Abstract
This article addresses the problem of "nonmorphological derivations" in English and its consequences for pedagogical lexicography, i.e. learner's dictionaries. The term "nonmorphological derivation" refers to cases such as sun — solar, moon — lunar, cat — feline, and in general to all cases where instead of, or in addition to, native derivational processes (sunny, moony, catty) English frequently uses borrowings especially from Romanic sources (Latin/French) and from Greek. The paper suggests that for such cases learner's dictionaries should give more active guidance and support, in view of the fact that many foreign learners will be from linguistic backgrounds where different, more native morphological processes are more common. An appendix lists the major examples of such derivatives. Keywords: learner's dictionaries, pedagogical lexicography, dictionary design, foreign language teaching, morphology, morphological opacity and transparency, structure and character of the lexicon.
Highlights
Opsomming: "Niemorfologiese afleidings" en die vier vernaamste Engelse aanleerderswoordeboeke
Take for example the adjective to the Dutch noun koning "king", which is koninklijk "royal, regal". This adjective is semantically clearly motivated and comparatively transparent, because it is morphologically largely nonopaque,3 whereas the English near-equivalents royal and regal are not, though the -al suffix to some extent does at least suggest that the words are adjectives
The fact that English, in addition, has the transparently derived adjective kingly demonstrates on the one hand the richness of the English vocabulary, and on the other hand the choices with which the speakers of English, and especially the nonnative ones, are confronted
Summary
As is well-known, unites strands of vocabulary from many sources, due to the checquered political, social, cultural and linguistic history. 254 Geart van der Meer most other cases, for example in filial devotion, where there is phonetically no resemblance between child/son/daughter and filial Though in such cases learner's dictionaries often offer, by means of keywords in their sense definitions, the direction from adjective to noun (solar > sun), the opposite normally does not hold. How can learners speaking Dutch, German or any other language that far less often than English uses Latin and Greek "derivations", find their way from sun to solar, moon to lunar, etc.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
