Semantic Description of Lexical Units in an Explanatory Combinatorial Dictionary: Basic Principles and Heuristic Criteria1

Abstract

This paper gives a short general characterization of lexicographic definition as adopted in the Explanatory Combinatorial Dictionary (ECD). In doing so, the paper defines seven basic lexicographic concepts (lexeme, phraseme, vocable, semantic bridge, basic lexical unit of a vocable, semantic field, and lexical field). Also, six major formal principles for lexicographic definitions are formulated, discussed, and illustrated: e.g., the Univocity Principle and the Adequacy Principle; such principles underlie all definitions in the ECD. Finally, eleven heuristic criteria for definitions are introduced and discussed; these criteria are designed to aid in accounting for the free co-occurrence of a headword, in deciding about the inclusion of a given component in a definition, in distinguishing different senses of a polysemous word, and so on.

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