[Lexicog] Criteria for example sentences

[Peter Kirk]

On 11/03/2004 11:48, Mike Maxwell wrote:

> ...
>
> > Even 'rock' needs to be carefully defined and illustrated.
> > 'Rock' and 'stone' are not exact synonyms and the
> > difference needs to be made explicit.  "We built our
> > house on a rock." *"We built our house on a stone." "I cut
> > my hand on a sharp rock." *"I cut my hand on a sharp stone."
>
> Agreed that they're not synonomous (although I would not star the last
> example S).  But I'm still not convinced that they need illustrative
> sentences, provided the definitions distinguish them.  (Note that both
> these
> words have mass and count meanings; it's the count meanings that are used
> above.)  Putting it differently, you might need an entire corpus to
> distinguish among all the uses of (a) stone and (a) rock.  While some on
> this list have said that "the corpus is the dictionary", that may not
> yet be
> practical in every situation (and even if it were practical, most
> dictionary
> users would not put up with it).
>
I think here there may be a British/American distinction as well. In my
British English, I would always throw stones, never rocks as they are
too big to pick up, but my American friends talk about throwing rocks.
To me, "I cut my hand on a sharp rock." means on a fixed rock e.g. one I
was climbing up, but "I cut my hand on a sharp stone." (no *) means a
something small and portable e.g. one I was picking up.

The only relevance to lexicography is that dialect differences add an
extra layer of complication!

--
Peter Kirk
peter at qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk at qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/




Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/