Supplying syntactic information in a quadrilingual explanatory dictionary of Chemistry (English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, Sepedi) : a preliminary investigation : contemplative article (original) (raw)
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Lexikos, 2010
In response to a number of recent government publications on the promotion of science and technology training, the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for Science and Art) initiated the compilation of a multilingual explanatory dictionary for chemistry. The need for such a dictionary is especially urgent in learning environments where learners receive tuition through a medium other than their mother tongue. This is particularly relevant for learners whose mother tongue is an African language. Taking into account the target user's fragmented knowledge of the subject field and low second language competence, the planners decided that certain syntactic information should be specified for the isiZulu and Sepedi entries; specifically the part of speech to which a lemma belongs. This poses certain problems for the lexicographer, since the issue of word categorisation is, especially in Sepedi, an unresolved one. A second problem that presents itself to the lexicographer is the lexicographic convention which is used to indicate the word class to which a specific lemma belongs. Abbreviations referring to the parts of speech are normally used for this purpose. No standardised abbreviations for the different parts of speech exist in isiZulu or Sepedi. Principles for the formation of abbreviations have also not been formulated for the official orthographies of these languages. The only solution to this problem is to study existing abbreviations in order to abstract the principles of abbreviation formation. Only then can abbreviations indicating the parts of speech be formulated for use in the dictionary.
The first part of the article deals with general information about the project of compiling a dictionary of abbreviations in linguistics. It also contains a short overview of past research together with their main results. So far, some specific theoretical and practical solutions were proposed. Theoretical solu-tions refer to the Multi-level approach in collecting data for submorphemic word-formations, which consists of three aspects: 1) Structure and Modes of Production, 2) Cognitive Aspects, and 3) Functional Aspects. Practical solutions for the structure and modes of production have already been recommended with the results properly substantiated by the examples of abbreviations. The second part presents re-sults of the analysis for the cognitive aspect of the multi-level approach. The semantic part reveals the relationship between an abbreviation type and the semantic (sub-)field it might be assigned to. Semiotic part is achieved by designating a specific interpretation of a sig...
Use and translation of abbreviations and acronyms in scientific texts
2020
Most new concepts both in the Russian and English languages are expressed using phrases or compound words, because such complex words make it possible to represent a particular concept with completeness and accuracy. But multicomponent terms—complex words and phrases—are cumbersome; therefore, there is a need to abbreviate them in one way or another. In some cases this leads to the use of short versions of the term in the form of only one main component, while in others, various types of abbreviations are used, which can save time. However, their imprecise or incorrect translation can change or confuse the intended meaning. The paper discusses the differences in using abbreviations and acronyms in British and American scientific texts, as well as difficulties of their translation and optimal strategies of interlanguage adaptation. The investigation is performed using various research techniques, including a comparative method, a continuous sampling method, semantic structure analysi...
Abbreviations and Acronyms: The Case of Tlhalosi ya Medi ya Setswana
Lexikos, 2015
This paper looks at how abbreviations and acronyms are treated in African language dictionaries in general compared to selected mainstream English dictionaries. Specifically, the study looks at their treatment in T.J. Otlogetswe's (2012) Tlhalosi ya Medi ya Setswana dictionary. Altogether, a survey of twenty selected dictionaries was carried out examining the treatment of abbreviations and acronyms in these dictionaries. Ten of these dictionaries are mainstream English dictionaries and the remaining ten are dictionaries of varied African languages spoken in the Southern African region e.g. Shona, Ndebele, Venda, Setswana and Northern Sotho. The study addresses four questions: (a) whether African lexicographers include abbreviations and acronyms in their dictionaries as is practice in mainstream English dictionaries; (b) if so, how these have been treated; (c) what linguistic features are highlighted in these entries, if any; and, (d) what recommendation the study makes for the way forward. The results showed that in most of the African dictionaries in the survey, unlike in mainstream English dictionaries, abbreviations and acronyms are not included despite the fact that many of them are coined and used by native speakers of these languages. An exception is Otlogetswe (2012) with a list of 25 abbreviations and acronyms. The paper recommends that African lexicographers include abbreviations and acronyms as part of their lexicon because these lexical items are coined by the communities making them part of the vocabulary of the language. Users of these dictionaries should find entries of abbreviations and acronyms in these dictionaries whenever they want to confirm the meaning, or when teaching.
