Lecture № 2: On Defining Definition

2-nd Session: 24.10.2006

3-rd Session: 31.10.2006

Summary of the session: 24.10 *-*; 31.10 *-*

Quizzes: 24.10 *-*; 31.10 *-*

Homeworks: 24.10 *-*; 31.10 *-*

 

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Summary of the lecture - 24.10.2006

• This is the first lecture dedicated fully to how the dictionary is created. Here we discussed the different types of definitions.

• CHECK OF THE HOMEWORK FOR THE DAY

  • Examples of dictionaries – semasiological and onomasiological subtypes; other types;

• THE “MEANING” OF A DICTIONARY: INFORMATION ABOUT WORD

  • Dictionary information is two types:

    • metadata – catalogue information about the production of the dictionary; it is used to identify the dictionary; used in, for instance, a library catalogue; it includes publisher, edition, publishing house, date, editor, etc.

    • lexical information. There are three Types of Lexical Information in dictionary entries:

      • FORM (or appearance) – spelling, pronunciation;

      • STRUCTURE (or formulation) – construction of words, place of words in larger constructions (e.g. Sentences);

      • CONTENT (or meaning):

        • definitions

        • relations with other words

        • examples

  • Model of Types of Lexical Information – this is the triangular model (cf. last session). The information in a dictionary is organised like that model:

    • text structure (formulation, “syntax”);

    • meaning (content, semantics, pragmatics);

    • appearance (rendering, modality, media);

  • Basic definition types – definitions can be good and bad:

    • good definitions:

      • Standard Dictionary Definition (SDD): X is a Y kind of Z – this is the main type of definition used and needed in dictionaries

      • Contextual Definition

      • Recursive Definition: a definition referring to itself and to an infinite set – for example, ancestor-either a parent or a parent of an ancestor

      • Real Definition:

        • Ostensive definitions – definitions by showing; these are pictorial definitions (simply pictures): for example, the picture of a poodle, terrier, etc. in a pictorial dictionary or in an alphabetically ordered semasiological dictionary as a part of the Standard Dictionary Definition. It can be said that it is a special kind of a Contextual Definition – the context is around us

        • Models (e.g. text/information model) – it stands for the ideal idea of something; Example: Kate Moss stands for the ideal, perfect woman. The other qualities of Kate Moss (drugs, etc) are artefacts. A model train stands for real train.

    • bad definitions – sometimes they are unavoidable:

      • Circular Definition

  • SDD – Definitio per genus proximum et differentia speciffica or definition by nearest kind and specific differences or X is a Y kind of Z. X is definiendum and either Y or Z definiens. SDD is most applicable to nouns and then to verbs. Examples:

    • BABBLE – to say or talk quickly and foolishly or in a way that is hard to understand.

    • BABY – a very young CHILD, especially one who has not yet learnt to speak or walk. Here BABY is the definiendum (X), CHILD is the nearest kind/genus proximum (Z) and specific differences/differentia speciffica is a very young and perhaps the other part of the sentence in which are given other specificities of the definiendum: X(BABY) is a Y(a very young) kind of Z(CHILD).

    • BAD – not GOOD; unpleasant, unwanted, or unacceptable. This adjective is defined in another way, by supplying synonyms or antonyms (by their negation).

    • BLUE – of the colour of the clear sky or of the deep sea on a fine day. Here, defining another adjective, are given the typical examples or images. X(sky) is a Y(clear sky) kind of Z(colour).

• COMPONENTS OF DEFINITIONS

  • example – POODLE ["pu:dl] n 1. a dog with thick curling hair, often cut in special shapes – see picture at DOG 2. be someone"s poodle BrE humour derog to be too ready to obey someone or support them in whatever they do

  • POODLE is the definiendum, DOG is genus proximum, WITH THICK CURLING HAIR is differentia speciffica (OFTEN CUT IN SPECIAL SHAPES relates to hair).

  • Taxonomy – it is a genus proximum hierarchy or a tree structure. It is a hierarchy based on implication (the most specific member of the hierarchy is placed in the bottom and the most general one is on top; it is a bottom-to-top hierarchy with intermediate members). For example:

  animal

  dog cat

  poodle terrier

  Either a poodle or a terrier is a dog; a dog is an animal.

