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Online dictionaries for language revitalization Andrew Garrett Words and word choice are the most salient aspects of language for many people. Therefore, among all the various kinds of materials that may present information about endangered languages in support of language revitalization, dictionaries may be the most highly valued and frequently used in communities, by learners and teachers. Yet since lexicography is rarely taught in linguistics graduate programs, linguists who contribute to language revitalization programs typically receive no training in dictionary writing. Like language teaching itself, then, dictionary creation is a key part of language revitalization that linguists learn about only from experience. As we piece together what we know from the experiences we and our collaborators have had, we may be rediscovering what our colleagues and predecessors already knew. It does not help that the many fine books on lexicography are not oriented toward the special circumstances of endangered languages (ELs) and language revitalization. 1 Generally speaking, dictionaries are of two broad types. Monolingual dictionaries like Merriam-Webster (merriam-webster.com) or the Oxford English Dictionary (oed.com) are for language users (typically fluent native speakers) who seek information about words they do not know, or meanings or usage patterns they seek to understand better. Bilingual dictionaries like the Collins Robert French Unabridged Dictionary (Atkins et al. 2006) are for second-language users, and help them translate or understand the second language (called the source language) in terms of their first language. EL dictionaries, including those used in language revitalization, are almost always bilingual dictionaries because of the relatively small number of EL speakers, and because people who are not fluent speakers may wish to learn the EL. Here I will use the term matrix language for what lexicographers call the target language, since it is usually the language of the broader society to which the EL community belongs (such as English, French, or Spanish in North America). While every dictionary for language revitalization is inevitably also an EL dictionary, there is a crucial difference in goals. 2 As an aid to research scholars, or to help people read texts or a grammar, an EL dictionary is helpful if it merely glosses words, giving a sense of their meaning and usage or their translation in the matrix language. 3 The bar is higher for 1 Good general books on lexicography include Atkins and Rundell (2008), Durkin (2016), Landau (2001), Svensén (2009), and Zgusta (1971); they all address the general issues disussed in this chapter. Papers in the International Journal of Lexicography also often address concerns of interest not only in general lexicography but for EL dictionaries. 2 For fine discussions of EL dictionary writing , see Frawley et al. (2002), Haviland (2006), Kroskrity (2015), Mosel (2011), and Thieberger (2015). 3 Obviously some areas of meaning require additional detail, such as scientific names for plant and animal terms. But greater semantic precision is often warranted in many other areas of meaning, such as deixis, direction and location, motion, and time among others.

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Page 1: Online dictionaries for language revitalizationlinguistics.berkeley.edu/~garrett/garrett-dictionaries.pdf · Online dictionaries for language revitalization Andrew Garrett Words and

Onlinedictionariesforlanguagerevitalization

AndrewGarrettWordsandwordchoicearethemostsalientaspectsoflanguageformanypeople.

Therefore,amongallthevariouskindsofmaterialsthatmaypresentinformationaboutendangeredlanguagesinsupportoflanguagerevitalization,dictionariesmaybethemosthighlyvaluedandfrequentlyusedincommunities,bylearnersandteachers.Yetsincelexicographyisrarelytaughtinlinguisticsgraduateprograms,linguistswhocontributetolanguagerevitalizationprogramstypicallyreceivenotrainingindictionarywriting.Likelanguageteachingitself,then,dictionarycreationisakeypartoflanguagerevitalizationthatlinguistslearnaboutonlyfromexperience.Aswepiecetogetherwhatweknowfromtheexperiencesweandourcollaboratorshavehad,wemayberediscoveringwhatourcolleaguesandpredecessorsalreadyknew.Itdoesnothelpthatthemanyfinebooksonlexicographyarenotorientedtowardthespecialcircumstancesofendangeredlanguages(ELs)andlanguagerevitalization.1

Generallyspeaking,dictionariesareoftwobroadtypes.MonolingualdictionarieslikeMerriam-Webster(merriam-webster.com)ortheOxfordEnglishDictionary(oed.com)areforlanguageusers(typicallyfluentnativespeakers)whoseekinformationaboutwordstheydonotknow,ormeaningsorusagepatternstheyseektounderstandbetter.BilingualdictionariesliketheCollinsRobertFrenchUnabridgedDictionary(Atkinsetal.2006)areforsecond-languageusers,andhelpthemtranslateorunderstandthesecondlanguage(calledthesourcelanguage)intermsoftheirfirstlanguage.ELdictionaries,includingthoseusedinlanguagerevitalization,arealmostalwaysbilingualdictionariesbecauseoftherelativelysmallnumberofELspeakers,andbecausepeoplewhoarenotfluentspeakersmaywishtolearntheEL.HereIwillusethetermmatrixlanguageforwhatlexicographerscallthetargetlanguage,sinceitisusuallythelanguageofthebroadersocietytowhichtheELcommunitybelongs(suchasEnglish,French,orSpanishinNorthAmerica).

