extant Old English writings are in the West Saxon dialect. The great epic poem of Old English is Beowulf; the first period of extensive literary activity occurred in the 9th century. Old English had three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) for nouns and adjectives; nouns, pronouns, and adjectives were also inflected for case. Old English had a greater proportion of strong (irregular) verbs than does Modern English, and its vocabulary was more heavily Germanic.

(Britannica information about Old English Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2007 Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9056971/Old-English-language, 22.10.2007)

Middle English

Vernacular spoken and written in England c. 1100–1500, the descendant of Old English and the ancestor of Modern English. It can be divided into three periods: Early, Central, and Late. The Central period was marked by the borrowing of many Anglo-Norman words and the rise of the London dialect, used by such poets as John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer in a 14th-century flowering of English literature. The dialects of Middle English are usually divided into four groups: Southern, East Midland, West Midland, and Northern.

(Britannica information about Middle English Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9052544/Middle-English-language, 22.10.2007)

Early Modern English

Early Modern English refers to the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period (the later half of the 1400s) to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English, although the King James Bible intentionally keeps some archaisms that were not common even when it was published. Current readers of English are generally able to understand Early Modern English, though occasionally with difficulties arising from grammar changes, changes in the meanings of some words, and spelling differences. The standardization of English spelling falls within the Early Modern English period, and is influenced by conventions predating the Great Vowel Shift, explaining the archaic non-phonetic spelling of contemporary Modern English.

(Wikipedia article "Early Modern English".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Modern_English, 22.11.2007)

Provide examples of similar words in each of these

What are the main differences between English and German?

First of all one main difference is probably, that there are 3 articles in German and that they have to change for every case. Also there is no visible difference between adverbs and adjectives and the syntax is different as well. The English syntax is very strict (always Subject, Predicate, Object), the German syntax is more variable. Moreover the German sound-to-spelling rules are more logical than the English, most of the times it is impossible to tell how a word is pronounced just by looking at its orthography.

4. Evaluation

Interesting topic, especially the history of the English language.

5. References

http://www.bartleby.com
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.britannica.com
http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 2

2008-01-17T11:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Two, 24th October 2007

History and distribution of English

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

Today's main subject which is the history of English, but with a focus on the developments that have lead from the Indo-European language to Middle English. There are different theories on the origin of the Indo-European language.

2. Learner's Diary

Who were the original human inhabitants of the British Isle?

It is not possible to identify the exact original human inhabitants of the British Isles. They had been inhabited by members of the homo erectus when the islands were still joined to continental Europe. The last ice age ended around 10,000 years ago, and hunter-gatherers spread to all parts of the islands by around 8,000 years ago. The culture an the living of these people are unknown, except for some archaeological findings.

Some Celtic vocabulary

Bannuc a bit bannock
binn basket, crib bin
brocc badger Brock the Badger
clugge bell clock
dry magician druid
luh lake loch, lough

Etymology, the history of words

Sound change

Grimm's Law
Deaspiration (fagus - beech, Buche)
*bh *dh *gh
*b *d *g
Devoicing (decem - ten)
*b *d *g
*p *t *k
Fricativisation (pitár, pater - father, Vater)
*p *t *k
*f *θ *h

High German Soundshift

Obstruent consonants
C V C
p: pf f Plant Pflanze
t: ts s Town Zaun
k: k (kx) x/ç

Great Vowel Shift

Steps of Great Vowel Shift:
1. /i/ and /u/ drop and become /əI/ and /əu/
2. /e/ and /o/ move up, becoming /i/and /u/
3. /a/ moves forward to /æ/
4. /ε/ becomes /e/ and /C / becomes /o/
5. /æ/ moves up to /ε
6. /e/ moves up to /i/
7. /ε/ moves up to /e/
8. /əI/ and /əu/ drop to /aI/ and /au/

Semantic change

Generalisation:
e.g. Schürze

Specialisation:
Meanings became specialised in different directions, e.g. Schürze à skirt and shirt

Metaphor:
A hidden meaning of any word, e.g. in poetry

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Where did the Celts originate?

The earliest known inhabitants of the British Isles were the Celts. There are two branches of Celtic, the Goidelic (West of Ireland, North- West Scotland) and the Brythonic Celtic (Wales and Breton). They originated in the area which today is to Southern Germany and the old Austrian Empire (Hungary, Bohemia). From there they spread all over North- Western Europe and finally the British Isles.

Name 3 Celtic town names in the area of modern Germany and give their meanings

- Remagen: rigo (celt.) rigs = king and magos (celt.) = fiedls meaning king's fields
- Worms: Borbetomagus (celt.), meaning Land of the Borbet
- Vienna: Vedunia (celt.) meaning forest brook

(Wikipedia article "german placename etymology". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_placename_etymology, 27.10.2007)

Where do the Celts live now?

Today the expression "Celtic" is often used in order to describe the people and their respective cultures and languages of several ethnic groups in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man, Republic of Ireland, France, Spain and northern Portugal.

What is their significance for English studies?

Historically

The Celts had a huge influence on the language spoken in Europe and they were traders so they had an influence on the markets as well. There are still words whose origin can be found in the Celtic vocabulary. Irish monks preserved English literature.

Currently

It is still possible to find Celtic settlements all over France and England and they can tell us a lot about what life was like in ancient times. Furthermore there are still Celtic words in the English language which we use everyday without even noticing and town names that have their origin in Celtic times. Irish children learn Irish at school again (cultural Identity). In general the Celtic language is endangered to die out. It is very important that linguists do their best to document the Celtic language.

Find examples for all of these concepts

Grimm' s Law, First Germanic Sound Shift

p to f - pater (Latin) to father (English)
d to t - decem (Latin) to ten (English)
g to k - gelu (Latin) to kalt (German)

(Wikipedia article " Grimm's law". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm's_law, 27.10.2007)

High German Sound Shift

p to f - sleep (English) to schlafen (German)
t to ss – eat (English) to essen (German)
t to ts – cat (English) to Katze (German)

(Wikipedia article "High German consonant shift". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_consonant_shift, 28.10.2007)

Great Vowel Shift

The Great Vowel Shift marking the separation of Middle and Modern English.

Middle English e: to Modern English i: (see)
Middle English a: to Modern English eı (name)

(Wikipedia article "Great Vowel Shift". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift, 28.10.2007)

The semantic change changes the meaning of a word

- metaphor is a new interpretation of a word.
- generalisation means a extended way of the meaning of a word.
- specialisation is the opposite of generalisation, a word has only one or two meanings.

Find and list examples of these cases

Derivation

- adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness)
- adjective-to-verb: -ise (modern → modernise)
- noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational)
- noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify)
- verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable)
- verb-to-noun: -ance (deliver → deliverance)

(Wikipedia article "derivation". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivation_%28linguistics%29, 28.11.2007)

Compounding

- airport
- bathroom
- brainwash
- evergreen

Abbreviation

- lab (laboratory)
- e.g. (exempli gartia – for example)
- BYOB – bring your own booze
- 20*C+M+B*08 (christus mansion benedicat)

Sign-meaning similarities

- sound symbolism - miau (cat), muh (cow)
- onomatopoeia – bampf, twhip, boom, pow (language in comics)
- synaesthesia – cool green, heavy silence (rhetoric and literary terminology)

4. Evaluation

An interesting lesson, especially the history of the English words. Sometimes a little bit to fast to ascertain important and interesting facts.

5. References

http://www.wikipedia.org

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 3

2008-01-17T10:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Three, 31st of October 2007

History of English

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

The lecture was about the history of the English language and the influence of other languages on the English language. It was influenced by several languages of the conquerors. It started in the 5th century when Germanic tribes settled down in the South and North of the country. So the language was affected by the Celtic dialects. In 1066 William the Conqueror and the Normans entered the island and the language of the upper class is influenced by this dialect. The Early Modern English is marked by the work of William Shakespeare. The Late Modern English is mostly influenced by foreign languages.

2. Learner's Diary

Influence of other languages to the English language

The evidence of East and North Germanic

East Germanic

The Gothic Bible also known as the Bible of Bishop Wulfila. Named after the Bishop Wulfila is a Christian Bible translated into the Gothic language around 500 AD. It contains manuscripts from the New and Old testament.

North Germanic

The Horns of Gallehus are two golden horns discovered in the Danish town Gallehus. Both were believed to date to the fifth century.

Old English

- About 600 – 1000 AD
- Germanic dialects

Spread of English around the world

Phonology of Speech

After the part history of the English language followed an introduction to the phonology of speech. Phonology examines the sound system of a language. The encoding is effected either by phonemes (acoustic encoding) or graphemes (visual encoding).

Sign Model

It refers on one hand to the internal structure and on the other hand to the external structure. The phonetic interpretation presents the pronunciation and the orthographic interpretation presents the spelling.

Representation of sound

The prosodic hierarchy consists of two parts, phonemes and syllables.

phonemes
- function: “smallest word-distinguishing segments”
- internal structure: “configuations of distinctive phonetic features”
- external structure (see syllables)
- rendering: “contextual variants”, “allophones”

syllables
- function: “word distinguishing phoneme configurations”
- internal structure: “configurations of sequential features (consonantal, vocalic; voiced, unvoiced; ...) and simultaneous features (tone, accent)
- external structure (word)
- rendering: a function of the rendering of phonemes

Basics of English Syllable Structure

Syllable occur in a structure. C stands for consonant, V for vowel.

CCCVVCCC e.g. the word straight

s (C) - t (C) - r (C) - a (V) - i (V) - g (C) - h (C) - t (C)

Phonemes: sounds in the dictionary

There are several ways of defining phonemes, depending on which of the four sign components is focussed.

the minimal word-distinguishing sound segment
The smallest unit of a syllable based on structure
Consists of distinctive features
Consists of a set of allophones

The IPA chart

IPA is an abbreviation for International Phonetic Alphabet.

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Find out what "Beowulf" is

Find out who or what “Beowulf” isA heroic poem considered the highest achievement of Old English literature and the earliest European vernacular epic. It deals with events of the early 6th century and was probably composed c. 700–750. It tells the story of the Scandinavian hero Beowulf, who gains fame as a young man by vanquishing the monster Grendel and Grendel's mother; later, as an aging king, he kills a dragon but dies soon after, honoured and lamented. Beowulf belongs metrically, stylistically, and thematically to the Germanic heroic tradition but shows a distinct Christian influence.

(Wikipedia article "Beowulf". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf, 3.11.2007)

Find the text and a translation

Text: http://www8.georgetown.edu/departments/medieval/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/a4.1.html
Translation: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/beowulf.html

Figure out the vocabulary and the grammar of two or three lines, by comparing the text with the translation

London: the Roman settlement which is now London was called Londinum

Canterbury: The name Canterbury derives from the Old English Cantwarebyrig, meaning "fortress of the men of Kent". The bury element is a form of borough, which has cognates in words and place names in virtually every Indo-European and Semitic language, as well as others.

(Wikipedia article "Canterbury". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canterbury, 3.11.2007)

Kent: The name "Kent" predates the Jutish invaders, and relates to the much earlier Celtic Cantiaci tribe whose homeland it was.

(Wikipedia article "Kent". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent, 3.11.2007)

Middle English

- Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century

Modern English Dialects

The Spread of English

Colonial language spread

Check the main colonial periods of

Portuguese

The Portuguese Empire was the first Global empire in history and also the earliest and longest lived of the western european colonial empires (1415-1999)

(Wikipedia article "Portuguese Empire". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_empire, 5.11.2007)

Spanish

The Spanish ruled huge parts of South America, Canada and smaller parts of Africa between the 16th century und 1975. At its largest reach, roughly 1740-1790 Spain controlled about half of South America, more than a third of North America, and had significant holdings in the Pacific basin.

(Wikipedia article "Spanish Empire". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_empire, 5.11.2007)

Dutch

The Dutch Empireis the name given to the various territories controlled by the Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed Spain and Portugal in establishing a colonial global empire outside of continental Europe. Their skills in shipping and trading and the surge of nationalism and militarism accompanying the struggle for independence from Spain aided the venture. Alongside the British, the Dutch initially built up colonial possessions on the basis of indirect state capitalist corporate colonialism, with the Dutch East India Company dominant. Direct state intervention in the colonial enterprise came later. Dutch merchants and sailors also participated in the surge of exploration that unfolded in the 16th and 17th centuries, though the vast new territories revealed by Willem Barents, Henry Hudson and Abel Tasman in the Arctic and in Australasia/Oceania did not generally become permanent Dutch colonies.

(Wikipedia article "Dutch Empire". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_empire, 5.11.2007)

French

France had colonial possessions, in various forms, since the beginning of the 17th century until the 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, its global colonial empire was the second largest in the world behind the British Empire. At its peak, between 1919 and 1939, the second French colonial empire extended over 12,347,000 km² (4,767,000 sq. miles) of land. Including metropolitan France, the total area of land under French sovereignty reached 12,898,000 km² (4,980,000 sq. miles) in the 1920s and 1930s, which is 8.6% of the world's land area.

