Discussion Board: Lexicographical Concepts

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1ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 2 in Landau (2001)

In Chapter 2, Landau is perhaps at his best narrative mood, and expressive clarity. With a sharp

critical outlook quite meticulously he tracks down the years of history to identify the most pioneering

works on lexicography in English, both in Great Britain and America, and informs us about their forms

and formations, targets and goals, contents and treatments, successes and failures, advantages and

limitations. Here all major early monolingual as well as bilingual dictionaries receive equal emphasis

and treatment from the master of the craft. He is more particular in providing information while

discussing process of making early English dictionaries and the 'headwords' tradition, and while

referring to the history of the beginning of modern dictionary practices of Kersey, Bailey, and others.

The History of English Lexicography

2ENG 310: Lexicography

We find his delight to describe minutely the work of Samuel Johnson (1755) showing its form

and formation, its treatment of contents, and its path-breaking success in the history of

dictionary making. He also refers to pronouncing dictionaries of the eighteenth and the

nineteenth centuries, evaluates the contribution of Webster's work, analyses the

dictionaries for foreign learners, estimates the role of Oxford English dictionary and other

historical dictionaries, describes the field of unabridged dictionary in America, analyses the

impact of American college dictionaries and their British cousins, and finally, draws

attention to electronic dictionaries and the internet - two most powerful devices having

strong impact on the market of printed dictionaries.

Ch. 2, ‘A brief history of English lexicography’ (43–97), covers English lexicography from Robert Cawdrey to the Encarta World

English dictionary CD-ROM, with extensive discussion of Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, and the Oxford English

dictionary.

3ENG 310: Lexicography

Landau (2001: 6) defines a dictionary as a text that describes the

meanings of words, often illustrates how they are used in

context, and usually indicates how they are pronounced.

Old English period – glosses of religious books with translation

from Latin.

The 15th century – regular bilingual English-Latin dictionaries

Historical Development of English Lexicography

4ENG 310: Lexicography

1604 – “A Table Alphabeticall, containing and teaching the true

writing and understanding of hard usual English words

borrowed from the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French” .

First unilingual dictionary explaining 3000 words by English

equivalents (Robert Cawdrey).

1721 – “Universal Etymological Dictionary”.

First etymological dictionary, explained etymology of words and

included pronunciation (Nathaniel Bailey)

5ENG 310: Lexicography

1755 – explanatory dictionary by Dr Samuel Johnson.

words were illustrated by examples from English literature.

Pronunciation was not included.

Helped to preserve the English spelling in its conservative form

Continue

6ENG 310: Lexicography

1780 – first pronouncing dictionary (Thomas Sheridan)

1791 – “The Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the

English Language” (John Walker)

1858-1928 – New English Dictionary (NED), 12 volumes, included all words existing in the language

1933 – Oxford English Dictionary (OED), 13 volumes

includes spellings, pronunciations, detailed etymologies, quotations

7ENG 310: Lexicography

1889- “Century Dictionary”

1895 – “Funk and Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary”

1967 – “Random House Dictionary of the English Language”

available on CD

8ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 1: Early Lexicographical Activity (Baalbaki)

9ENG 310: Lexicography

• Two diverse, but related traditions

• Grammar

• Lexicography

• Both disciplines immensely influential on Arabic culture

• Progress in the study of lexicography has been relatively

modest, with more focus on grammar

Preface

10ENG 310: Lexicography

• Virtually impossible to separate between philological activity

and interest in studying the Qur’ānic text

• Link between everyday vocabulary and the later technical

terminology of the traditional grammarians

• Emergence and refinement of the system of vowels and

diacritics are associated with early grammarians, starting with

Abū al-Du’alī

• Universally credited with being not only first to vocalize the text of the Qur’ān but also the first to lay the foundations of grammar

The Background of Linguistic Study

11ENG 310: Lexicography

• Long string of pupils adopted and spread system

• Later developed into independent sciences

• Linguistically oriented sciences include qirā’āt, Ḥadīṯ, fiqh,

tasfīr, luġa, naḥw

• Misuse / corrupt reading inspired creation of discipline (‘ilm)

• Shifts that took place in the language, mainly following the

conquests, sharpened awareness of scholars for the need to

preserve what they considered to be correct usage and to

systematize the available material

The Background of Linguistic Study (continued)

12ENG 310: Lexicography

• In determining correct usage deemed to be free of laḥn,

philologists resorted to the Bedouins as the most reliable source

• Consistently described as fuṣaḥā on the grounds that their

language is characterized by purity, clarity, precision and

freedom from error

The Speech of the Bedouins

13ENG 310: Lexicography

• “Elegance” stems from the following

1. Far from “corrupting” presence of non-Arabs

2. Natural disposition (salīqa) as opposed to versed in linguistic sciences – Certain Bedouin poets went so far as to feign illiteracy to preserve their

reputation

3. Adherence to dialectical usage and resistance to all attempts to persuade them to change

4. Use of an elevated form of Arabic, characterized by a high degree of precision in the choice of words, an astounding ability to generate rhyme, and an overwhelming disposition to use vocabulary of the ġarīb (strange)

The Speech of the Bedouins (continued)

14ENG 310: Lexicography

• Early philologists and grammarians sought to collect linguistic

data from Bedouin informants

• As the Bedouins realized they were in demand, many left the

desert and joined cities

• Counter-journey in which the A‘rāb brought their linguistic

experience to the cities in which linguistic scholarship thrived,

most notably Basra and Baghdad

The Collection of Data

15ENG 310: Lexicography

• Counter-journey of the Bedouin fuṣaḥā to the settled areas

came at a price: some Bedouins were soon accused of losing

their faṣāḥa due to time away from the desert

• Became familiar with faulty usages, diminished eloquence

• Collection of data was at its peak in the second half of the

second/eighth century

• With time, chain of transmitters between direct source person

grew longer

• Fabrication and forgery

The Collection of Data (continued)

16ENG 310: Lexicography

• In addition to trying to verify authenticity and guard against

fabrication, also had to define time limits to reliable usage

• Two of the four major sources pose no problem, the Qur’ān and

prophetic Ḥadīṯ

• Lexicographers might have assumed that even if Ḥadīṯ was not transmitted verbatim, change would primarily affect its structure

• Time limits imposed on linguistic data solely apply to the other

two sources of the philologists corpus, i.e. prose and poetry

The Epochs of Reliable Usage (‘Uṣῡr al-Iḥtiǧāǧ)

17ENG 310: Lexicography

• Prose is usually referred to by the expression kalām al-‘Arab

• The corpus was open approximately until no later than the end of the second/eighth century in urban areas

• Stricter criteria for admission of poetry

• Temporal classification into Pre-Islamic, Islamic, and those described as muḫaḍramῡn

The Epochs of Reliable Usage (continued)

18ENG 310: Lexicography

• Interest in strange or uncommon usage was not restricted to

prose and poetry; included the Qur’ān and Ḥadīṯ

• Most content may be classified in the following areas:

• Words rarely used in any of the four sources of linguistic data

• Collections of synonyms, all or most of which are only rarely attested

• Words pronounced differently in various dialects

• Anomalous forms that are exceptions to generally applicable norm

• Idiomatic expressions

• Rare syntactic phenomena

The Role of Ġarīb

19ENG 310: Lexicography

• Criteria for labeling usage as ġarīb is not always clear

• Use of poetry to understand Qur’ānic usage

The Role of Ġarīb (continued)

20ENG 310: Lexicography

• How to figure out relationship between collection of data and

the actual compilation of lexica

• Proposal by Aḥmad Amīn

• First stage: philologists collected data from Bedouins

• Second stage: classification of these words according to subject

• Final stage: authors devised ways to arrange all Arabic words in a lexica

• Seemingly logical sequence hardly corresponds to the chronology one infers from the sources

• Can be safely concluded that data collection, authoring single-

topic monographs, and compiling lexica represent concurrent

activity

The Compilation of Lexica

21ENG 310: Lexicography

• Early lexica of both the mubawwab and the muǧannas focused

more on rare, even obsolete words

• Eventually, some authors became aware of need for lexica with focus on what is actually used

• Ibn Durayd’s “Ǧamhara” included more common words but still

had plenty of obscure terms

The Compilation of Lexica (continued)

45ENG 310: Lexicography

The last few decades witnessed remarkable interest in the study of the Arabic

Linguistic Tradition and a surge in the number of articles and books

dealing with various aspects of this tradition. Since the 1960s, scholarly

activity primarily focused on the study of Arabic grammar. In contrast,

relatively modest progress took place in the study of lexicography despite

the recent publication of essential texts and better editions of previously

published ones.

Remarks on Contemporary Scholarship

46ENG 310: Lexicography

• Scholarly activity primarily focused on the study of Arabic

grammar

• In contrast, relatively modest progress in the study of lexicography

• Question of foreign influence on Arabic lexicography

• Insistence on foreign influence is totally unjustified

• Most compelling evidence come from available early texts

Remarks on Contemporary Scholarship

47ENG 310: Lexicography

Proponents of foreign influence on Arabic lexicography in general

and on K. al-ʿAyn in particular are totally oblivious of the fact

that the Arabic sources are as completely silent about the

presence of any foreign influence in lexicography as they are

about any such influence in grammar. Even if there had been a

conspiracy among early philologists (and faithfully continued by

later scholars) to be silent about any foreign influence, one

would have expected at least the faintest allusion to such a

major scheme.

48ENG 310: Lexicography

The close affinity between early lexicography and grammar is a reflection of

the fact that both fields of linguistic investigation share much of the

common background expounded in the previous sections. Both fields are

closely related to the study of the Qurʾān and, to a lesser extent, the

Ḥadīṯ, and share a common corpus which draws heavily on poetry

material and deems the usage of the Bedouin fuṣaḥāʾ as the “purest” form

of Arabic speech.