SOME NOTES ON THE STFUCTURE OF ACRONYMS
This paper examines the segmental and suprasegmental structure of acronyms from present-day English. ;, ,ooks in brief at the history of such items; and it suggests that while a~o.yms do not unaergo Cua,~o~itt Exii.~icLAi~,aiit~ ~iiayes (19~2D -b~,ata~ il~v aic graphemically-based -they do undergo the English Stress Rule (ESR) in a very regular fashion. It also proposes that bisyllabic items (in particular) are instances of word-creation whose structure is to some extent conditioned by the notion of "canonical pressure" i fl Ll l qk. l dl O ~1~' 5 (1977)). Acronyms thus provide new evidence for the working and ordering of phonological rules in English.
2019
The paper focuses on the integrated approach to investigation of abbreviations that are referred to the units of secondary nomination. Abbreviations facilitate the communication process due to the principle of economy in language. Abbreviation that goes back to ancient times is one of the most actively performed and intensive processes in the English language. The use of abbreviations is connected with both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors that to a great extent determine a variety of discourse under consideration and ways of decoding certain linguistic units of abbreviated form, where context plays the most important role. There exists a number of structural types or models, according to which abbreviations are created in order to function as separate linguistic units used in the communicative process, where in the course of time they tend to acquire new independent and sometimes unique semantic properties. In socially determined professional registers certain regularities o...
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1986
The entries in a monolingual alphabetic dictionary are selected from the stand ard language of native speakers, and the lexicographer has to include an exten sive selection of simplex words. The mere occurrence of a simplex word as item in the standard language compels the lexicographer to accommodate it as a lemma. However, compounds are not treated in the same simplistic way, and their selection confronts the lexicographer with a wide range of linguistic prob lems. Although compounding is a very productive word-formation process in Afrikaans, not all compounds can be accounted for in a dictionary. To qualify for inclusion a compound has to satisfy, among others, some semantic criteria not applied to Simplexes. In contrast with Simplexes the mere inclusion of a compound in a dictionary has definite semantic implications with which the lexi cographer has to be well acquainted. The semantic criteria that apply to the se lection of compounds are by no means well defined and the lexicographer needs a sound semantic judgement to ensure successful treatment of this category of words. Even the most common criterion, that of word transparency, still offers many problems (cf. Stein 1985: 39). It is therefore understandable why Cowie (1983: 103) says: "There are few features of dictionary organization on which editorial policy differs as strikingly from one dictionary-or lexicographical tradition-to another as the treatment of compounds." This is yet another field where the collaboration of linguist and lexicographer is needed. This paper will focus on some of the semantic problems confronting the lexicographer. The main emphasis will be on the Afrikaans particle verb as one example of the category of compounds.
Functional Aspects of using Noun compounds in Technical Writing
2016
Introduction The language of science, as written time and again, is governed by the aim of the functional style of scientific prose to prove a hypothesis, to create new concepts, to disclose the internal laws of existence, development, relations between different phenomena, etc. In this respect, engineering research articles similar to all functional varieties of the generic repertoire of scientific prose style tend to be built on the ontology of facts. Otherwise stated, if in fiction the emotive-expressive-evaluative tones are believed to make an aesthetic impact on the reader, here language is definitely to express the author‟s approach, his evaluation of the stated facts and documents. Hence, the knowledge of vocabulary, which tends to have a great role in conveying the message, can be of optimum importance in any EAP discourse. According to Harmer (1991), “If language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh”...
Abbreviations in English and Italian Scientific Discourse
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