WhileeverydictionaryforlanguagerevitalizationisinevitablyalsoanELdictionary,thereisacrucialdifferenceingoals.2Asanaidtoresearchscholars,ortohelppeoplereadtextsoragrammar,anELdictionaryishelpfulifitmerelyglosseswords,givingasenseoftheirmeaningandusageortheirtranslationinthematrixlanguage.3Thebarishigherfor

1GoodgeneralbooksonlexicographyincludeAtkinsandRundell(2008),Durkin

(2016),Landau(2001),Svensén(2009),andZgusta(1971);theyalladdressthegeneralissuesdisussedinthischapter.PapersintheInternationalJournalofLexicographyalsooftenaddressconcernsofinterestnotonlyingenerallexicographybutforELdictionaries.

2ForfinediscussionsofELdictionarywriting,seeFrawleyetal.(2002),Haviland(2006),Kroskrity(2015),Mosel(2011),andThieberger(2015).

3Obviouslysomeareasofmeaningrequireadditionaldetail,suchasscientificnamesforplantandanimalterms.Butgreatersemanticprecisionisoftenwarrantedinmanyotherareasofmeaning,suchasdeixis,directionandlocation,motion,andtimeamongothers.

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languagerevitalization:adictionaryneedstohelppeopleusetheEL.Forinstance,whenseveralELwordshavesimilarmeaningsoridenticaltranslationsinthematrixlanguage,adictionaryforlanguagerevitalizationmusthelpusersunderstandtheimplicationsoftheirwordchoices.Whichwordisappropriateinwhichcontextsofuse?Howdotheydifferinsemantics,pragmatics,andsyntax?LearnerswhorelyonadictionarythatlacksdetailaboutsuchparametersofusagemaytendtocombineELvocabularywithsyntacticandsemanticpatternsfromthematrixlanguage,yieldinga"relexified"matrixlanguage.4

Myexperienceinthisfieldcomesmainlyfromfouronlinedictionaryprojects,listedin(1),thatinvolveNativelanguagesofCalifornia.Theselanguagesareseverelyendangered:HupaandKarukhaveonlyaveryfewfluenttraditionalfirst-languagespeakers,Yurokhasnoactivetraditionalfirst-languagespeakers,andwhileNorthernPaiutehasdozensoffluentspeakerstheyareelderlyanddispersedincommunitiesoftheGreatBasin.(1) (a)Yurok(Algic):TheYurokLanguageProject(Garrett2011)hasintegratedatext

corpus,alexicaldatabase(adaptingtheprinteddictionariesofRobins1958andConathanetal.2005),andotherinformationaboutthelanguageanditscontext;seehttp://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~yurok/.TheYurokLanguageProjectwasbegunin2001withJulietteBlevinsandisnowmaintainedatBerkeleywiththecollaborationoftheYurokTribe'slanguageprogram.

(b)Hupa(Athabaskan):TheHupaOnlineDictionaryandTextsismaintainedbyKaylaBegay(HumboldtStateUniversity)andJustinSpence(UCDavis);seehttp://nalc.ucdavis.edu/hupa/hupa-lexicon.html.Itoriginatedasawaytoputacommunity-orienteddictionaryonline(Golla1996),andnowincorporatesatextcorpusaswellasotherimprovements.

(c)NorthernPaiute(Uto-Aztecan):TheNorthernPaiuteLanguageProjectismaintainedbyMaziarToosarvandani(UCSantaCruz)incollaborationwithNorthernPaiutecommunitymembers.Itincludesalexiconandtextdatabase;seehttp://paiute.ucsc.edu/.

