Capturing semantic relativity in dictionary definitions the case of defining "imaginary" beings and "imaginary" attributes

• Autores: Piet Swanepoel
• Localización: Atti del XII Congresso Internazionale di Lessicografia: Torino, 6-9 settembre 2006 / Elisa Corino (ed. lit.), Carla Marello (ed. lit.), Cristina Onesti (ed. lit.), Vol. 2, 2006, ISBN 88-7694-918-6, págs. 1271-1276
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • All languages contain words that have to be defined relative to some other larger knowledge structure. In this paper the problem of encoding the relativity of beliefs about the existence of entities (e.g. God) and beliefs about the truth of attributes of entities (e.g., that sangomas have power of divination) are analysed in detail. It is indicated that lexicographers utilise a variety of descriptive mechanisms for this purpose, but there is no generally accepted lexicographic principle(s) guiding their use. A number of topics that need urgent research to guide the use of various descriptive mechanisms to encode relative meaning in dictionary definitions are discussed.