Treatment of Deictic Expressions in Example Sentences in English Learners' Dictionaries

Author: Xu, Hai

Source: International Journal of Lexicography, Volume 18, Number 3, September 2005 , pp. 289-311(23)

Publisher: Oxford University Press

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Abstract:

The present study has adopted a quantitative approach to examining the treatment of person, place and time deictic expressions in example sentences in five English learners' dictionaries, viz., OALD6 (2000), LDOCE4 (2003), COBUILD4 (2003), CALD2 (2003) and MEDAL1 (2002). To what extent do and should example sentences ‘inherit’ deictic expressions—a discoursal feature—from natural discourse? The deictic usage in example sentences may somehow be constrained by dictionary space. Yet, the results from the sample data indicate that, in spite of some variations, the types and frequencies of deictic expressions in example sentences largely correspond to those in normal discourse. The findings shed light on ESL lexicographers' strategies for retention of person deictics from a real-text corpus into example sentences, highlight the role of spoken data in a corpus, and support the selection of tenses in example sentences by verb semantics.

Keywords: Psychosis; genetic; susceptibility; ggf2; nrg1; chromosome 8p

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1093/ijl/eci014

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