(Wikipedia article "French colonial empire". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonial_empire, 5.11.2007)

English

Worldwide system of dependencies-colonies, protectorates, and other territories-that over a span of three centuries came under the British government. Territorial acquisition began in the early 17th century with a group of settlements in North America and West Indian, South Asian, and African trading posts founded by private individuals and trading companies. In the 18th century the British took Gibraltar, established colonies along the Atlantic seacoast of North America and in the Caribbean Sea, and began to add territory in India. With its victory in the French and Indian War (1763), the empire secured Canada and the eastern Mississippi Valley and gained supremacy in India. From the late 18th century it began to build power in Malaya and acquired the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon (see Sri Lanka), and Malta. The British settled Australia in 1788 and subsequently New Zealand. Aden was secured in 1839, and Hong Kong in 1841. Britain went on to control the Suez Canal (1875–1956). In the 19th-century European partition of Africa, Britain acquired Nigeria, Egypt, the territories that would become British East Africa, and part of what would become the Union (later Republic) of South Africa. After World War I, Britain secured mandates to German East Africa, part of the Cameroons, part of Togo, German South-West Africa, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and part of the German Pacific islands. Britain gradually evolved a system of self-government for some colonies after the U.S. gained independence, as set forth in Lord Durham's report of 1839. Dominion status was given to Canada (1867), Australia (1901), New Zealand (1907), the Union of South Africa (1910), and the Irish Free State (1921). Britain declared war on Germany in 1914 on behalf of the entire empire; after World War I the dominions signed the peace treaties themselves and joined the League of Nations as independent states. In 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognized them as independent countries “within the British Empire,” referring to the “British Commonwealth of Nations,” and from 1949, the Commonwealth of Nations. The British Empire, therefore, developed into the Commonwealth in the mid-20th century, as former British dependencies obtained sovereignty but retained ties to the United Kingdom.

(Wikipedia article "British Empire". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire, 5.11.2007)

Migrations & the History of English

Vertical development
Indo-European
Celtic
-West to Britain
Germanic
-Saxon
-Viking
-Norman
Colonial
-North America
-Africa
-Asia
-Australia

Lateral development
Antiquity:
-Celtic
-Latin
Middle Ages:
-Norman French
Renaissance:
-Latin
-Greek
Colonial period:
-Arabic
-Hindi

Development of English

What are the most important stages?

The invasion of the Romans from 1st to 5th century, they brought the Latin language with them. The settlement of middle England by the Germanic Anglos and Saxons.
Invasion by the people from the North, the Norsemen (from the Norwegian area) and the Vikings (from the Danish area).
In 1066 William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered England and William became king. He brought with him a Norman dialect of French. The upper class's language and the language of the jurisdiction is gravely influenced by this dialect. The Renaissance which started in the 15th century in which people remembered the great works of the old Greek and Roman philosophers, artists and politicians. Because of that they also took a closer look on their language and used it again. Italian and French also came into fashion, as the first is spoken in the country the Romans came from and the letter is the language of the great philosophers like Voltaire.

What is the significance of Celtic / Latin?

Celtic is the first language that influenced the native people who were living In Britain. This language is the foundation of any other language or dialect that comes after it and changes the way people speak.
Latin influenced the English language on several occasions. Firstly during the time of their occupation of England from the 1st to the 5th century. That is the reason why so many English words are related to Latin ones especially words for things that the native Celts did not know about, like wine (lat. vinum). Latin never really lost its significance, as during the Renaissance period it came into fashion again and between the time of the Romans and the Renaissance Latin has been the official language of the church and the ruling classes. Services were only held in Latin and the kings wrote most of their documents, declarations of war or laws and treaties in Latin. Although Henry VIII. broke with the pope and the Catholic church in the 17th century and founded the Church of England, by that time there had been a large number words taken from the Latin vernacular which had melted into the English language.

Which major changes happened between

Old English and Middle English?
In Old English was spelled essentially as it was pronounced.

Middle English and Modern English?
The spelling of the words in Middle English has not changed drastically, but the pronunciation of the words has. This is one reason why the spelling and the pronunciation of Modern English do not correspond very well.

English today

What are the main English dialects in Britain?

Scottish, South and South- Western dialect, Eastern dialect, Western- and Eastern Central dialect and Lower North dialect.

Where is English spoken today as a native language?

USA, Canada, Great Britain and the British Isles, Ireland, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago.

Why is English spoken all round the world?
English is probably spoken all around the world because in colonial times Britain ruled about ¼ of the whole world and brought (or maybe forced) their language to (on) the people they conquered. English still remains the official language in most of these countries, especially in the African ones, as there are many different dialects spoken in each country and English is the universal language everybody learns at school. I probably has also got something to do with the role the English speaking countries USA and Great Britain played during several wars. They won most of the wars in the 29th and 21st century thy participated in and the brought freedom and peace to some people who lived under oppressive governments, by that they also spread their language all over the world. Moreover most words that have to do with computers or IT technology are English, because Microsoft dominates the world market and Microsoft is an American company. The internet, which was also developed on the basis of the English language (html is based on English) has had a major influence on the everyday lives of basically everybody around the world.

Check Google for works by Jennifer Jenkins - what do you find?

HORSE TRADE
Jennifer Jenkins
(Blueline)

I.
I was one of those little girls that wanted a pony,
not because I became mesmerized by Liz Taylor or
needed a Flicka friend, but because ponies had long hair,
all down the neck and out the back. That's how they came
and went, with not a thought of stalling to tape their bangs.
They see through fringe to check for limits and find
no God in the eyes or Devil in the mouth.

II.
Have a pony, chilled gold to fit full inside my dainty grip.
The opening seemed to bridle my nibbling lips.
The guys fisted their Shlitz while we girls buried
our aperitif beers under our hair until the males malted
our way, then we'd whip our pony tails, rim our collarbones
and grin for auction.

III.
I'm full and past bolting. Reined and ridden and snorting still.
Don't brush against me, I command within steam.
I've nodded and neighed, nostrils
are full of foal that hooves for breath.
Broken, I stirrup and rear my spindly child,
her mane as wet as mine.

(http://poetry.about.com/library/bl0701ibpchm.htm, 5.11.2007)

Definition of phoneme
Phonemes are the smallest part of speech that carries meaning and distinguish one word from another.

Definition of syllable
Syllables are phoneme configuration which distinguishes words.

Find examples of 5 not-too-short words

transcribe them and divide them into syllables

civilized ci - vi - lized sɪvəlajzd
industry in - dus - try ındəstri
criminal cri - mi - nal krɪmənəl
problem pro - blem prəblem
development de - vel - op - ment dɪveləpment

Make a list of 5 spelling rules

- ck may only be used after a single vowel that does not say its name at the end of a syllable

or root word.
- If a word ends in a consonant plus y, change the y to and i, before adding any ending, except

ing.
- ous at the end of a word often means full of.
- double l, f, and s after a single short vowel at the end of a word.
- Drop the final e from a root word before adding an ending beginning with a vowel, but keep it

before a consonant.

(http://www.amity.org.uk/Training/Spelling%20Rules/Spelling%20Rules.htm, 5.11.2007)

Make a list of 5 main spelling problems

- swallowed syllables, three syllables pronounced as two syllables.
- silent letters
- homophones, words which sound the same.
- same sound, different spelling
- unusual letter combinations

(http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aaspellinga.htm, 5.11.2007)

Pronunciation

List the consonants of German which do not occur in English

The consonants /ç/, /X/ and ß

List the consonants of English which do not occur in German

The consonants /θ/ and /ð/

List the vowels of German which do not occur in English

The vowels /o/, /ø/, /y/, /oə/ and /ү/

List the vowels of English which do not occur in German

The vowels /з/ and /æ/

Spelling

List the characters of German which do not occur in English

The characters ä, ö, ü, ß

List the characters of English which do not occur in German

All occur in German

List 5 English graphemes containing more than one character

ea - tea, beauty, meat
oi - oil, boil
kn - knight
sh - ship
ck - clock

List 5 German graphemes containing more than one character

ch - Mädchen, Eiche
ie - Fliege, siegen
sch - schlafen
pf - Pflug, pfeifen
au – Klaue

4. Evaluation

Mr. Gibbon spent lots of time with the history, not so much with phonology. This topic was more difficult than the history of English language. It is a little bit difficult to follow, because often the lecture ends in the middle of a topic.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html
http://www8.georgetown.edu/departments/medieval/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/a4.1.html
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/beowulf.html
http://poetry.about.com/library/bl0701ibpchm.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire
http://www.amity.org.uk/Training/Spelling%20Rules/Spelling%20Rules.htm
http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aaspellinga.htm

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 4

2008-01-17T09:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Four, 7th of November 2007

Phonology and orthography

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

Today Mr. Gibbon gave an introduction to phonetics and the world of speech sounds.

2. Learner's Diary

Words, stems and morphemes are signs. Divided in the conceptual and the real world.

There are three linguistics domains of phonetics

- Articulatory phonetics (mouth) describe how the organs produce an individual sound
- Acoustic phonetics (air) describe the analysis of the physical properties of the sound waves in the air, duration, intensity and frequency.
- Auditory phonetics (ear) describe what happen with the sound after the reception.

Articulatory phonetics

This picture of midsaggital section of the head explains the articulatory phonetic

The articulatory organs

- Lungs
- Vocal cords in the larynx (Adam's apple)

and their positions

- Uvula → with back of tongue
- Pharynx → with velum (nasals)
- Velum → soft palate (contact with tongue: velars)
- Palate → hard palate (with tongue)
- Alveolar ridge
- Upper teeth → with tongue, with lower lip
- Upper lip → with lower lip, perhaps with tongue

The sound consists of two levels

Phonemic transcription

Is the general pronunciation representation in the lexicon to distinguish between different words.

Phonetic transcription

Is the detailed representation of speech pronunciation which is based on three components.

- articulatory phonetics (about speech production)
- acoustic phonetics (about speech wave transmission)
- auditory phonetics (about speech perception)

Acoustic phonetics

The Source-Filter Model explains the acoustic phonetics and shows how speech sounds are produced. It consists of sound sources (vocal cords) and sound filters (vocal tract).

Sources

Resonant source (larynx) harmonic source
Noise sources constrictions in the speech organs to produce fricative sounds

Filters

Convert sounds in acoustic signals

Pharyngeal filter: area of the pharynx which is part of the neck and the

Nasal filter: area of the nasal cavity; produces nasal vowels and consonants

Oral filter: filtering and removing sounds

Speech waveform

The x- axis describes the time and the y - axis the amplitude. The example is the word tiger.

Phonetic software Praat

With this software Now acoustic phonetics can be done on a laptop or desktop PC. Other software are e.g. Audacity, WaveSurfer or Transcriber.

Auditory phonetics

Auditory phonetics describe how sound are received by the listener. The anatomy of the ear is a very important part to understand the processing of the sound. The ear can be divided in three parts:

- outer ear (microphone)
- middle ear (amplifier)
- inner ear (spectral transform)

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Take a look at models of the ear: summarise the functions of the outer ear, the middle ear, the inner ear

Outer ear

The outer ear includes the auricle, the auditory canal and the eardrum. It funnels sounds from the surrounding environment into the hearing system. The auricle helps to gather the sound waves, and the auditory canal then directs them to the eardrum.

Middle ear

The middle ear is an air-filled cavity which contains the smallest bones in the human body - the malleus, incus and stapes. These are connected to the eardrum on one side, and on the other side to a thin membrane-covered opening on the wall of the inner ear. The middle ear is also connected to the throat via the Eustachian tube which keeps the air pressure in the middle ear equal to that of the surrounding environment.

Inner ear

In the inner ear the auditory input is processed by the cochlea, while information affecting balance is processed by the semicircular canals. Along the entire length of the fluid filled cochlea there are tiny hair cells. These hair cells are bent when the fluid is displaced by sound waves passed on by the middle ear bones. This triggers a chemical response which activates the corresponding nerve endings. These then transmit the message to the area of the brain in charge of interpreting auditory input.

(http://www.phonak.com/consumer/hearing/howwehear/function.htm, 10.11.2007)

4. Evaluation

The lesson was interesting, but full of information. Most of them not really difficult but from time to time a little bit to fast. The Praat - software is wuite interesting and for a change practical work.

5. References

http://www.phonak.com/consumer/hearing/howwehear/function.htm
http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 5

2008-01-17T08:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Five, 14th of November 2007

Sounds in Speech and Revision

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

Content of the lecture was a revision of the previous lectures, especially phonetics and phonology.

2. Learner' Diary

It is possible to describe sound of speech in two ways

- Phonetics (Study of Speech Sounds)
- Phonology (Function and Patterning of Sounds)

The system to produce a sound is parted in three components:

- Lungs
- Vocal cords in the larynx (Adam ´s apple)
- Vocal tract: oral and nasal cavities

Phonology

Phonology is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language, it encodes the words. Important terms are phonemes and allophones.

Parts of Phonetics

- Articulatory domain: IPA, Source - Filter Model
- Acoustic domain: Speech Waveform
- Auditory domain: Anatomy of the ear

3. Tasks and Quizzes

No tasks and homework, very obliging.

4. Evaluation

The revision of the last session was good, the best thing was, that there is no homework.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 6

2008-01-17T07:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Six, 21st of November 2007

Morphology - word construction

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

The topic of the lesson were the morphology studies, the internal structure of words and about an other topic of Mr. Trippel's presentation, words and their parts.

2. Learner's Diary

Morphology describes the anatomy of a word. Therefore it is necessary to describe the word word.

A word is

- the smallest unit of a sentence.
- a string of letters separated by a space.
- a string of speech sounds separated by a pause.
- one or more morphemes which can stand alone.

- words make up sentences, which is referred to as syntax
- pronunciation with speech sounds - phonemes
- meaningful (sub)structure of words - morphology

Morphology

Morphology is the study of the formation of words, morpheme are the smallest units of a language that carry meaning. A word can be comprised of one or more morpheme.

