Re: Dictionaries of agglutinating languages

On Mon, 2 Oct 2000, Robert Hailman wrote:

> Adrian Morgan wrote:
> >
> > Robert Hailman wrote:
> >
> > > I haven't seen any dictionaries of any languages of a similar nature to
> > > yours, but my idea is to only put in words the meaning of which can't be
> > > derived easily by the root & the affixes; or perhaps you could only
> > > include the words using uncommon affixes.
> >
> > Well, quite. The problem is in defining 'derived easily' and 'common'.
> > These qualities /can't/ be defined except as one end of a very fuzzy
> > and subjective continuum -- but to compile a dictionary I have to be
> > definitive.
>
> Very true. Another idea: Provided all these affixes are regular in how
> they alter the meaning of the root, just put the root words in the
> dictionary, and have an appendix at the end with a table of all the
> affixes.
Instead of confining affixes to a separate section of the dictionary
(a very fine idea, IMO), you could also include derived lexical items
under the root from which they are derived in a tree-like structure.
So from the hypothetical root PAD there may be the derived lexical
items padit, pada, padismo, padismoti, padamaa, padakt, etc. They
would be arranged in this way

        PAD ...
          padit ...
            padismo ...
              padismoti ...
          pada ...
            padamaa ...
            padakt ...
          &c.

each with its own definition. This accomplishes a couple of things.
First, you acknowledge the relationships among derivationally related
words by including them in the same "macro" entry. Second, you provide
a partial analysis of the derivation by virtue of the visual
appearance of each macro entry; ie, the indentation shows you the
"derivational history" of a particular complex form. Third, each
lexical item gets a separate definition which can be especially useful
for irregular or exceptional meanings. The burden is then on the user
to know what the root of any given form is, though that would be true
for any dictionary which is organized according to roots.

Dirk

--
Dirk Elzinga
dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu