[Lexicog] lists of 'scalars' in dictionaries

[John Roberts]

Dear Janus,

One book I know of which deals with this kind of thing is: "The New First 
Aid in English" (1986) by Angus Maciver, published by Robert Gibson, 
Glasgow. It says it gives both speakers and students of English guidance in 
the use of English and it covers many areas of English vocabulary, e.g. 
number, gender, group terms, similes, sounds of animals, classifications, 
etc. It also has a section on "gradation", which is what you are calling 
"scalar". In this section it gives lists of words and asks the reader to 
grade each group. E.g.

(sound) giggled, laughed, smiled, guffawed, chuckled
(speed) strode, galloped, trotted, cantered, walked

This book also has a section on parts of speech defined in traditional 
terms, e.g. a noun is the name of a person, place or thing, a verb is a 
"doing" word, etc. You shouldn't follow this methodology for defining parts 
of speech in your dictionary.

Re. the term "scalar" one meaning of this is 'one item on a scale', and you 
could use this term to refer to the particular lexical item. But to invoke 
the associated scalars I would suggest "scale".

John Roberts

***********************************
John R Roberts
SIL International Linguistics Consultant
dr_john_roberts at sil.org
***********************************




 
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