1

1 modern Teop dwelling house

Dictionary making in Language

Documentation Bielefeld 03.11.2015

Ulrike Mosel, Kiel University

umosel@gmx.de

2

1. Typology of ordinary dictionaries

2. Why dictionaries for endangered languages are special

dictionaries

3. Content and structure of a Lexical Database (LD)

4. Why the print-out of a LD is not a dictionary

5. Transforming a LD into thematic-dictionaries

6. What linguists can discover in thematic-dictionaries

7. Conclusions

3

Collins COBUILD EED

Webster

Monolingual dictionaries

explain the meaning

of words.

1 Typology of ordinary dictionaries

4

Webster's

Comprehensive

Dictionary

A large solid hoofed quadruped /

equus caballus/

with coarse mane and tail,

in the domestic state,

employed as a beast of draught and

burden

and especially for riding upon.

Collins COBUILD

Essential English

Dictionary

A horse is a large animal

which you can ride.

Some horses are used

for pulling ploughs and carts.

for native speakers,

not for language learners

for language learners,

not for native speakers

2

5

The Children's Illustrated

Encyclopedia

Encyclopedias:

provide

real-world knowledge

Dictionaries

explain meanings

of words

6

Typology

dictionaries

monolingual bilingual

encyclopedias

native

speaker

learner active passive

about

language

about

the world

Webster Collins COBUILD EED

7

Typology

dictionaries

monolingual bilingual

encyclopedia

community dictionaries

My personal lexicographic experience

8

Samoan

Teop

Samoan: monolingual school dictionary

Teop: Lexical Database & thematic dictionaries

3

9

agevana pink siris, albizza species

asiata spangled emperor

dictionary = wordlist + translation equivalent?

2 Why dictionaries for endangered languages are

special dictionaries

Teop

10

Why dictionaries for endangered languages are

special dictionaries

ordinary dict. community dict.

economic basis commercial funding agencies

time frame decades 3-10 years, part time

purpose translating, L2 learning

language maintenance

users general public small community, academics

lexicographers professionals linguists, community members

linguistic resources

huge corpora, old dictionaries

language documentation

11

Dictionaries for endangered speech communities:

users & purpose

Linguists Community members

understand and analyse texts

passive

dictionary for translation

preservation of cultural memory

language maintenance,

passive & active

learner dictionary

linguistic information

linguistic &

encyclopedic information

12

3 Content and structure of the a lexical database

4

13

3 Content and structure of the a lexical database Not an end product, but a dynamic tool

Structure of the lexical entry of the TLD 2015:

Toolbox

14

Structure of the lexical entry of the TLD 2015:

\lx head word in Teop

\mn crossreference to main entry

\mr morphological structure)

\ge English gloss

\ps part of speech

\re reversal (to create an English wordlist)

\sn sense number

\de English translation equivalent of \lx , if possible

\sc scientific name (for plants and animals)

\pc picture (link to the Teop Picture Dictionary)

\sd semantic domain

\rf reference of Teop descriptions & examples

\xv Teop description /example

\xe English translation of \xv

\

15

3 Content and structure of the a lexical database

Not an end product,

but a dynamic tool, containing information on

-semantic features

- semantic relations to other lexical units

- grammatical features of lexical units

(morphology, word class)

- grammatical relations between words (derivation)

-translation equivalents

- description of the meaning in Teop with an English translation 16

description

example

link to picture

description

Lexical Database -Toolbox

5

17

edited print-out

18

Lexical database Printed dictionary

Space unlimited restricted

Macro-structure multi-dimensional linear

Purpose dynamic unbiased

resource and tool

for researchers

user oriented,

for the

speech community

Content moderately

selective

highly selective

Meanings text meanings meaning potentials

examples citations illustrative examples

4 Lexical database and printed dictionary

19

Lexical database printed

dictionary

orthography can easily deal with

variation

standardization preferable

grammar citations contain

speech errors,

interferences from

dominant languages

standard forms preferable

requires editing with native speakers

20

Lexical database Printed dictionary

Space unlimited restricted

Macro-structure multi-dimensional linear

Purpose dynamic unbiased

resource and tool

for researchers

user oriented

for speech community,

researchers

Content moderately

selective

highly selective

Meanings text meanings meaning potentials

examples citations illustrative examples

4 Lexical database, printed and e-dictionary

(e-dictionary: green colour)

6

21

Lexical database Printed

dictionary

orthography can easily deal with

variation

standardization

preferable

grammar citations contain

speech errors,

interferences from

dominant languages

standard forms

preferable

requires editing with native speakers

22

Problem 1:

Text meaning vs. meaning potential

Not the meaning of the lexemes is captured,

but only the various senses

the word has in the particular contexts of the corpus.

naovana ‘bird’

‘and Gaivaa became a naovana that we call seagull’

‘then you get two cockatoo feathers, this is a white naovana, ...

Example: naovana

And what we consider as distinct senses is influenced by the

translation equivalents.

but other naovana: flying foxes,

insects

23

‘The giant could change into a spirit or change into a snake.

Or all kinds of naovana that creep on the ground.’

‘The kaakau is a naovana that looks like a brown leaf.’

naovana = animal that flies or moves on the ground

iana = animal that swims (fishes, dolphins, turtles) 24

Lexical database

captures the different aspects of word meaning that

are activated in its particular context.

Dictionary

“contains lists of meaning potentials”

How can we capture the relevant “meaning potentials”

and present them in a sensible way in the dictionary?