(d)Karuk(Hokan):Ararahih'urípih("thepeople'slanguagenet")isadictionaryandtextcorpusoftheKaruklanguagedevelopedincollaborationwithSusanGehr,LineMikkelsen,andothersintheKarukcommunityandatBerkeley(Garrettetal.inpreparation).Itstartedasawaytoputadictionaryonline(BrightandGehr2005,partlybasedonBright1957),butnowincludesasubstantialtextcorpusandotherresources;seehttp://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~karuk/index.php.

Allfourprojectsin(1)originated(andtwoarestillhoused)attheUniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,underthesponsorshipoftheSurveyofCaliforniaandOtherIndianLanguages.Threewereinitiallymotivatedbyawishtomakeprintdictionariesaccessible

4Thereisnothingwrongwiththis:alllanguageschangeallthetime,includingvia

languagecontact.Evensettingasideprototypicalcreoles,manyoftheworld'slanguagesseemtohavebeenshapedbyrelexification;examplesincludeAngloromani(Hancock1984)andMediaLengua(Muysken1997).Yetsomelanguagelearnersorcommunitieswillchoosetoavoidthisoutcomeinsofaraspossible.

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online.Someexamplesdiscussedinthischapterwillbedrawnfromworkontheprojectsin(1).

Below,Iwilldiscussproblemsthatariseintheconstructionofdictionariesunderfourrubrics:lemmachoice(section1);variationintheformofwords(section2);theselectionanduseofexamplesentences(section3);andwordmeaningandusage(section4).IneachsectionIwillnoteproblemsforELdictionariesusedinlanguagerevitalization,andIwillwriteabouttheparticularcircumstancesofonlinedictionaries.

1.Lemmachoice

Everydictionaryisorganizedaroundheadwordsorlemmas,withcloselyrelatedwords(typically,inflectionalforms)includedintheentryforagivenlemma.Forexample,inadictionaryofEnglish,thewordssings,sang,sung,andsingingcanallbefoundunderthelemmasing.ForEnglishitisrelativelyeasytodecidewhichrelatedword-formsshouldbeassociatedwithalemma(whatlinguistsmightcallalexeme)andwhichothersshouldbegiventheirownlemmas.Inotherlanguages,aspectsofthemorphologyormorphosyntaxmaymakethisdecisionratherdifficult.Differentlexicographersthenchoosedifferently.

Thus,inRhodes's(1993)compendiousOjibwadictionary,relatedmorphosyntacticallydistinctwordsareassignedtodifferentlemmas.Givenonpage3,forinstance,areseparatelemmasfortheverbsin(2),eachwithitsownsetofinflectedforms.(2) aabnaabdamaadzod"lookback"(animateintransitive)

aabnaabid"lookback"(animateintransitive)aabnaabmaad"lookbackats.o."(transitiveanimate)aabnaabndamaadzod"lookback"(animateintransitive)aabnaabndamwaad"lookbackforsomeone"(transitiveanimate)aabnaabndang"lookbackats.t."(transitiveinanimate)

Ontheotherhand,inBeavertandHargus's(2009)Sahaptindictionary,adifferentapproachistakeninwhichallderivativesofarootareassignedtothesamelemma.Thenounpxwí"thought"headsalemmathatcontainsexamplesentencesandinflectedformsaswellasthesub-entrypxwí-"think,wonder",whichitselfhasthesub-entriesin(3),somewithadditional(third-level!)sub-entries(notshownhere)andexamplesentences.(3) páyupxwí-(v)"besad,dejected"

pinápxwi-(v)"wonder,thinktooneself,thinkaboutoneself,beconceited"pxwinúutpa(adv)"apparently,itseems,itlookslike"pxwít(n)"feeling,emotion,opinion,thought"pxwípxwi(n)"worry"

Bothchoicescreatedifficultiesforusers.IntheOjibwadictionary,itisnotalwayseasytofindcloselyrelatedwordsunlesstheyhappentobeadjacent(viaaccidentsofprefixation).IntheSahaptindictionaryitisnotalwayseasytofindwords,sincetheyarealphabetizedaccordingtothelemma'sheadword.AnindexlikethethoroughoneprovidedbyBeavertandHargusreducestheseproblems,butusersmustremembertousetheindex.Myexperiencehasbeenthatoften,whenusersuseanindex,theymaynotcheckthemainentryandmayconsequentlymissdetailsexplainedonlythere.

