[Lexicog] stereotypical beliefs and lexicography

[Fritz Goerling]

So we agree, Wayne,

I thought so in the first place.

Greetings,
Fritz



  Where do we draw the line, Fritz? My own thinking on the matter is that we
do not draw the line. My preference for lexicography is to be exhaustive,
and I prefer that for dictionaries also. But I believe we can mark rascist
entries as being rascist, vulgar entries as vulgar, xenophobic entries as
xenophobic, etc. If a term or phrase is used in a rascist manner by speakers
of a language, that fact is part of its lexical information and deserves to
be in a dictionary.

  Wayne
  -----
  Wayne Leman
  http://committed.to/fieldtesting
    Wayne and Thapelo,

    Where do we draw the line? If we have a politically correct dictionary,
    certain entries will be marked sexist, racist, or homophobic or not even
    be mentioned. Of course, there are dictionaries of certain subcultures,
    slang or argot dictionaries.
    But if we want to produce a GENERAL dictionary for the whole population
    of an ethnic group, where do we draw the line about what to include and/
    or what to mark as slang etc.? The "positive social role"  you are
talking
    about, Wayne,  cannot consist of  expunging unwanted words and
expressions
    ("unwanted" by dictionary-makers who have a certain political or
whatever
    agenda; impartiality does not really exist in these matters, as far I am
    concerned).
    Certain great books (the Bible) or authors (Shakespeare) have enriched
    the vocabulary of English enormously. Can biassed dictionary-makers
    expurgate the English language because such and such expressions are
    from the Bible or from a "white dead male" (Shakespeare)? A certain
    Thomas Bowdler, an editor in Victorian times tried to rewrite
Shakespeare,
    removing all profanity so as not to offend the sensibilities of the
audiences
    of his day (hence the term "to bowdlerize"). It did not work.
    Thapelo, can you tell me more about Terry Eagleton's position in the
    chapter of "Literary Theory"?

    Fritz Goerling




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
  Yahoo! Groups Links

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

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

    c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lexicography/attachments/20050222/7e38577a/attachment.htm>