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Montag, 04.12.2006

Introduction

Introduction

This document is being produced for the course ?How to make a dictionary ?in winter term 2006 at the university of Bielefeld, instructor: Prof. Dr. Dafydd Gibbon. The aim of this online portfolio is to a) illustrate my learning efforts b) to construct a list of terms relevant in the study of lexicography.

 

Session one 17/10/2006

Introduction

 

Session two 24/10/2006

Defining ?definitions?

 

Session three 31/10/2006

Continuing on defining "definition"

 

Session four 07/11/2006

The architecture of a dictionary

 

Session five 14/11/2006

Dictionaries as databases

 

Session six 21/11/2006 (Thorsten Tripple)

Lexical Databases

 

Session seven 28/11/06

Word forms: orthography, phonology

 

Session seven 05/12/2006

 

Quizzes

                                                           QUIZZES

Introduction, text theory

 

Quiz I:

Why is a portfolio important?

It?s a method of collecting and saving work samples, websites, books, other sources of information

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

It holds a learner?s work samples.

-?A portfolio is a collection of characteristic products which a learner makes in the course of his development?

1) Table of content

2) Introduction (statement of my expectations of the class / how does it fit into my studies?)

3) Learner?s diary -a short summary of each session (initial statement/results of the session/ exercises/ questions for tutors)

4) Glossary ?List of technical terms used in class

5) Evaluation (evaluation of the topics dealt with in class, own opinion on the topics important/ could?ve been left out?)

6) References (list of website, books etc? used in my portfolio)

Why should a portfolio be on a website?

-Easier access and interaction than via paper/ e-mail.

-Means of becoming familiar with everyday use of electronic media.

How do you make a website?

-Run your own web server, for example on a DSL line, with the Apache server; save your HTML files

- Use the university website and upload your HTML files

- Use another web service provider and upload your HTML files

- Use blogging software and make a weblog (blog)

Quiz II:

What is a website?

A place on the World Wide Web that's comprised of files organized into a hierarchy. Each file or document contains text or graphics that appear as digital information on a computer screen. A site can contain a combination of graphics, text, audio, video, and other dynamic or static materials. As a form of media, Websites are similar to motion pictures, television, or print magazines, which also create and manipulate digital pictures and text. (Netlingo)

What is a hypertext? Give examples (google again)

A hypertext is a text, in a form readable by a web browser, in which the reader may navigate from one passage to another by clicking on hyperlinks within the text. (Wiktionary)

What is a text and what are its main properties?

A text is a body of language; it could consist of a single word like 'Ladies' or 'Gentlemen' on a toilet door right up to a complete book and can be either written or spoken. (Glossary of English Grammar Terms)

Its main properties are

- written/printed text (formulation, structure)

- Meaning (semantics, pragmatics)

- Appearance (media)

How do these properties relate

            - to the mind? The text originates in the mind.

            - to the world? The written, printed text is accessible for everyone.

Quiz III:

What is a dictionary?

A dictionary is a list of words with their definitions or translation. Many dictionaries also provide pronunciation information; grammatical information; word derivations, histories, or etymologies; illustrations; usage guidance; and examples in phrases or sentences. Dictionaries are most commonly found in the form of a book. Some dictionaries are also found in electronic portable handheld devices. Dictionaries are produced by lexicographers.

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

A semasiological dictionary explains the words with examples and shows the word in a context so that you can get an idea of what the word means (reader?s dictionary).

An onomasiological dictionary is defining words by giving other words with the same meaning. (writer?s dictionary)

What other kinds of dictionaries are there?

-monolingual dictionaries

-bilingual dictionaries

-multilingual dictionaries

-crossword dictionaries

-thesaurus

-synonym dictionary

-etymological dictionaries

-phrasal verbs

-technical terms

-learners dictionaries

-pronunciation

-Slang/jargon

-web-based

-computational (for dialogue systems and other Spoken Language (SL) systems): hyprlex, verbmobil-Lexicon

-proverb

-illustrated dictionary

-name dictionary

-picture dictionary

What is text theory?

What is text linguistics?

