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Conventionality (like invariancy and lots of other things) is very much
a matter of degree, and in fact a matter of degree w.r.t. a large
number of parameters. These include time, which groups of people are
involved, how strongly the conventionality is entrenched, what contexts
are necessary or useful for prompting a structure, how aware people are
of what is really established in their interlocutors' minds, and so
forth. Another very important factor is what Langacker calls
"sanction": the legitimacy a structure has by virtue of matching (more
or less) a conventionally-established pattern, as contrasted to its
being conventionally established in its own right (self-sanction). (ALL
established linguistic structures are of course patterns, and
particular actual utterances are recognized as well-formed to the
extent that they are sanctioned, preferably in detail, by such
conventional structures.) <br>
<br>
So I would say the +HUMAN senses of "computer" and "dishwasher" are
less conventional in their own right than they used to be, perhaps to
the point that that they are no longer conventional at all for some
speakers (but obviously, from this discussion, they retain at least
residual conventionality for some of us.) Yet they are still sanctioned
by very well-entrenched schematic patterns, such as the "V + er = human
agent" pattern and the related (sister or subcase, depending on your
definition of the first pattern) "Obj + V + er = human agent" pattern.
Thus, in the right contexts, they are quite easily recoverable, even if
no longer conventional.<br>
<br>
Your "exploitations of conventional senses" are usefully seen as part
of the category of (exploitations of) sanction from conventionally
established structures. (All of language use is exploitation of
conventionally established patterns, which in the process contributes
to the conventional establishment of the patterns it exploits.)<br>
<br>
What all this means for dictionary-makers is of course that we have a
myriad of practical decisions to make. Typically we wind up imposing a
binary or dichotomous structure (e.g. in my dictionary or not) on
phenomena ranged along all these non-binary parameters, or
(occasionally) we try to devise and apply less-binary structures (a)
that will reflect the reality a bit more adequately and (b) that we
have a hope of applying more or less consistently. (E.g. "highly
conventional - marginally conventional - out of the dictionary" or
"current - dated - archaic/obsolescent - obsolete - out of the
dictionary", or "in general use - technical jargon of PROFESSION-als
/slang/formal/etc. - out of the dictionary".)<br>
<br>
--David Tuggy<br>
<br>
Patrick Hanks wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid00ae01c68329$264f8040$5601a8c0@mhn" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">David --
I guess your question was intended as rhetorical but I'd like to take it
literally. I think there ARE also unconventional senses of words. These
include obsolete senses (e.g. the +HUMAN senses of "computer" and
"dishwasher") -- which have become unconventional over time -- and
exploitations of conventional senses such as freshly created metaphors (as
opposed to conventionalized metaphors) -- which may yet become conventional
in future -- e.g.
"a storm of feathers"
"a torrent of flood water swept through a North Wales hospital last night"
"Dubrovnik became a mousetrap"
Of course, you could take the view that these are not senses at all, but
something else. Or you could argue that they are conventional but
impoverished. Or ....?
Patrick
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Tuggy" <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:david_tuggy@sil.org"><david_tuggy@sil.org></a>
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com"><lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com></a>
Sent: Monday, May 29, 2006 3:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Lexicog] Dishwashers and computers
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Are there any other kinds of senses of words?
--David Tuggy
Patrick Hanks wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><snip>
"Properly"? "Conventionally" might be better, as it does not have the
prescriptive overtones of "properly". The conventional senses of words
</pre>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->tend
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">to change unpredictably, as I guess everyone on this list knows.
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<pre wrap="">
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