Current Dictionaries Research Articles

LINGUISTIC TERMINOLOGY IN THE FOCUS OF THE MENTIOLOGY THEORY

The objective of the paper under consideration is to display the formation and development specifics of the linguistic terminology associated with the linguistic mentiology formation issue. Since language reflects reality as it is, or as individuals want to imagine it, which they want to project, then it is quite logical that the language makes untruth verbalized, fake (untrue) concepts get fixed, and corresponding terms emerge in the academic and general discourse. One can definitely observe the modeling of the terms system for describing language (speech) facts, processes and phenomena, which when being nominated have a basic semantic component representing the untruth (false/lies) concept. This semantic constituent, in particular, is formally (explicitly) covered by means of quasi-, pseudo- elements and expressed implicitly by means of the corresponding semes in the term semantic structure, which represent the untruth (false/lies) concept. These include: false, unreliable, untrue, distorted, unreal, disinformation, disguising, fictitious, fantasy, imaginative, paradoxical, exaggerated, understated, belittled, concealed, one that reflects part of the truth, one that substitutes one for another, one that does not correspond to reality, one that contradicts the original meaning, one which can only be assumed, one which conceals the true meaning. Most of the above mentioned terms that outline the mentiology term field belong to monosemantic and one-word structure terms, a smaller part of them can be regarded as polysemantic and multicomponent by their structure. Within the terms system under consideration homonyms emerge, some terms expand their meaning, which is not yet registered in current dictionaries of linguistic terms. The terms analyzed primarily belong to the metalanguage of lexicology (quasi-synonyms, quasi-synonymy), onomastics (names distortion, pseudonym), orphemics (quasi-inflection, pseudo-motivation), morphology (quasi-grammeme), syntax (evidentiality and its counterpart category, quasi-sentence, pseudo-question), communicative linguistics (truth criterion, sincerity riterion, truthfulness maxim / postulate, pseudo-communication), text linguistics and discourse linguistics (quasi-discourse, quasi-text), linguistic stylistics (catachresis, quasicontrast), etymology (pseudo-etymology), sociolinguistics (quasi-ethnonym, pseudoethnonym). The issue discussed has broad prospects for further research: the mentiology terms will need systematic fixation and being processed by lexicographers.

Gendered Epithets in Two Prominent Romanian Dictionaries

Abstract The present paper seeks to investigate the representation of a relevant number of gendered epithets in two prominent Romanian dictionaries, the most recent edition of DOOM (2021, Third Edition) and the current edition of DEX (2016, Revised Edition based on the first and second editions). Taking into account the prescriptive dimension which both these dictionaries share and the fact that they both retain their status as significant reference books in present-day Romania, the paper examines the way in which these current dictionaries choose to describe these words, arguing for the significance of the “metadata” (Nunberg, 2018; Pullum, 2018) component in the lexicographical representation of lexical items which can function as gendered insults.

Reflet de la pandémie de Covid-19 dans les dictionnaires de la langue française

The Reflection of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Dictionaries of the French Language. Languages adapt to reflect changes taking place in the life of users. The COVID-19 pandemic, by its specificity, has had an enriching effect on the French language, which quickly created and borrowed simple and complex lexical units, a new specialized vocabulary reflecting the transformations that have occurred in the society. Medical terms like coronavirus (type of virus) and COVID-19 (disease caused by SARS -CoV-2) became a part of everyday conversation. New words and new meanings are usually added to dictionaries once editors have enough evidence to demonstrate continued historical use; therefore, they must be used over a significant period of time to earn their place in dictionaries. Based on the above, the question arises: how has the epidemic impacted dictionary editors? The present study attempts to investigate the new French words and expressions that emerged in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis and were added to dictionaries of the French language. The corpus collected within this study comprises neologisms (the concept of neologism can be misleading here, because the lexicography theory characterizes neologisms as words which have not been included in current dictionaries) from various fields, new words or expressions and new meanings which have been added to the Petit Robert and the Petit Larousse illustré and the online dictionaries Grand dictionnaire terminologique and Wiktionnaire. The French dictionary Le Petit Robert has added 26 new words and meanings to its 2022 dictionary, and 48 new words and meanings, from cluster to coronapiste (a cycle lane introduced during the COVID-19 crisis), have entered the French dictionary Le Petit Larousse 2022. The present study shows how French dictionaries have been able to adapt to the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this health crisis, the French language has been extraordinarily dynamic.