  Taxonomies are used in many contexts. Besides all, they are used in traditional lexicography: a taxonomy based dictionary is called THESAURUS; cross-references in SDD (DOG ... see POODLE).

  • ELEMENTS OF A DEFINITION: genus proximum, definition by enumeration of hyponyms, definition by negation of a co-hyponym. Example, CREATURE a living being (genum proximum) of any kind, but not a plant (negation of co-hyponym); an animal, bird, fish, etc. (enumeration of hyponyms).

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Quiz - 24.10.2006:

What are the main kinds of information in a dictionary:

Metadata and three types of lexical information.

Give examples of:

• FORM information:

  Spelling: dog, novice

  Pronunciation: [dog], ["nouvis]

• STRUCTURE information:

  establish, establish-ment, dis-establish, dis-establish-ment

  throb, throb-bed, throb-bing

• CONTENT information:

  definition: (for dog) ANIMAL a common animal with four legs, fur and a tail. Dogs are kept as pets or trained to guard places, find drugs etc.

  relation with other words: (for dog) please see puppy

  examples: (for dog) I could hear a dog barking. or a pack of street dogs

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

This is the lexical information rather than metadata and it is the CONTENT lexical information on the first place but in fact it is interrelated with the FORM and STRUCTURE lexical information and they go hand in hand. What is more, it depends on the kind of the dictionary and on the needs the user has: whether he or she wants to check the spelling, the right spelling, the meaning or the use of a word, etc.

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Homework – 24.10.2006:

What are dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias… “language”:

dictionary - a reference source in print or electronic form containing words usually alphabetically arranged along with information about their forms, pronunciations, functions, etymologies, meanings, and syntactical and idiomatic uses

lexicon – a book containing an alphabetical arrangement of the words in a language and their definitions : syn. Dictionary. A lexicon is usually a list of words together with additional word-specific information, i.e., a dictionary. Lexicon is a word of Greek origin (λεξικόν) meaning vocabulary.

encyclopedia - a work that contains information on all branches of knowledge or treats comprehensively a particular branch of knowledge usually in articles arranged alphabetically often by subject.

What kinds of dictionaries are there:

• monolingual D – Longman English Dictionary

• bilingual D - e.g. Bulgarian-English bilingual D

• multilingual D

• historical D

• biographical D

• geographical D

• specialised D - also called technical D

• glossary

• thesaurus - a listing of words with similar, related, or opposite meanings (this new meaning of thesaurus dates back to Roget"s Thesaurus)

• synonym D

• D of phrasal verbs

• character D

• encyclopedia – about more information and different topics while a dictionary is about words

• rhyming D

• pronunciation D

• urban D

• D of idiom

• collocation D

• etymologycal D

• name D

• crossword D

• pictorial D

• D of slang

• D of obsenities

• vocabulary notebook

• D of proverbs

• learner"s D

• D for advanced learners

• web-based D

• computational D

• lexical database

How would you find the “best” English dictionary:

Perhaps every student has his/her own “best” dictionary. It depends on the person. It dependson the dictionary although there are many good (but obviously not best) dictionaries today: for example, Longman’s, Oxford’s, Cobuild’s, etc. For sure, it takes some time for someone to find their “best”dictionary. They need to have some experience dealing with dictionaries. To find the best dictionary is the same as to find the best guitar or the truest wife/husband. You have to get the right feeling.

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Summary of the lecture – 31.10.2006

• Further clarification of the text theory model:

  • semantics – this is the content. It is both semantics (the meaning of the words and their relations to the world and between each other) and pragmatics (different types of utterances – needed in different social occasions);

  • text structure – this is the organisation of a text in order some meaning to be expressed. This is the text itself from the beginning to the end;

  • media – it is the Pl form of "medium". Media has to do with the making of the text structure visible or audible, the techniques and means that are use for this purpose, gestures, acoustics, spelling, different colours and positioning, etc. Modality refers to the particular channel of producing: oral, auditorial, visual, manual-auditorial (clapping in a concert), manual-visual (waving your hand).