- try = attempt to do something
- try + “in the past” = tried
- try + “at the moment” = trying

Distinction

A simple word consists of only one morpheme. (boy, man, radio, book, paper) A complex word contains more than one morpheme (computer, boys, radio-recorder,
bookshelf, magnetize) In addition there is a differentiation between free morphemes and bound morphemes. A free morpheme can occur as a simple word, e.g. boy, radio, man. A bound morpheme can only occur in connection with other morphemes, e.g. -s, -ion, un-, -ize. Allomorphs are variant forms of a morpheme, e.g. the -s at the end of a plural word.

The English word

English words consist of a stem and an inflection. The stem carries a lexical meaning and the inflection a grammatical meaning.

A stem has lexical meaning, e.g. table, chair, wonderful, happiness. An inflection has grammatical meaning and relates a word to its syntactic context and relates a word to its semantic context.

Inflexions of English words are

suffixes (or stem vowel changes):
- person
- number
- case

inflexions in other languages may be
- prefixes (many African languages)
- suffixes (as in English and German)
- circumfixes (German)
- superfixes (stress languages; tone languages)
- infix: affix which is inserted within a root (linking two words into a compound)
- circumfix: affix that is placed around a morpheme; only occurs in German

Stems of English words are

simple (roots, lexical morphemes)

complex, i.e. at least one of the following:

derivations (a stem and a derivational affix, e.g.)
- red+ish = reddish
- beauty + ful = beautiful

Compounds (a stem plus another stem, e.g.)
- armchair
- whisky-soda
- red-head

both synthetic compounds (a derivation plus a stem, e.g.)
- bus-driver
- steam-roller

Definitions of words and their parts (abstract)

Some simplex and complex words

simplex:
- oh, ah, eh, oo, I, err, owe, ewe
- pa, ma, far, car, star
complex:

derivations (based on one root):
- unable, impossible, happiness, temerity
- temerity, antidisestablishmentarianism

compounds (based on more than one root/stem):
- endocentric: jam-jar, honeypot, harddisk, bus-stop
- bicentric: whisky-soda, gentleman-farmer
- exocentric: red-head, redskin, blue-stocking

Roots and affixes are morphemes

Morphemes are smallest meaningful parts of words

Two types of morphemes

lexical morpheme (content morpheme, root):
- open set: girl, boy, car, box, spoon, grass, sky

grammatical morpheme (structural morpheme):
- closed set
free: prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs
bound: affixes, suffixes (in word formation and inflection

Morphemes and allomorphs

Morphemes are realised in different contexts by
- allomorphs
- variant pronunciations

Examples
Nouns: cats, dogs, horses, oxen, men, women, children
Verbs: hits, bids, hisses, buzzes, itches

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Find at least 20 simple words

ball, stone, tree, money, ball, nut, fruit, blood, head, pillow, book, bottle, rose, flower, word, face, oven, fish, water, ring

Find at least 20 complex words

ice-cream, bathroom, disappearance, enforcement, bookstore, attention, separation, breakfast, possibility, laptop, boyfriend, football, characteristics, afternoon, picture, opportunist, compromise, architecture, symphony, criminal

Which of them are similar?

bathroom, bookstore, afternoon, laptop

Can you describe the similarity?

consist of two words

Can you find a relation between some of your simple words and complex words?

Some of the simple words are part of a complex word, e.g. ball in football

Make a list of 20 free morphemes

boy, mouth, ball, cat, ship, beauty, social, pencil, frost, love, clock, door, friend, cream, power, sister, father, folder, shoe, tie

Find bound morphemes

-s, -ion, -ize, un-, de-, anti-, -ed, im-, -ful, -ing,

Complete the sentences

Every word contains a base.
A morpheme that is also a word is called a free morpheme.
A morpheme that needs a root to make up a word is called a bound morpheme.
An affix in front of a base is called a prefix behind a base it is called a suffix.
Both, simple words and complex words can be the base for a more complex word.
Every root,(suffix, prefix) is a (base, suffix), but not every (base, suffix) is a root,(suffix, prefix)

Find other compounds in English with a head that is a

noun - football, bookstore, ice-cold

verb - highlight, cold-blooded

adjectives - slowcoach, free time

Find other compounds in English with a modifier that is a

noun – asparagus bed, violin bow

verb – go-ahead, try-on

adjectives – green card, hot dog

prepositions – outside, inside, downstairs

Select of the following parts of speech 3 each and derive as many words as possible from them!

Verbs
fight fighting, fight back, rooster fight, pillow fight, fighter, fight bomber
believe believer, believes, make-believe, believing, believable,
sleep sleeper, sleeping, sleep-in, sleepiness, sleep disturbance, sleepy

Nouns
child childish, childhood, children, childbirth, child care, childless, childishness, childlike, child minder, child prodigy
construct construction, constructional, constructive, constructor,
home homeless, homemade, homeliness, homelike, homely, homemaker,
homeward,

Adjectives
smooth smoothie, smoothness, smooth-tongued, smooth away
flat flat, flat-rate, flatbread, flat out, B flat, flatlet, flatly, flatness, flatten

4. Evaluation

The lesson today was easy to understand, a little bit difficult was the fact, that there were two presentations.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 7

2008-01-17T06:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Seven, 28 of Novemer 2007

The structure of words - Morphology

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

Topic of today the structure of words, the hierarchy of words which includes simple and complex words and again morphemes and allomorphs.

2. Learner's Diary

Definition of word

Function - a word is the smallest meaning bearing part of a sentence.
External structure - a word is the smallest indivisible part of a sentence.
Internal structure - a word is a stem with an inflection.
Rendering - consists of orthography and phonology.

Revision of internal structure of a word

A root is the smallest kind of a stem.

An inflection. Affixes + prefixes or suffixes. It binds words to the context and has a grammatical meaning, means it relates a word to its syntactic or semantic context.

A circumfix, e.g ge-schafft, a prefix and a suffix which are related to each other.

A stem represents the category itself, but also affects the category of the following word, it has lexical meaning.

Inflections

German inflections: Nominativ, Genitiv, Dativ, Akkusativ. In English only the nomination (he/she) and the oblique (him/her). In German a verb can often be a noun and nouns have a number case and a gender, English nouns have only a number case. Verbs have a number case, aspect, tense and a passive.

Example sentence

The car should have been being repaired today

should = tense; auxiliary (modal verb)
have = indicator for the perfect (aspect)
been = past participle of to be
being = passive
repaired = main verb

Transformation of the sentence to show that the English language has got only two tenses: present and past. There is no future suffix, the future is not a real tense.

The car d+should have en+be + ing+be ed+repair today

Three kinds of parts of words

1. Morphology

- Inflection (stem + affx)
- Word-Formation

2. Derivation

3. Compounding change the meaning and the part of speech from a noun e.g. to an adjective.

Morphemes and allomorphs

Morphemes

are the smallest meaningful part of words.
- lexical morphemes: open set can be free or bound
- grammatical morphemes: closed set can be free or bound.

Allomorphs

are special kinds of morphemes.

The plural morpheme in English, usually written with "s" at the end has at least three allomorphs:

- [iz]: after sibilants (s, z, tz): horses
- [z]: after voiced phonemes (vowels, voiced consonants) dogs,
- [s]: elsewhere (voiceless consonants) cats

Inflexions of English words

suffixes (person, number, case)

in other languages
prefixes
suffixes
circumfixes
superfixes

In English, the word stem in general corresponds to the word form with singular inflection.

simplex word stems (roots and lexical morphemes)

complex word stems
- derivations (a stem and a derivational affix)
- compounds ( a stem plus another stem)
- both synthetic compounds ( a derivation plus a stem)

- endocentric: honeypot
- bicentric: whisky-soda
- exocentric: red-head

Stem

is a root (simplest case)
is a stem plus an affix (complex case)

Example beautiful

stem = root = beauty
stem = stem + affix = beauty + ful
stem = stem + affix = beauty + ful + ly

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Define

Morpheme

Morphemes are the smallest meaningful parts of words.

Lexical morpheme

Lexical morphemes or content morphemes are the main components of words, they are also called roots. There is an open set of them.

Grammatical morpheme

Grammatical morphemes are structural morphemes. There are free ones: prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs and there are bound ones affixes and suffixes in inflection and word formation. There is a limited number of these as it takes a very long time for new grammatical morphemes to develop.

Stem

A stem (or base) is either a root (lexical morpheme) or a derived stem i.e. stem + affix (derivation) or a compound stem i.e. stem + stem (compounding) and nothing else is a stem.

Derived stem

A derived stem is either a root (zero derivation) or a stem plus an affix. Nothing else is a derived stem.

Compound stem

A compound stem is a derived stem or a word plus a derived stem or a word or a compound stem plus a compound stem. Nothing else is a compound stem.

What is the difference between inflection and derivation?

Inflection and word formation? Inflections do not change the basic meaning of a word, they only have grammatical meanings and they are used to put words into context and produce for example subject-verb-agreements or : he walks/ she walked/ we walk (the action stays the same only the time at which this action takes place and the number of people who do it change).

What is the difference between derivation and compounding?

In derivation you only use one stem and add an affix to create a new word, in compounding you put together two or more stems to create a new word. Synthetic compounds are a combination of both namely derivation plus a stem. There is also blending where you create new stems (blend two different words to create a new simple word).

Collect 5 longish words and divide them into morphemes

misplaced mis-place-d
biannually bi-annu-al-ly
antisocialism anto-social-ism
disagreement dis-agree-ment
surrealism sur-real-ism

show construction of a word from their stems as tree diagrammes

4. Evaluation

Morphology is a very interesting topic and a revision helps to understand all the technical terms. Sometimes it is difficult to understand everything, it flows into each other.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 8

2008-01-17T05:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Eight, 5th December 2007

Structure of language

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1.Introduction

The lesson was parted in the topic Structure of language, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations and about syntax.

2. Learner's Diary

The structure of language

structural relations
syntagmatic relations and paradigmatic relations

semiotic relations
interpretation relations and realisation relations; relations which relate the object structures to the real world

ranks
phoneme, morpheme, word (simplex, derived, compound), sentence, text, dialogue

What is structure?

constitutive relation

structural relations
- syntagmatic relations: combinatory relations which create larger
signs (and their realisations and interpretations) from smaller signs
(and their realisations and interpretations)

- paradigmatic relations: classificatory relations of similarity and
difference between signs.

semiotic relations
- realisation: the visual appearance or acoustic representation of
signs (other senses may also be involved).
- interpretation: the assignment of meaning to a sign.

Paradigmatic relations

Syntax (relations of "choice") classificatory relations of similarity and difference between signs

Phonology (relations of "choice") classificatory relations of similarity and difference between signs

Morphology (relations of "choice") classificatory relations of similarity and difference between signs

Similarity and difference of
- internal structure: simple vs. complex stems
- external structure: functions in different word orders / positionss
- meaning: synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy
- appearance: shared and different distinctive features

Paradigmatic relations in syntax

Syntagmatic relations

Linguistic “glue” combinatory relations: create larger signs (& their
realisations & interpretations) from smaller signs (& their
realisations & interpretations)

Phonology: Consonants and Vowels are glued together as core and periphery of syllables.

Morphology: lexical morphemes & affixes are glued together into derived stems; stems are glued together into compound stems; stems and inflections are glued together into words.

Syntax: nouns and verbs are glued together as the subjects and predicates
of sentences.

Semiotic relations

Signs are structured in terms of their position in a size hierarchy; the positions in the hierarchy are sometimes referred to as ranks. Signs at each of these ranks have structure (internal and external) and semiotic relations (functions and realisations).

Example to demonstrate syntacmatic relations

Suzy Subject, which links noun to the rest of the sentence
Is Grammatical agreement
drinking Relation
hot object modifies and describes chocolate specifically
chocolate Object

Interpretation and realisation

Realisation: the visual appearance or acoustic representation of
Interpretation: the assignment of meaning to a sign

The sign hierarchy - ranks

The signs of these ranks have an internal and external structure and semiotic relations (functions and realisations).

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Paradigmatic relations - Syntax

How many items in total in the left, mid, and right sets?

The left section (different kinds of determiners) is limited because there are only a limited number of determiners. The mid section (nouns) and the right section (verbs) contain an unlimited number of nouns and verbs.

How many items in the sentence set shown?

There are altogether 18 items.

How many of these actually exist, and how many do not?

Every item exists, it I possible to exchange an item with any other to create a reasonable sentence.

Paradigmatic relations – phonology

How many items in total in the left, mid, and right sets?

In the left and in the right section three possible unvoiced plosives, in the mid section shows a selection of phonemes which refer to vowels.

How many items in the sentence set shown?

There are altogether 27 items.

How many of these actually exist, and how many do not?

Possible are all combinations.

Paradigmatic relations: morphology

How many items in total in the left, mid, and right sets?

Two different morphemes in the left section (prefixes) and two morphemes in the right section (suffixes). The mid set consists of just one morpheme (meaning). All possible combinations for this particular bound morpheme are shown.

How many items in the set shown?

There are altogether 12 items.

How many of these actually exist, and how many do not?

Only one combination is possible when creating new words out of the given morphemes. By forming a word it is possible to create other word. However some combinations would not make sense.

Identify the syntagmatic relations in the following constructions

/frIdз/, /streIts/, /prзər /

There are syntagmatic relations in phonology, the vowels are glued together

department store detective

Department is a word which consist of a stem (depart-) and a suffix (-ment). The hole
expression is glued together of department+store+detective.

three people saw a woman and her dog in the shop

three people Subject
saw Main verb
a woman accusative object
and coordinating
her dog accusative object
in the shop adverb of place

Identify the paradigmatic relations in the following sets (describe similarities and differences)

{/p/, /t/, /k/}

Similarities
All phonemes are plosives sounds meaning the speaker blocks or stops the airstream by forming a complete closure with the articulators, builds up air pressure and suddenly releases the air "explosively"

(http://coral.lili.uni-bielefeld.de/Classes/Summer97/VerbSem/vsemss97/node4.html, 8.12.1007)

Differences
The phoneme "p" is a bilabial sound which means that ii is produced by bringing both lips together. The phoneme "t" as an alveolar sound. It is produced with the tip of the tongue at or near the upper front teeth called the alveolar ridge. The phoneme "k" belongs to the plosive sounds which I already explained above.