Lauku iedzīvotāju nosaukumi lietuviešu un latviešu valodā

The aim of the research is to find out what words are used in Lithuanian and Latvian to name the rural population. The study was performed by applying descriptive, comparative and quantitative methods. The novelty of the article is the presentation of the Lithuanian language material in Latvian, as well as the analysis of the Latvian language material and the comparison of the meanings and use of Lithuanian and Latvian words. The study is sociolinguistic, not normative; therefore, not only systematic but also contextual, situational synonymy is important. Dictionaries and texts of literary and common languages, synonyms, slang and jargon, the text of the current Lithuanian language (Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos tekstynas) and the Latvian language text corpus (Latviešu valodas tekstu korpuss), are the main sources. A Lithuanian word kaimietis (‘a villager’), which has long been a neutral name for a rural resident or a person born in a village, is a synonym for both neutral and stylistically connoted words. The most common synonyms are sodietis (‘a homestead peasant’) and valstietis (‘a peasant’). In this synonym sequence, a peasant is a remote word that includes the concept “kaimo gyventojas” (‘a rural resident’) and the concept “žemdirbys” (‘an agriculturalist’), thus linking the synonym sequence of the word a villager to a word farmer in the sequence of synonyms ūkininkas (‘a farmer’), laukininkas (‘a field peasant’). Recently, the word kaimietis (‘a villager’) has acquired a second – pejorative – meaning: “sakoma apie neišsilavinusį, prasto skonio ir pan. žmogų, kuris nebūtinai kilęs iš kaimo” (‘it is said of an uneducated, a person of poor taste, and so on, a person who does not necessarily come from the countryside’). It is already recorded in the written dictionary of the common language, which indicates that the common connoted meaning in slang is codified. The word kaimietis (‘a villager’), used in a pejorative sense, appears in the order of words that have a systemic or contextual pejorative meaning, as well as in a despising way: prastuolis, prasčiokas, mužikas, runkelis. The name of the villager in Latvian – the word laucinieks (‘a villager’) – is stylistically neutral, its synonyms consist of the neutral words lauksaimnieks (‘a farmer’) and zemnieks (‘a peasant’). The word zemnieks, similarly to the valstietis (‘a peasant’) in Lithuanian, is the dominant in the order of distant synonyms zemkopis (‘an agriculturalist’) and zemesrūķis [?]. The approach to the synonym sādžinieks (‘a homestead peasant’) is ambiguous: its definition in current dictionaries associates the word either with Latgale or Russia, although according to its origin, it is considered to be a borrowing from the Lithuanian language. The word with root lauk- (from word ‘field’) lauķis [?] is used in a pejorative sense in Latvian (its shade is similar to the Lithuanian words prasčiokas (‘a hick’) and runkelis (‘a person as mindless as a beetroot’)), as well as slang word pāķis [?] and barbarisms – slavism mužiks (‘a kern’), Germanism bauris [?] (in jargon bauers). The material of Lithuanian and Latvian texts shows that in both Lithuanian and Latvian, the words of different connotations are used synonymously in different contexts.

“Style” or “yphos” in Psaltic Art?

Abstract The term style is used in the philosophy of culture, in aesthetics, art theory and art criticism, in literary languages, in the plastic and monumental arts, in the way of life and behavior of people to characterize cultures, eras, creative individuals or works, so as we learn from philosophy dictionaries. If in Greek there is this duality of the terms style and yphos, the Romanian language uses only the former, while yphos appears to be used with completely different meanings, over time. Unlike the meanings in Greek, in the current dictionaries of the Romanian language the word yphos has a more pejorative meaning, suffering over time semantic changes. However, it seems that the old meaning of the term yphos reveals much deeper and richer valences than the term style and helps us to understand in a better way the conditions of an authentic musical-spiritual interpretation, in the “right spirit”.