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Inanonlinedictionary,someofthesedifficultiescanbeminimized.InArarahih'urípih(theKarukdictionaryandtextcorpus),forexample,morphologyispartoftherepresentationofdictionaryentries.Atypicalexampleistheverbikyiv"tofall"(withconditionedallomorphsthatincludeafinal-morlengtheningofthesecondvowel).Thishasatleast20derivatives,includingikyíim-namnih"tofallin"(withasuffixform-namnih"in")andikyíimnamnih-math"todrop(something)in"(withasuffix-math"causative").ThesethreewordswouldconstituteseparatelemmasinanOjibwa-likedictionary,andwouldbelistedunderasinglelemmainaSahaptin-likedictionary.

InArarahih'urípih,itispossibletoshowinformationinbothstyles.Figure1showspartofthedisplayforikyiv"tofall";includedisanoptionallistofallmorphologicalderivatives,eachofwhichisalinktotheappropriatelemma.AsseennearthebottomofFigure1,sentenceexamples(fromtheArarahih'urípihtextcorpus)canbesettoincludeorexcludederivatives;adjustingthissettingherewouldchangethedisplayfrom6to58sentenceexamples.

Figure1:ikyiv"tofall"inArarahih'urípih(featuringderivativewords)

2.Orthography,dialect,andpronunciation

OrthographyinELscanbecontentious(Hinton2014):therearecommunity-internaldisputesaboutmultiplewritingsystems,disputesbetweenlinguistsandcommunitiesaboutthebestwritingsystemforalanguage,andvariantspellingsofindividualwordsina

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singlecoherentwritingsystem(alongthelinesofEnglishhonorvs.honour).AsFishman(1972)putit,"thecreationofwritingsystemsissignificantonlyinsofarasitleadstotheacceptanceandimplementationofwritingsystems."Thebestwritingsystem,inotherwords,isonethatpeopleactuallyuse.Acceptancemayinsomecasesbeaniterativeprocess,butwhenawritingsystemissettledausefuldictionarywilltakeitasgiven.

Wheremultiplespellingsdoremain(whetherforindividualwordsorforthelanguageasawholeduetocompetingsystems),wordscanbecitedindifferentways.Unfortunately,aprintdictionaryalmostinevitablygivesgreaterweighttothespellingchosenasthelemmaheadword(orforalphabetization).Thisisanareawhereonlinedictionariescanhaveahelpfullevelingfunction.Forexample,differentNorthernPaiutecommunitiesusewritingsystemsthatdifferinhowvowelsoundsarespelled.Becausedifferentsystemsareeachunambiguous,automatictranslationbetweenthemisfeasible.ThespellingusedintheunderlyingdatabaseIntheNorthernPaiuteLanguageProjectallowsuserstochooseaspellingsystemandseedictionaryandtextexamplesonlyinthatwritingsystem.Informationcanthusbepresentedwithoutseemingtoprioritizeanotherorthography.

Similarly,anonlinedictionaryinwhichtheunderlyingdatabaseencodesinformationaboutdialect(oridiolect),itispossibletodisplayonlywordsorexamplesfromthespeechvarietyofinteresttotheuser.TheNorthernPaiuteLanguageProjectagainillustratesthisfeature,showingdatafromfourCalifornia,Nevada,andOregondialects(Bridgeport,Burns,MonoLake,WalkerRiver)andallowinguserstochoosethedialectofinteresttothem.Sucharesourcecanbeofbroadinterestthroughoutalanguageareabutofvalueaswelltothosewhosegoalsarefocusedononlyonedialectarea.

Inaprintdictionary,itispossibleandsometimesusefultoflagpronunciationvariants,butoftenthedifferencesarenoteasilyreducibletowriting(withoutusingrepresentationswhosephoneticdetailwoulddetertypicalusers).Audiocanbeusefulforthispurpose,andisvirtuallyessentialinanycaseforalmostalllanguagelearners.AgoodELdictionarymaythusatleastbecreatedinconnectionwithabroaderrevitalizationprogramthatincludespersonalcontactwithfluentspeakersandotherteachers.WithsomeprintdictionariesaredistributedwithCDswithrecordingsofwordsandsentences;anexampleistheSahaptinlexicon(BeavertandHargus2009).ButCDsareeasytolose,andinanycaseitrequiresworktoassociatespecificaudiofilesonadiskwithentriesinaprintdictionary.