Text linguistics is a branch of linguistics that deals with texts as communication systems. Its original aims lay in uncovering and describing text grammars. The application of text linguistics has, however, evolved from this approach to a point in which text is viewed in much broader terms that go beyond a mere extension of traditional grammar towards an entire text. Text linguistics takes into account the form of a text, but also its setting, i.e. the way in which it is situated in an interactional, communicative context. Both the author of a (written or spoken) text as well as its addressee are taken into consideration in their respective (social and/or institutonal) roles in the specific communicative context. In general it is an application of linguistic analysis at the much broader level of text, rather than just a sentence or word.(Wikipedia)

What is applied text linguistics?

On defining ?definitions?

Quiz I:

What are the main kinds of information in a dictionary?

Pronunciation, pos, gender, definition/ translation.

Give examples of

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

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

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

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

Definition or translation

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

-         give examples of genus and differentia specifica

-         give examples of other kinds of definition

Noun: A word (other than a pronoun) or group of words used to name or identify any of a class of persons, places, or things (dog, house, freedom)

Genus: a word, or group of words

Differentia specifica: used to name or identify any of a class of persons, places, or things

Adjective: a word or phrase naming an attribute; added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify it or to describe it (beautiful, red, tall)

Genus: a word or phrase

Differentia specifica: naming an attribute; added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify it or to describe it

Adverb: a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies another word ( esp. an adjective, verb, or other adverbs) or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. (gently, quiet, then, there)

Genus: a word or phrase

Differentia specifica: that modifies or qualifies another word ( esp. an adjective, verb, or other adverbs) or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc.

Verb: a word used to indicate an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of a predicate of a sentence (hear, become, happen)

Genus: a word

Differentia specifica: used to indicate an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of a predicate of a sentence

Pronoun: a word used instead of and to indicate a noun already mentioned or known, esp. to avoid repetition (we, their, this, ourselves).

Genus: a word

Differentia specifica: used instead of and to indicate a noun already mentioned or known, esp. to avoid repetition

Prepositions: a word governing (and usually preceding) a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element as in: ?the man on the platform?,? came after dinner?, ?what did you do it for?? (on, under)

Genus: a word

Differentia specifica: governing (and usually preceding) a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element

Conjunctions: a word used to connect clauses or sentences or words in the same clause (and, but, if).

Genus: : a word

Differentia specifica: used to connect clauses or sentences or words in the same clause

Interjections: an exclamation, esp. as a part of speech (ah! dear me!)

Genus: an exclamation

Differentia specifica:

Articles: the definite or indefinite article (the, a (n))

Genus:

Differentia specifica: definite or indefinite

The architecture of a dictionary:

Quiz I:

What is the

-         Megastructure

: 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 organisation of the lexical entries in the body of a dictionary into

? lists,

? tree structures,

? networks.

Types of macrostructure:

? semasiological

? onomasiological

of a lexicon? Give examples

What is a

-         Semasiological dictionary

A semasiological dictionary explains the words with examples and shows the word in a context so that you can get an idea of what the word means (reader?s dictionary).

-         Onomasiological dictionary

An onomasiological dictionary is defining words by giving other words with the same meaning (writer?s dictionary).

Give examples

Semasiological dictionary: The Concise Oxford dictionary

Onomasiological dictionary: Thesaurus

Quiz II:

How many types of lexical information can you find?

Orthography, pronunciation, pos, gender, morphology, inflection-class, definition, instance

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

A list; the words are ordered in alphabetically.

What kind of structure do the combined macrostructure and mirostructure of a semasiological dictionary have?

A structure of a table

- The rows are lexical entries, with a specific microstructure

- The columns are single types of lexical information

And an onomasiological dictionary?

A tree, with ever smaller ramifications diverging from the main branches. (Roget?s Thesaurus)

Quiz III:

What is the microstructure of a dictionary?

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

What kinds of lexical information are contained in a dictionary?s microstructure?

Orthography, pronunciation, pos, gender, morphology, inflection-class, definition, instance

Describe the two dimensions of types of lexical information.