Advanced Russian EFL Learners’ Awareness of Idiomatic Synonymy, Antonymy, and Polysemy

Foreign language acquisition is notoriously constrained by learners’ lack of awareness of the systemic relations that are obtained among stable multiple-unit lexical items. This results in learners’ inability to variegate their performance (both written and oral) with idioms that stand in complementary (synonymy) or contrastive (antonymy) distribution to one another. Nor are learners typically able to distinguish between the multiple senses of English idioms. Given these impedimenta, the present research investigates the degree of entrenchment of idiomatic synonymy, antonymy, and polysemy and, on the back of it, sets the agenda for partial revision of the practice of exposing learners to English idioms. Data were collected to investigate the knowledge of idiomatic synonymy, antonymy, and polysemy amongst Russian EFL learners. The results of the ANOVA analysis revealed that the degree of awareness of the major types of idiomatic paradigmatic relations significantly differed between the groups, with learners being more aware of synonymy and polysemy than antonymy. The findings suggest that current EFL materials and dictionaries need to be updated and revisited with a view to exposing foreign learners to an extended network of paradigmatic idiomatic relations.

Translating from Greek as Source Language? The Lasting Influence of Latin on New Testament Translation

Translational choices in New Testament translation appear to be influenced far more strongly by the Latin tradition and Martin Luther’s towering translation than hitherto acknowledged. This contribution uses examples from the synoptic gospels to trace the influence of Martin Luther, the Vulgate, Erasmus and the Old Latin version of the New Testament in current dictionaries like the Bauer/Aland and BDAG.

DE TOPÔNIMOS A NOMES DE PANOS NO PORTUGUÊS CONTRIBUTOS À HISTÓRIA DO LÉXICO TÊXTIL

Neste artigo, selecionamos seis denominações têxteis procedentes de topônimos, inventariadas do corpus do “Dicionário Histórico do Português do Brasil - Séculos XVI, XVII e XVIII”, no intento de investigar se tais unidades lexicais indicam, necessariamente, a origem dos tecidos que nomeiam ou se há outros fatos/motivações envolvidos nos processos denominativos. Retomamos os significados de cada palavra a partir de dicionários da língua portuguesa, antigos e atuais, e valemo-nos, também, de dicionários de língua estrangeira, etimológicos, glossários, monografias etc. para guarnecer e fundamentar as análises. Percebemos que as denominações não se limitam a indicar propriamente o local de origem do fabrico dos tecidos, pois podem sinalizar o local de difusão. A importância referencial que topônimos adquiriram por meio de um produto, por exemplo, torna-os propensos a serem emprestados para denominá-lo, de modo que atrelados aos nomes há o contexto, o valor e a notoriedade do produto.

Türkçede Metaforlar ve Metaforik Anlatımlar

“Metafor” kavramı, Batı literatüründe eski Yunan filozofu Aristoteles’ten bu yana hem terim hem de leksik bir unsur olarak bilimsel çalışmalara konu olmuş, her yönüyle tartışılmış ve uygulamada fikir birliğine varılmıştır. Bu kavramın gerek sanat alanında gerekse bilim dallarındaki pratikleri, eğitim-öğretim kurumlarında bir ders olarak okutulmakta ve öğretilmektedir. Türkiye Türkçesi literatüründe “metafor”, “metaforik anlatım” ve “metaforik adlandırma” ile ilgili tartışmalar yeni başlamıştır. Çeşitli metaforların kavram ve tasavvur olarak Türk kültüründe de bin yıl öncesinden oluştuğu, bu tasavvurların anlama ve anlatma unsuru olarak günlük yaşamda kullanıldığı bilinmektedir. Bunun örneklerine yaklaşık bin üç yüz yıl önce yazılmış olan Göktürk metinlerinde de rastlamaktayız. Ancak bu konuda yapılmış çalışmaların sayıca az olduğunu, bazı kaynaklarda verilen bilgilerin de yetersiz olduğunu görmekteyiz. Bazı çalışmalarda “metafor” olgusunun terim ve kavram olarak tartışılmadığı, bazı çalışmalarda yer alan bilgi ve açıklamaların yanlış veya yetersiz olduğu görülmüştür. Güncel sözlüklerde ve ansiklopedilerde ise gerektiği gibi açıklanmamıştır. Hatta bazı sözlüklerde bu kelimeye madde başı olarak hiç yer verilmemiştir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, literatürümüze yeni girmiş olan “metafor” terimiyle ilgili tespit, tanım ve açıklamaları inceleyip eksik ve yanlışları belirleyerek düzeltilmesini sağlamaktır. Bu nedenle “metafor” kelimesinin terim olarak tanımı, kavram olarak özellikleri üzerinde durulmuş ve “metafor” olgusunun “mecaz” terimiyle açıklanamayacağı vurgulanmıştır. Ayrıca metaforik anlatım ve adlandırmaların Türk kültüründe yeni bir tarz olmadığı, dilimizin bilinen en eski metinlerinde bile metaforik anlatımlara ve adlandırmalara yer verildiği örnekler üzerinde gösterilmiştir.