(http://coral.lili.uni-bielefeld.de/Classes/Summer97/VerbSem/vsemss97/node4.html, 8.12.1007)

{“object”, “furniture”, “chair”, “table”}

Similarities
All words belong to the class of nouns and are interchangeable.

Differences
They have a different meaning and so they cannot be classified as synonyms.

{“walk”, “drive”, “run”, “ride”}

Similarities
All verbs describe a kind of moving

Differences

Analyse the components of the following item into units of different ranks

her step-mother bought her a pre-paid phone card

Word

her genitive object
step-mother subject
bought predicate
her dative object
a determiner
pre-paid phone card accusative object

Morpheme

derived words

step – mother step is a prefix
pre - paid pre is a prefix

compound word
phone card two stems which could stand on their own

4. Evaluation

There were a lot of new information in this lecture, probably a little bit to much, it was hard to follow the lecture. Nevertheless the topic is interesting.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

http://coral.lili.uni-bielefeld.de/Classes/Summer97/VerbSem/vsemss97/node4.html

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 9

2008-01-17T04:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Nine, 12th of December 2007

Syntax - parts of speech categories & subcategories

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

Topic was the introduction to the field of syntax and the different parts of speech categories and subcategories. The linguistics syntax is the structure of sentence that means it determines how words fit into a grammatically context.

2. Learner's Diary

Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations in syntax

Parts of speech – categories

Noun categories

Determiners

Articles
- definite: the
- indefinite: a

Possessive:
- my, your, his, her, its, our, their

Demonstratives
- proximal: this
- distal: that

Relatives, interrogatives
- what
- which
- whose

Quantifiers
- cardinal numerals: one, two, …
- existential: some, several, few, many, …
- dual: both, either, …
- universal: each, every, all, ...

Adjectives

scalar
- small ... big
- cold ... hot
- hairless ... hairy

polar
- alive / dead
- married / unmarried

appraisive
- good
- great
- wonderful

ordinal
- first, second, ...

Special scalar adjectives

adverbs of degree:
- very
- highly
- extremely
- incredibly

Nouns

Proper nouns

Names
- personal
- place
- product, etc.

Common nouns

Countable nouns: knife, fork, spoon

Mass nouns (uncountable nouns)
- bread ( a slice of bread)
- butter ( a piece of butter)
- jam ( a spoonful of jam)

Pronouns

Personal pronouns
- I/me, you, he/him, she/her, we/us, they

Possessive pronouns
- mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs

Demonstrative pronouns
- proximal: this
- distal: that, yonder (archaic)

Quantifier pronouns
- cardinal numerals: one, two, ...
- existential: some, several, few, many, ...
- dual: both, either; universal: each, every, all, ...

Relative pronouns
- more like conjunctions

Verb categories

Verbs

Main verbs

finite forms:
- person (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
- number (singular, plural)
- tense (present, past)

non-finite forms
- infinitive
- participle:
- present

Periphrastic verbs (auxiliary verb + non-finite main verb)

modal: can, may, will, shall, ought, ...

aspectual: be+prespart (continuous), have+pastpart (perfect)

passive: be+pastpart

Adverbs

Deictic
- here, there, now, then

Time (when)
- soon, immediately, yesterday, ...

Place & direction (where)
- upwards, into, towards

Manner (how)
- slowly, quickly
- cleverly, stupidly
- nicely, nastily
- well

Degree
- better dealt with in connection with adjectives

Glue categories

Prepositions

Express syntagmatic relations
Basically - make nominal expressions into adverbial expressions
Pretty much the same categories as adverbs
Except the "all purpose preposition" of

Conjunctions

Express syntagmatic relations
Co-ordinating conjunctions
- and, but
Subordinating conjunctions
conjunction - like relative pronouns
- who, which, that
- make sentences (clauses) into adjective - like noun modifiers
- i. e. basically: make sentences (clauses) into adverb - like modifiers

Interjections

Express syntagmatic relations
Interjections link parts of dialogues together:
- "Hi!"
- "er"
- "huh?"
They may also be expressions of subjective reactions:
- "Ouch!"
- "Wow!"

Phrasal categories

Definitions

Adjective Phrase (DegreeAdverb) Adjective
Nominal Phrase (Adjective Phrase) Noun
Noun Phrase (Determiner) Nominal Phrase (Relative Clause)

It is possible to add as much adjectives to a noun as practicable, example:

The very first twenty-five extremely young smart yellow ducks

The conceptual and actual world

internal language - sense
external language - performance & denotation

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Identify the part of speech of each word in this text

Inquests into the deaths of four women who were killed in Suffolk have been opened and adjourned. The hearing at Ipswich Coroner's Court found no clear cause of death for Tania Nicol and Annette Nicholls. Anneli Alderton was asphyxiated and Paula Clennell died from compression of the neck, coroner Dr Peter Dean said.The inquest into the death of another victim, Gemma Adams, was opened last week. Police are continuing to question two men about the murders. The first suspect, Tom Stephens, 37, was arrested on Monday. A second man being held has been named locally as 48-year-old Stephen Wright. Both are suspected of killing all five women.

Words Part of speech

Inquests noun
into preposition
the definite article
death uncountable noun
of preposition
four cardinal number
who relative pronoun
were killed main verb
in preposition
Suffolk noun
have been opened main verb
and coordinating conjunction
adjourned main verb

The definite article
hearing noun
at preposition
Ipswich Corner's Court noun
found main verb
no negation
clear adjective
cause noun
of preposition
death noun
for preposition
Tania Nicol noun
and coordinating conjunction
Annette Nicolls noun

Anneli Alderton noun
was asphyxiated main verb
and coordinating conjunction
Paula Clennell noun
dies main verb
from preposition
compression noun
of preposition
the definite article
neck noun
Coroner noun
Dr Peter Dean noun
said main verb

The definite article
inquest uncountable noun
into preposition
the definite article
death uncountable noun
of preposition
another quantifier pronoun
victim countable noun
Gemma Adams noun
was opened main verb
last adverb
week countable noun

Police uncountable noun
are continuing main verb
to question infinitive verb
two cardinal number
men countable noun
about preposition
murders uncountable noun

The definite article
first ordinal number
suspect countable noun
Tom Stephens noun
37 cardinal number
was arrested main verb
on preposition
Monday noun

A indefinite article
second ordinal number
man countable noun
being held passive verb + ing
has been named main verb
locally adverb of manner

Both dual quantifier
Are suspected main verb
Of preposition
Killing genitive object
All universal quantifier
Five cardinal number
Women countable noun

Group the words into larger units

nouns, articles, verbs, numbers, adverbs, prepositions, adjectives, conjunctions, …

Glue categories

Preposition

What is the meaning of “of”?

Of is a preposition and has different meanings (containing, possession, date, position, characteristics, …

Construct prepositional phrases corresponding to the types of adverbs.

time I am waiting since 20 minutes.
manner He is walking fast along the street.
direction Go down the street.
place The book is under the table.

conjunction
Find examples of conjunctions of each type and put them into sentences

I do my homework and drink a nice cup of tea.
I want to go to the party but I am to tiered.
Should we eat some chicken or a salad.
She felt asleep because the lecture was so boring.
We should go out together when you are back,.

Interjection

Find examples of 5 different interjections

Gosh (surprise)
Ahem (attention)
Ugh (disgust)
Shh (demand for silence)
Well (introducing a remark)

Select a newspaper text (about 2 or 3 sentences, not too short)

Early this month, the Farc said that it would hand the three captives over to Mr Chavez or someone designated by him. The hostage is Clara Rojas, captured during her 2002 vice-presidential campaign.

Make a small dictionary of the parts of speech

Early adverb
this pronoun
month noun
the definite article
Farc noun, proper name
said verb
that pronoun
it noun
could auxiliary verb
hand verb
the definite article
three cardinal number
captives noun
over belongs to verb
to preposition
Mr Chavez noun
or conjunction
someone pronoun
designated verb
by preposition
him personal pronoun

The definite article
hostage noun
is verb
Clara Rojas noun
captured verb
during preposition
her personal pronoun
2002 cardinal number
vice-presidential campaign

(

http://www.independent.co.uk//eceRedirect?articleId=3289218&pubId=55, 28.12.2007)

4. Evaluation

Interesting lecture and not to fast. It wasn't to difficult because the lesson was well structured. It is not obvious, if we need all the terms for the exam.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html
http://www.independent.co.uk//eceRedirect?articleId=3289218&pubId=55

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 10

2008-01-17T03:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Ten, 19th of December 2007

Semantics - interpreting signs

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

The lecture was about signs and how to interpret them.

2. Learner's Diary

The conceptual and actual world

Language signs can be discussed in terms of two domains:
- the conceptual / cognitive / mental domain
- the actual domain of behaviour and interaction by particular people at a given time
and place.

Knowledge of a language

Distinguish between:

- knowledge of a language (implicit knowledge, competence, which everybody has)
- knowledge about a language (explicit, metalinguistic knowledge, which linguists
have)

Sense and reference

The term meaning is ambiguous, it has a

general aspect: sense (German: Sinn)
- the combination of lexical and sentence meanings of an expression, dependent on semantic relations within the language

specific, concrete aspect: reference (German: Bedeutung)
- the actual objects, entities, events, etc., in the world, which an expression refers to

Example 1
- the senses of the expressions “morning star”, “evening star”, “second planet from the sun”, “the planet Venus” are different
- the reference of the expressions is the same

Example 2

- the senses of the expressions “President of Bavaria” and “Dr. Edmund Stoiber” are different
- the reference of the expressions is the same (at the moment)

Meanings

Verbal signs

- phonemes
- morphemes, words
- sentences
- texts
- dialogues

Semantic sign types (C.S. Pierce)

Index is a sign with a relationship of physical proximity with its meaning
- place
- cause
- example: smoke as an index for fire

Icon is a sign with a relationship of similarity with its meaning
- visual similarity
- acoustic similarity
- maybe similarity in the other senses
- example: sound of an animal

Symbol is a sign with an arbitrary relationship with its meaning
- example: the cross as a Christian symbol

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Compositional meaning

What do the following units add to the meanings of their parts?

derived word: unattainable
compound word: roundabout
sentence: these cats chased twenty mice
colourless green ideas sleep furiously

Find examples in English and German of
- indices – smoke point out fire
- icons - wau-wau, cock-a-doodle-do, Eiffel Tower
- symbols - traffic signs, cross (Christian sign)

Find examples of at least 3 appraisive expressions in English and German
- mangelhaft, well done, excellent, hervorragend, ausgeziechnet, that's funny

Find examples of at least 3 taboo expressions in English and German
- dickhead, bitch, nigger, Hurensohn, Fotze, Wichser

What would be a prototypical
- car: Audi
- dog: German Shepherd
- snake: Cottonmouth
- games console: Nintendo

Make your own definition for “casting show”
In a casting show some judges are looking for a talent, e.g. a singer. The attendees show their abilities to the jury and they decide who is the winner.

Describe the meaning of
- The Scissor Sisters sing - The Scissor Sisters are a band.
- Today the Scissor Sisters sing - They give a concert today.

Quantifications

Find paraphrases for
- many urged passionately... - the majority
- ... heeded not a word - nothing
- All of it was foretold - everything

What can you deduce from “not everybody came”?
- nobody came
- somebody came
- not many came
- somebody did not come
- many did not come

Conjunctions

If John is tired, then he drinks coffee

What can you deduce from this?

- If John does not drink coffee, then he is not tired. (only possible answer)

John drinks coffee and Mary drinks red wine.

What can you deduce from this?

- It is not true that John doesn’t drink coffee or Mary doesn’t drink red wine.
(only possible answer)

Figure out some more logical equivalences using
- conjunctions He is not at home and neither at work.
- not If you do not take the bus you will be late.

Analyse these signs

Keep right - the words have a symbolic meaning, the arrow is an index
lot - iconic meaning
T - symbol
No parking - symbol
Stop - index sign, colour points out danger
arrow - indexical sign
deer pass - iconic sign
no turning - symbol
right turn - index sign
right - indexical meaning
yield - index sign
bike route - iconic, symbol and index sign

4. Evaluation

Interesting was the analysing of the signs. This is a good possibility to practice.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 11

2008-01-17T02:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Eleven, 9th January 2008

Semantics: interpreting signs

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

First a revision of the topic semantics from the last session and afterwards an introduction in pragmatics, their signs and their interpreters.

2. Learner's Diary

Semantic meanings in conjunctions

The truth table

Example: and John drinks coffee and he is tiered.

P sentence q

T true T
T false F
F false T
F false F

Example: if If it rains it is cloudy.

P sentence q

T true T
T true T
T false F
F true F

Paradigmatics

Pragmatics is the study of the relations between signs and their interpreters. Fact is, that there are no meaning without signs.

Modelling pragmatics

Model of Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure described languages as signs in the memory of every person and as the foundation of social interaction. He started his research by asking himself how language is used. A channel connects the Phonation of the speaker to the auditor and back, the language signs of a language are shared by its users.

