Recently, I chatted to Lindsay Clandfield for an episode of the TEFL Commute podcastabout dictionaries. When I listened dorsum to the total episode, lots of things that came upwards inwards the chat betwixt Lindsay in addition to his co-presenter, Shaun Wilden had me wanting to fighting in. Perhaps i of the most interesting was Shaun's comment that he ever tests a novel lexicon yesteryear looking upwards the entry for 'quagmire' to run across whether the literal, concrete feel (a wet, boggy expanse of ground) or the metaphorical feel (a messy situation) is listed first. It's an interesting essay and, I think, a instance worth explaining from a lexicographer's perspective.
The frequency principle:
In general, modern learner's dictionaries are based on the regulation of frequency at all levels. Whether it's which words to include, how to social club the unlike senses of a discussion or which collocations in addition to patterns to illustrate inwards the instance sentences, the most frequent typically induce got priority. The thinking beingness that the most often used words in addition to senses are probable to hold upwards most useful to a learner, in addition to hence they should acquire priority. That frequency information comes from a corpus (a computerised database of linguistic communication consisting of hundreds of millions of words from books, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, websites, conversation, etc. which nosotros operate to stand upwards for the linguistic communication equally a whole). The frequency of private words tin hold upwards retrieved quite easily, but determining the frequency of unlike senses comes downward to the sentence of the private lexicographer; computers can't yet distinguish meaning. So when compiling an entry, y'all mightiness acquire upwards a sample of, say, 500 examples in addition to scan through to piece of job out which is the most frequent sense. Looking at 'quagmire' on the British National Corpus (BNC) the dissever is roughly 54% concrete uses vs. 46% metaphorical uses. Undoubtedly, that would vary for unlike corpora, but it's clearly a unopen telephone telephone inwards damage of frequency.
Meaning in addition to metaphor:
There are, however, cases where other factors override the full general frequency rule. In the instance of words alongside a concrete in addition to a metaphorical meaning, the query is raised equally to whether it's easier for a learner to empathize a metaphorical usage yesteryear explaining the physical i first. Is it easier to empathize the persuasion of a grouping of politicians bogged downward inwards a metaphorical quagmire, if y'all tin motion-picture demonstrate them stuck inwards a charge of squelchy mud? Some vocabulary acquisition enquiry argues that encouraging learners to exercise visual representations of words, either literally equally drawings or at to the lowest degree inwards their mind's eye, aids both comprehension in addition to retention. And of course, there's all the linguistic communication that comes along alongside the master copy metaphor. To empathize why nosotros speak nearly people beingness bogged downward in, sinking into or wading through quagmires (all collocations that came upwards inwards my corpus search at metaphorical uses), does it aid to empathize the concrete, physical feel too?
Styleguides in addition to private judgments:
Each lexicon volition induce got rules nearly these types of cases develop out inwards a huge document, called a styleguide, which lexicographers refer to equally they're compiling entries. In some cases, that volition hold upwards a hard-and-fast dominion (frequency ever kickoff or concrete earlier metaphor), but often the styleguide volition exit it downward to the sentence of the private compiler to weigh upwards the relative frequencies of the ii senses in addition to how useful the physical feel is inwards agreement the metaphorical one. That's why you'll uncovering a unlike handling of 'quagmire' inwards unlike learner's dictionaries (Oxford in addition to Cambridge acquire for concrete first, COBUILD in addition to Macmillan start alongside the metaphorical usage); it's i of those cases where y'all could only debate either way.
I'll exit y'all alongside a few to a greater extent than to think nearly yourself - if y'all were explaining the metaphorical uses of these inwards the classroom, would y'all start yesteryear describing the concrete, physical feel kickoff or not? Which factors would influence your decision?
inundate, swamp, battle, grasp, tweet, mammoth, giant, nightmare
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