How do you define ?definitions?? Give examples

Quiz IV:

How do lexical entries relate to each other? Cross-references

How do lexical entries relate to the mini-grammar in the megastructure?

How do lexical entries relate to the corpora?

Quiz V:

What is the mesostructure of a dictionary?

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

Give examples for mesostructure elemence concerning

- Types of information with reference to the sign modal

- Linguistic description references

- Cross references between related entries

- Corpus references

Task (lexical database)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homework

                                                            HOMEWORK

 

Introduction

 

Prepare reports for discussion

What are dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopaedias?? ?Language?

 

What kinds of dictionaries are there?

-monolingual dictionaries

-bilingual dictionaries

-multilingual dictionaries

-crossword dictionaries

-thesaurus

-synonym dictionary

-etymological dictionaries

-phrasal verbs

-technical terms

-learners dictionaries

-pronunciation

-Slang/jargon

-webbased

-computational (for dialogue systems and other Spoken Language (SL) systems): hyprlex, verbmobil-Lexicon

-proverb

-illustrated dictionary

-name dictionary

-picture dictionary

 

How would you find the ?best? English dictionary?

It depends on what you are looking for. (Translations, explanations, other words, word information)

 

Task:

Set up a questionnaire of questions about dictionaries, and ask 3 people to respond to it before next week.

 

How many dictionaries have you got at home, if yes how many? Name and type.

 

Person A: 4, Oxford English dictionary; Collins English dictionary; Pons English-German, German-English; Duden (German language dictionary)

Person B: 3; Duden (German language dictionary); Brockhaus (encyclopaedia) Fremdwörterbuch (dictionary of foreign words)

Person C: 3; Fremdwörterbuch (dictionary of foreign words); Duden (English); Duden (German)

 

2) How often do you use a dictionary?

 

Person A: regular

Person B: depends on what I?m doing

Person C: never ever

 

3) Was it worth buying one? Or did you have to get one?

 

Person A: Yes. I had to buy them

Person B: No

Person C: Worth buying but also had to get it

 

4) Do you like working with dictionaries?

 

Person A: Yes

Person B: Yes

Person C: Sometimes, if I really have to it?s very useful

 

Would you like to know more about dictionaries? (background, structure?etc.)

 

Person A: Yes

Person B: Yes

Person C: Nope

 

On defining ?definitions?

 

Define

-         ?definition?

Is a description of the exact meaning of a word or idea.

 

-         ?explanation?

Is a statement or a piece of writing that makes something easier to understand.

 

 

See the Quiz, especially

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

-         give examples of genus and differentia specifica

-         give examples of other kinds of definition

 

Noun: A word (other than a pronoun) or group of words used to name or identify any of a class of persons, places, or things (dog, house, freedom)

 

Genus: a word, or group of words

Differentia specifica: used to name or identify any of a class of persons, places, or things

 

Adjective: a word or phrase naming an attribute; added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify it or to describe it (beautiful, red, tall)

 

Genus: a word or phrase

Differentia specifica: naming an attribute; added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify it or to describe it

 

Adverb: a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies another word ( esp. an adjective, verb, or other adverbs) or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. (gently, quiet, then, there)

 

Genus: a word or phrase

Differentia specifica: that modifies or qualifies another word ( esp. an adjective, verb, or other adverbs) or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc.

 

Verb: a word used to indicate an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of a predicate of a sentence (hear, become, happen)

 

Genus: a word

Differentia specifica: used to indicate an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of a predicate of a sentence

 

Pronoun: a word used instead of and to indicate a noun already mentioned or known, esp. to avoid repetition (we, their, this, ourselves).

 

Genus: a word

Differentia specifica: used instead of and to indicate a noun already mentioned or known, esp. to avoid repetition

 

Prepositions: a word governing (and usually preceding) a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element as in: ?the man on the platform?,? came after dinner?, ?what did you do it for?? (on, under)

 

Genus: a word

Differentia specifica: governing (and usually preceding) a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element

 

Conjunctions: a word used to connect clauses or sentences or words in the same clause (and, but, if).

 

Genus: : a word

Differentia specifica: used to connect clauses or sentences or words in the same clause

 

Interjections: an exclamation, esp. as a part of speech (ah! dear me!)