Forobviousreasons,onlinedictionariesallowveryeffectiveintegrationofmediafiles(includingaudioandvideo)withlexicographicinformation.ThisisextremelyhelpfulforrevitalizationinELcontextswherelearnersmaynotoftengettoworkwithfluentfirst-languagespeakers(or,worse,wherenofirst-languagespeakersremain).IntheonlineYurokdictionary,wehavetriedtoincludeaudioexamplesofasmanywordsandshortphrasesaspossible,spokenbyasmanyfluentspeakersaspossible.UsersreportgreatlyappreciatingachancetoheartherangeofvariationthatwouldhavebeenpresentinthespeechcommunitywhenYurokwasstillusedasafirstlanguageinmanyhouseholds.AnexamplefromtheYurokdictionarywebsiteisshowninFigure2,showingpartoftheentryformeweehl"elk".Userscanhearrecordingsasspokenbysixfluentspeakersrecordedinthe2000s;byselectingotheroptionstheycanseeaphoto,orexamplesofmeweehlinthetextcorpus.(NotethatthesearchindexinFigure2isorderedbytextfrequency.)

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Figure2:meweehl"elk"intheYurokLanguageProjectwebsite(featuringrecordings)

3.Examples

Itisuncontroversialthatathoroughdictionarypresentsexamplesentencestoshowhowwordsareused.Thesearetypicallyeitherculledfromacorpusorcreatedinworkwithfluentspeakers.Insomedictionaries,partlyforreasonsofspace,thepracticeistoincludeonlyoneexampleformostlemmas.ThedictionariesofBrightandGehr(2005)forKarukandofBeavertandHargus(2009)forSahaptinhavethisprofile.Insuchadictionarythechoiceofillustrativesentencescanmakeabigdifferenceforlanguagelearners.Tochooseanexamplenearlyatrandom,theSahaptinadjectivep'ɨsláni"dented,flattened"isillustratedwithasentencetranslatedas"Don'tbuyadentedcar."Thisisagoodchoice,showingaspecificnounthattheadjectivecanmodify;awordlike"flattened"canrefertomanyothersituations,andlearnersmightnotthinkthatitcouldapplytodentsinmetal.Hadp'ɨslánibeenillustratedwithasentencetranslatedsimplyas"itisdented",languagelearnerswouldbenowiser.

Insomedictionaries,thereisspacetogivealargenumberofexamplesforsome(orevenmany)lemmas.Thisbenefitslanguagelearnersbywayofshowingthemtherangeofcontextsinwhichwordscanbeused.Forexample,inthenearly1000-pageKlallamdictionaryofMontler(2012),thelemmaɬúyəs"abandon"includesexampleswiththetranslationsin(4),amongmanyothers.Thisgivesusersasenseoftherangeofcontextsinwhichtheverbcanbeused.Assiduousresearcherscanclassifyexamplesbymeaningorverifywhetheranintendedsenseisindeeddocumentedforthisverb.

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(4) "Leaveit!Giveitup!""Ilefthim.""IleftPortAngeles.""Shegotoutofwhatshehadbeenin.""IleftmydoginPortAngeles.""Hiswifelefthim.""I'mgoingtoleavemycoffeepotbehind.""Ileftthebeaverthatwascrying.""ThenIlefthimandwalkedtoPysht."

Anevenmorecompletepresentationofexamplesispossibleinanonlinedictionarylinkedtoatextcorpus.Forexample,intheKarukandYurokwebsites,eachofwhichincludesalexiconlinkedtoalexicallytaggedcorpus(withthousandsofwords),manydictionarysearchesyieldsubstantialsetsoftextexamples.ShowninFigure3isapartoftheArarahih'urípihentryfortheKarukverbmah"tosee,tofind";thetextcorpushas163examples(or179ifderivativewordsareincluded).IntheKarukandYurokcommunities,languagelearnersandteachersmakeuseoftextexamplestofillingapsinlexicographicexplication—forexample,asoften,wheresemanticinformationorlexicalcooccurrencepatternsarenotwelldescribed.

Figure3:mah"tosee"inArarahih'urípih(featuringsentenceexamples)

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4.Meaningandusage

ThemostimportantdefectsofELdictionarieshavetodowithmeaningandusage.ThesestemfrominherentlimitationsinELresearch:foranyonelanguagerelativelyfewpeopleworkonlexicographicquestions;andtextcorporainwhichanswerscanbefoundarefarmorelimitedthanforgloballanguageslikeEnglishorFrench.