Instrumental Theory (Karl Bühler)

Karl Bühler described language as an instrument. A sign connects the speaker and the hearer, it is an instrument with which the speaker is able to effect a reaction. Most of the time there is one function which dominates the message, but normally every message contains all three functions. There are three different functions of the model:

1. expressive function (Ausdrucksfunktion) = speaker-oriented because the speaker states his a personal condition.

2. representational function (Darstellungsfunktion) = context-oriented function where objects, people etc, are described.

3. appelative function (Appellfunktion) = hearer-orientated

The Jakobson model

Jacobson described every sign as a message and the channel as the contact between speaker and hearer. The speaker has an expressive function, he utters a personal attitude. The context refers to an object in the real world, it has a representative function. The receiver has a conative function. The linguistic code has a metalingual function, there is reference to the code itself. The phatic function of language is concerned with the channel to contact. The message itself has a poetic function and describes the relations between the message and parts of the message. It has a reflexive aspect, e.g. rhyme, meter, alliteration.

Syntax – semantics – pragmatics

A traditional distinction (due to Rudolf Carnap)

- syntax: the relation of signs to each other
- semantics: the relation of signs to the world
- pragmatics: the relation of signs to their users

Example: Once upon a time there was a young lad named Jack, who lived in his house with his father, a gardener. ...

Function in reference to the model of Jakobson

- sender (expressive function): parents
- receiver (conative function): children who have a childish imagination
- poetic function: memory, form exactly, moral
- context: content of the story
- code: language which is written
- message: fairytale itself
- channel: acoustic features

Pragmatics

Appraisal

- subjective judgments, concern attitudes of the speaker and hearer, e.g. real cool
gear
- descriptive judgments, concern properties of persons, places, things, events, e.g.
floppy pink pyjamas

Taboo words
Culture specific expletives, interjections, verbs, in general concerned with:

- excretions

shit, shitty
snot, snotty
bloody (etymology: by Our Lady)

- sexual acts

fuck
wank

- sexual organs

prick, dick
cunt

- deities: names of God
- euphemisms for taboo words

Cooperation (Paul Grice)

Maxims of quantity
- Make your contribution as informative as required.
- Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

Maxims of quality
- Do not say what your believe to be false.
- Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Maxim of relation
- Be relevant.

Maxims of manner
- Avoid obscurity of expression.
- Avoid ambiguity.
- Be brief.
- Be orderly.

Politeness

Geoffrey Leech's politeness maxims (abbreviated)

The Maxim of Tact
minimise cost to other, maximise benefit to other

The Maxim of Generosity
minimise benefit to self, maximise cost to self

The Maxim of Approbation
minimise criticism of other, maximise approval of other

The Maxim of Modesty
minimise praise of self, maximise criticism of self

The Maxim of Agreement
minimise disagreement, maximise agreement

The Maxim of Sympathy
minimise antipathy, maximise sympathy

Expression of politeness

- Style: formality
- Directness vs. indirectness: indirect speech acts
- Avoidance of commitment: hedging
- Positive expression of negative judgment: euphemism
- Modification of utterance by tone of voice: prosody
- Body language: posture, position, gesture

Speech acts

Speech acts involve doing things with words, the concept of speech act was introduced by J.L. Austin and extended by J.R. Searle (and many others)

A speech act is complex and has three dimensions:

locutionary act: propositional meaning of utterance
- assigning events and states to beings, objects, etc.

illocutionary act: interactive status of utterance
- statement, question, …

perlocutionary act: effect of utterance
- insult, persuasion, learning, …

4. Evaluation

Interesting lecture, especially the point that the lecture has a clear structure and there was the possibility to practice.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 12

2008-01-17T01:00:00.000+01:00

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 1

2008-01-16T12:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture One, 16th of October 2007

Introduction

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

The first lecture was an overview of the course and its content. Mr. Gibbon started to talk about text, what a text is and how it is build up.

2. Learner's Diary

Texts are signs

A text has different types of properties, an appearance (spelling), a formulation (structure) and a meaning. So texts are signs.

Properties of a text

The world of the mind refers to the individual, and its organising of texts. Everyone organises a the text structure by themselves. In contrast to this stands the shared world it is basically about communication. Accordingly, that thing that everyone shares. So for example the medium i. e. a dictionary is shared by everyone and everyone has to have at least a similar idea of the a thing like a chair.

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Why is a portfolio important?

A portfolio can help to understand the weekly lessons and to have an easier access to in the internet. For other students a portfolio makes it possible to share information with the writer. In addition to this the writer gets to know important skills of modern media. It is important to reflect the lessons again afterwards.

What should a portfolio contain and how are these components defined?

A portfolio should contain a summary of the lecture, this is called a learner’s diary, where the main topics of the lecture are described and evaluated. Additionally, it should include a glossary to explain technical terms of every lecture and the answers which been given.

Why should a portfolio be on a website?

With a portfolio you can exchange information with other students and lecturers are able to observe your learning development. So this is the easiest way of access at any time.

How do you make a website?

You can create a website by uploading an html document onto an online server on the internet or you can go to the "hers" and upload your files there. This html document needs to have a certain form, otherwise it does not work

What is text linguistics?

Generally linguists deals mostly with words and sentences, not necessarily with their role and meaning in texts. So, text linguistics is probably about how several words and sentences form a homogeneous text and how words and texts are related to each other.

What is a website?

A website is an online document which is available for everybody who is connected to the internet. There are also embedded and linked document objects.

What is a hypertext? Give examples!

A hypertext is a text which is connected, mostly electronically, to other texts. It can be any document in the world wide web. For example Google is a search engine, which is linked to millions of web sides and consequently contains as much hypertexts.

What is a text ? What are its main properties?

A text is an collection of words which makes sense or not, when read in order. Texts are signs. The main properties of a text are:

- Appearance (what kind of material)
- Meaning (interpretation)
- Structure (headlines, chapters, title)

How do these properties relate to the mind/ to the world?

It is related to the world because everybody who can read recognize the appearance and the content of a text and its properties. They are related to the authors world by the ideas of the author which are produced in his mind.

4. Evaluation

The lecture was interesting and not to difficult.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 2

2008-01-16T11:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Two, 23rd October 2007

On defining definition

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

First a revision about texts and the topic of today, different kind of dictionaries and types of definitions.

2. Learner's Diary

The shared world
basically about communications

The world of the mind
based on the individual, the individual organises text

Different types of dictionaries

different dictionaries have different kinds of definitions
- thesaurus: associative definition
- dictionary: contextual definition

semasiological dictionary
- semantics (meaning)
- reader’s dictionary
- decoding dictionary
- you have the appearance, but you look for the word

onomasiological dictionary
thesaurus
- ono (name)
- know the meaning, looking for a word, the appearance)
Picture meaning dictionaryu

Dictionary Information

Metadata
- information about the production of a dictionary
- intended for dictionary identification

Types of lexical information in dictionary entries:
- form (appearance) e.g. spelling, pronunciation
- structure (formulation) e.g. constructions of words (sentences)
- content (meaning) definition, relations with other words, examples

Basic definition types

- circular definition (BAD) e.g. a rose, is a rose, is a rose
- contextual definition
- recursive definition
- real definition (ostensive definitions; models)

Standard dictionary definition

- X is a Y kind of Z, e.g. a poodle is a hairy kind of dog
- Definitio per genus proximum et differentia specifica
- Definition by nearest kind and specific differences

Taxonomies

Taxonomies are used in many contexts, traditional in lexicography

- cross-references in standard definitions
- thesaurus construction

Recursive definitions

The technique of defining an infinite set of entities, such as

- the set of possible sentences in a language,
- the set of possible words in a language,
- the set of natural numbers

First, define the atomic, finite case or cases, for instance for a morphological stem, then induce the infinite set, then exclude everything else.

3. Tasks and Quizzes

What is a dictionary?
A dictionary is a book of alphabetically listed words in a specific language, with good definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, and other information or a book of alphabetically listed words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon.

(Wikipedia article "dictionary", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary. 24.10.2007)

What kinds of dictionary are there?

- etymological dictionaries
- collocations dictionaries
- crossword/ scrabble dictionaries
- lexicons
- encyclopaedias
- glossaries

What is the difference between a semasiological and an onomasiological dictionary?

A semasiological dictionary is also called a reader's dictionary or decoding dictionary, it explains the meaning of word, the reader knows the appearance, bit not the meaning. An onomasiological dictionary is also called a writer's dictionary, e.g. the thesaurus, it contains synonyms and word fields. The user knows the meaning but have to look for the word or the appearance.
What other kinds of dictionaries are there?

- Dictionary of names
- Bilingual dictionary
- Etymological dictionary

What is Text Linguistics?

Generally linguists deals mostly with words and sentences, not necessarily with their role and meaning in texts. So, text linguistics is probably about how several words and sentences form a homogeneous text and how words and texts are related to each other.
What is applied text linguistics?
Using the results of text linguists to solve problems which arise in the everyday use of texts, e.g. in Word.

What are the main kinds of information in a dictionary?

Firstly, there is the metadata in which you can find information on the dictionary itself, for example the authors, publishers and on the type of dictionary, its purpose and so on. Furthermore there is the lexical information, which holds the information on the word in the dictionary, its form, structure and content.
Give examples of

- Form information (appearance): Spelling and pronunciation
- Structure information (formulation): composition, spelling, pronunciation
- Content information (meaning):definition, relations with other words, examples

What is the main kind of information which dictionary users are generally interested in?

The user of a dictionary can be interested in the content, looking for the meaning and also to look for synonyms, for a word (appearance), because the user know already have the meaning.

Find dictionary definitions of 5 different words of different parts of speech, and give examples of genus proximum and differentia specifica

banana - a long curved fruit with a thick skin, GB: fruit, DS: yellow, grows on bush

screw driver - a tool with a blade that fits in a screw, GB: tool, DS: a thin metal part and a thick part to handle it

swim - move the body through the water, GB: move through water, DS: using arms and legs

Alsatian - an animal, GB: dog, DS: long hair, from Germany

blanket – a thick woollen covering, BG: smooth thing, DS: rectangular, to cover something

What kinds of dictionaries are there?

- Semasiological dictionaries
- Thesaurus/ idioms dictionary/ onomasiological dictionary
- Bilingual and monolingual dictionaries
- Grammar dictionaries
- Pronunciation dictionary

How would you find the „best“ English dictionary?

Ask a teacher or native speaker.

Do you own a dictionary or do you borrow one from the library?

What kind of dictionary?

How often do you use it?

What do you use it for?

Would you recommend a dictionary?

Anne

1. Yes, I own two dictionaries
2. an English monolingual and an English bilingual
3. I use them nearly every day for my English studies.
4. I mostly use it to check the spelling or the meaning of the word, but I also usethe monolingual English one to get some inspiration, as you can sometimes find synonyms in the entries.
5. I would recommend my Longman's monolingual English dictionary. It helped me a lot during my time at school and I can use it at the univer sity as well.

Sarah

1. I own an English monolingual dictionary
2. See question no. 1
3. I do need it nearly every day (often)
4. spelling and meaning
5. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

Jana

1. I own one dictionary
2. I use it very often for my English studies.
3. spelling and meaning of words
4. I would recommend the Langenscheidt bilingual dictionary

Give detailed examples, from at least 3 different kinds of dictionary, of metadata and types of lexical information for 3 different kinds of lexical entry

Oxford Compact Thesaurus

Metadata

Oxford Compact Thesaurus, edited by Maurice Waite, with Lucy Hollingworth and Duncan Marshall, Oxford University Press, third edition 2005, declaration of copyright, ISBN 0-19-861030-0, content, preface, guide to the Thesaurus ,guide to the use of the dictionary

Lexical entries

foggy adjective misty, smoggy, hazy, murphy

house-trained adjective (Brit.) domesticated, trained; N. Amer. Housebroken

pub noun (Brit.) bar, inn tavern, hostelry, wine bar, taproom, roadhouse; Brit. Public house; Austrail./NZ hotel; informal watering hole; Brit. Informal local, boozes

Longman Dictionary of contemporary English

Metadata

Longman Dictionary of contemporary English; (pronunciation table, special signs, short forms and labels, grammar codes and patterns- not quite sure whether they belong to the mesostructure rather than the metadata), acknowledgements (managing editor, editors, lexicographers, pronunciation editor, proofreaders, editorial director, project manager, corpus and CD-ROM development, computational linguist and CD-ROM Project management, language notes, production editors, technical support manager, production, design, project and database administration, network administration, keyboarders, CD-ROM development, illustrators); thanks; address of the company; declaration of copyrights; date of publication of former editions; ISBN numbers (ten, one for each kind of publication); set in Nimrod, by Letterpart, UK, Printed in Italy by La Tipografica Varese; declaration of copyrights for maps and photographs; table of contents; Foreword; Introduction, “How to use the Dictionary” back matter: advertising the book itself and also hinting to other kinds of editions, bar code and ISBN of the edition( 3-526-51672-3), logos of the companies (Pearson Longman, Longman Corpus Network, British National Corpus)

Lexical entries

mallrat (blue characters), British pronunciation, American pronunciation (indicate by the $), n (part of speech noun), AmE informal a young person who goes to SHOPPING MALLS in order to be with their friends, not to buy things.

pictures of the wordfield "jump": you see a woman jump, a girl hop, a dancer leap, and a girl skip with a rope

a box in which are given phrases is connection to the entry "strike", with phrases such as be on strike and definitions for the phrases call off a strike (=decide not to continue with it) in blue box and a white box with prepositions [+by] and an example of the preposition plus word in context a six-week strike by railway workers

Pons Kompaktwörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch, Deutsch-Englisch

Metadata

Pons Kompaktwörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch, Deutsch-Englisch (Rund 130,000 Stichwörter und Wendungen. Mit CD-ROM) vollständige Neuentwicklung 2005; Ernst Klett Sprachen, bearbeitet von Evelyn Agbaria, Katja Daiss, u.a., 1. Auflge Stuttgart 2005, copyright declaration, table of contents; using this dictionary, phonetics, symbols and abbreviations

Lexical entries

covet IPA transcription vt begehren
presosition IPA transcription n Verhältniswort nt, Präposition
simulator IPA transcription n COMPUT, TECH Simulator m

Create definitions by nearest kind and specific differences for
hip-hop an urban kind of music, with a certain beat and spoken rhymes
love a deep feeling of affection and admiration towards somebody or some thing, which cannot be explained rationally
lasagna a pasta dish, which is composed traditionally of several layers of pasta, tomato sauce, minced meat and cheese and then baked in an oven

Describe in detail what is the reality and what are artefacts in

3 of the models discussed in the section on models

barbie doll the model of a young woman, artefacts: made of plastic, unrealistic figure, cannot talk, “ideal of a woman”

pictures used in dictionaries show a prototypical example of the definiendum, artefacts: mostly smaller than the original and sometime painted, only shows one kind of many different kinds, you cannot touch it

action games reality is that your virtual character can shoot with a virtual gun at virtual people and kill them. Your virtual character can look anything you like, it does not have to be human, but can be an animal or alien or fantasy character, the same counts for you virtual enemies, they can be any kind of creature. Artefacts are that you do not actually kill people, you might also be a peaceful person in real life.

in the text model given in the Text Theory introduction

The model isn't able to save memories, associations or feeling a person is connecting with a special word. Everybody has a different picture of a word in the head.