 

Genus: an exclamation

Differentia specifica:

 

Articles: the definite or indefinite article (the, a (n))

 

Genus:

Differentia specifica: definite or indefinite

 

 

!!!Long term homework!!!

Give detailed examples, from at least 3 different kinds of dictionary, of

-         metadata

-         types of lexical information for 3 different kinds of lexical entry

Create definitions by nearest kind and specific differences for:

-         hip-hop

-         love

-         lasagne

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

-         3 of the models discussed in the section on models

-         In the text model given in the text theory introduction

 

The architecture if a dictionary

Homework

Work out optional answers to the quizzes

Take one of your dictionaries, and describe in as much detail as possible its

-         Megastructure

 

The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Ninth Edition

 

Front matter:

Cover with the title, claims

 

- Legal details (publisher, rights reserved blab bla, etc.)

- Table of contents,

- Editorial staff,

- Preface,

- English over fifteen centuries,

- Using this dictionary (structure of entries, pronunciation, inflection, prefixes, suffixes and combining forms, labels),

- Abbreviations used in the dictionary,

 

- The body of the dictionary; word entries ordered alphabetically

 

- Appendices:

I              Countries of the world

II             Counties of the United Kingdom

III            States of the USA

IV            The Commonwealth

V             Books of the Bible

VI            The Greek and Russian Alphabets

VII          Roman Numerals

VIII         Weights, Measures and Units

IX           The Chemical Elements

X             Major Divisions of Geological Time

XI           The Beaufort Scale of Wind Speed

XII          Biological Classification

XIII         Style Guide

XIV         Proof-reading Marks

XV          Indo-European Languages

XVI         Terms for Groups of Animals etc.

XVII       Word Games Supplement

Index

 

Back matter:

Title, claims

 

- Macrostructure

Semasiological

 

- Microstructure

The headword, IPA pronunciation, pos, gender, definition, instance, etymology, subdivisions (homonyms, poly)

 

- mesostructure

Cross-references to other lexical entries.

 

Lexical databases

Check: http://www.sil.org

 

Types of lexical information: Pronunciation

Task:

            - make a list of spelling rules

 

q" is always written as "qu". It never stands by itself.

                e.g. quick, queen, quarrel.

 

We double "l, f, and s" after a single short vowel at the end of a word. 

                e.g. call, tall, toss, miss, stiff, stuff.

Exceptions: us, bus, gas, if, of, this, yes, plus, nil, pal.

 

Regular plurals are made by adding "s".

e.g. animals, horses, monkeys, and cliffs.

 

The sound of "ee" on the end of a word is nearly always "y".                

Exceptions: committee and coffee.

 

"              y" and not "i" is used at the end of an English word and is usually pronounced as a short "i".

Exceptions: macaroni, spaghetti, vermicelli (Italian), and taxi (short for taxicab).

 

A silent "e" on the end of a word makes the vowel in front say its own alphabetic name.

e.g. hate, ride, cube, bake, shire, mare, lobe.

Exceptions: done, come, some, give and have.

 

"ck" may only be used after a single vowel that does not say its name at the end of a syllable or root word.               e.g. track, pick, rocket, wreckage.

 

To form plurals of words with a hissing ending, add "es" .i.e. after "s, x, z, sh, and ch".

                e.g. buses, foxes, buzzes, wishes and churches.

 

Words ending in an "o" preceded by a consonant usually add "es" to form the plural.

e.g. potatoes, volcanoes.

                Exceptions: pianos, solos, Eskimos

 

Nouns ending in a single "f" change the "f" to a "v" before adding "es" to form the plural.

                e.g. leaf ? leaves; wolf ? wolves.

                Exceptions: dwarfs, roofs, chiefs.

 

If a word ends in a consonant plus "y", change the "y" to and "i", before adding any ending.

Except: "ing".      

e.g.

                party ? parties;

                heavy ? heaviness

                marry ? married;

                funny ? funnily

                carry ? carriage;

                pretty ? prettier

                but;                        cry ? crying;

                hurry ? hurrying

(http://www.amity.org.uk/Training/Spelling%20Rules/Spelling%20Rules.htm#We double "l, f, and s")

           

- make a list of main spelling problems

 

Most rules have exceptions!

