高级英语第十一课

Webster’s Third New International Dictionary -- 27 years -- over $3.5 million were spent on the preparation and making of this dictionaries. -- a total of 10 million citations were collected as background for definition. -- three virtues were held for making this new edition: accuracy, clearness, and comprehension. Accuracy always comes first .
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Prescriptive vs. Descriptive linguistics
• In linguistics, prescription is the laying down or prescribing of normative rules for the use of a language, or the making of recommendations for effective language usage. It includes the mechanisms for establishing and maintaining an interregional language or a standardized spelling system. (e.g traditoinal grammar) • Prescription is typically contrasted with description, which observes and records how language is used in practice, and which is the basis of all linguistic research. Serious scholarly descriptive work is usually based on text or corpus analysis, or on field studies.
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Bloomfield and his four findings
• Bloomfield, Leonard, 1887–1949, • American linguist, born. Chicago. • Professor at Ohio State Univ. (1921–27), at the Univ. of Chicago (1927–40), and at Yale (from 1940). • Influence dominated the development of structural linguistics in America between the 1930s and the 1950s. • Known for his book Language (1933), describing the state of the art of linguistics at its time.
Lesson Eleven
But What’s a Dictionary For?
By Bergen Evans
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Webster’s Third New International Dictionary -- published in 1961 -- In content , size, shape, and design, this dictionary of 2,752 pages is the great library of the English language. It has over 460,000 entries, 200,000 usage examples, over 3,ooo pictorial illustrations, and more than 1,000 synonym articles. ( addition of 100,000 new words or new definitions that were not included in the Second International Dictionary) -- This unabridged Merriam—Webster involved enormous work and money. over 200 permanent staff of language experts who specialize in dictionary making, together with a hundred special outside consultants. 2013-7-29 2
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Prescriptive vs. Descriptive linguistics
• Unlike prescription, descriptive linguistics eschews value judgments and makes no recommendations, without reference to the histories or to comparison with other languages. • Prescription and description are often seen as opposites, in the sense that one declares how language should be while the other declares how language is. But they can also be complementary, and usually exist in a dynamic tension to each other. Most commentators on language show elements of both prescription and description in their thinking, and popular debate on language issues frequently revolves around the question of how to balance these.
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II. Detailed study of the text
Textual Structure
Part 1: ( 1-3 ): Opening paragraphs: raising the question
Part 2: ( 4 – 13/17): Statements before basic principles
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The broad general findings of descriptive linguistics
1. All languages are systems of human conventions, not systems of natural laws. The first – and essential – step in the study of any language is observing and setting down precisely what happen when native speakers speak it. Each language is unique in its pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. It cannot be described in terms of logic or of some theoretical, ideal language. It cannot be described in terms of any other language, or even in terms of its own past. All languages are dynamic rather than static, and hence a ―rule‖ in any language can only be a statement of contemporary practice. Change is constant – and normal. ―Correctness‖ can rest only upon usage, for the simple reason that there is nothing else for it to rest on. And all usage is relative.
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(para.1) The storm of abuse in the popular press (para.2) The claim of the dictionary maker. (para.3) The question for argument: What is a dictionary for?
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Baidu Nhomakorabea
Para.1
The storm of abuse in the popular press that greeted the appearance of Webster’s Third International Dictionary is a curious phenomenon. Never has a scholarly work of this stature been attacked with such unbridled fury and contempt. …Atlantic viewed it as a ―disappointment,‖ a ―shock,‖ a ―calamity,‖ ―a scandal and a disaster. The New York Times, in a special editorial, felt that the work would ―accelerate the deterioration‖ of the language and sternly accused the editors of betraying a public trust. The Journal…saw the publication as ―deplorable,‖ ―a flagrant example of lexicographic irresponsibility,‖ ― a serious blow to the cause of good English.‖ Life called it ― a non-word deluge,‖ ―monstrous,‖ ―abominable,‖ ―a cause for dismay.‖ They doubted that ― Lincoln could have modelled his Gettysburg Address‖ on it – a concept of how things get written that throws very little light on Lincoln but a great deal on Life.
Part 3: (14/18 – 26/30): Illustrations of good dictiona
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Part4: (27/31– 28/32): Conclusion
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Detailed Study of the text
Part 1: ( 1-3 ):
Opening paragraphs: raising the question How did the writer raise the question?