Review article
https://doi.org/10.21857/mjrl3u72o9
The Representation of Meaning in Dictionaries of Idioms
Ivana Filipović Petrović
orcid.org/0000-0001-8952-0202
; Zavod za lingvistička istraživanja HAZU
Abstract
The general principles of lexicographical treatment require that the explanation
of meaning be short and clear, general enough to cover a large number
of examples or almost any context, and sufficiently distinctive to make the
information coming to the user understandable and useful. For a long time, the
role model was a logical theory of definitions formulated by Aristotle, who
wrote that definitions must consist of what was later called genus proximum and
differentia specifica. However, over time and thanks to their experience working
on different dictionaries, lexicographers have sought and found other techniques
for describing meaning. One of them is the lexicographic definition which, in
addition to allowing different approaches in structuring the explanation of
meaning, depending on the linguistic features of individual words, also includes
other elements of the entry, such as font size or usage notes and labels, conceptual
networks and examples of usage. In the context of contemporary lexicography,
which is entirely focused on user needs, these are all elements that participate in
the description of the meaning of a word and help the user to understand it and to
potentially use it.
In this paper, drawing on the methods and procedures of the online Dictionary
of Croatian Idioms (under development), we ask how linguistic and extralinguistic
data on idioms provided by the computer corpus on which the Dictionary is based
affect the lexicographer's decisions regarding the explanation of meaning. We also
discuss the ways in which such data is incorporated into individual entries so that
they can respond as fully as possible to the demands of the idol of contemporary
lexicography – user needs.
Keywords
idioms; definition; representation of meaning; dictionary; computer corpus
Hrčak ID:
269196
URI
Publication date:
27.12.2021.
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