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<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"
lang="en-US">
Dear Danny et al.,</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"
lang="en-US">
let me briefly comment on one issue that is obviously
controversial.
Some think that the basic principle of consistency of glossing
requires that there be a biunique mapping<span lang="en-US"> of
morpheme to gloss. Others think that the basic principle of
transparency (viz. enabling the reader to grasp the
[morphological]
structure of the glossed text) requires that the gloss of a
morpheme
be context-dependent, i.e. that it show its specific function in
the
particular </span><span lang="en-US">grammatical </span><span
lang="en-US">context.
We are, thus, faced with a conflict between two well-motivated
principles.</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"
lang="en-US">
<span lang="en-US">The primary purpose of a gloss is to represent
the
morpheme for a reader who knows linguistics, but does not know
the
language. The notion of the identity of morphemes presupposes, a</span><span
lang="en-US">s
I said in my previous message in this thread (31/12/2019), a
distinction between homonymy and polysemy. The reader does not
want
the same gloss for homonymous morphs, nor does </span><span
lang="en-US">s</span><span lang="en-US">he
want the unity of a polysemous morpheme to be obfuscated by
variant
glosses.</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"
lang="en-US">
<span lang="en-US">As everybody agrees, glosses fulfill a
practical
purpose. They presuppose a theory and a methodology which
precede
them; and they cannot possibly represent all the theoretical and
methodological decisions underlying them. The practical function
includes their context-dependency in a wider sense: </span><span
lang="en-US">the
form of a useful gloss depends partly on the kind of
(metalinguistic)
text that the glossed text is embedded in. If the glossed text
is an
example in a grammar, then this may contain the entire
information
concerning the morphemes and their glosses, arranged in chapters
on
morphology and indices of morphemes, glosses and terms. In such
an
environment, the requirement of consistency becomes secondary,
because the metalinguistic context explains what each gloss
means.
If, on the contrary, there is, in the metalinguistic context of
the
glossed text, no grammatical comment, then the glosses and the
index
of glosses are the only c</span><span lang="en-US">l</span><span
lang="en-US">ue
the reader has to the identity of morphemes. </span><span
lang="en-US">Making
glosses context-dependent in such an environment means
misleading the
reader about the identity of morphemes. Which contradicts the
primary
purpose of the gloss. In such an environment, I submit, glosses
should be consistent, i.e. unique for each morpheme.<br>
</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"
lang="en-US">
<span lang="en-US">Best,</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"
lang="en-US">
<span lang="en-US">Christian</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"
lang="en-US"> </p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<p style="font-size:90%">Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br>
Rudolfstr. 4<br>
99092 Erfurt<br>
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Deutschland</span></p>
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<td>Tel.:</td>
<td>+49/361/2113417</td>
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<td>E-Post:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:christianw_lehmann@arcor.de">christianw_lehmann@arcor.de</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Web:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.christianlehmann.eu">https://www.christianlehmann.eu</a></td>
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