49ENG 310: Lexicography

These two fields have also witnessed almost concurrently in the second half of the

second/eighth century the authoring of a major authoritative work which set

the trend for later scholars. Interestingly enough, the first such work in grammar

is authored by Sībawayhi but is heavily influenced by Ḫalīl’s views,291 and

its counterpart in lexicography, the ʿAyn, also bears the mark of Ḫalīl as we

shall see later.292 In many respects, the introduction to the ʿAyn resembles the

Kitāb’s Risāla since both discuss basic concepts essential for the whole work,

and Ḫalīl’s naḥārīr bear strong resemblance to Sībawayhi’s naḥwiyyūn.

Continue,,,

50ENG 310: Lexicography

• Throughout long history of grammatical and lexicographical

traditions, the two fields, visibly, had a complementary

relationship

Remarks on Contemporary Scholarship (continued)

51ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 1: What is a Dictionary? (Landau)

52ENG 310: Lexicography

In Chapter 1, Landau defines what a dictionary is, and how it differs from an encyclopedia. He

presents a survey on the types of dictionary, and other language reference works where he is

inclined to apply the categories and distinctive features proposed by Malkiel (1967). He takes

trouble for distinguishing among monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual dictionaries

identifying their specific modes of formation, and treatment of contents. With examples from

English he shows how dictionaries can vary (British, American, Canadian, Australian, Indian

English etc.) depending upon the language variety. Next comes the consideration of target

users where formation of dictionaries depends whether they are intended for native language

user or for foreign language users. In the following sections he shows what can be an ideal

form of presentation of the entries in dictionaries,

Synopsis (Only reading) slide 2+3

53ENG 310: Lexicography

what kind of financing would be available for such an enterprise, whether age of the target users

should be kept in mind at the time of dictionary making, whether dictionary should be time-

bound (synchronic) or time-open (diachronic), what should be the size of a dictionary,

whether dictionary should be subject specific or should cover entries belonging to all subjects

or domains, what kind of treatment should be given to ghost words (words that have never

existed in actual usage but that appear in dictionaries through the lexicographer's error) etc.

Each section and sub-section of this chapter (also of all other chapters) contains reference to

various dictionary-type works in English done in Great Britain and in United States of

America. To my mind, the chapter would have been complete and full if the author would

have paid little more attention on some other types of dictionary-type works such as

dictionaries of foreign words in native languages, dictionaries of synonyms, etc.

54ENG 310: Lexicography

• Dictionary is a text that describes the meaning of words,

illustrates how they are used in context, and indicates how they

are pronounced

• No standard classification

• Can be sorted by range, perspective, presentation, languages included, variety of English, primary language of the market, form of presentation, manner of financing, age of users, period of time covered, size, scope of coverage by subject, limitations in the aspects of language covered

Introduction

55ENG 310: Lexicography

• Range Questions

• How well does it cover the entire lexicon?

• Perspective Questions

• Is the work diachronic (covering an extended time) or synchronic (confined to one period)?

• How is it organized? (alphabetically, by concept, ect.)

• Is the level of tone detached, perceptive (or didactic), or facetious?

• Presentation Questions

• How full are the definitions

Malkiel’s Typology

56ENG 310: Lexicography

• Dictionaries differ in the number of languages they contain

• Bilingual dictionaries for the sake of translation

• Problems when there are no “like” words in other language

• Variety of language spoken

• English spoken as native language in the UK, the US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and in the Caribbean; distinctive features to each

• Many varieties of English in countries where English is the mother tongue and also in countries where it is widely spoken as a foreign or second language

• Primary language of the market

• ESL versus EFL

Language

57ENG 310: Lexicography

• Access to information can be provided in a number of ways

including alphabetically or thematically; can be produced in

books or exist in electronic form

• Typically alphabetical now but that wasn’t always the case

• Grouping of relevant words as subentries

• Duden: technical books with drawings

• “Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English” as a vocabulary builder

• Crossword puzzle dictionaries

Form of Presentation

58ENG 310: Lexicography

• Manner of financing

• Scholarly dictionaries funded by government agencies or foundation agents, in addition to university support, individual donations, not designed to make money for investors

• Commercial dictionaries are supported by private investors who expect to make money

• Age of users

• Some are aimed at children, others at adults

• Early dictionaries were for students

• Graded vocabularies to ensure age appropriateness

Types of Dictionaries

59ENG 310: Lexicography

• Period of Time Covered

• Diachronic, or historical, deal with an extended period of time; synchronic dictionaries deal with a narrow band of time

• Size

• Differ in how fully the lexicon is covered; best to compare size within languages instead of between; unabridged doesn’t mean it includes every word in the language

• English lexicon estimated at 4 million words

Types of Dictionaries (continued)

60ENG 310: Lexicography

• Scope of coverage by subject

• Restricted to certain subjects (law, medicine) or aspect of language (pronouncing, slang)

• Limitations in the aspects of language covered

• Limited to one aspect of language: special-purpose dictionaries according to Barnhart or restricted (or special) according to Zgusta

• Examples include dictionaries of: dialect, etymology, spelling, usage, synonymy, neologisms (new words), slang

Types of Dictionaries (continued)

61ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 3: Theoretical Lexicography and its Relation to Dictionary-making (Fontenelle)

62ENG 310: Lexicography

• Dictionaries may be considered from the point of view of form

or content

• Form: a dictionary is “a book that lists…and explains the words of a language…”

• Content: there are two main types: scholarly and historical dictionary and the trade dictionary

• Theoretical lexicography must provide a theoretically sound, yet

practical, basis for decision-making

Introduction

63ENG 310: Lexicography

• Steps in the design of a new dictionary must be set in process of

lexicography

• 1st stage: Analysis

• 2nd stage: Synthesis

• Style Guide

The Process of Lexicography

64ENG 310: Lexicography

• Design decisions have domino effect throughout entire

dictionary

• Dictionary, as a whole, is an artifact designed with care to fit

precise specifications

• Commercial specifications place iron constraints upon the compiler

Holistic Approach to Dictionary Assessment

65ENG 310: Lexicography

• Decision process:

• Pre-lexicography

• Macrostructure

• Microstructure

Decision Points in the Lexicographical Process

66ENG 310: Lexicography

• Principal decisions during the pre-lexicography stage are those

relating to publishing specifications and sources of evidence

• Made by publishers, result from publisher’s judgment of the market

• Commissioning publisher identifies the “market slot”

• Great number of lexicographical decisions are affected by this

Price, Space, Time, source of evidence (introspective- investigation), physical features (typography, proportion) Type, language etc.

Pre-lexicographical Decisions

67ENG 310: Lexicography

• Macrostructure is the basis of the dictionary

• Decisions fall into two groups: word list and lexical entries

• Type of word list: comprehensive or selective

• Type of headword list: non-homographic, totally homographic, partially homographic

• Entry structure: flat, tiered

• Entry status: main entry criteria, subentry criteria

Macrostructure Decisions

68ENG 310: Lexicography

• First two decisions are how to handle lexical units in the

dictionary (presentation), and what lexically relevant

information (data types) to record for each of these

• Type of presentation depends on two factors

• The way in which the headword is divided into senses

• The order in which these senses are set out in the dictionary entry

Microstructure Decisions

69ENG 310: Lexicography

• Sense structure

• May be flat, all senses have equal status and sense numbers run 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

• May be hierarchical, allowing for grouping of senses in a more intuitively satisfying way, for instance 1, 1a, 1a, 2, 2a, etc.

• Having decided what senses are, complier must decide how to

order them within the entry

Dictionary Senses

70ENG 310: Lexicography

• Four different kinds of information:

• Internal – about the word or the word sense itself

• External – about its relationships with other words or word senses

• Etymological – in a sense a diachronic subset of external, but useful to treat it quite distinctly

• Informative – motley (diverse) collection of useful comments that the compiler may make in order to clarify a particular entry

Lexically Relevant Data Internal to the Headword

71ENG 310: Lexicography

• Four classes:

• Relational – fairly straightforward set of facts about morphological derivation, including all various types of cross-references to other entries

• Paradigmatic – may be grammatical (e.g., part of speech), semantic (e.g., hyponymy), morphological (e.g., conjugation)

• Usage – includes information on register (formal/ familiar), currency (old fashioned/obsolete), style (poetic/ technical), pragmatics (expressing pleasure/ used to express surprise), status (dialect/ slang/ jargon), and field (music/ architecture)

• Syntagmatic – use of complementation to designate the range of syntagmatic environments in which a word’s full semantic potential may be expressed

Lexically Relevant Data External to the Headword

72ENG 310: Lexicography

• Three kinds of theoretical linguists

• First group is too theoretical, too abstract, too difficult, shows too little conception of what practical lexicography is all about

• Second group discusses aspects of lexical semantics that have a great bearing on practical lexicography

• Third group deals with specifically lexicographical matters, in a way that is not always directly applicable to practical lexicography

Conclusion

73ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 3: Muğannas (Semasiological) Lexica

(Baalbaki)

74ENG 310: Lexicography

Based on the introduction of Ibn Sida to al-Muhassas, Baalbaki

(2014, 402) divides Arabic dictionaries to two types: mubawwab

and mugannas. These terms have been adopted to refer to the

onomasiological and semasiological types respectively. The first

type, in which meaning leads to a sign. On the other hand,

general unspecialized lexica in which sign leads to meaning and

which represents the mugannas type.

75ENG 310: Lexicography

onomasiology = mubawwab

Starts with concept and wants to know how do you express X?

semasiology = muğannas

Starts with a word X and asks what does the word mean?

Both are approaches used to arrange words in dictionaries.

