[Lexicog] circular definitions

[John Roberts]

On Wednesday, March 10, 2004 4:25 AM John Koontz wrote:

> The male/female of a bulky creature?  There's sort of a continuum for
> bull/cow, boar/sow, ram/ewe, dog/bitch, ---/-ess, and similar terms or
> patterns, in terms of their extensions from the unmarked cases.  The
> relevant factors have less to do with the unnatural and superimposed
> Linnaean classification, and more to do with traditional schemes.
>
I was wondering about animals that don't exist any more - a bull T-rex, a
bull gigantosaurus (now they were big)? Should they be included in your
exemplars of what a "bull" is? How far do you go in illustrating the range
of meaning?

John Roberts




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