Conjunction wja1 in Tangut Language

Tangut wja1 is considered as a verb, a noun or a pronoun, which is ambiguous in current dictionaries. This paper makes it clear that wja1 is a conjunction in grammatical words of the Tangut language, and can be used to translate the conjunction na in Tibetan language. This conjunction usually occurs at the end of a former clause in a compound sentence, and expresses progressive, hypothetical, conditional and sequenced relations with the latter clause. Moreover, the latter clause is usually an interrogative sentence, in which there are mostly rhetorical questions in the progressive relation complex sentences, while it can be rhetorical questions or general questions in other complex sentences. However, there are some individual exceptions without using interrogative sentences.

Терминологические разногласия зарубежной и отечественной методики обучения иностранным языкам и проблемы перевода

The paper discusses inconsistencies in the terminological systems of Russian and foreign language teaching methodologies and justifies the need to enlarge and update current bilingual dictionaries and manuals of methodological terms. It provides a comparative analysis of the terminological systems in English and Russian by examining the semantic content of basic methodology terms. The paper analyzes new English terms, suggests their translation equivalents and outlines the most productive translation methods.

Principles for the Design of Business Dictionaries on Mobile Applications

The rapid growth of mobile applications for smartphones in the past few years has encouraged dictionary publishers to offer mobile dictionaries. One of the most prominent target markets of mobile dictionary applications is business people, especially those who are non-native speakers of English. These business people often need a dictionary to help them understand the international news they are reading. However, as shown in the review of the current mobile business dictionaries, the dictionary applications have not taken into account the needs of the users and the technological features of smartphones. The current mobile dictionaries still resemble either their electronic versions or even worse their printed versions. This can be due to the lack of research and emphasis on the theoretical aspects of mobile lexicography. Therefore, this paper tries to formulate principles for the design of business dictionaries for mobile applications. The discussion considers the implementation of the modern theory of lexicographical functions in order to create mobile dictionaries which can better satisfy the needs of the users. The principles created are organized into two parts, they are, business news with a built-in dictionary and a dictionary with updated business news.

The Verb נשֹג in Second Temple Hebrew

AbstractIn Hebrew texts from the exilic and post-exilic eras, the verb נשֹג (»to overtake«) exhibits figurative senses expressing attainment, encounter, and recognition / understanding. Although these figurative senses are identified in current dictionaries (e.g.,

The Evolution of Dictionaries of Economics: from a Glossary to a

Dictionaries of economics have evolved over time. In the past, most dictionaries were similar to glossaries and were in printed form. In this Internet era, some printed dictionaries have evolved into online dictionaries with various number of technological features. However, the evolution of these dictionaries has not taken into account the evolving needs and situations of the users. Consequently, as we can see from the review of the current online dictionaries of economics, these dictionaries have failed to satisfy the needs of the users, particularly the spoken text reception needs. This paper presents some principles in creating a future dictionary of economics that can satisfy the needs related to the situation when a non-native English speaker is listening to business news in the English language. The future dictionary or the proposed dictionary in this paper takes the concept of a lexicographical information system (LIS) that integrates several components into the dictionary. The four components discussed are a voice recognition function, a tooltip, an auto-summarize function, and a definition-finder. This paper shows why these four components are needed and how they can solve the users’ lexicographical problems correctly, promptly, and conveniently.

Las acepciones del nahuatlismo <i>tepuzque</i> en el español de México

El presente artículo investiga el caso de la palabra tepuzque (cobre en náhuatl) como un ejemplo de préstamo transitorio en el habla de los conquistadores españoles. En él, se estudian, a través del testimonio de Bernal Díaz del Castillo, que las registró en su crónica, acepciones que no están incluidas en ninguno de los diccionarios de mexicanismos actuales. Para detallar los referentes de dichas acepciones, se incluye información histórica sobre las monedas y los cañones en el siglo dieciséis (tepuzques para los españoles), y, en la segunda parte, se lleva a cabo un análisis lingüístico enfocado en los cambios fonéticos, morfológicos y semánticos que sufrió la palabra primero como préstamo del náhuatl al español y después a las relaciones semánticas entre las acepciones que tuvo en español.

