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Dear John,<br><br>Thank you very much for this answer. This confirms my understanding of<br>lexicography. I always did this in practice.<br><br><<In the Longman Language Activator dictionary "kick the bucket" occurs under DIE.>><br>This is similar to the approach of Roget's Thesaurus, where under a key word are listed all the synonyms and quasi-synonyms. <br><br>Is the Longman Language Activator dictionary on the web?<br><br>Thank you again,<br><br>Hayim<br><br><b><i>John Roberts <dr_john_roberts@sil.org></i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <!-- Network content --> <div id="ygrp-text"> <div>Dear Hayim,<br>
<br> Sorry I misunderstood your query. As with most aspects of lexicography, <br> the choice is whether to go with form or with meaning. Traditionally, <br> the predominant approach to idioms has been to go by form. So you select <br> a key word in the idiomatic expression as the "lemma" to represent the <br> entry of that idiom in the dictionary. This is what the Longman <br> Dictionary of Idioms does, for example. It has the following English <br> idioms listed under the lemma or entry word CHANCE:<br> <br> as chance would have it<br> chance it<br> chance one's arm<br> a dog's chance<br> the ghost of a chance<br> have an eye to the main chance<br> not have a cat in hell's chance<br> on the off-chance<br> take one's chances.<br> <br> However, the Longman Language Activator dictionary takes a different <br> approach. It has a listing of some 1200 "key words" which are described <br> as key concepts. You can think of them as concept builders. For example, <br> "chance" is a
key word. Under the main entry for "chance" they have 3 <br> divisions of meaning to chose from and each directs you to a particular <br> place in the dictionary:<br> <br> - opportunity -> chance/opportunity<br> - something happens by chance -> chance/by chance<br> - lucky person -> lucky<br> <br> Then under Chance/By Chance for example, it has 5 divisions of meaning <br> with expressions that express those meanings:<br> <br> 1. ways of saying that something happens by chance<br> by chance<br> by accident<br> as luck would have it ...<br> 2. words for describing something happens by chance<br> chance<br> accidental<br> fortuitous<br> 3. the way in which the result of something depends on chance<br> luck<br> chance<br> fate<br> 4. something that happens by chance but seems to have been planned or <br> intended<br> coincidence<br> accident<br> 5. ways of saying that things are done, chosen etc simply by chance ...<br>
at random<br> random<br> aribitrary<br> <br> So the Longman Language Activator dictionary is organised according to <br> the meanings of key concept lexemes and gives the expressions of those <br> meanings in terms of words and idiomatic expressions. However, the key <br> concept word-form, e.g. "chance", does not have to occur in all of those <br> expressions. Whereas the Longman Dictionary of Idioms is organised <br> according to the word-form and idioms are arranged according to whether <br> a designated word-form, e.g. "chance", occurs in the expression.<br> <br> To illustrate the difference further: In the Longman Dictionary of <br> Idioms "kick the bucket" occurs under BUCKET. In the Longman Language <br> Activator dictionary "kick the bucket" occurs under DIE.<br> <br> However, there is another difference between these dictionaries. The <br> Longman Dictionary of Idioms is a finder dictionary. You read or hear an <br> idiomatic expression and you look its
meaning up in the Longman <br> Dictionary of Idioms. To do this successfully you also need to know what <br> is the entry word that the idiom will be listed under. However, the <br> Longman Language Activator dictionary is a production dictionary <br> designed to help learners of English improve their vocabulary by finding <br> new and alternative ways of saying things in English or to refine their <br> usage. You wouldn't be able to find the meaning of "kick the bucket", <br> for example, from the Longman Language Activator dictionary. You would <br> have to go to the Longman Dictionary of Idioms (or equivalent) to do <br> that. You could then go to<br> the Longman Language Activator dictionary and find out the contexts of <br> usage for "kick the bucket" and other ways of talking about dying. But <br> what the Longman Language Activator dictionary does is show how a <br> meaning-based dictionary might be organised.<br> <br> I hope this helps.<br> <br> John R<br> <br> --
<br> ************<wbr>********<br> John R Roberts<br> SIL International Linguistics Consultant<br> <a href="mailto:dr_john_roberts%40sil.org">dr_john_roberts@<wbr>sil.org</a><br> ************<wbr>********<br> </div> </div> <!--End group email --> </blockquote><br><p>
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