[Lexicog] circular definitions

[Kenneth C. Hill]

I find the Wierzbicka standards for definitions inappropriate for the
usual bilingual dictionary. For example, it makes little sense to go much
beyond a definition like "man, adult male, male of the species" in the
English rendering of the Hopi taaqa. One needn't fret about what "man" or
"adult" or "male" etc. mean in English to get the idea across regarding
what Hopi taaqa means. Wierzbicka's concerns have to do with monolingual
definitions. Bilingual dictionaries really don't deal with definitions in
her sense but rather with translations.

--Ken

--- William J Poser <billposer at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
>
> Someone who has written at some length about circular definitions and
> how to avoid them, and generally about the "language of definition"
> and semantic primitives and their role in lexicography is Anna
> Wierzbicka
> at the Australian National University (home page:
> http://arts.anu.edu.au/linguistics/arts_fac/staff/wierzbicka.html). Her
> publications include:
>
> 1972. Semantic Primitives. (Frankfurt: AthenC$um).
>
> 1980. Lingua Mentalis. (Sydney: Academic Press).
>
> 1985. Lexicography and Conceptual Analysis. (Ann Arbor: Karoma).
>
> 1988. The Semantics of Grammar. (Amsterdam: John Benjamins).
>
> 1991. Cross-cultural Pragmatics. (Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter).
>
> 1992. Semantics, Culture and Cognition. (Oxford: OUP).
>
> 1996a. Semantics, Primes and Universals. (Oxford: OUP).
>
> 1996b. Understanding Cultures through their Key Words. (Oxford: OUP).
>
> I have read some of her work and found it interesting. I don't know
> how much impact she has had on practical lexicography. My feeling is
> that she has some good ideas but that it would be difficult to
> implement them fully and live up to her standard, particularly
> when creating a bilingual dictionary of a language one is still
> struggling to understand.
>
> Bill


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