• Mubawwab Arranged according to topics موضوعات

• Muğannas Arranged according to words ألفاظ

Difference between mubawwab and muğannas

76ENG 310: Lexicography

• The muğannas type of lexica (i.e. general, unspecialized works

in which sign leads to meaning) appeared only shortly after the

first mubawwab lexica

• Argued that the two belong to the same stage of philological

activity

• Early stages, both were linked to study of Qur’ān

• Unlike mubawwab lexica, muğannas aim at exhausting the

linguistic corpus of Arabic

Introduction

77ENG 310: Lexicography

• System of arranging Arabic roots; probably the oldest and goes

back to the first muğannas lexicon in the tradition

• Al-Ḫalīl b. Aḥmad’s K. al-‘Ayn الخ ع ح هـ غ خ، ق ك، ج ش ض، ص س ز

• Arrangement of letters based on their place of articulation

• Undoubtedly the most difficult and impractical in the lexicographical tradition

Phonetic-Permutative System التقليبات الصوتية

78ENG 310: Lexicography

• Following lexica arranged according to this system:

• Kitāb al-‘Ayn by al-Ḫalīl b. Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī

• al-Bāri‘ fī l-luġa by Abū ‘Alī al-Qālī

• Tahḏīb al-luġa by Azharī

• al-Muḥīṭ fī l-luġa by al-Ṣāḥib b. ‘Abbād

• al-Muḥkam wa-l-muḥīṭ al-a ‘ẓam by Ibn Sīda

Ex. Check the following words:

ع ك ب

ش ع ل

جميعها مدرجة في كتاب العين ألنها أعمق المخارج في تصنيف الخليل

Phonetic-Permutative System (continued)

79ENG 310: Lexicography

• What is meant by the alphabetical system is the use of the ’, b, t,

ṯ, ğ, ḥ, ḫ, etc. order of letters in listing lexical items beginning

with the first radical of a word’s root

• Only the first letters of words are taken into consideration

• First muğannas lexicon to arrange words (at least in most

sections) in full alphabetical order is Ğamharat al-luġa by Ibn

Durayd

The Alphabetical System األلفبائي)النظام الهجائي)

80ENG 310: Lexicography

• Also works in which lexical items are arranged according to first

two letters

• Partial alphabetization and full alphabetization do not represent

consecutive stages in the history of the mubawwab and

specialized lexica

• More meaningful to consider each genre on its own than to consider the history of lexicographical writing as a whole

• Ex. Check the following words:

• ط ل ع

• بعد ط ر ق وقبل ط و ع

The Alphabetical System (continued)

81ENG 310: Lexicography

• Alphabetically arranged muğannas lexica:

• K. al-Ğim by Abū ‘Amr al-Šaybānī

• Ğamharat al-luġa by Ibn Durayd

• Maqāyīs al-luġa and Muğmal al-luġa by Ibn Fāris

• Asās al-balāġa by Zamaḫšarī

The Alphabetical System (continued)

82ENG 310: Lexicography

• Lexical items are typically arranged in alphabetical order on the

basis of the radicals of their roots, starting with the last

followed by the first, then by the intermediate consonants

• Rhyme system came into use at a later period than K. al-Ğim

and K. al-‘Ayn

• Ğawharī was the first to apply the system in full with no regard to morphological patterns in his al-Ṣaḥāḥ

• Bandanīğī’s al-Taqfiya is first extant source we know of that uses the rhyme system

Rhyme System نظام القافية

83ENG 310: Lexicography

• In this system, the choice of the ’, b, t, ṯ alphabetical order is

easy to explain given numerous references to its currency and

ease of use

• More difficult to explain why the basis of the arrangement should be the last radical of the root

• Ex. Check the following word:

ج ب ر

باب الراء فصل الجيم

Rhyme System (continued)

84ENG 310: Lexicography

• Lexica which follow the rhyme system:

• al-Taqfiya fī l-luġa by Bandanīğī

• Tāğ al-luġa wa-ṣaḥāḥ al-‘Arabiyya (al-Ṣaḥāḥ/al-Ṣiḥāḥ) by Ğawharī

• al-‘Ubāb al-zāḫir wa-l-lubāb al-fāḫir by Ṣaġānī

• Lisān al-‘Arab by Ibn Manẓūr

• al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ by Fīrūzābādī

• Tāğ al-‘arūs min ğawāhir al-Qāmūs by Zabīdī

Rhyme System (continued)

85ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 3: Muğannas (Semasiological) Lexica

(Baalbaki)

86ENG 310: Lexicography

onomasiology = mubawwab

Starts with concept and wants to know how do you express X?

semasiology = muğannas

Starts with a word X and asks what does the word mean?

Both are approaches used to arrange words in dictionaries.

• Mubawwab Arranged according to topics موضوعات

• Muğannas Arranged according to words ألفاظ

Difference between mubawwab and muğannas

87ENG 310: Lexicography

• What is meant by the alphabetical system is the use of the ’, b, t,

ṯ, ğ, ḥ, ḫ, etc. order of letters in listing lexical items beginning

with the first radical of a word’s root

• Only the first letters of words are taken into consideration

• First muğannas lexicon to arrange words (at least in most

sections) in full alphabetical order is Ğamharat al-luġa by Ibn

Durayd

The Alphabetical System األلفبائي)النظام الهجائي)

88ENG 310: Lexicography

• Also works in which lexical items are arranged according to first

two letters

• Partial alphabetization and full alphabetization do not represent

consecutive stages in the history of the mubawwab and

specialized lexica

• More meaningful to consider each genre on its own than to consider the history of lexicographical writing as a whole

• Ex. Check the following words:

• ط ل ع

• بعد ط ر ق وقبل ط و ع

The Alphabetical System (continued)

89ENG 310: Lexicography

• Alphabetically arranged muğannas lexica:

• K. al-Ğim by Abū ‘Amr al-Šaybānī

• Ğamharat al-luġa by Ibn Durayd

• Maqāyīs al-luġa and Muğmal al-luġa by Ibn Fāris

• Asās al-balāġa by Zamaḫšarī

The Alphabetical System (continued)

90ENG 310: Lexicography

1. First muğannas lexicon in alphabetical order (first letter only)

2. Not a general lexicon (garib)

3. Aimed at demonstrating the early appearance of alphabetical

ordering

4. At the same time of Khaleel’s book

5. Its title

6. No introduction

7. Citing Garib usage than explaining it

8. Definitions are brief

9. The difference between K. al-Gim & K. al-Ayn is remarkable

3.1 K. al-Gim by Abu Amr Al-saybani

91ENG 310: Lexicography

1. The first large-scale lexicon after K. al-Ayn

2. Its unique characteristic

3. The reason it’s titled as al-Gamhara

4. Its introduction

5. Similarity and differences with K. al-Ayn

6. The book division

3.2 Gamharat al-luga by Ibn Durayd

92ENG 310: Lexicography

The second principle is that the number of radicals (i.e. consonants) in Arabic words ranges from two to five. Hence there is a closed set which consists of four elements based on the number of radicals, namely, the biliteral (e.g. qad and lam( the triliteral (e.g. ḍaraba and ǧamal), the quadriliteral (e.g. daḥraga and ʿaqrab), and the quinqueliteral (e.g. iqšaʿarra and safarǧal).74 Ḫalīl’s examples demonstrate that the biliterals are exclusively particles, whereas the triliterals, quadriliterals and quinqueliterals include both verbs and nouns.

93ENG 310: Lexicography

The second principle is that the number of radicals (i.e. consonants) in Arabic words ranges

from two to five. Hence there is a closed set which consists of four elements based on

the number of radicals, namely, the biliteral حروف ثنائي ساكنة e.g. qad and lam لم, قد

the triliteral ثالث احرف ساكنة ( e.g. ḍaraba and ǧamal , (جمل, ضرب )

the quadriliteral )اربع حروف ساكنة e.g. daḥraga and ʿaqrab , (عقرب, دحرج )

and the quinqueliteral خمس حروف ساكنة( e.g. iqšaʿarra and safarǧal (. اقشعر , سفرجل )

Ḫalīl’s examples demonstrate that the biliterals are exclusively particles, whereas the

triliterals, quadriliterals and quinqueliterals include both verbs and nouns.

94ENG 310: Lexicography

1. The main sections:

1- sound biliterals

2- biliterals appended to reduplicated quadrilierals

3- unsound biliterals

4- sound triliterals

5- triliterals whose second and third radicals are alike but not geminated

6- triliterals whose middle radical is a vowel or contain two similar radicals

7- triliterals with w, ‘, y

8- rare hamzated words

9- sound quadriliterals

10- unsound quadriliterals

3.2 Gamharat al-luga by Ibn Durayd

95ENG 310: Lexicography

1. Important characteristics

2. Major topics

3. It’s full with shawahid

3.2 Gamharat al-luga by Ibn Durayd

96ENG 310: Lexicography

Al-Mugmal: more famous

Al-Maqyas: real contribution to lexicography

1. Al-Maqyas’s introduction

2. Its division

A- biliterals

B- triliterals

C- quadriliterals and quinqueliterals

3. Usul & naht

4. Al-Mugmal’s introduction

3.3 Maqayis al-luga and Mugmal al-luga by Ibn Faris

97ENG 310: Lexicography

1. First to arrange roots based on full alphabetical order by

considering all the root’s components from first to last

2. Zamakhshari applied modern dictionary order in his book al-

Mustaqsa

3. The reason of choosing alphabetical ordering

4. His innovative role in Arabic lexicography

5. Haqiqi & magazi

3.4 Asas al-balaga by zamakhsari

98ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 3: Key Elements of Dictionaries and Other

Language References (Landau)

99ENG 310: Lexicography

Just Reading

In Chapter 3, Landau draws our attention to some central issues of dictionary making in general where he

emphasizes on some key elements of dictionary and other language reference works. The first point he

considers is which lexical items are eligible to get the status of separate entry in the dictionary. In logical

sequence, he explores the difference and interface between homonymous and polysemous words which

quite often posit problems to the lexicographers while deciding their status in the dictionary. Next, he

systematically discusses issues related to run-on entries, impact of scientific nomenclature on dictionary

formation, advantage and disadvantage of alphabetization of entries, method of counting actual number of

entries, load of grammatical information attached with each entry, relevance and usefulness of providing

pronunciation of words in dictionary, necessity of etymological information of the entries, treatment of

synonyms in dictionary, etc. He spends some more time on the pattern of formation of Roget's thesaurus

highlighting it advantage and limitations. Finally, he discusses with examples how illustrations are used,

and how front and back matters are arranged in different dictionaries of America and Great Britain.

ENG 310: Lexicography

• The canonical form (lemma): the form chosen to represent a paradigm

• In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (plural lemmas or lemmata) is the

canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of words (headword). In

English, for example, run, runs, ran and running are forms of the same lexeme, run

Lexeme, in this context, refers to the set of all the forms that have the same meaning,

and lemma refers to the particular form that is chosen by convention to represent

the lexeme.

