Introduction to Linguistics - Lecture 9

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

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

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

How to make a dictionary - Lecture 1

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

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

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