4.1.Translationvs.meaning

Inbilingualdictionaries,includingELdictionariesusedforlanguagerevitalization,awordinonelanguageisdefinedorglossedintermsofanotherlanguage.InELdictionaries,ELvocabularyisdefinedorglossedinthematrixlanguage.Itisextremelycommonfortheglossestobeshort(evensingle-word)translations.ThisisthesinglebiggestprobleminELlexicographyforlanguagerevitalization;itmayunwittinglyencouragelearnerstoassumeasimpleone-to-onemappingbetweenmatrix-languageandELvocabulary.

ExamplesofunsatisfactorytranslationrenderingsarealltooeasytofindinalmostanyELdictionary.Forexample,theYurokdictionaryshowsthatthemostcommonverbwhosemeaningistranslated"run"isro'opek'"Irun".Thelexiconitselfsimplyglossestheverbas"run"anddoesnotsaywhetheritisusedfigurativelyforfish,water,machines,orinothersuchcontexts.5Likewise,verbswhoseapproximatemeaningsare"lie","sit",and"stand"aresimplyglossedassuch,withnoinformationabouttherangeofcontextsinwhichtheymaybeused—eventhoughthereisconsiderablecross-linguisticvariationinsuchverbs'denotations(AmekaandLevinson2007,Newman2002).Forexample,doesaspiderorathumbtack"sit"onthewall?Doesit"hang"?Simplequestionslikethese,whoseanswersareessentialforidiomaticlanguageuse,arehardtoanswerinalmostallELdictionaries.

Relatedly,itisuncommonthatELdictionariesexplicitlydistinguishsubsensesintheirdescriptionofmeaning.Compare(admittedlyunfairly)theOxfordEnglishDictionaryandtheKarukandYurokdictionariesintheirtreatmentof"put",asgivenin(5).(5) a. English:puthas29sensesidentifiedintheOxfordEnglishDictionaryas

currentlyinuse(notcountingthosedeemedobsolete,rare,ordialectal) b. Karuk:thar-"toput,tolay"(thustranslated;modifiedbydirectionalsuffixesbut

otherwisenoothersensesorsub-sensesexplicitlyidentified) b. Yurok:nekek'"Iput"(noothersensesorsub-sensesexplicitlyidentified)

PerhapsEnglishputisunusuallycomplexinitsmeaning,butthegeneraltrendofmostELdictionariesistogivebasictranslationequivalentsratherthansemanticparaphrases,letaloneaninventoryofsubsenses.Intheabsenceofrichlexicographicinformationaboutsemantics,languagelearnersmaytendtofillinthedetailswithtransfereffectsfromtheirfirstlanguages,enhancinganytrendtowardmatrix-languagerelexification.

5Fromthetextcorpusdisplayedwiththelemma,itemergesthatro'opek'hasbeenusedforfishandmachines,butthereisnoevidenceforothercontexts.Thepointinanycaseisthatthedictionaryitselfissilent.

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4.2.Multiwordunits(MWUs)

Multiwordunits—phraseswithnoncompositionalsemantics—poseaproblemforanydictionary.Thedetailsdifferfromlanguagetolanguageaccordingtosyntax.InEnglish,forexample,anydictionarymustfindawaytoexplainthesemanticsandusageofphrasalverbslikeputaside"disregard",putdown"anesthetize",putoff"postpone",puton"deceive",andthelike.IntheOxfordEnglishDictionary,suchMWUsareincludedinthelemmasfortheirverbs.Anotherexampleisconstructionswithlightverbs(Jespersen1942)liketake(apicture,atest,ashower,awalk);theseareagainassociatedwithverbsintheOxfordEnglishDictionary.