• In a dictionary, the lemma "go" represents the inflected forms "go", "goes", "going",

"went", and "gone".

• In the past, they had variations in spellings

• The users of bilingual and ESL dictionaries may not know the canonical forms used

as headwords

• The traditional practice is to list all canonical forms as main entries

The Entry Term

ENG 310: Lexicography

1- to have those forms, there must be a standard language

If there are many forms, they should decide which one comes first.

Dictionaries should have standard spellings and dialects

2- they fixed it: Johnsons 1755 and webster in USA.

3- the inflected forms that differs completely from the canonical

forms should be listed alone - is-went

4- each part of speech appear separate

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Polysemy: two different meanings of the same word

• Homonymy: two words that are pronounced alike or have the

same spelling, but differ in other respects

• 1- spelled the same (homographs) wind – wind (different

pronunciation)

• 2- pronounced the same (homophones) lie -lie

• Determining homonymy is important

• Homophones spelled differently (way-weigh)

• What lexicographers are concerned ? (Homonyms spelled alike

or homophones spelled differently) in alphabetically arranged

dictionaries. Think of spelling rules.

Homonymy and polysemy

ENG 310: Lexicography

• In order to conserve space, they have adopted the practice of

“running on” at the end of entries of canonical forms of

grammatical related forms.

• A run-on entry is an independent entry with respect to function and status.

• Some of those forms are rarely used.

Run-on Entries

ENG 310: Lexicography

RUN - ON ENTRY

A main entry may be followed by one or more derivatives or by a homograph with

a different functional label. These are run-on entries.

Each is introduced by a lightface dash and each has a functional label.

They are not defined, however, since their meanings are readily derivable

from the meaning of the root word:

Main Entry: slay

Function: verb --slay.er noun

Main Entry: spir.it.ed

Function: adjective --spir.it.ed.ly adverb --spir.it.ed.ness noun

http://www-ccs.cs.umass.edu/mw/Mwed00000069.html

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Nomenclature: it is a system for naming things, especially in a

particular area of science.

• The problem is neither of spelling nor of paradigmatic model

but the problem here is the absent of a standard nomenclature

Scientific Nomenclature

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Recommended criteria to determine preferred terms:

1. Usage as in textbooks, medical dictionaries.

2. Recommendations of specialist organizations

3. Self-descriptiveness; i.e., giving preference to term describing the nature

of the concept.

4. Specify; not ambiguous

5. Simplicity; as short as possible

6. Conceptual relationships; related to concepts (2 forms of pneumonia

should both include the word pneumonia )

7. Linguistic relationships; the translation of a term into other major

languages should be similar in all languages. (the result is that the two

terms are the same)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Dictionaries alphabetize letter by letter rather than word by word (letter by letter

arrangement has the great virtue)

They should place power, powerful and power of attorney (letter by letter

They should place ‘Power of attorney before powerful (word by word)’

• Scientific and technical dictionaries p.108, line1

• Medical (main entry/subentry system: nesting) e.g. p.108 nucleus

• Exceptions to the method

• Another major problem p. 109 para 2 = non-English alphabetic characters

• Treatment of idioms (listed alone or within the words)

• Where to include it? Based on which word? (land on your feet)

• 1st or more important word (most dictionaries prefer to list idioms under the first word

• Land on your feet

• Idiom index - rare

Alphabetization

ENG 310: Lexicography

• We must approach the subject of what is meant by saying that a dictionary has

50,000 or 100,000 or 180, 000 entries.

• Counts are clouded by deliberately confusing nomenclature used by competing

publishers to promote their books as the biggest

• What is a dictionary entry p. 110 1. every word …..

• 8 items are entries p. 110 + 111

• Different forms of the head word are counted as separate entries (e.g,

parachute, parachutist, parachuted)

• Purposes of Main entry form:

• indicates preferred spelling,

• indicates the usual printed form of the lexical unit, whether capitalized or not

• syllabication is indicated >problem of syllabification: man.y (tell the reader where a word can be divided)

Entry Count

ENG 310: Lexicography

• More essential for ESL / foreign language speakers than native speakers

• grammatical information is essential for a person who tries to understand and

speak a foreign language (they provide extensive grammatical info about:

• Count nouns and mass nouns

• Verb patterns

• Gradeability of adjectives

• Parts of speech

• Function words: (of, for, at etc.)

• ESL dictionaries provide more grammar than any other dictionaries (why) p.114

last paragraph. And 115

• Pedagogical reasons

• Adult vs children dictionaries

Grammatical Information

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Preferred American system shows entry word respelled in

alphabetic characters with diacritical marks

• Based on phonemes (difference between phonemes and phones)

• Reflect general pronunciation, not regional (dialect) pronunciation

• Most widely used alternative to respelling is International

Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), used in British monolingual

dictionaries

• Based on the area and manner of articulation

• Uses both alphabetic and non alphabetic symbols.

• ESL

Pronunciation

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Derivation of words

• May be valuable in its own right, tells us little about current

meaning and is often misleading

• Bailey is credited with establishing etymology as requisite of

any dictionary

• Not included in children’s dictionaries (unless of particular

interest-brief statements ), or ESL dictionaries to saving space

• Drysdale gives reasons to include etymology

• Placemat of etymology

Etymology

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Dictionaries of synonyms called synonymicons or synonymies.

• Not until the word stock of English words increased, dictionaries of synonyms could be written.

• Earlies synonym dictionaries in English was by John Trusler in 1766

• Zagusta specifies 3 aspects of lexical meaning:

• Designatum: essential properties of the thing or concept that

define it. p,.136 (Beast and brute)

• Connotation: refers to associated features

• Range of application: the variety of context in which the word may

be used

Synonyms

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Roget’s Thesaurus:

• First published in 1852

• Arranged not alphabetically but according to ideas

• Aim: to find the words by which a given idea may be expressed

• Words are classified according to their significance.

• Arrangement

• Conceptually: uses an index to help the reader find a word.

• Alphabetically

Thesaurus

ENG 310: Lexicography

• John Ogilvie’s Imperial Dictionary (1850)

• First dictionary that gave prominence to pictorial illustrations

• Debate about usefulness of illustrations

• Take up space

• How useful/representative are they?

• Drawings vs. Photographs (halftones)

• School dictionaries include more pictures than adult dictionaries.

• ESL dictionaries: no space for pictures although desirable.

• How important illustrations are depend on intended audience.

Illustrations

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Sections vary greatly in importance depending on the nature of

the dictionary

• Adult native speaker dictionaries often include usage guide

• Front matter articles are seldom read by users, but important to

reviewers (to evaluate dictionaries)

• American college dictionaries include more back matter than

British college dictionaries.

• Back matter include: Appendixes on writing, punctuation,

miscellany of encyclopedic material

Front and Back Matter

ENG 310: Lexicography

Word: Naive

Question

1 What is first meaning of the word?

2 What part of speech is the word?

3 How many syllables does the word contain?

4 What is the etymology of the word?

5 List at least three synonyms for the word.

List derivatives and alternative versions, including variant

spellings, plural forms, and irregular verb forms.

7 Give a sample sentence.

ENG 310: Lexicography

Word: Naïve

Question Answer

1 What is first meaning of the word?

(Of a person or action) showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or

judgment

(Of a person) natural and unaffected; innocent

Too ready to believe someone or something, or to trust that

someone’s intentions are good, esp. because of a lack of experience.

Having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of

artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous.

2 What part of speech is the word? Adjective

3 How many syllables does the word contain? 1 or 2

4 What is the etymology of the word? Mid-17th century: from French naïve, feminine of naïf, from Latin

nativus 'native, natural'.

5 List at least three synonyms for the word. Innocent, gullible, trusting, simple, unsophisticated, callow

List derivatives and alternative versions,

including variant spellings, plural forms, and

irregular verb forms. Naively (adverb)

Naiveté (noun)

7 Give a sample sentence. The rather naive young man had been totally misled.

ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 2: Mubawwab (Onomasiological) and

Specialized Lexica (Baalbaki)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Semasiological lexica: general dictionary which normally aim at

listing all lexical items of the language thus not specialized

dictionaries (mugannas).

• Onomasiological lexica: Subject dictionary a thesauri in which

meaning leads to sign since they deal with specific topic areas

(Mubawwab).

Define entry and headword!

ENG 310: Lexicography

• One of four major sources from which philologists and

grammarians derive their corpus of attested usage

• Difficulty of ascribing early works

• In same period during which lexical works dealing with Qur’ānic

ġarīb visibly prospered, grammarians examined large body of

Qur’ānic šawāhid

Ġarīb al-Qur’ān

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Most important extant sources devoted to Qur’ānic ġarīb as of

the third/ninth century are:

• Ġarīb al-Qur’ān wa-tafsīruhu by ‘Abdallāh b. Yaḥyā b. al-Mubārak al-Yazīdī

• Tafsīr garīb al-Qur’ān by Ibn Qutayba

• Ġarīb al-Qur’ān or Nuzhat al-qulūb by Muḥammad b. ‘Uzayr (or ‘Uzayz) al- Siğistānī

• Yāqūtat al-ṣirāṭ fī tafsīr garīb al-Qur’ān by Abū ‘Umar al-Zāhid

• K. al-Ġarībayn fī l-Qur’ān wa-l-Ḥadīṯ by Abū ‘Ubayd al-Harawī

• al-‘Umda fī garīb al-Qur’ān and Tafsīr al-muškil min ġarīb al-Qur’ān al-‘aẓīm ‘alā l-īğāz wa-l-iḫtiṣār by Makkī b. Abī Ṭālib al-Qaysī

Ġarīb al-Qur’ān (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Most important extant sources (continued):

• al-Mufradāt fī ġarīb al-Qur’ān by al-Rāġib al-Iṣfahānī

• Nafas al-ṣabāḥ fī ġarīb al-Qur’ān wa-nāsiḫihi wa-mansūḫihi by Abū Ğa‘far al- Ḫazrağī

