Reverse English Dictionary

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Date:  Mon, 17 May 1999 12:21:17 +0200
From:  Lisa Natascha Barrett <Barrett at deGruyter.com>
Subject:  Muthmann, Reverse English Dictionary

Muthmann, Gustav
Reverse English Dictionary
Based on Phonological and Morphological Principles
1999. 16 x 24 cm. xxiv, 482 pages.
Cloth. DM 198.00 / oeS 1445.00 / sFr 176.00 / approx. US$ 124.00
ISBN 3110163624
(Topics in English Linguistics 29)

Looking at words from behind and comparing similar word endings reveals
new and unaccustomed aspects of the structure of words and their
formation, illustrating the enormous variety of the English language.
Rather than presenting a reverse list of words in endless sequence and
strictly alphabetical order, this new Reverse Dictionary considers the
structure and formation of words, grouping them together in sections and
subdivisions. For instance, divisions include
words with characteristic endings, e.g., -ug: bug, dug, fug, snug, etc.
words with a certain suffix, e.g., -ate: debate, placate, abdicate,
designate, etc., or -ous: tremendous, jealous, ridiculous, nervous, etc.

different spelling-to-sound correspondences in word endings
item compounds with the same final part, e.g., -room: from tearoom to
playroom in one group, then broom, groom, mushroom, etc.
vowel change in many words, e.g., branch, bench, inch, conch, lunch,
haunch, lynch or dazzle, embezzle, fizzle, nozzle, puzzle.

Aspects like these can only be revealed by a Reverse Dictionary of this
kind. The dictionary encompasses the vocabulary considered to be in
common use throughout the English-speaking world; it notes variants in
spelling and pronunciation, especially those of General American
English; it records all irregular forms of verbs, nouns, adjectives, and
includes the main rules of regular inflection. The classification method
is explained in detail in an introduction. Two appendices of
grapheme-to-phoneme and phoneme-to-grapheme correspondences further
extend the utility of the dictionary.

Published by Mouton de Gruyter.

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