4. Evaluation

The lessons was clear structured and not difficult to understand. It is clear what a genus proximum and a differentia specifica is.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 3

2008-01-16T10:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Three, 30th of October 2007

The architecture of a dictionary

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

First a revision of the last lecture of definitions in dictionaries and the different types of dictionaries, after that an introduction of the parts of the dictionary, the megastructure, macrostructure, mesostructure and microstructure.

2. Learner's Diary

Revision

definition in dictionaries (standard definitions), X is Y kind of a Z

metadata is the general data about the dictionary (publishers, title)

semasiological dictionary
reader’s dictionary, or decoding dictionary

onomasiological dictionary
writer’s dictionary, or encoding dictionary

Types of lexical information in dictionary entries

FORM (cf. appearance), e.g. spelling, pronunciation

STRUCTURE (cf. formulation), e.g. construction of words, place of words in larger constructions (e.g. sentences)

CONTENT (cf. meaning):
- definition
- relations with other words
- examples

Parts of a dictionary

Megastructure

The megastructure of a dictionary is the entire structure of the dictionary, including
- the front matter
- abbreviations and explanations of grammar
- the body of the dictionary
- the back matter

Macrostructure

The macrostructure of a dictionary is the organisation of the lexical entries in the body of a dictionary into
- lists
- tree structures
- networks

Types of macrostructure
- semasiological
- onomasiological

Mesostructure

The mesostructure of a dictionary is the set of relations between lexical entries and other entities such as other parts of a dictionary or a text corpus.

- Links between different kinds of information
- Links between groups of lexical information types such as grammar, modality, object semantics
- Abbreviations for parts of speech (link to mini-grammar)
- Links between related entries (co-hyponyms such as synonyms, antonyms)
- References to text corpora (concordance function)
- Structure which holds the dictionary together
- Links to other examples/entries/ parts of the dictionary/text
-Cross references

Mesostructure

Microstructure

The microstructure of a dictionary is the consistent organisation of lexical information in the dictionary

- structure of each individual lexical entry
- information bout the structure of the word
- organisation of the lexical information
- content: pragmatics, semantics

Types of lexical information

The picture shows how the different structures of a dictionary are related to each other:

Synonym:
- meaning is the same
- for example: small and little

Antonym
- word meaning the opposite of another word
- antonym to little is huge

Hyponym
animal (dog cat mouse)

a dog, cat and mouse are hyponyms to the word animal

3. Tasks and Quizzes

What is the megastructure/ macrostructure of a lexicon?

The megastructure is the overall structure of the whole dictionary, consisting of the front matter (title, introduction, metadata on publishing house, publisher, date of publication, etc.) abbreviations and basic explanations, for example a mini-grammar, which is important to understand the definitions of the words, the actual body of the dictionary with its semasiological or onomasiological information and the back matter (printer, advertisements, information on the type of paper used and so on).

The macrostructure is the organisation of the lexical entries in either lists (semasiological dictionaries), tree structures (onomasiological dictionaries) or networks (electronic or online dictionaries). What is a semasiological/ onomasiological dictionary? Give examples.
A semasiological dictionary can also be called a reader's dictionary, as it explains the meaning of words, and decodes them. It consists of a list of a definitions of words, mostly also contextual explanations are given.

An onomasiological dictionary is called a writer's dictionary, as you can find synonyms and word fields there, which help you to make you choice of words a bit more variable, for example a Thesaurus. The structure of an onomasiological dictionary is a hierarchical tree structure with the most general term at the top and then specifying.

How many types of lexical information can you find?

You can find three standard types of lexical information that can be found

Content - the meaning of a word with its semantics and pragmatics.
Structure - the structure of a word consisting syntax in a text or a phrase and morphology
Rendering - the appearance or form of a word, i.e. its pronunciation and orthography

Is the microstructure of a semasiological dictionary typically a list, a tree or a network?

A listWhat kind of structure do the combined macrostructure and microstructure of a semasiological dictionary have?
A table, as it combines a vertical and a horizontal structure.
And an onomasiological dictionary?
The onomasiological dictionary has a tree structure as the thesaurus. It has lots and lots of branches (cross references).

What is the microstructure of a dictionary?

The organisation of the lexical information of the lexical entries is the microstructure of a dictionary. It is the structure of each individual entry. For a semasiological dictionary in a list with types of lexical information in a particular, consistent order. The microstructure of an onomasiological dictionary is organised as a hierarchical tree structure with the most general term on top and then specifying it.

What kind of lexical information is contained in a dictionary's microstructure?

There can be found information on the appearance (form), the meaning (pragmatics, semantics) and the structure (morphology, syntax) of a word.

How do you define “definition”? Give examples

The standard version of a definition by nearest kind (genus proximum) and specific differences (differentia specifica) e.g. a banana (definiendum) is a kind of fruit (nearest kind).

What is the mesostructure of a dictionary?
The mesostructure of a dictionary is the set of relations between lexical entries and other entities such as other parts of a dictionary or a text corpus. It links all the individual entries together within the microstructure and it also links the entries to other parts of the dictionary such as or a text corpus.

Give examples for mesostructural elements concerning

Types of information with reference to the sign model
grammar, modality or object semantics

Linguistic description references Linguistic description references such as the use of abbreviations for parts of speech or characterisations of the spelling. Cross-references between related entries Co-hyponyms like synonyms or antonyms.

Corpus references Give examples how to use a word in the right context.

Take one of your dictionaries, and describe in as much detail as possible its megastructure, macrostructure, microstructure and mesostructure

Megastructure

Dictionary of Contemporary English by Longman, published by Langenscheidt-Longman Metadata

3rd edition, year of publication 1978, 1987, 1995, printed by Druckerei Parzelller GmbH & Co. KG, ISBN Number (hard cover: 3-526-50808-9; soft cover: 3-526-508089-7), acknowledgements - short forms, labels, pronunciation table in IPA and special signs, - table of contents, preface by Randolph Quirk (Professor the Lord Quirk, FBA), Introduction by Della Summers concerning the changes and improvements on the earlier editions - explanatory chart, describing all the parts of lexical information in detail, a guide to the dictionary, explaining 1. How to find the word you are looking for, 2. Understanding meaning, 3. Frequency, 4. Grammar, 5. Information on register and usage, 6. Pronunciation, 7. British and American English - Tables on 1. Numbers, 2. Weights and Measures, 3. Military ranks, 4. Word formation, 5. The verb “be”, 6. Irregular verbs, 7. The Longman Defining Vocabulary: around 2000 words on which all the definitions in this dictionary are based, followed by the list of these words and prefixes and suffixes that can be used with words of the Defining Vocabulary, 8. Geographical names - Grammar codes Body
As it this is an semasiological dictionary it consists of an alphabetical list of words.
Back matterAn advertisement for the dictionary itself, a short list of advantages this particular dictionary offers the potential buyer, the bar code and again the ISBN No.

Macrostructure

an alphabetical list of lexical entries and in addition to that full page illustrations for the word fields: car, house, colours, describing people, fruit, vegetables, driving, pieces, kitchen, verbs in the kitchen, landscapes, weather, office, restaurant, patterns and fabrics, describing clothes, physical contact 1&2, position and direction, adjectives: broken, sounds, types of walk, sports 1&2
Microstructure orthography and syllables, pronunciation, part of speech, grammar annotations, definition contextual definitions, examples, definition, syntax, word(s) with the same stem, who do not have a separate entry, models, usage notes, tables
Mesostructure abbreviations for the parts of speech ( adj, adv, conj, n, prep, pron, v) referring to the short forms and label section of the megastructure, also signs in IPA with reference to the Pronunciation table, references to the Grammar codes (countable, uncountable noun, and so on), co- hyponyms

4. Evaluation

It is a little bit difficult to understand the structures of a dictionary. Nevertheless it was a good lecture, there should be a little bit more information.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 4

2008-01-16T09:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Four, 6th of November 2007

Lexical Databases

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

First a short revision of semasiological and onomasiological dictionaries. The new topic was about the deeper structure of the dictionary.

2. Learner's Diary

semasiological dictionary
reader’s dictionary, or decoding dictionary

onomasiological dictionary
writer’s dictionary, or encoding dictionary

dictionary information
metadata: catalogue information about the production of the dictionary, intended for dictionary identification

Types of lexical information in dictionary entries

Form (appearance) spelling, pronunciation
Structure (formulation) construction of words
Content (meaning) definition, relation with other words, examples

The surface structure of dictionaries

Semasiological dictionaries

the basic form is a TABLE
- the rows are lexical entries, with a specific microstructure
- the columns are single types of lexical information
- if the orthography or phonology of a lexical item is ambiguous, then
- either the item is repeated with the new information
- or a sub-table is created

but this depends on the kind of ambiguity
- homonymy (homography, homophony)
Homographs: Band, band
Homophones: meet, meat
- polysemy

Definitions and etymology out of: http://www.m-w.com/.

4. Evaluation

The work with the table and the presentation of OneLook was very good and helpful. We revised the topic semasiological and onomasiological dictionaries a third time.
.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 5

2008-01-16T08:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Five, 13th of November 2007

Revision

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

The lecture was a revision of the topics of the last lectures. Mr. Gibbon talked about the different types of dictionaries and its different parts and again OneLook.

2. Learner's Diary

Different types of dictionaries

semasiological dictionary

- reader’s dictionary, or decoding dictionary
- you have the appearance, but you look for the word: spelling, meaning

onomasiological dictionary
- writer’s dictionary, or encoding dictionary
- an example is the thesaurus
- you know the meaning, but you are looking for another word (for the appearance)

Parts of the dictionary

Microstructure

- organisation of the actual lexical entry
- Information bout the structure of the word
- Organisation of the lexical information
- Content: pragmatics, semantics

the microstructure of a dictionary is the consistent organisation of lexical information in the dictionary

Macrostructure

- Body of the dictionary
- Types of macrostructure: Organising macrostructure by semasiological and onomasiological
- Organisation of lexical entries
macrostructure is the organisation of the lexical entries in the body of a dictionary into lists, tree structures, networks

Mesostructure

- Links between different kinds of information
- Structure which holds the dictionary together
- Links to other examples/entries/ parts of the dictionary/text
- Cross references
- the mesostructure of a dictionary is the set of relations between lexical
entries and other entities such as other parts of a dictionary or a text corpus

Megastructure

- includes micro-, macro and mesostructure and metadata
- front matter (title, publisher)
- abbreviations and explanations of grammar (e.g. adj for adjective)
- the body of the dictionary (entries)
- the back matter (explanations, advertisement
entire structure of the dictionary

Illustration of table construction

Homonym
spelling and pronunciation is the same

Homophone
same pronunciation, not the same spelling (meet, meat)

Homograph
same spelling, not the same pronunciation (export, export)

4. Evaluation

The revision was very useful, some topics are a little bit difficult.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 6

2008-01-16T07:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Six, 20th of November 2007

Types of Lexical Information - Pronunciation

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

Topic of this lecture was pronunciation, the difference between phonetic and phonemic transcriptions and the complex structure of English syllables.

2. Learner's Diary

Surface structure

- linguistic description - metalanguage
- units of language - object language

Surface structure

Dictionaries
- metalanguage, the typography and layout of a book, hypertext, ...