• Taḏkirat al-arīb fī tafsīr al-ġarīb by Ibn al-Ğawzī

• Tuḥfat al-arīb bi-mā fī l-Qur’ān min al-ġarīb by Abū Ḥayyān al-Andalusī

Ġarīb al-Qur’ān (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Arrangement of material in sources follow the order of the

Qur’ānic sūras and verses; resemble the linguistically oriented

exegetical sources

• Follow the Qur’ānic texts because would be difficult to arrange alphabetically

• Later sources used different arrangement, not fully alphabetical until Harawī

Ġarīb al-Qur’ān (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Differences in sources more to do with arrangement of words

than content

• ‘Umda more a book of synonyms than a dictionary

• Most comprehensive book is Ragib’s al-Mufradat

• Lemmatta are full-fledged essays on semantic range of word and its derivatives

Ġarīb al-Qur’ān (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• One issue relevant to all sources relates to criteria used to

identify words as garib

• Uncommonly used or difficult for most Arabs

• Commonly used words in different context

Ġarīb al-Qur’ān (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Second genre of ġarīb books deals with the meanings of words

in the prophetic tradition (Ḥadīṯ)

• Ḥadīṯ was not always translated verbatim or by native speakers

• Grammarians and lexicographers did not see eye to eye on whether this affected the value of the Ḥadīṯ as linguistic evidence

• Early grammarians generally avoided the Ḥadīṯ whereas lexicographers disregarded the transmission issue

Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Unlike Qur’ānic ġarīb, there are no riwāyas attributed to the

Prophet’s Companions which later transmitters assembled into

books of the genre ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ

• Genre of ġarīb al-Qur’ān predates ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ by more than

half a century

Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Extant sources:

• Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ by Abū ‘Ubayd al-Qāsim b. Sallām

• Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ by Ibn Qutayba; also al-Masā’il wa-l-ağwiba fī l-Ḥadīṯ wa-l-tafsīr and Ta’wīl muḫtalif al-Ḥadīṯ by the same author

• Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ by Abū Isḥāq al-Ḥarbī

• al-Dalā’il fī ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ by Saraqusṭī

• Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ by Abū Sulaymān al-Ḫaṭṭābī

• K. al-Ġarībayn fī l-Qur’ān wa-l-Ḥadīṯ by Abū ‘Ubayd al-Harawī

• al-Fā’iq fī ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ by Zamaḫšarī

Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Extant sources (continued):

• Mašāriq al-anwār ‘alā siḥāḥ al-āṯār by al-Qāḍī ‘Iyāḍ

• Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ by Ibn al-Ğawzī

• al-Nihāya fi ġarīb al-Ḥadīt wa-l-Aṯar by Ibn al-Aṯīr

• al-Muğarrad li-luġat al-Ḥadīṯ by Muwaffaq al-Dīn ‘Abdallaṭīf al-Baġdādī

Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Abu ‘Ubayd’s Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ is held in high-esteem by later

authors

• Used system of isnād, beginning with prophetic Ḥadīṯ, followed by that of the Ṣaḥāba and Tābi’ūn and a number of ḥadīṯs which cannot be attributed to any particular individual

• Other authors followed his system, adding/changing

explanations as they saw fit

Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Of extant sources, Ḥarbī’s Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ is the first that is

arranged not only according to isnād but also formal (lafẓī)

criteria

• Most striking feature is adoption of permutative system: the inclusion in each lemma not only of the root of a word which appears in a specific ḥadīṯ but also the other possible permutations of its radicals which occur in other ḥadīṯs

• Other sources arranged alphabetically

Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Less specialized than lexica which deal exclusively either with

ġarīb in the Qur’ān or the Ḥadīṯ are those which include ġarīb in

poetry and ordinary speech

• Variety of terms nearly interchangeable with ġarīb

• الغريب

• النادر

• الشاذ

• الشارد

• المشكل

• الوحشي

• الحوشي

General Ġarīb/Nādir Material

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Extremely difficult to confine the list of sources in the genre of

ġarīb to a manageable number

• Certain books that deal with morphological patterns (abniya) or

homonyms (muštarak) also qualify as books on ġarīb

General Ġarīb/Nādir Material (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Extant sources: p 87

• al-Nawādir fī-l-luġa by Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī

• al-Nawādir by Abū Misḥal al-A‘rābī

• al-Muntaḫab min ġarīb kalām al-‘Arab and al-Muğarrad fī ġarīb kalām al-‘Arab wa-luġātihā by Kurā‘ al-Naml

• Ġarīb al-luġa by Abū Bakr b. al-Anbārī

• al-Mudāḫal fī l-luġa by Abū ‘Umar al-Zāhid

• Šağar al-durr fī tadāḫul al-kalām bi-l-ma‘ānī l-muḫtalifa by Abū l-Ṭayyib al- Luġawī

General Ġarīb/Nādir Material (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Extant sources (continued)

• Laysa fī kalām al-‘Arab by Ibn Halawayhi

• al-Musalsal fī ġarīb luġat al-‘Arab by Muḥammad b. Yūsuf al-Tamīmī

• Section 2 of Ittifāq al-mabānī wa-ftirāq al-ma‘ānī by Sulaymān b. Banīn al- Daqīqī

• al-Šawārid fī l-luġa by Ṣaġānī

General Ġarīb/Nādir Material (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Zayd and Mishal’s books have a number of things in common;

both have same title, both record words not in the four

common sources*, both lack organization

• Zayd’s book gained more reputation and was quoted more in the sources

• Attempts at organization came later

• Arrangements according to nominal and verbal patterns, alphabetical

*four common sources of linguistic data:

Dialectical difference, anomalous forms and expressions, data on (synonyms, homonyms, ibdal), elisions/ omission of hamza

General Ġarīb/Nādir Material (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Ġarīb al-Luġa is unique because it is made up of about a

hundred lines of author’s own poetry

• Within the genre of ġarīb is a type known as mušağğar

(branched) or mudāḫal (intermixed, intertwined) or musalsal

(serialized)

• Words are cited for meanings which might provide continuity for the chain of ġarīb usage at hand; thus ġarīb words in the beginning of a chapter are usually explained by familiar ones, which in turn have ġarīb meanings that maintain the chain further

General Ġarīb/Nādir Material (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 2: Mubawwab and Specialized Lexica (Baalbaki)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Most obvious example is part of Sībawayhi’s al-Kitāb that deals

with morphology; embraces the vast majority of Arabic nominal

and verbal patterns

• Books which deal with morphology and morphophonology in

general examine a number of issues

al-Abniya (Morphological Patterns)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Oldest extant work is ‘Ubayd’s al-Ġarīb al-muṣannaf

• Deals with morphological patterns (abniya) or nouns (asmā’), verbs (af‘āl), and verbal nouns (maṣādir), as well as issues related to muḏakkar and mu’annaṯ

• Due to large number of works under the genre of abniya, they

can be further divided into eight types: al-Ištiqāq, al-Muḏakkar

wa-l-mu’annaṯ, al-Maqṣūr wa-l-mamdūd, al-Muṯallaṯāt,

Nominal Patterns, Fa’ala and Af’ala, Verbal Patterns in General,

Nominal and Verbal Patterns

al-Abniya (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Several types of ištiqāq

• Most general type – derivation of a word from another which

shares its root – is normally discussed in books on ṣarf/taṣrīf

and simply referred to as ištiqāq

• Several lost books on the subject

al-Ištiqāq (Derivation)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Origin of proper nouns explored in Durayd’s K. al-Ištiqāq

• Related to the ištiqāq of proper nouns are works which deal

with the asmā’ (names, proper nouns) and ṣifāt (attributes) of

God

• Also related to ištiqāq are works that deal with diminutives or

with singular, dual, plural

• The notion of naḥt – blending, coining a new word from two or

more independent words

al-Ištiqāq (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Issues related to masculine and feminine were discussed in more

than thirty independent monographs, most of which are lost.

• Most important extant works:

• al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ by Farrā’

• al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ by Abū Ḥātim al-Siğistānī

• al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ by Mubarrad

• Muḫtaṣar al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ by al-Mufaḍḍal b. Salama

• Mā yuḏakkar wa-mā yu’annaṯ min al-insān wa-l-libās by Abū Mūsā l-Ḥāmiḍ

• al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ by Nifṭawayhi

al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ (Masculine and Feminine)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Extant works (continued):

• al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ by Abū Bakr b. al-Anbārī

• al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ by Ibn al-Tustarī

• al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ by Ibn Ğinnī

• al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ by Ibn Fāris

• al-Bulġa fī l-farq bayna l-muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ by Abū l-Barakāt b. al-Anbārī

• Fī l’asmā’ al-mu’annaṯa al-samā‘iyya by Rāzī

• Tadmīṯ al-taḏkīr fī l-ta’nīṯ wa-l-taḏkīr by Ibrāhīm b. ‘Umar al-Ğa‘barī

al-Muḏakkar wa-l-mu’annaṯ (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Closely related to masculine and feminine, given that both alif

maqṣūra (-ā) and alif mamdūda (-ā), with which maqṣūr

(abbreviated) and mamdūd (prolonged) words respectively end,

are among feminine markers

• As with masculine and feminine, it is evident that the

occurrence of lahn was among the reasons which prompted

philologists to author monographs on maqṣūr and mamdūd.

al-Maqṣūr wa-l-mamdūd (Abbreviated and Prolonged Patterns)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• In the grammatical tradition, maqṣūr and mamdūd are usually

discussed under ṣarf in works which deal with both naḥw and

ṣarf and feature prominently in works that deal exclusively with

ṣarf.

al-Maqṣūr wa-l-mamdūd (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Term refers to a group of three words which are identical in root

and pattern but one of whose radicals has fatḥa in one, kasra in

another and ḍamma in the third

• Triplet words sometimes have the same meaning, but in most

cases they do not

al-Muṯallaṯāt (Triplets)

ENG 310: Lexicography

:مثلثات قطرب

.الغَْمُر والِغْمُر والغُْمرُ

إن دموعي غمر وليس عندي غمر

فقلت يا ذا الغمر أقصر عن التعتب

بالفتح ماء كثرا والكسر حقد سترا

والضم شخص ما درى شيئا ولم يجرب

.الماء الكثير: فمعناهاالغَْمرُ فأّما

·«ال تجوز شهادة ذي الِغْمر على أخيه»: الحقد في الصدر، ومنه الحديث: فمعناهاالِغْمرُ وأّما

.فهو الرجل الذي لم يجّرب األمور، الضعيف في حاالتهالغُْمروأّما

al-Muṯallaṯāt (Triplets) e.g.