Synonymy: Two words that have (more or less) the same meaning.

Polysemy: One word that have two (or more) (closely) related meanings.

Homonymy: Two words that have the same form, that is: they look the same, are pronounced the same, belong to the same grammatical class but their meaning is not at all related.

 

Homework: English and German: tasks

Pronunciation

List

-         the consonants of German which do not occure in English

-         the consonants in English which do not occure in German

-         the vowels of German which do not occure in English

-         the vowels in English which do not occure in German

Spelling

List

-         the characters in German which do not occure in English

-         the characters in English which do not occure in German

-         5 English graphemes containing more than one character

-         5 German graphemes containing more than one character

Weiterlesen

Glossary

                                                                              Glossary

 

Affix: is a bound morpheme that is joined before, after, or within a root or stem.

 

Ambiguous: A word, phrase, sentence, or other communication is called ?ambiguous? if it can be interpreted in more than one way.

 

Aspiration: In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of his or her mouth, and say tore and then store. One should either feel a puff of air or see a flicker of the candle flame with tore that one does not get with store. In English, the t should be aspirated in tore and unaspirated in store. (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)

 

Dictionary: A dictionary is a list of words with their definitions or translation. Many dictionaries also provide pronunciation information; grammatical information; word derivations, histories, or etymologies; illustrations; usage guidance; and examples in phrases or sentences. Dictionaries are most commonly found in the form of a book. Some dictionaries are also found in electronic portable handheld devices. Dictionaries are produced by lexicographers.

- 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

 

Database: The term database originated within the computer industry. A possible definition is that a database is a collection of records stored in a computer in a systematic way, so that a computer program can consult it to answer questions. The items retrieved in answer to queries become information that can be used to make decisions.

 

Differentia specifica: (lat. for ?specific difference? (eigentümlicher Unterschied) ) the distinguishing feature. E.g. looks like a sausage with short legs and a tail (dachshund)

 

Genus proximum: (lat. für ?nächste Gattung?) e.g. human, animal (dog, cat, fish), plant, object etc.

Genus: Latin, meaning ?race' or ?kind'.

 

Graphemes: 1. the atomic unit in written language. Graphemes include letters, Chinese characters, numerals, punctuation marks, and other glyphs. (Dictionary.com)

2. All of the letters and letter combinations that represent a phoneme, as f, ph, and gh for the phoneme /f/. (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)

 

Homonymy: Two words that have the same form, that is: they look the same, are pronounced the same, belong to the same grammatical class but their meaning is not at all related. (Thorsten Tripple)

EXAMPLE: the Dutch word bank is homonymous, since it can refer to (a) a couch, and (b) a bank. Equivalent to ambiguity. (Lexicon of Linguistics)

 

Hypertext: Text, in a form readable by a web browser, in which the reader may navigate from one passage to another by clicking on hyperlinks within the text. (Wiktionary)

 

Inflection (class): Inflection is variation in the form of a word, typically by means of an affix, that expresses a grammatical contrast which is obligatory for the stem?s word class in some given grammatical context. (Linguistic Glossary)

 

Macrostructure of a dictionary: The organisation of the lexical entries in the body of a dictionary into

? lists,

? tree structures,

? networks.

Types of macrostructure:

? semasiological

? onomasiological

 

 

Megastructure of a dictionary: The entire structure of the dictionary, including

? the front matter,

? abbreviations and explanations of grammar,

? the body of the dictionary,

? the back matter

 

 

Mesostructure of a dictionary: The set of relations between lexical entries and other entities such as other parts of a dictionary or a text corpus.

 

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

 

Metalanguage: The language we decide to talk, e.g. English.

 

Microstructure: The microstructure of a dictionary is the consistent organisation of lexical information within lexical entries in the dictionary.

 

Morpheme: The smallest bit of language that has its own meaning, either a word or a part of a word:

'Worker' contains two morphemes - 'work' and '-er'.

 

Morphology: The study of the internal structure of words.