Aslongasdictionaryusersknowwheretolook(underput,notdown;undertake,notpicture),theycanfindtheinformationtheyneedifitissomehowincludedinalexicon.ManyELdictionariesdonotincludeMWUinformation,however,perhapsbecausethepatternscanrequirealargercorpustoidentify.IfMWUsareincludedinadictionary,onlinepresentationhasthebenefitofpermittingdoublelistingwithoutexpandingthephysicalsizeofabook.InformationaboutanMWUcanbelinkedwithallitscomponentwordssothatitappearsineachlemmadisplay.InYurok,forexample,theprepositionandpreverbmehlcanbetranslatedgenerallyas"about,becauseof,by,for,from,of,with",buttheactualinterpretationinanycontextisdependentontheverbitisconstruedwith.Somespecificcollocationsaregroupedin(6)accordingtobroadsemanticpatterns.(6) a. kooychkwook'"buy(it)"+mehl="buy(it)for(someone)"

muehlkochek'"sell"(intr.)+mehl="sell(something)"neee'nowok'"watch"+mehl="watchfor(somethingorsomeone)"pewomek'"cook"(intr.)+mehl="cookfor(someone)"

b. hlmeyowok'"beangry"+mehl="beangryabout(something)"kemolochek'"bejealous"+mehl="bejealousof(someone)"pelomoyek'"fight"+mehl="fightabout(something)"soosek'"think"+mehl="thinkabout(something)"tohkow"talk"(collective)+mehl="talkabout(something)"t'p'ohlkwek'"besensible"+mehl="understand(something)"

c. 'e'gah"eat,haveameal"(collectiveintr.)+mehl="eat(something)"hegook'"walk"+mehl="walkwith(aninstrument)"hohkuemek'"make(it)"+mehl="make(it)from(somematerial)"myop'"it'scrowded"+mehl="it'scrowdedwith(something)"reeek"befull"+mehl="befullof(something)"ruerowok'"sing"(intransitive)+mehl="sing(somesong)"

Foreachverb,adictionaryshoulddescribethemeaningandsyntaxoftheconstructionwithmehl.Inanonlinedictionary,thesepatternscaneasilybepresentedtwice,oncefortheverbandonceinthemehllemma.AsingledatabaseentryforeachMWUwillthusbedrawnonasneededforonlinedisplay.

5.Conclusion

Ihavelookedatafewelementsfoundindictionaries,identifyingafewchallengesassociatedwithELlexicography.Theseflowfromthefactthatlessisknownabout

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underdocumentedlanguages,forwhich,itshouldgowithoutsaying,thereisusuallyalsonolexicographictradition.6TheabsenceoflargetextcorporamakesrichdocumentationofsemanticsandMWUpatternsmoredifficult;sensediscriminationandotherworkonfacetsofmeaning(e.g.hyponymy)alsorequirestimethatisoftenabsentintheunder-resourcedcontextofELwork.Yettheseaspectsoflexicographicknowledgearecrucialindictionariesthatservethegoaloflanguagerevitalization:learnerswhodonothaveaccess(whetherviafluentspeakersorwrittensources)tolexicallyspecificpatternsthataredescribedinagooddictionarymayfillinthegapswithmatrix-languagepatterns.

Onlinedictionariesinparticularposesignificantproblems.Theyrequireinternetaccess,bydefinition,smartphonesorcomputeraccessforusers,andtechnologicalinfrastructureforthosewhocreateandhostthem.Evenwheretheyaresociallyandtechnicallyfeasible,theyarenopanacea(theycannotreplaceactuallanguageuse),buttheycanmakeiteasiertopresentsomeimportantlexicographicinformation.Relationalinformationinparticular—morphologicalandsemanticrelationships,examplesintextcorpora,andthelike—arewellsuitedtopresentationonline.Ifinformationinadatabasehasbeentaggedsuitablyandaneffectiveinterfacedesigned,userscanuselinksandtagstoexploreastructuredlexiconwithfarlesseffortthanitwouldtaketomovebetweensectionsofaprintbook,oramongadictionary,grammar,andtexts.Inthissenseawell-designedonlinedictionarymayassistintheprojectofrepatriatingindigenousknowledgefromtheacademyandthearchive,intothecommunitiesthatcreatedit.

6Anotableexceptionhastodowithlanguagesbelongingtolargerlanguagefamilies,

likeAlgonquianorAthabaskan,thathaveconsiderablegrammaticaluniformityandthereforehavedevelopedalexicographictradition.Butotherlargerfamilies,likeUto-Aztecan,thegrammaticaldifferencesacrosssub-branchesmakeasharedlexicographictraditionlessplausible.

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References

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Beavert,Virginia,andSharonHargus.2009.IchishkííinSinwitYakama/YakimaSahaptindictionary.Seattle:UniversityofWashingtonPress.

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