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Extant sources:

• al-Muṯallaṯāt by Quṭrub

• A part of K. al-Muṯallaṯ by al-Qazzāz al-Qayrawānī

• al-Muṯallaṯ by Ibn al-Sīd al-Baṭalyawsī

• al-I‘lām bi-muṯallaṯ al-kalām and Ikmāl al-i‘lām bi-taṯlīṯ al-kalām by Ibn Mālik

• al-Durar al-mubaṯṯaṯa fī l-ġurar al-muṯallaṯa by Fīrūzābādī

al-Muṯallaṯāt (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Discussed in the grammatical tradition and in multithematic works,

and formed part of the material in some muğannas lexica

• Other than the nominal patterns already covered, a number of

monographs deal with specific nominal patterns, in particular verbal

nouns seem to have been the focus of the interest of early

lexicographers . (Several books titled al-Masadir)

• A verbal noun represents a change in the form of a verb which allows it to be used as a noun in a sentence. تدريس-دّرس

• Relatively small number of works which exclusively deal with

nominal patterns have survived

Nominal Patterns

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Notable sources that did survive include:

• al-Muqtaḍab min kalām al-‘Arab by Ibn Ğinnī

• K. al-Nayrūz by Ibn Fāris

• Short text by Abū l-‘Alā’ al-Ma’arrī

• Four monographs by Ṣaġānī

A Monograph: a detailed written study of a single specialized subject or an aspect of it.

Nominal Patterns (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Of the thirty-four verbal patterns of Arabic, the ones that were

the focus of the philologists’ attention as early as the

third/ninth century fa‘ala and af‘ala (first and fourth forms)

• أطعمَ -منَع

• Reason for interest most likely stems from the fact that they can

either have the same meaning or two different meanings

• Phenomenon closely related to dialectical differences

ُجُل تََوعََّد ، تََهدَّدَ : برَق الرَّ

ُد أَْبِرْق َوأَْرِعْد َكَما ِشئْتَ : َجاَء يُْبِرُق َويُْرِعُد يُوِعُد َويَُهّدِ

َرَجع: ثَاب

ا: أثاب فالنًا كافأه وجازاه خيًرا أو شرًّ

Fa‘ala and Af‘ala أفعل/ فعل

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Extant sources:

• Fa‘altu wa-af‘altu by Abū Ḥātim al-Siğistānī

• Fa‘altu wa-af‘altu by Zağğāğ

• al-Af‘al by Ibn al-Qūṭiyya

• Part of Tamām Faṣīḥ al-kalām by Ibn Fāris

• Mā ğā’a ‘alā fa‘altu wa-af‘altu bi-ma‘nā wāḥid by Ğawālīqī

Fa‘ala and Af‘ala (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• K. al-Af‘āl by Ibn al-Qūṭiyya ابن القوطيه deals exclusively with first

and fourth patterns of fa‘ala and af‘ala and gave rise to two

comprehensive lexica which include the various verbal patterns

• كتاب األفعال السرقسطي

• كتاب األفعال البن القطاع

• Verbal patterns other than fa‘ala and af‘ala are sporadically

(occasionally) discussed in earlier mubawwab lexica

• Ibn Sīda’s al-Muḫaṣṣaṣ includes extensive material on several

verbal patterns

Verbal Patterns in General

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Other books deal with specific aspects of verbs

• Vowels and forms of imperfect verb

• Reference to vowels of second radical of the imperfect of tri-literals

Verbal Patterns in General (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Following lexica embrace both nominal and verbal patterns:

• Dīwān al-adab by Isḥāq b. Ibrāhīm al-Fārābī

• al-Mū‘ab by Ibn al-Tayyānī

• Abniyat al-asmā’wa-l-af‘āl wa-l-maṣādir by Ibn al-Qaṭṭā‘

• Tāğ al-maṣādir by Aḥmad b. ‘Alī al-Bayhaqī

• Šams al-‘ulūm wa-dawā’ kalām al-‘Arab min al-kulūm by Našwān b. Sa‘īd al- Ḥimyarī

Nominal and Verbal Patterns

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Fārābī was first author to combine nominal and verbal patterns

in one book

• Rhyme system he adopted model previously used by Bandanīğī and later adopted by many lexicographers for centuries to come

• Other books organized by division of verbs

• Našwān’sنشوان الحميري book is the most extensive of its kind

Nominal and Verbal Patterns (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Books titled al-Ṣifāt are attributed to some of the earliest

scholars in the period of data collection

• Term muṣannaf was also used in the titles of multithematic

books to indicate that they comprise various topics

• Large variety of extant sources fall under this category

Multithematic Works

ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 4: Definition (Landau)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• The word definedDefiniendum

• Something that distinguishes the wordDifferentia

• Words used to define somethingDefiniens

• Class of things to which a defined word belongsGenus

Important Vocabulary

ENG 310: Lexicography

Logical definition:

• Also called “real definition” by Richard Robinson.

• Attempts to analyze things in the real world, as distinguished

from words

• Chief preoccupation of philosophers

• Socrates explores the meaning of virtue and truth, seeking not

to define the words but to understand the concepts that

underlie them and the ways that people interact with these

concepts.

Difference between a lexical definition and a logical definition

ENG 310: Lexicography

Lexical definition:

• Also called “nominal definition”, the definition of words.

• Has also been a concern of philosophers.

• E.g. child: a person who is young or whose relation to another

person is that of a son or daughter.

Difference between a lexical definition and a logical definition

ENG 310: Lexicography

1. The word must first be defined according to the class of things

to which it belongs, and then distinguished from all other

things within that class.

a. According to Aristotle, words must first be defined by genus and then differentia.

b. child: a person who is young or whose relation to another person is that of a son or daughter.

2. A definition be equivalent to or capture the essence of the

thing defined.

3. That the definiendum not be included in any form among the

words used to define it.

4. The definition be positive rather than negative.

Traditional Rules of Lexical Definition

ENG 310: Lexicography

Paying attention to readers needs

• Philosophers don’t.

• Lexicographers do. Generally speaking, lexicographers define

words based on what is most useful to the user.

Philosophers vs. Lexicographers p.154

ENG 310: Lexicography

C.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards Ladislav Zgusta

Process of defining (kinds of meaning) p.154

Symbol (word)

Referent (thing)

Thought/ Reference

Expression (form of word)

Designatum (our perception of the class of thing)

Denotatum/ referent (thing)

ENG 310: Lexicography

1. All words within a definition must be explained.

2. The lexical definition should not contain words “more difficult

to understand” than the word defined.

3. The defined word may not be used in its definition, nor may

derivations or combinations of the defined word unless they

are separately defined. (but one part-of-speech may be used to

define another if all senses have been defined)

4. The definition must correspond to the part-of-speech of the

word defined.

Zgusta’s principles of defining

ENG 310: Lexicography

-Avoid circularity

• Forms of circularity in dictionary definitions:

• When one defines A in terms of B and B in terms of A

• When one defines A in terms of A

• Circularity is often a problem in ESL dictionaries.

-Define every word used in a definition

• WNI stand for “Word Not In”

• The rule of Word Not In is broken more often than the

circularity rule

-Define the entry word

• Definition must define not just talk about the word or its usage

Basic Principles of Making a Dictionary

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Priority of essence

• Most essential meaning comes first

• Substitutability

• Not all dictionaries use definitions that are substitutable for the word in context.

• Reflection of grammatical function

• Definition must be written in accord to the grammatical function/ part-of- speech of the word defined.

Good Defining Practice

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Simplicity

• Avoid including difficult words in definitions.

• Not always possible to achieve e.g. feather

• Using ostensive definition (illustration) is never accurate enough e.g dog

• Brevity

• Lexicographers usually start with long definitions that are cut down and improved throughout the process of making the dictionary.

• Avoidance of ambiguity

• Words in definitions must be used unambiguously in the context of the definition.

• It’s a problem in dictionaries that depend on synonyms to define words.

Good Defining Practice Continued.

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Nouns

• Nouns are the easiest words to define. Related to its essential property.

• Adjectives

• Introductory phrases

• of

• Verbs

• Verbs are the most difficult words to define

• ESL dictionaries are most likely to experiment with new techniques of defining

• Other parts-of-speech

• Adverbs > defined by other adverbs or propositional phrases

How To Define By Part-Of-Speech

ENG 310: Lexicography

• One of the biggest problems in all general dictionaries is finding

a way to represent all the senses of a very common verb without

burying the reader under a mass of undifferentiated numbered

senses such as:

• phrasal verbs

• Set phrases

• Idioms

• ESL dictionaries have been more innovative in finding solutions

for this problem that native-speaker dictionaries.

• Organizing core meanings and breaking them down into subsenses

Innovative Defining Styles

ENG 310: Lexicography

• In general dictionaries, specificity is less important than breadth

of coverage.

• But usefulness demands the definition be as specific as possible.

• Defining technical terms

• Four most common mistakes in scientific and technical dictionaries

Strategies In Defining

ENG 310: Lexicography

A citation file: is a selection of potential lexical units in the context

of actual usage, drawn from a variety of written sources and

often some spoken sources, chiefly because the context

illuminates an aspect of meaning.

A corpus (plural corpora) Latin for “body”, is a collection of

different texts or of recorded speech, nowadays stored

electronically on a computer and indexed so that any particular

word can be found quickly in the context in which it has been

used.

The Citation File

ENG 310: Lexicography

• The electronic corpus and how it differs from the citation file

• Collecting citations

• Criteria for selecting citations

• Dos and don’ts of citation reading

The Citation File (Continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

Defining From The Evidence

Deciding What To Put In The Dictionary

How Useful Are Citation Files?

Illustrative Quotations

• Ostensive definitions include pictorial illustrations.