 

Object language: 1.In a dictionary = spelling, pronunciation

2. When we talk about a language in another language, e.g. ?we talk about the object language of Japanese in English?.

 

Onomasiological dictionary: encoding dictionary. An onomasiological dictionary is defining words by giving other words with the same meaning (writer?s dictionary).

 

(An onomasiological dictionary is a dictionary which is organized by semantic criteria and thus leads the user from concepts to expressions.)

(http://www.uni-erfurt.de/sprachwissenschaft/personal/lehmann/ling_meth/lexicography/onomas_dictionary.html)

 

Orthography: Set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. The term is derived from Greek ορθά ortha- ("correctly") and γράφειν graphein ("to write"). Orthography is distinct from typography.

 

Orthography includes the writing system of a language. English, for example, has an alphabet of 26 letters for both consonants and vowels, but no glyph for stress. However, each English letter may represent more than one sound, and each English sound (phoneme) may be written by more than one letter. An example of an orthographic rule describing how letters are used is i before e except after c; another is that the plural is written with the letter s regardless of whether it is pronounced as an [s], as in cats, or as a [z], as in dogs. In addition, combinations of letters called digraphs, such as th, represent single sounds in English orthography. Other languages which use the same alphabet as English may not use the same digraphs. (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)

 

Phoneme: A speech sound that distinguishes one word from another, e.g. the sounds "d" and "t" in the words "bid" and "bit." A phoneme is the smallest phonetic unit that can carry meaning.

(Encarta® World English Dictionary, North American Edition)

 

Polysemy: One word that has two (or more) (closely) related meanings. (Thorsten Tripple)

 

Pragmantics: Pragmatics is the study of the aspects of meaning and language use that are dependent on the speaker, the addressee and other features of the context of utterance, such as the following:

The effect that the following have on the speaker?s choice of expression and the addressee?s interpretation of an utterance:

Context of utterance

Generally observed principles of communication

The goals of the speaker

(Linguistic Glossary)

 

Semantics: 1. Semantics is, generally defined, the study of meaning of linguistic expressions.

2. Semantics is, more narrowly defined, the study of the meaning of linguistic expressions apart from consideration of the effect that pragmatic factors, such as the following, have on the meaning of language in use:

Features of the context

Conventions of language use

The goals of the speaker

(Linguistic Glossary)

 

Semasiological dictionary: Decoding dictionary. A semasiological dictionary explains the words with examples and shows the word in a context so that you can get an idea of what the word means (reader?s dictionary).

 

 

Syllables: Are often considered the phonological "building blocks" of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language, its prosody, its poetic meter, its stress patterns, etc. A word that consists of a single syllable (like English cat) is called a monosyllable (such a word is monosyllabic), while a word consisting of two syllables (like monkey) is called a disyllable (such a word is disyllabic). A word consisting of three syllables (such as indigent) is called a trisyllable (the adjective form is trisyllabic). A word consisting of more than three syllables (such as intelligence) is called a polysyllable (and could be described as polysyllabic), although this term is often used to describe words of two syllables or m

 

Synonymy: Two words that have (more or less) the same meaning. (Thorsten Tripple)

 

Syntax: the study of the rules governing sentence structure, the way words work together to make up a sentence. (Glossary of English Grammar Terms)

 

Taxonomy: The classification in a hierarchical system. Mathematically, a hierarchical taxonomy is a tree structure of classifications for a given set of objects ( Wikipedia).

 

Text: A text is a body of language; it could consist of a single word like 'Ladies' or 'Gentlemen' on a toilet door right up to a complete book and can be either written or spoken. (Glossary of English Grammar Terms)

 

Website: A place on the World Wide Web that's comprised of files organized into a hierarchy. Each file or document contains text or graphics that appear as digital information on a computer screen. A site can contain a combination of graphics, text, audio, video, and other dynamic or static materials. As a form of media, Websites are similar to motion pictures, television, or print magazines, which also create and manipulate digital pictures and text. (Netlingo)

 

Word processing: see

- http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/~gibbon/Docs/LinguistiksAndWordProcessing03.pdf