[Lexicog] a question about profession

[Sebastian Drude]

Hello all,


taking the oportunity to introduce myself: I'm a general linguist doing 
fieldwork on Awetí, an indigenous language of Brazil.  Currently my work 
focusses on documenting the language and aspects of the culture (with 
funding in the german "DOBES"-Programme 'documentation of endangered 
languages', link below), but as the next step I plan a thorough 
description, including a grammar and a dictionary.

In 2002, I finished my Ph.D. thesis about lexicography, based on an 
outline for a Guaraní-German dictionary that I started conveiving in the 
90ies.
The thesis is in German, but I would be happy to send it to interested 
list members.  I annex an abstract below.

Recently I cooperated with the  ISO/TC37/SC4 (working group 4, about 
standards for lexicographical databases, see link below) and with the 
Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics.  Here, I also function as a 
linguistic consultant for the developement of the lexical database 
program "LEXUS" (link below, this program will import Shoebox databases).
In LEXUS, relations can be defined between any bits of information of 
different types, which might be useful for implementing semantic 
networks Wayne spoke about.

All the best,  Sebastian
_____

Links and abstract:

http://www.mpi.nl/DOBES/  (new site design will be out soon.)
http://www.mpi.nl/lexus/
http://www.tc37sc4.org/

Interpretation of Dictionaries:
Integrational Lexicography with special reference to Guaraní

This study explores the semantics of dictionaries, i.e., it provides
an answer to the question of how dictionaries should be read.  For
this purpose, entries taken from an outline for a Guaraní-German
dictionary (geared to established lexicographic practice) are
'interpreted' step by step: each entry is systematically assigned a
formal sentence making its meaning explicit.  Entries on most kinds of
lexicologically relevant entities are presented and treated in detail,
including content words of different classes (also polysemes),
different types of function words, and both derivational and
inflexional affixes.

Besides the main focus on lexicography, the underlying analysis of the
structure of Paraguayan Guaraní is given, to the extent necessary,
where needed.  In particular, chapter 2 provides a coherent and partly
new account of phenomena such as nasal harmony and word boundaries in
Guaraní.  Much attention has been devoted to a careful conception of
the interplay of morphology and syntax in general. The study is based
on the framework of Integrational Linguistics, which, however, only
provides the tools and a general background needed for the questions
of language description at hand.

Sebastian Drude:
Wörterbuchinterpretation.
Integrative Lexikographie am Beispiel des Guaraní.
Tübingen: Niemeyer (2004)
(Lexicographica. Series Maior. No.120)

-- 
|   Sebastian   D R U D E         (Lingüista, Projeto Aweti / DOBES)
|   Setor de Lingüística   --  Coordenação de Ciências Humanas (CCH)
|   Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi,  Belém do Pará   --  CNPq  --  MCT
|   Cx.P. 399  --  CEP: 66 040 - 170  --  Tel. e FAX: (91) 274 40 04
|   Email:   sebadru at zedat.fu-berlin.de    +   drude at museu-goeldi.br
|   URL:   http://www.germanistik.fu-berlin.de/il/pers/drude-en.html


 
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