The Definition Of Names

Other Sources Of Definition

ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 6: The Corpus in Lexicography (Landau)

ENG 310: Lexicography

A corpus: any body of text collected with the aim of analyzing its

features.

A corpus in lexicography now: an electronic corpus, containing a

vast number of words from many different sources.

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Before the age of computers, corpora were created by hand

• First modern, large-scale corpus of English compiled for lexical

study: Edward Thorndike’s Teacher’s Word Book

• Pre-electronic corpus with most impact on lexicography were

those created for teaching English to foreign learners (ELT:ESL-

EFL)

• The Interim Report on Vocabulary Selection, 1936, Palmer. West,

Faucett, and Hornby

History

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Chomskyans (based off of theories of Noam Chomsky) were

hostile to quantitative approach to language studies

• The term “Corpus linguistics”

• The “Brown Corpus” first major, computer-based study

• LOB Corpus

• Quirk’s Survey of English Usage

• COBUILD Project

History

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Randomization of selection, limits on number of “hits”,

lemmatized search

• Ability to look at connotation / usage beyond what can be

inferred

• ESL lexicographers have to consider decoding and encoding

purposes

• Collocation – commonly co-occurring words, corpus allows for

study of frequency

• Machine translation of parallel corpora is progressing

Corpus Use in Modern Lexicography

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Text collection focused on:

• Certain areas

• Time periods

• Purposes

• Scale

• Categories

• Concordancing programs

• Word “tags” that make searches easier, more impactful

Compiling a Corpus

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Dictionary usage of corpora

• Benefits are many

• Widespread use of corpora in lexicography will vastly improve

quality of dictionaries

• However, complete rework will cost a considerable amount

• May be an ongoing process, not an overnight one

Corpus Use in the Future

ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 11: Phraseology (Fontenelle)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Phraseology: They study of the structure, meaning, and use of

word-combinations.

• Throughout the 1980s -1990s there has been an interest among

different fields (lexicography, language acquisition, discourse

analysis, foreign language teaching) in what were traditionally

known as ‘idioms’ and are variously called ‘word-combinations’.

• This interest reflects an awareness of the commonness of ‘word-

combinations’ in written and spoken language, and a

recognition of the central part they play in language acquisition

and speech production.

Introduction

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Main features of general approach (of phraseological analysis)

are:

• Recognition of broad spectrum of phraseological categories, including those with a speech-act or discourse-structuring function

• Acknowledgement that categories with a referential function are ranged along a continuum or scale

• Recognition that complex lexical units of various types should be studied in relation to their grammatical and pragmatic functions, and not simply in terms of the textual proximity and frequency of co-occurrence of their components

Introduction

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Collocations are: Associations of two or more lexemes (roots)

recognized in and defined by their occurrence in a specific

range of grammatical constructions

• Though transparent and usually lexically variable, they are

characterized by arbitrary limitation of choice at one or more

points

• Distinguished from “free” or “open” combinations in which selection restrictions on the choice of nouns can be stated in terms of features denoting general properties

• Strong tendency in language to reuse existing collocations

Collocations

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Most familiar approach to the definition of idioms focuses on

the difficulty of understanding idioms in terms of the meanings

of their constituents

• Formulation is open to challenge

• Since the meanings of constituent words must be understood to imply meanings in non-idiomatic contexts, to be able to apply the definition one must already be able to distinguish between idiomatic and non-idiomatic expressions

Idioms

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Idioms can be defined by applying procedures: idioms are

semantic units that should resist replacement of their

components by words which are themselves semantic units

• The effect of substitution results in nonsense (e.g., “kick the bucket” “kick the pail”)

• Frozenness hierarchy by Fraser

• kick the bucket > idiom

• The bucket was kicked > literal meaning

Idioms (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Routine formulae (ie. Good morning) differ from both

collocations and idioms in regards to the kinds of meaning they

convey and the structural levels at which they operate

• “How do you do” became a social formula used as a response to being introduced for the first time.

• Word-combinations with a discourse function have come into

prominence through the work of linguists concerned with

analyzing the highly patterned expressions used in social

encounters.

Formulae

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Two major types of social expressions:

• Speech-act formulae (Good morning, nice day, see you soon)

• Gambits - commonly lack the stereotyping which tends to go hand in hand with specialization in a discourse function; checking gambits (Are you with me?, Do you follow?) and fixed gambits (If you must know…)

Formulae (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Number of attempts have been made to tackle certain of the

theoretical problems posed by the diversity and prevalence of

multiword units

• Pawley and Syder

• Suggested that familiar expressions probably amount to several hundred thousand

• Fillmore et al.

• “Formal” idioms call for individual mini-grammars embedded within the general grammar to describe their syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties.

• Him mind the baby

• > [Her write a novel] knowledge of wider grammar isn’t enough to understand such idioms.

Theoretical Developments

ENG 310: Lexicography

Chapter 2: Mubawwab and Specialized Lexica (Baalbaki)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Interest in Arabized words goes back to the first muğannas

dictionary, Ḫalīl’s K. al-‘Ayn and the first book on grammar,

Sībawayhi’s al-Kitāb

• Most grammarians after Sībawayhi exclude mu’arrab from their

works, possibly on assumption it belongs to realm of luġa rather

than naḥw

al-Mu‘arrab (Arabized words)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Question of whether the Qur’ān contains mu’arrab words is

certainly linked to early interest in identifying such words, and it

demonstrates the influence of religious matters on philological

study

• Despite doubts about ascription to Ibn ‘Abbās, his al-Luġāt fī l-

Qur’ān includes 325 Qur’ānic words, the vast majority of which

are said to be specific to certain tribes and 28 of which are

consistent with their counterparts in other languages (i.e. not

Arabized)

al-Mu‘arrab (Arabized words)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Most important works:

• al-Mu‘arrab min al-kalām al-a‘ğami ‘alā huruf al-mu‘ğam by Ğawālīqī

• Fī l-ta ‘rīb wa-l-mu‘arrab also known as Ḥāšiyat Ibn Barrī ‘alā Kitāb al-Mu‘arrab

• al-Taḏyīl wa-l-takmīl li-mā stu‘mila min al-lafẓ al-daḫīl by Bišbīšī

• Risāla fī taḥqīq ta‘rīb al-kalima al-a‘ğamiyya by Ibn Kamāl Bāšā

• Šifā’ al-ġalīl fī mā fī kalām al-‘Arab min al-daḫīl by Ḫafāğī

• Qaṣd al-sabīl fī mā fī l-luga al-‘Arabiyya min al-daḫīl by Muḥibbī

al-Mu‘arrab (Arabized words)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Linguistic error is a subject that is closely related to the

beginning of grammatical activity

• The general term denoting linguistic error, laḥn, is frequently

used in its grammatical sense in biographical works and other

sources which try to explain the emergence of grammatical

issues following the occurrence of laḥn either in the speech of

others or in one’s own.

• Grammarians and philologists consider any departure from

established norms decay of speech rather than inescapable

linguistic evolution

Laḥn al-‘Āmma لحن العامة (Solecism)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Content of attributed monographs on laḥn al-‘āmma was part

of raw material which authors of muğannas lexica included in

their corpus

• Although works did not survive, title include:

• Mā talḥan fīhi l-‘āmma by Kisā’ī

• al-Hurūf allatī yutakallam bihā fī ġayr mawḍi‘ihā and Iṣlāḥ al-manṭiq by Ibn al- Sikkīt

• al-Faṣīḥ by Ṯa‘lab

• al-Fāḫir by al-Mufaḍḍal b. Salama

Laḥn al-‘Āmma (Solecism)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Impact of Ibn al-Sikkīt’s Iṣlāḥ al-manṭiq إصالح المنطق البن السكيت

• Gahiz’s differing definition of laḥn

• Notes it is more acceptable if it occurs in speech of slave girls or pretty young women

• Contents that it may represent a natural disposition in a speech community سجية أهل البلد

• In reporting anecdotal material, i‘rāb is appropriate for speech of the Bedouins but not the muwalladūn (post-classical speakers) and the ‘awāmm

Laḥn al-‘Āmma (Solecism)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Maġribī tradition

• (difference in Laḥn between أهل المشرق وأهل المغرب)

• One of the books discussed objectionable words based on religious grounds not linguistic ones.

• al-Ḥanbalī’s different perspective on the study of Laḥn

• Shows dramatic increase in the level of tolerance of Laḥn.

• Arrangement alphabetically, and by a particular category of

scholars

• Such works clearly address a specific branch of ḫāṣṣa which the authors are interested in. كتاب النحو ومن كان يلحن من النحويين

• More works are arranged non-alphabetically because authors were interested in highlighting the types of changes embedded in Laḥn material.

Laḥn al-‘Āmma (Solecism)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Arab philologists regard such words as a particular type of

homonymous polysemic words نوع من المشترك since their meanings

are not merely different but contradictory

• َريَّان ، أَْي َشِرَب َوَرِويَ : اِهل نَ

• بِِه َعَطش ، َعْطَشانُ : نَاِهالً َجاَء

• Unlike other topics of investigation in muğannas lexica, study of

aḍdād almost exclusively belongs to the realm of luġa rather

than naḥw

al-Aḍdād (Words with Two Contradictory Meanings)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Early interest in aḍdād is certainly related to Qur’ānic exegesis

• ا َمْن أُوتَِي ِكتَابَهُ بِيَِمينِِه فَيَقُوُل َهاُؤُم اْقَرُءوا ِكتَابِيَ أَنِّي ُماَلٍق ِحَسابِيَهْ َظنَنتُ إِنِّي ( 19)ْه فَأَمَّ

• From a cultural point of view, the Šu‘ūbiyyūn claimed that the

existence of aḍdād in Arabic led to obscurity and confusion

• Should be noted that Arab philologists differ concerning the very existence of aḍdād

• Invalidating aḍdād was most probably prompted by an Arab reaction to the claims of the Šu‘ūbiyyūn

• Extant works:

• al-Aḍdād by Quṭrub

• al-Aḍdād by Aṣma‘ī

al-Aḍdād (Words with Two Contradictory Meanings)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• al-Aḍdād by Abu ‘Ubayd

• al-Aḍdād by Tawwazī

• al-Aḍdād by Ibn al-Sikkīt

• al-Aḍdād by Abū Ḥātim al-Siğistānī

• al-Aḍdād by Abū Bakr b. al-Anbārī

• al-Aḍdād fī kalām al-‘Arab by Abū l-Ṭayyib al-Luġawī

• al-Aḍdād fī l-luġa by Ibn al-Dahhān

• al-Aḍdād by Ṣaġānī

• Risālat al-aḍdād by Munšī

al-Aḍdād (Words with Two Contradictory Meanings)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Aḍdād is a specific type of muštarak

• More general type refers to homonymous polysemic words

which do not indicate contradictory meanings

• أَخو األب: العَم

• من الناس: الجماعةُ الكثير العَم

• It is this type which Sibawayh refers to by the espression اتفاق اللفظين واختالف المعنيين i.e. coincidence of form and divergence of meaning.