Words in dictionaries
- object language
- spelling
- pronunciation

Types of lexical information – pronunciation

Transcriptions

phonetic transcriptions

- broad phonetic transcription:
- does not need any details
- represent phonemes as they occur in the text

- narrow phonetic transcription
- very detailed
- allophones can be seen
- represents the details of phones

phonemic representation

- phonemic transcription
- transcription in dictionaries
- in the IPA
- the minimum amount of pronunciation to distinguish a word

morphonemic representation

- represents morphophonemes as they occur in grammatical contexts

phonemic transcription
- transcription used in dictionaries
- preferably in the IPA
- minimum amount of pronunciation

phonetic transcription
- as many details as possible
- actual pronunciation of phonemes (allophones, clear and dark l)

Prosodic hierarchy

Phonemes

- function: “smallest word-distinguishing segments”
- internal structure: “configuations of distinctive phonetic features”
- external structure (see syllables)
- rendering: “contextual variants”, “allophones”

Syllables

- function: “word distinguishing phoneme configurations”
- internal structure: “configurations of sequential features (consonantal, vocalic; voiced, unvoiced; ...) and simultaneous features (tone, accent)
- external structure (word)
- rendering: a function of the rendering of phonemes

Phonemes are signs
- function: smallest word-distinguishing segments
- internal structure: distinctive features
- external structure: smallest unit of a syllable
- rendering/appearance: set of allophones

English syllables

Basic syllable structure
- CCCVVCCC, e.g. /streIndZ/ - but affricates /dZ/, count as 1 phoneme, though phonetically they have 2 parts.

More detailed syllable structure - like a map
- this kind of map is sometimes called a transition network or a state diagramme - each transition from one circle/node/state describes the correct position of one phoneme.

Spelling-to-sound rules

Spelling, visual modality

“i before e except after c”, consonant doubling

Graphemes, character combination corresponding to a phoneme

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Make a list of 5 spelling rules

- ck may only be used after a single vowel that does not say its name at the end of a syllable or root word.
- If a word ends in a consonant plus y, change the y to and i, before adding any ending, except ing.
- ous at the end of a word often means full of.
- double l, f, and s after a single short vowel at the end of a word.
- Drop the final e from a root word before adding an ending beginning with a vowel, but keep it before a consonant.

(http://www.amity.org.uk/Training/Spelling%20Rules/Spelling%20Rules.htm, 22.11.2007)

Make a list of 5 main spelling problems

- swallowed syllables, three syllables pronounced as two syllables.
- silent letters
- homophones, words which sound the same.
- same sound, different spelling
- unusual letter combinations

(http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aaspellinga.htm, 22.11.2007)

List the consonants of German which do not occur in English

The consonants /ç/, /X/ and ß

List the consonants of English which do not occur in German

The consonants /θ/ and /ð/

List the vowels of German which do not occur in English

The vowels /o/, /ø/, /y/, /oə/ and /ү/

List the vowels of English which do not occur in German

The vowels /з/ and /æ/

List the characters of German which do not occur in English

The characters ä, ö, ü, ß

List the characters of English which do not occur in German

All occur in German

List 5 English graphemes containing more than one character

ea - tea, beauty, meat
oi - oil, boil
kn - knight
sh - ship
ck - clock

List 5 German graphemes containing more than one character

ch - Mädchen, Eiche
ie - Fliege, siegen
sch - schlafen
pf - Pflug, pfeifen
au – Klaue

4. Revision

The syllable structure was very interesting, a huge number. The lecture was useful to give all the fact of the lectures a structure.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aaspellinga.htm

http://www.amity.org.uk/Training/Spelling%20Rules/Spelling%20Rules.htm

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 7

2008-01-16T06:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Seven, 27th of November 2007

Types of Lexical Information - Pronunciation

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

Topic of the lection were types of lexical information, especially phonemes and graphemes. The lecture started with a revision.

2. Learner's Diary

Graphemes
the smallest unit of writing which corresponds with a phoneme

Phonemes
sound different in different relationships

Phonemes

There are several ways of defining phonemes, depending on which of the four sign components is focussed.

- the minimal word-distinguishing sound segment (based on the contrastive function of phonemes)

- The smallest unit of a syllable (based on external sound structure)

- Consists of distinctive features (based on the internal sound structure)

- Consists of a set of allophones (based on the rendering of phonemes)

A classic

To test pronunciation.

Spelling-to-sound rules

Exceptions: spelling pronunciations

- Words which were previously pronounced differently
- There are historically motivated oddities of spelling
- Pronunciation was adapted to spelling

Examples
Berkeley
circuit
Cholmondley
clothes
conduit

3. Tasks and Quizzes

See last lecture

4. Evaluation

The poem was great and very interesting, some words are easier, some are difficult. The page with the spelling rules is very helpful, also for later studies.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 8

2008-01-16T05:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Eight, 4th of December

Types of lexical Information - Morphology

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

The topic of the lecture was morphology, it consists of two parts, word formation and inflection.

2. Learner's Diary

One example for word formation is the poem from Lewis Carroll Jabberwocky, taken from the book Alice through the looking glass. Carroll blended two words to create a new, better sounding word.

Morphological structure

Morphology a summary

Inflection
- function (external structure): marks the relation of words to their contexts, there is no change in the basic meaning of words
- form (internal structure): affix, stem vowel change

word formation:
- functionality (external structure): creation of new words, parts of speech, meanings
- form (internal structure): root morpheme creation, derivation, compounding

Morphemes

Morphemes are the smallest meaningful parts of words.

Two main morpheme types:

lexical morphemes (content morphemes, root)
- they have an open set: open set: girl, boy, car, box

grammatical morphemes (structural morphemes)
- closed set: you cannot invent new ones
- free: grammatical words: prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary words
- bound: affixes, suffixes (inflection, derivation) – cannot occur on their own

Morphemes and allomorphs

Morphemes are realised in different contexts by allomorphs

Inflected words have a stem and an inflection

Derivation

- based on one root
- internal structure: 1 stem + affixes
- external structure: suffixes may create new parts of speech
- new meaning
- new forms of words

Recursive definition

Definition in which the concept you are defining occurs
- integer: integer + 1

Compounds

Form at least two existing stems: whiskey-soda

4 different types of a compound
- endocentric
- bicentric
- exocentric
- synthetic compounds
- word consists s stem and the inflection

Blending

Take one part of one word and the second part of another - put them together afterwards
- brunch: breakfast & lunch

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Define

Morpheme
Morphemes are the smallest meaningful parts of words.

Lexical morpheme
Lexical morphemes or content morphemes are the main components of words, they are also called roots. There is an open set of them.

Grammatical morpheme
Grammatical morphemes are structural morphemes. There are free ones: prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs and there are bound ones affixes and suffixes in inflection and word formation. There is a limited number of these as it takes a very long time for new grammatical morphemes to develop.

Stem
A stem (or base) is either a root (lexical morpheme) or a derived stem i.e. stem + affix (derivation) or a compound stem i.e. stem + stem (compounding) and nothing else is a stem.

Derived stem
A derived stem is either a root (zero derivation) or a stem plus an affix. Nothing else is a derived stem.

Compound stem
A compound stem is a derived stem or a word plus a derived stem or a word or a compound stem plus a compound stem. Nothing else is a compound stem.

What is the difference between inflection and derivation?
Inflection and word formation? Inflections do not change the basic meaning of a word, they only have grammatical meanings and they are used to put words into context and produce for example subject-verb-agreements or : he walks/ she walked/ we walk (the action stays the same only the time at which this action takes place and the number of people who do it change).

What is the difference between derivation and compounding?
In derivation you only use one stem and add an affix to create a new word, in compounding you put together two or more stems to create a new word. Synthetic compounds are a combination of both namely derivation plus a stem. There is also blending where you create new stems (blend two different words to create a new simple word).

Collect 5 longish words and divide them into morphemes

misplaced mis-place-d
biannually bi-annu-al-ly
antisocialism anto-social-ism
disagreement dis-agree-ment
surrealism sur-real-ism

Try translating Jabberwocky ….

Das Jammerloch

Es war brüllich und die glitschigen Tore
Waren wirbeln und gimbelnd in der Wabe
All mimsig waren die Burgoven
Und der Mome rät ausgrabe.

"Nimm in Acht dich vor Jammerloch!
Die Ketten die beißen, die Klauen, die schaben
Nimm in Acht dich vor dem Jubjub-Vogel und Sohn
Die furiose Bänderschlange."

Er nahm sein Vorschlag-Schwert in die Hand
Lange Zeit das Ziel seiner Träume
Er macht Rast am Tumtum-Baum
Und stand eine Weile herum.

Und als er so da stand
Das Jammerloch mit seinen Augen aus Feuer
Kam gewunden durch den dunklen Wald
Und rülpste als es kam.

Eins, zwei! Eins, zwei! Und durch und
Durch
Die vopals Klinge ging schwup-wup
Er ließ es tot and mit seinem Kopf
Ging er triumphierend nach Hause.

Und, hast du den Jammerloch besiegt?
Komm in meine Arme, mein tapferer Junge
Ein famoser Tag! Hip Hip, Hurra
Rief er in Freude aus.

Es war brüllich und die glitschigen Tore
Waren wirbeln und gimbelnd in der Wabe
All mimsig waren die Burgoven
Und der Mome rät ausgrabe.

4. Evaluation

An interesting lecture, but to much information, it was hard to follow Mr. Gibbon and the lecture.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 9

2008-01-16T04:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Nine, 11th of December 2007

Types of lexical information - grammar

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

The topic of the lecture was grammar, a wide field which covers orthography, phonology, morphology, syntax (sentence structure) and lexical idiosyncrasies and sometimes the sentence structure.

2. Learner's Diary

Syntax

The term syntax originally mean structure. Sometimes it is also restricted to mean sentence structure. Other meaning are word grammar, word syntax, text grammar, text syntax.

Sentence Structure

A structure is an arrangement of objects in a certain order in relation to each other. This applies to e.g. architecture, traffic systems, paintings, music, written and spoken language.

A structure consists of relations of two kinds

paradigmatic relations
- classificatory relations of similarity and difference between objects

syntagmatic relations
- compositional relations between parts of a larger whole

Syntagmatic relations in syllables
Syntagmatic relations in words
Syntagmatic relations in sentences

Pictures

Sentence Structure

Sentences consist of

Words which are grouped into larger phrases

Phrases which are grouped into
- even larger phrases
- and into sentences

Sentences which may also be grouped into more complex sentences:
- with subordinate clauses
- relative clauses
- adverbial clauses
- or with coordinate clauses
- and
- but
- for

Definition of a sentence

Simple sentence
A sentence is a simple sentence if it consists of only one clause
The Pepsi worker allegedly assaulted the Coca-Cola employee.

Coordinating sentence
A sentence is a sentence linked with a sentence by means of a coordinating conjunction, e.g. but, and
An assembly worker hid screws in a specially designed hiding place and took up to 7,000 home with him every day.

Subordinating sentence
A sentence is a sentence with a subordinate simple sentence (clause) inserted into it, e.g. relative clause, adverbial clause
A car dealership owner killed two employees because they kept asking for more pay.

Exclusion condition
Nothing else is a sentence.

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations

Picture

Syntactic categories (parts of speech)

Nominal categories
- Nouns
- Pronouns (special glue: co-reference)
- Articles
- Adjectives

Verbal categories
- Verbs
- Adverbs

Glue categories:
- Prepositions (intra-sentence glue)
- Conjunctions (inter-sentence glue)
- Interjections (dialogue glue)

Nominal categories - determiner

Articles
- definite: the
- indefinite: a

Possessives
- my, your, his, her, its, our, their

Demonstratives
- proximal: this
- distal: that

Quantifiers
- cardinal numerals: one, two, ...
- existential: some, several, few, many, ...
- dual: both
- universal: each, every, all, ...

Nominal categories - adjectives

Adjective types:

scalar:
- small ... big
- cold ... hot
- hairless ... hairy

polar:
- alive / dead
- married / unmarried

appraisive (scalar or polar?):
- good
- great
- wonderful

ordinal:
- first, second, ...

Special feature of scalar adjectives:

“adverbs” of degree
- very
- highly
- extremely
- incredibly

Nominal categories - nouns

Proper nouns

names
- personal
- place
- product

Common nouns

Countable nouns
- knife, fork, spoon

Mass nouns (uncountable nouns):
- bread (a slice of bread)
- butter (a piece of butter)
- jam (a spoonful of jam)

Nominal categories - pronouns

Personal pronouns
- I/me, you, he/him, she/her, we/us, they

Possessive pronouns
- mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs

Demonstrative pronouns
- proximal: this
- distal: that, yonder (archaic)

Quantifier pronouns
- cardinal numerals: one, two, ...
- existential: some, several, few, many, ...
- dual: both
- universal: each, every, all, ...

Relative pronouns
- more like conjunctions

Verbal categories - verbs

Main verbs

finite forms
- person (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
- number (singular, plural)
- tense (present, past)

non-finite forms
- infinitive
- participle:
present
perfect

Periphrastic verbs (auxiliary verb + non-finite main verb)
- modal: can, may, will, shall; ought, ...
- aspectual: be+prespart (continuous), have+pastpart (perfect)
- passive: be+pastpart

Property of verbs

Internal structure

simple:
- stem + inflection

periphrastic:
- auxiliary verb sequence + main verb (might have been being repaired)

External structure of verbs
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Ditransitive
- Prepositional
- Phrasal
- Sentential

Verb categories - adverbs

Deictic
- here, there; now, then

Time
- soon

Place
- source
- path
- goal

Direction
- into, ...
- towards

Manner

Degree
- better dealt with in connection with adjectives

Glue categories - prepositions

- Basically - make nominal expressions into adverbial expressions
- Pretty much categories as adverbs
- Except the “all purpose preposition” of

Glue categories - conjunctions

Co-ordinating conjunctions
- and, but

Subordinating conjunctions
- conjunction-like relative pronouns
make sentences (clauses) into adjective-like noun modifiers

- basically
make sentence (clauses) into adverb-like verb modifiers

Glue categories - interjections

Interjections link parts of dialogues together:
- “Hi!”
- “er”
- “huh?”

