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--></style><title>Theoretical constructs vs. practical reference
diction</title></head><body>
<div> Mike Maxwell wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br>
In addition to the theory vs. practical dictionary distinction, there
is<br>
another distinction that I think is useful: database vs. publication.
Or<br>
perhaps a better term than 'database' would be 'knowledge base': a
network<br>
of information about a language (or languages, etc.), where there are
links<br>
among phonological, lexical, grammatical, and anthropological<br>
observations--yes, even encyclopedic information. Much of this
linkage<br>
among components was provided in LinguaLinks, and plans for SIL's
FieldWorks</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>involve even more linkage.</blockquote>
<div><br>
and<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> So Rich Rhodes should be happy with
the fact that the grammar and the<br>
lexicon are both represented in the knowledge base, with no firm
dividing<br>
line between them. (I will, too--I didn't actually object to
that idea.)</blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div>in response to:</div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Kenneth C. Hill:</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>> Some nouns are invariant regardless
of singular or multiple<br>
> reference. As<br>
> we found that such nouns had no plural form, we marked them as
"n.sg."<br>
> Rather than simplify the notation "n.sg." to simply
"n." and let the<br>
> absence of a cited plural form speak for itself, we have left
stand<br>
> the mark "n.sg.<br>
><br>
> --- 'Lou Hohulin' <lou_hohulin@sil.org> wrote:<br>
>> ...when it<br>
>> comes to the practical task of producing helpful dictionaries
and<br>
>> grammars, we desperately need a theoretically sound basis
for<br>
>> deciding 'what goes where'.<br>
>><br>
>> I am using the SIL-developed program, LinguaLinks, which
allows me to<br>
>> interlinearize text, and then, attested examples from the
texts can<br>
>> be seen in entries.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>[etc.]</blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div>Since I promised a piece on the encyclopedic aspects of the
theoretical lexicon, I'll make good now. If you consider what it is
you need to know about words to use them, that includes for almost all
of them some degree of reference. Such reference is essentially
encyclopedic. In practical dictionaries that is most easily seen in
published dictionary articles for<i> horse</i>,<i> koala</i>,<i>
house</i>,<i> pliers</i>, etc. which are descriptive of the referent
type.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Again, the issue is that there is no principled theoretical line
to be drawn. (That doesn't mean that you can't draw a practical line.
Just expect that it will be always be arbitrary in some way.)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>For all you SIL'ers on the list. This was Pike's position in
tagmemics -- tagmemes contain phonological material, syntactic
material, referential material (i.e. semantics) as a unit. What he
lacked--and constantly sought for--was the mathematics that makes it
possible to combine such multidimensional entities in a rigorous way.
Developments in the technology of pattern matching have given us
unification and inheritance which fill his bill.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Rich Rhodes</div>
<div><br></div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div
>******************************************************************<br
>
<br>
Richard A. Rhodes<br>
Department of Linguistics<br>
University of California<br>
Berkeley, CA 94720-2650<br>
Voice (510) 643-7325<br>
FAX (510) 643-5688<br>
<br>
******************************************************************</div
>
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