• In both muštarak and mutarādif the lexicographical tradition

complements works on grammar

• Some authors deny the very existence of ištirāk (homonymy)

al-Muštarak (Homonyms) and al-Mutarādif (Synonyms)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Books on muštarak can be divided into two types

• More general type, which contains lists of muštarak words

• Books which examine a specific aspect of muštarak

• Arrangement on thematic bases

• Kurā‘ places each word only under its most common meaning and lists with it all the other meanings

• في األصل ولُد الطَّائِر: الفَْرخُ

• ماغِ : ُم الّدِ ُمقَّدِ

• Alphabetical arrangement

al-Muštarak (Homonyms) and al-Mutarādif (Synonyms)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Books on mutarādif go back to earliest period of lexical writing

• Arrangement types in extant works:

• Thematically arranged

• Lack of alphabetical, though not thematic arrangement is common

• Onomasiological arrangement

• Scholars that deny the existence of muštarak have also

authored works to express their disapproval of the predominant

view that two or more words can have the same meaning

al-Muštarak (Homonyms) and al-Mutarādif (Synonyms)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Genre of writing which investigates the letters of the alphabet is

strongly related to three main domains of naḥw, namely, syntax,

morphology and phonology

• Term ḥarf is most widely used term to refer to a phonological

unit, also used in morphology to designate a morphological

component of a word

al-Ḥuruf/al-Aṣwāt (Particles/Letters)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Extant works are primarily syntactical in nature as they deal with

ḥuruf al-ma‘ānī

• Works can be divided into three groups

• First lacks any arrangement

• Second includes works in which particles are alphabetically arranged regardless of the number of their radicals

• Third includes books in which particles are divided according to the number of their letters and each group is alphabetically arranged

al-Ḥuruf/al-Aṣwāt (Particles/Letters)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Some monographs deal with single letters, some deal with a

pair of letters that need to be differentiated.

• Works on ḍād and ẓā are by far the most numerous in the

tradition

• Several works deal with ibdāl (substitution, replacement)

• Unlike most genres of the mubawwab lexica, the writing of works on ibdāl seem to have been discontinued following the fourth/tenth century

al-Ḥuruf/al-Aṣwāt (Particles/Letters)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Alliterative phenomena of itbā‘ also received the attention of

philologists, although they differed slightly in defining it

al-Ḥuruf/al-Aṣwāt (Particles/Letters)

ENG 310: Lexicography

Epilogue (Baalbaki)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• With introduction of Ibn Sīda’s al-Muḫaṣṣaṣ, terms mubawwab

(onomasiological) and muğannas (semasiological) were

adopted.

• These terms refer to: (onomasiology) meaning leads to sign OR

(semasiology) sign leads to meaning.

• Arrangement of lexical items and internal arrangement of

lemmata were some of the challenges that faced mubawwab

authors.

Overview

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Occasionally, one finds reference by lexicographers to the

merits or demerits of arrangement types

• Dīnawarī’s al-Nabāt adopted an alphabetical arrangement in its

second part

• Selected alphabetical because it would facilitate use of the book

• Thematic arrangement was merited in other works, including

most works on ḫalq al-insān and lahn al-’amma

• Although can also be alphabetically arranged as shown by Ibn Ḥabīb’s Ḫalq al- insān fī l-luġa

Formal and Thematic Arrangements

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Thematic arrangements also seen in laḥn al-‘āmma

• Alphabetical arrangements in Ibn al-Ğawzī’s Taqwīm al-lisān

and in Abū l-Ṭayyib al-Luġawī’s al-Adḍād

Formal and Thematic Arrangements (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• In spite of usefulness of the distinction, the boundaries between

the two types are far from steadfast

• Distinction rests primarily in that the former is specialized in

one or more topics whereas the latter normally aims at

exhausting the roots of the language

• One of the earliest muğannas lexica, Ibn Durayd’s Ğamharat al-

luġa, includes several miscellaneous topics reminiscent of short

single-topic monographs

Mubawwab and Muğannas

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Other works featured a combination of techniques and

arrangement that blur the distinction between the categories

• Interrelatedness even further complicated by works that could

be argued to fit in either category

• Most obvious example in Abū ‘Amr al-Šaybānī’s K. al-Ğīm

• Similar issue in classifying Bandanīğī’s al-Taqfiya and Fārābī’s Dīwān al-adab

Mubawwab and Muğannas (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Most important aspect of the interrelatedness may be that

authors of each incorporated into their lexica material from the

other

• Specialized works formed a major source of data for authors of

muğannas lexica

• Much of material of the genre ġarib al-Ḥadīṯ was incorporated into muğannas works

• On the other hand, some authors of mubawwab works availed

(benefited) themselves of material available in muğannas lexica

Mubawwab and Muğannas (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Considerable variety in the arrangement of lexical items

• Although the rhyme system is alphabetical in nature, the term

“alphabetical” is reserved for lexica that adopt the ’, b, t, ṯ, etc.

order based on the first letters of roots or words

• Starting with a weak letter أضعف من العين unlike phonetic)األلف

system)

• Maġribī arrangement by some authors

Lexicographical Tradition

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Dīnawarī declares that he prefers arrangement according to the

first letter to that by the last

• Implication of this remarkable statement is that in Dīnawarī’s time, arrangement by the last letter was sufficiently as common as a model that rivals arrangement by the first

• Authors often used different systems in different works

Lexicographical Tradition (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Ṣafadī’s alphabetical arrangement of the items he selected from

al-Ṣaḥāḥ is a very rare occurrence in the tradition

• His listing of lexical items according to all their letters and not the radicals of their roots represents, in mubawwab lexica, a recurring practice that has not yet received the attention it merits (deserves)

• Importance of this practice is that it is not in line with one of the basic principles which Ḫalīl applied in authoring al-‘Ayn and which formed one of the main characteristics of the lexicographical tradition

Lexicographical Tradition (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Ğubrān Mas‘ūd’s al-Rā’id (modern time 1965) completely

abandoned the notion of root in arrangement

• Often argued that arrangement based on pronunciation and not root is the most user-friendly model, particularly for beginners

• Also praised for being closest to European model

• Yet the benefits of the arrangement that allows listing all the

derivations of the root in one lemma outweighs its

disadvantages (especially for a derivational language such as

Arabic).

• Each of the two models targets a different user, both continue

to be used.

Arrangement

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Preceding discussion does not correspond with successive eras

of development

• Any periodization attempt is bound to be challenged by the continuity of one model long after the establishment of another

• Not only applies to three major models (phonetic, alphabetical, rhyme) but also to more specific types particularly in the alphabetical system

• No meaningful division into distinct stages that would enhance

our understanding of the field as whole

Arrangement (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Close affinity to study of the Qur’ān, prophetic tradition, poetry,

proverbs, etc.

• Preservation of Bedouin culture

• Despite preservation of Bedouin culture, the lexicographers generally did not keep pace with linguistic and cultural developments that took place following epochs of reliable usage and largely ignored new notions and technical terms

Lexicography in Relation to Islamic Scholarship

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Inextricably linked (can’t be separated)

• Both grammar and lexicography share the same material that

was amassed during the era of data collection in the

second/eighth and third/ninth centuries

• In spite of affinity between two disciplines, grammarians almost totally left to the lexicographers the definition of lexical items

• Influence of Sibawayhi can’t be exaggerated enough.

Lexicography and Grammar

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Arabic grammatical tradition certainly produced a theory that

had its own set of terms, axioms, tools and methods of analysis

• In the lexicographical tradition one certainly cannot talk of a

theory in the same sense as is done for grammar

• Yet there were numerous theoretical issues that had to be resolved in lexicographical writing

Lexicography and Grammar (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Several theoretical issues lay at heart of muğannas lexica

• Questions of authenticity and correctness of cited lexical items

are among those most commonly discussed by lexicographers

• Authors primarily relied on their judgement in such matters rather than on clear and established, albeit controversial, criteria such as those of grammatical analysis

Theoretical Issues

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Scope of material to be included

• Three closed sets of Ḫalīl had resolved the issue of exhausting Arabic roots, but there still remained the issue of exhausting either the derivatives of the roots or the various meanings of these derivatives

• In spite of the attempt of some authors at comprehensiveness,

they inevitably could not exhaust all lexical items of the massive

corpus of Arabic

• Definitions that lack clarity or precision can be found in

muganas lexica.

• Strict temporal limits (excluding المتنبي المعري ابو نواس الخ

Theoretical Issues (continued)

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Later authors had to understandably rely on earlier works for

their material, particularly as the so-called epochs of reliable

usage were considered to have come to a close by the end of

the fourth/tenth century when the Bedouin fuṣaḥā’ were no

longer inexistence

• On a wider scale, there are several genres in mubawwab works in which later authors added precious little

Reliance on Earlier Authors

ENG 310: Lexicography

• Number of shortcomings that apply in varying degrees to most

Arabic lexica, particularly of the muğannas type

• Serious as they may be, these shortcomings should not deter

one from greatly admiring the painstaking efforts of the

lexicographers in gathering the data, arranging and analyzing it,

and trying to ensure its correctness and authenticity

Conclusion