They may also be expressions of subjective reactions:
- “Ouch!”
- “Wow!”

3. Tasks and Quizzes

What happens when you count “uncountable” nouns?

It is not possible to count uncountable nouns, they are mass nouns, they are intangible.

What is the meaning of “of”?

- possession
- amount
- space or time
- position
- characteristics
- date
- containing

Construct prepositional phrases corresponding to the types of adverbs

Deictic When I pass my class, we meet over there.
Time He is waiting since two hours.
Place We can't meet at the cafeteria.
Direction The next city is down the river.
Manner That is fantastic.

Find examples of conjunctions of each type

Coordinating conjunctions and, but, or, so, for
Subordinating conjunctions after, if, when, although, whether, because

Find examples of 5 different interjections

Dear expressing pity
Hm expressing hesitation, doubt
Oh expressing surprise, pain
Ugh means "distinguish!"
Gosh expression of surprise, amazement

Describe as many syntactic facts as possible about the example text - parts of speech, sentence types, syntagmatic relations, paradigmatic relations ...

A McDonald's employee was arrested, jailed and is facing criminal charges because a police officer got sick after a hamburger he ate was too salty. The employee accidentally spilled salt on some hamburger meat and told her supervisor and co-worker, who "tried to thump the salt off." The employee was charged because she
served the burger "without regards to the well-being of anyone who might consume it."

A indefinite article
McDonald's employee noun, subject
was arrested past participle, passive verb
jailed passive verb
and conjunction
is main verb
facing verb, continuous form
criminal adjective
charges noun
because subordinating conjunction
a indefinite article
police officer noun, subject
got main verb
sick adverb
after subordinating conjunction
a indefinite article
hamburger countable noun
he personal noun
ate main verb
was main verb, past tense
too adverb of degree
salty adverb of manner

the definite article
employee noun, subject
accidentally adverb of manner
spilled main verb, past tense
salt noun, accusative object
on preposition
some quantifier
hamburger meat noun
and coordinating conjunction
told main verb, past tense
her personal pronoun
supervisor noun, dative object
and conjunction
co-worker noun, dative object
who relative pronoun
tried main verb
to thump infinitive verb
the definite article
salt noun, accusative object
off preposition

the definite article
employee noun, subject
was charged passive, past participle verb
because subordinating conjunction
she personal pronoun, subject
served main verb, past tense
the definite article
burger noun, accusative object
without adjective
regards noun
to preposition
the definite article
well-being noun
of preposition
anyone pronoun
who pronoun
might modal auxiliary verb
consume main verb
it personal pronoun, accusative object

Types of sentences

A McDonald's employee was arrested, jailed and is facing criminal charges
- coordinating conjunction

because a police officer got sick after a hamburger he ate was too salty.
- subordination conjunction (because)
- relative clause follows (after)
The employee accidentally spilled salt on some hamburger meat and told her supervisor and co-worker
- coordinating conjunction connects the two main clauses

who "tried to thump the salt off."
- pronoun, explains the situation

The employee was charged because she served the burger "without regards to the well-being of anyone who might consume it."
- subordinating clause connects the main clause with the subordinate clause

4. Evaluation

An interesting lecture, but to much information, it was hard to follow Mr. Gibbon and the lecture.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 10

2008-01-16T03:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Ten, 18th of December 2007

Types of lexical meaning: Semantics

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introdution

Today's Lecture was about the lexical information in a dictionary, especially semantics and a revision of parts of speech.

2. Learner's Diary

Glue categories: Interjections

Conjunctions

coordinating conjunctions ( and - joins two verb phrases)
subordinating conjunctions (because – reason, cause; after)

Adverbs

e.g. accidentally (of manner)

Verbs

e.g. arrested, jailed, …
- transitive verb (asks for an object/ passive)
- intransitive verb ( active)

Semantics

Semantics describe the studies of meaning. There is a distinguish between

Paradigmatic definition

Sense (intensional) definition
- Componential definition (e.g. standard dictionary definition)
- Relational definition (e.g. synonym, antonym)
- Field definition (e.g. the word field of furniture / animals)

Reference (extensional) definition
- Ostensive definition
- Definition by model (illustration, etc)

Syntagmatic definition

Definition in context
- examples
- text selections

Paradigmatic approaches

Semantic fields
- sets of related words
- hierarchical organisation (set inclusion & overlap)

Semantic relations
- defining relationships within semantic fields
- hierarchical relations:
- taxonomy (hyponymy/hyperonymy)
- meronomy (relations between parts of wholes)
- co-hyponymy relations: synonymy, antonymy

Semantic components
- splitting meanings into smaller parts
- associating components of meanings with broader semantic fields

Standard Dictionary Definition

1. Definito per genus proximum and differentia specifica
2. X is a Y kind of Z

- definition by nearest kind and specific differences
- definition: definiendum = definiens
- definiendum: the word to be defined

Defines:
- genus proximum + differentia specifica
- a list of examples
- a pointer to a text corpus
- a model (e.g. picture)
- a real example

Relational Definitions - Taxonomies

Taxonomies are used in many contexts, in traditional lexicography:
- cross-references in standard definitions
- thesaurus construction

Summery of semantic relations

taxonomy (generalisation-specialisation relation, paradigmatic relations)

- hyperonym
- hyponym
- synonym: compatible words, which do not change the general meaning
- antonym: expresses the opposite of a word
- opposite
- complementary
- inverse
- co-hyponym: one of the hyponyms

meronomy (part-whole relation, syntagmatic relations)

3. Tasks and Quizzes

Semantic decomposition into semantic components

Define “definition”

A definition is a statement of the meaning of a word or phrase. The term to be defined is known as the definiendum (Latin: that which is to be defined). The words which define it are known as the definiens (Latin: that which is doing the defining).

(Wikipedia article "definition". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definition, 23.12.2007)

Select a small number of words from these texts, and provide definitions for them

boat - is a watercraft to transport something over water
bread - is a kind of food, made of dough
water - is a common chemical substance, essential to all forms of life

Imagine the meaning of the word “” is composed of lots of little bits of meaning. List these bits of meaning

Semantic relations

Select a small number of words from the text, and find antonyms for them

hot - cold
woman - man
child - adult

Semantic fields
Sets of related words

synonyms - friend and chap
antonyms - dry and cold
hyponym - Pumpernickel is a kind of bread
hypernym - bread is a hypernym of Pumpernickel

Discuss the following using the Ginger Beer text, giving examples

semantic components

yeast, sugar, ethyl alcohol, carbon diokide

semantic relations

wine, beer and champagne are hyponyms of the hyponym beverages
raising, brewing and carbonating are synonyms of fermentation

semantic fields

beverages - wine, beer, champagne an effervescent drinks
chemistry - ethyl alcohol, carbon, dioxide

different types of definitions

Componential definitions
Syntagmatic definitions
Paradigmatic definitions

4. Evaluation

An interesting and funny lecture and not to many information. The recipe for the Christmas pudding was a nice gift to the students.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 11

2008-01-16T02:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Eleven, 4th of January 2007

Semantics - revision

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

First a revision of the topic semantics, after the revision we started a new topic pragmatics and the most important facts.

2. Learner's Diary

Microstructure

- properties of lexical entries
- microstructure information types
- modality structure meaning
- derived noun: depoodler
- derived verb: poodlize
- compund noun: poodleface

Approaches to define meaning

Paradigmatic definition

sense (intentional) definition
- concept of something, ideal
- componential definition (standard dictionary definition)
- relational definition (synonym, antonym)
- field definition (word fields)

reference (extensional) definition
- a rose is a rose is a rose
- ostensive definition
- definition by model

syntagmatic definition (definition in context)
- love: has a sense but no reference
- pegasus: the same
- dragons: as well

onomasiological definition: semantic fields
semasiological definition: components

Taxonomy

Hyponym
Antonym
- opposite: good and evil
- complementary: more than two: tall – short, big – small
- inverse: involving a syntagmatic relation between items: X is the husband of Y, Y is the wife of X

hyponyms: of creature are animals: bird, fish
co-hyponym: negation: animal not a plant
genus proximum: three different ways to define a thing

Pragmatics

- intention
- how a word can be used
- concerning practical matters
- straightforward
- functionality
- practical, way of doing something
- action

pragmatics: study of what people do with signs (relation of sign and user)
semantics: sense of signs, signs and the world

pragmatic meanings

- value judgements
“my favourite dog”, “very nice”, “cool”
they do not describe, they tell you something about the speaker (personal impression)

speech acts

doing things with words
- stating, claiming, promising, predicting,….

3. Tasks and Quizzes

semantic fields: sets of related words: baking->yeast, sugar, raising bread, baker, Saccharomyces cerevisiae; fermentation-> raising bread, fermenting wine, brewing beer, ethyl alcohol, carbon dioxide, carbonate different types of definition Saccharomyces cerevisiae: a fungus (genus proximum), fermentation (defined by examples): used by mankind for thousands of years for raising bread, fermenting wine and brewing beer; carbonate (defined by an example): addition of bubbles to champagne

4. Evaluation

The part about sense and reference is clear to me. Especially the example with the Venus made it extremely understandable. With the homework I had some difficulties, because I do not know if I understand everything in the right way.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 12

2008-01-16T01:00:00.000+01:00

Lecture Twelve, 15th January 2008

Computational Lexicography

1. Introduction
2. Learner's Diary
3. Tasks and Quizzes
4. Evaluation
5. References

1. Introduction

This was the last lecture with relevant information for the exam. Topic was the computational lexicography, this describes how the lexicographers handle words.

2. Learner's Diary

Criteria for good lexicography

Quantity

Completeness of coverage:
- extensional coverage: number of entries
- intensional coverage: number of types of lexical information

Quality

Correctness of information:
- Types of lexical information

Consistency of structure:
- Macrostructure
- Microstructure
- Mesostructure

Demonstration at the lexicographic workflow cycle

Lexical data acquisition

From corpus to lexicon

Corpus

Layer 1
Primary data (audio / video recording)

Layer 2
Secondary data (transcription, annotation, metadata)

Lexicon

Layer 1
Corpus lexicon (wordlist, concordance, HMM, ... )

Layer 2
Lexicon matrix (entries x data categories, no generalisations)

Layer 3
Lexicon with selected generalisations (procedurally optimised: semasiological, onomasiological)

Layer 4
Lexicon with generalisation hierarchies (general, type, default, inheritance)

Concordances

What is a concordance?

A KWIC (KeyWord In Context) concordance is a special kind of preliminary, corpus based dictionary, each word in a text corpus is paired with its contexts of occurrence in this corpus

Example:

My first sight of England was on a foggy March night in 1973 when I arrived on the midnight ferry from Calais. (Bill Bryson: Notes from a Small Island)

Alphabetical ordered KWIC
KWIC - Keywords with right-hand contexts

1973 when i arrived
a foggy march night
arrived on the midnight
calais
england was on a
ferry from calais
first sight of england
foggy march night in
from calais
i arrived on the
in 1973 when i
march night in 1973
midnight ferry from calais
my first sight of
night in 1973 when
of england was on
on a foggy march
on the midnight ferry
sight of england was
the midnight ferry from
was on a foggy
when i arrived on

KWIC concordance construction

The KWIC procedure

1. Corpus creation: make a corpus of texts in electronic format

2. Tokenisation (re-process each text):
- process punctuation marks
- break the text into context units (lines/sentences)

3. Keyword list extraction (all words in text)

4. Context collation (for each keyword)

5. Search for KWIC in corpus

6. Store output and format
- for printing, hypertext (CD, web)

3. Tasks and Quizzes

What is a KWIC concordance?

KWIC is a computer based dictionary. Every word is integrate in the context of the text. A popular kind of KWIC concordance is Google.

Which are the two main components of lexicon construction based on empirical data?

Corpus creation and lexicon creation are the main components

Which layers of abstraction are involved in corpus acquisition?

Layer 1 - Primary data (audio / video recording)
Layer 2 - Secondary data (transcription, annotation, metadata)

Which layers of abstraction are involved in lexicon construction? Describe them.

Layer 1 - Corpus lexicon (wordlist, concordance, HMM)
Layer 2 - Lexicon matrix (entries x data categories, no generalisations)
Layer 3 - Lexicon with selected generalisations (procedurally optimised: semasiological, onomasiological)
Layer 4 - Lexicon with generalisation hierarchies (general, type, default inheritance)

Which layer do standard dictionary types typically belong to?

Layer 4 - Lexicon with generalisation hierarchies (general, type, default inheritance)

What are the 6 main steps in KWIC concordance construction?

1. Corpus creation: make a corpus of texts in electronic format

2. Tokenisation (re-process each text):
- process punctuation marks
- break the text into context units (lines/sentences)

3. Keyword list extraction (all words in text)

4. Context collation (for each keyword)

5. Search for KWIC in corpus

6. Store output and format
- for printing, hypertext (CD, web)

Describe the 6 stages of KWIC concordance construction

1. Corpus creation/collation – put the text in an electronically format.

2. Tokenisation – remove all capital letters and all punctuation marks.

3. Keyword list extraction – put the words into a list and sort them alphabetically, remove duplicate words.

4. Context collation – to integrate the words in a context put three words on the left and three on the right. Split into units of length m+1+n.

5. Keyword search – find correlation for words which occur more than one time.

6. Output formatting – make the design user-friendly and bring together all information.

What can a KWIC concordance be used for?

It can be used for grammatical descriptions or dictionaries.

4. Evaluation

The topic was interesting but it was not easy to understand the KWIC programme. A little bit confusing from time to time.

5. References

http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Classes/Classes2007WS/ITL/index.html