(Hanks 2000/2008)

7

25

1 meaning, but 2 (or more) translation equivalents

naovana animal that flies or moves on the ground

translation equivalent:

the word a native speaker would use

in the particular context in question.

What kind of ______ is this?

naovana n.a. animal (that lives on the land); bird; insect; .... 26

Problem 2:

not all citations are suitable

as example sentences.

Collins Cobuid Advanced Dictionary:

“If someone stabs you, they push a

knife or sharp object into your body.”

27

‘This old woman,

Sharphand,

stabbed him to death with her hand.’ 28

Problem 3:

English translation equivalent in unknown

2008

Melanesian scrubfowl,

Melanesian megapode, a big, black bird

that lays its eggs in the ground

2013

8

29

the creation of a dictionary is a different job

- revision of sense discrimination

- systematic ordering of senses

- revision of examples

-moderate standardization of orthography

and grammar

The same applies to electronic dictionaries !

You need two versions:

a) database as a tool for researchers and lexicographers

b) version for the general public

Problem 4: time management

no comprehensive dictionary in 5 years

never promise such a dictionary 30

Criteria for selecting themes:

• which themes do the elders and teachers consider as important?

• which are most endangered?

• which are most suitable for indigenous lexicographers?

•which are easy to understand for the linguist?

5. Transforming a lexical data base

into small thematic dictionaries

31

Further advantages of mini-dictionaries:

specialised vocabulary is less frequently used

more endangered

less polysemous

Themes of Teop mini-dictionaries:

completed (2003-2015):

house building, fishing, fishes, shellfish,

trees and other plants,

texts typed and proof read:

land animals, food, body and health,

Teop

language

documentation

project

endangered

species & word

32

Supplementary recordings in Teop for the House-Dictionary:

How to build a men’s house

How to make bamboo walls

How to make the floor from the wood of the kabuu palm

How to make the thatch

Problem 5 : specialised vocabulary is

under-represented in the corpus

supplementary recordings

9

33

How to make bamboo walls

34

vavaagoroho vavaassun

‘sleeping pattern’ ‘standing pattern’

35

How to make the thatch from sago palm leaves

36

How to make the floor from kobuu palm wood

10

37

it is difficult to translate

linguists have no expertise in ethno-sciences

indigenous experts lack the necessary proficiency

in the target language (English/French/Spanish etc.)

vernacular encyclopedic descriptions

with translations

Problem 6: specialised vocabulary

38

encyclopedic information

39

but show the expressive potential of the language

are useful to understand the meaning of words

reflect the native speaker's metalinguistic knowledge

can show the native speaker's conceptualisation of extra-

linguistic phenomena, e.g. taxonomies

Problem 7: descriptions are not an indigenous genre

“Explain what X is to a child.” training:

40

Conventional and idiosyncratic language use

in indigenous lexicography

Let different people work on items

that are presumably described in a similar way; e.g.

house & canoe or fishes & birds

similarities of house and canoe descriptions:

topic = things

predicate = put s.th. somewhere

similarities of fishes and birds descriptions:

topic = animal

predicate = habits

= properties like size, colour, shape

11

41

register analysis:

conventional constructions for descriptions of

things, properties and events

systematic patterns of polysemy, homonymy and word formation

Example for systematic conversion/homonymy

Noun

‘part of the house’

Verb

‘add this part (e.g. wall) onto the house’

‘rafter’ ‘put up the rafters’

‘bamboo wall’ ‘put up the bamboo wall’

‘floor’ ‘make the floor of s.th. (a house) from

s.th. (wood; planks)’

6 What linguists can discover in thematic-dictionaries

42

7 Conclusions

A lexical database and a dictionary are two very different things

a dictionary is not a by-product

a dictionary requires hard work and

active involvement of the speech community

Start with a mini-dictionary.

Use vernacular encyclopedic descriptions.

Be rewarded by a culturally and linguistically interesting, and

completed little dictionary!

Make sure that the format of electronic dictionaries is regularly

updated

43

A INU

The Teop-English Dictionary of House Building

Mark Mahaka, Enoch Horai Magum, Joyce Maion,

Naphtaly Maion, Ruth Siimaa Rigamu, Ruth Saovana

Spriggs, and Jeremiah Vaabero

with Ulrike Mosel, Marcia Schwartz and Yvonne Thiesen,

drawings by Neville Vitahi, photographs by Ulrike Mosel

44

References

Atkins, B.T. Sue & Rundell, Michael. 2008.

The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography.

OUP.

Coward, David F. & Grimes, Charles E. 2000.

Making Dictionaries,

SIL International Waxhaw. North Carolina.

Hanks, Patrick. 2008. Do word meanings exist? In Thierry Fotenelle.

Practical Lexicography. A Reader. OUP, pp. 125-134

Hanks, Patrick. 2012. Corpus evidence and electronic lexicography.

In Sylviana Granger & Magali Paquot. Electronic Lexicography.

Oxford:OUP

12

45

References (cont.)

Kilgarriff, Adam. 2008. “I don’t believe in word senses!” In

Thierry Fotenelle.

Practical Lexicography. A Reader. OUP, pp. 135-151

Mosel, Ulrike.

2011. Lexicography in endangered language communities.

In Austin, Peter & Sallabank, Julia (eds.).

The handbook of endangered languages. Cambridge: CUP,

pp. 337-353.

Svensén, Bo. 2009. A handbook of Lexicography-

The theory and practice of dictionary making.

The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography.

OUP.

.