ANTIUTOPIA AS THE OBJECT OF INTERDISCIPLINARY INVESTIGATION

This article discloses the theoretical grounding and complex description of the notion anti-utopia. The analysis of the contemporary ways to understanding of the phenomenon of anti-utopia and explanation of this concept is carried out in the article. Many scientists understood it as a literary genre which portrayed a community or society that is undesirable or frightening. The concept of «anti-utopia» is included in current dictionaries and encyclopedias as «independent literary genre» which has a close relationship with the concepts of «dystopia», «negative utopia», «cacotopia», «utopian satire», «reverse utopia», «inverted utopia», «regressive utopia».

Mediaeval and Modern Metaphorical Concepts of Emotions

This article aims to study emotion metaphors found in a selection of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and compare them with conventional modern metaphors from current dictionaries and other sources, in order to find out whether mediaeval emotional metaphorical concepts have survived to the present day and, if so, what changes can be perceived in them. The study is based on the cognitive theory of metaphor, as developed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980) in Metaphors We Live By.

Bedbugs and Grasshoppers: Translation, Myth and the Becoming of the Nation‐State

AbstractHow is literally, a nation translated? This paper looks at translation practices as historical process and practice rather than submitting them to causal explanations with respect to the constitution of the nation‐state. It takes as its starting point, two contemporary Malay words negeri (province, state) and negara (country, nation‐state) and how they once had opposing definitions. Working with over three hundred years of dictionaries and lexicons, mainly English‐Malay dictionaries, the words negeri and negara were translated and defined very differently from current dictionaries – nor are they clarified today. What then happened to these words and how were they understood and translated over time, and in what possible context within the language of post‐colonial nation‐state formation? What do the processes of translation offer or convey that disrupts the singularity of nations and nationalism? Writings on translation do not necessarily shed any further clarity but they offer a space in which we can think about translating practices and what they enact in the narrative of the nation.

Frame Semantics, Metalexicography and the Microstructure of Persian Monolingual Dictionaries

This paper is based on insights gained from “Frame Semantics Theory", and sets out to undertake a metalexicographical analysis of five current Persian monolingual dictionaries. It demonstrates that a frame semantic perspective can be applied in the microstructures of such dictionaries. This research is conducted by using a descriptive-analytic method. For this purpose, 100 entries have been selected from frames: COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION, EXAMINATION and REQUEST. Bearing in mind that these frames have been used in analysis of the “Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (7th ed.)", It is worthwhile to find out to what extent our proposed model compares with the past achievements. The results of data analysis reveal that none of dictionaries have been compiled on the basis of a linguistic theory. To redress the situation, the authors have come up with a pattern inspired by "Frame Semantics" and designed to compile and edit the entries of prospective Persian monolingual dictionaries.

Synonymy in the Translation Equivalent Paradigms of a Standard Translation Dictionary

The norm in current canonical translation dictionaries with Afrikaans and English as the treated language pair is an undiscriminated grouping of partially synonymous translation equivalents. These are separated by commas as sole markers of synonymy. Lexicographers should reject this practice and embrace the view that absolute synonyms are just as rare as absolute equivalents. In most cases members of a target language synonym paradigm will be partial synonyms demanding some form of contextual guidance in order to distinguish them from other equivalents in the paradigm. This article will focus on the motivation for the indication of partial target language synonymy. Two particular motivations will be discussed, as well as ways in which equivalent discrimination can be implemented. The first motivation arises from a group of problematic phenomena that effect contextual divergence between the source and target language. Stylistic and register divergence should necessitate contextual guidance. Lexicographical labels are the most frequently used discriminators, but in South African dictionaries they are applied too sparingly and inconsistently. Other possible discriminators will also be discussed. The most problematic motivation for the indication of partial synonymy is however different equivalents for various usages of a lemma. Ways in which equivalent discrimination can be implemented in these cases, will be discussed in detail. Lastly, it will be shown that without a new, more effective method of indicating and ordering target language synonyms, none of the major changes that are pleaded for, will bear fruit. Keywords: absolute synonymy; contextual guidance; equivalent discrimination; lexicographic labels; partial synonymy; polysemy; senses; standard translation dictionary; synonymy; target language synonyms; target language synonym paradigm; translation equivalent paradigm; usages of the lemma