  • the world of the mind – someone knows something that the others do not know. Some of this is going to be shared with the others or with the shared world. We formulate something in our minds – it can be truthful or not, ironic, hilarious, derogatory, humourous, etc. The others do not know what is going on in my head when I am formulating a statement.

  • the shared world – here are the things we have in common. We know certain meanings, concepts.

  • production – we produce media starting from semantics (and before this we have the structure in our heads, in our minds).

  • reception – we take the media in and through it we interpret the meaning and text structure of the other party and understand them.

  • This model applies to everything that has a meaning: traffic lights, gestures, symbols, etc.

• Contextual Definition – it is equal to an example. It is the definition we give to a word by putting the word into a context. Example: I could hear a dog barking.

• Recursive Definition – a definition that refers to itself. It is a 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

• The way of creating a recursive definition – first, define the atomic, finite case or cases, then, induce the infinite set and, finally, exclude everything else. As a result, in recursive definitions we have typically three conditions: base condition, recursive condition and exclusive condition. Examples:

  • ancestor – a parent or a parent of an ancestor. The vase condition is a parent. The recursive condition is a parent of an ancestor. The recursive element refers back to itself; in this case it refers back to ancestor. There is no exclusive condition here.

  • natural number – it is 1 or a natural number plus 1. The base condition is 1. The recursive condition is a natural number plus 1.

  Base (grounding) condition – a stem is a root: fun. Recursive/inductive (completeness) condition – a stem is a stem with an affix: fun+y=funny, un+funny=unfunny, unfunny+ness=unfunniness. Exclusive (soundness) condition – nothing else is a stem.

• Models – models are ostensive definitions in that they are intended to help us understand something with reference to reality, except that the pointer to a segment of reality is replaced by: an iconic representation of a segment of reality which is simplified, stylised, idealised , and has artefactual properties not shared by reality: the picture of a poodle is a model of a poodle, a simplified version, not a real version. Iconic representation or an icon – a kind of a picture, a sign which bear some kind of resemblance to what it means: fire – somthing like a fire. Other examples: pictures used in dictionaries, model trains, action games, Barbie dolls, Kate Moss, photos, films, recordings, computer programmes and virtual reality. Onomatopoeic words are iconic words – sounds of animals, etc.

• Metaphors are verbal models, except that their relation to reality is in general much more subjective.

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Quiz - 31.10.2006: no quizzes this time

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Homework – 31.10.2006:

definition – it is a form of words which states the meaning of a term. It is systematic and concise description of a word. It is dictionary oriented type of text.

explanation – it is a statement which points to causes, context and consequences of some object, process, state of affairs, etc. together with rules or laws that link these to the object. Some of these elements of the explanation may be implicit. In scientific research explanation is one of three purposes of research: explanation, exploration, description.

Find dictionary definitions of 5 different words of different parts of speech, and

• give examples of genus proximum and differentia speciffica

• give examples of other kinds of definition

• X is definiendum; Y is differentia speciffica; Z is genus proximum

1. Noun – griffin – in mythology, a griffin is a winged creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle.

X – griffin

Y – a winged... with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle

Z – creature

Another type of definition – a model: see http://fallimar.angrygoats.net/Griffin.jpg

2. Verb – trudge – if you trudge somewhere, you walk there slowly and with heavy steps, especially because you are tired or unhappy.

X – trudge

Y – slowly and with heavy steps especially because you are tired or unhappy

Z – walk

Another type of definition – contextual definition: We trudged home through the snow.

3. Adjective – joyful – someone who is joyful is extremely happy.

X – joyful

Y – extremely

Z – happy

Another type of definition – an ostensive definition would be when you point at a joyful child in reality, for example, on the street passing by.

4. Adverb – hilarious – extremely funny.

X – hilarious

Y – extremely

Z – funny

5. Preposition – under – if a person or thing is under something, they are at a lower level than that thing, and may be covered or hidden by it.

X – under

Y – lower

Z – level

Another type of definition – an ostensive definition by pointing at a child under the table.

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