Domain Templates Seeing patterns in related words.

Working within semantic domains.  It is far more insightful to investigate all the words that belong to a semantic domain at one time.  This is true not just when investigating the semantics and writing definitions, but also when investigating patterns of polysemy and usage.

Animals.  The primary sense of the word ‘cow’ refers to a type of mammal.  But ‘cow’ is also used in idioms, such as ‘have a cow’.  ‘Cow’ is also used to describe people, in this case with a pejorative meaning, “She’s a cow.”  Cows make noise: ‘moo’.  Cows are eaten. But we don’t eat ‘cow’, we eat ‘beef’.

Domain template for ‘Animal’ FieldDataNotes DomainCooking Collocates roast beef Domain Animal husbandry Collocates raise cattle, drive cattle, wolf loped DomainMovement Collocates cattle stampede, horse galloped

Domain template for ‘Animal’ (continued) FieldDataNotes Citation form Part of speech n Plural form DomainZoology Definition a [size] [wild / domesticated] [carnivorous / herbivorous] mammal, [scientific name], having fur/hide [color, markings], found in [habitat] if name refers to a species

Domain template for ‘Animal’ (continued) FieldDataNotes Scientific name Folk facts lion is ‘king of the beasts’ Collective flock, herd, pack Sound growl, roar, bellow Utter sound low, purr, bark Child lang. name kitty, bunny

Domain template for ‘Animal’ (continued) FieldDataNotes Subspecies merino (sheep) Similes strong as a horse Eatgraze Actionsgore Malebull Femalecow Youngcalf

Domain template for ‘Animal’ (continued) FieldDataNotes Sense no. 2 DomainZoology Definition any [size] [wild / domesticated] [carnivorous / herbivorous] mammal of the genus [scientific name], such as the [species name] or the [species name], having fur / hide [color, markings], found in [habitat] if name refers to genus

Domain template for ‘Animal’ (continued) FieldDataNotes Sense no. 3 DomainCooking Definition the meat of the [animal] Sense no. 4 Domain Astronomy, Astrology Definition the [animal] (capitalized): the less common name of the constellation [Latin name], the Nth sign of the Zodiac

Domain template for ‘Animal’ (continued) FieldDataNotes Derivativescowboy Idioms let the cat out of the bag Sayings every dog has his day

Procedure for developing a template.  Collect as many members of the lexical set as possible.  Pick a very common or important member of the domain.  Think of all the words related to the head word by various lexical relations.  Pick a second member of the domain and repeat the process, comparing with the first word to see which features of the meaning and usage are common.  After doing this for three or four words, you should have a fairly good idea of what to look for when investigating other members of the domain.

Procedure for developing a template (continued).  Write up all the issues, procedures, and questions you need to ask for each word.  Set up a template in the form of a chart as in the example above.  Consider setting up a large chart with the questions along the vertical axis and the words along the horizontal axis. This will help you see patterns.  File the template for future reference in case you find a new word that belongs to the domain.

Things to include in a template.  Basic data.  example sentences.  concordance entries from the text corpus.  Citation form and pronunciation.  Variant forms.  Affixation potential  Criterial features.  Lexical relations.

Things to include in a template (continued)  Collocations.  for verbs—typical actants.  for nouns  adjectives.  verbs in which the noun is subject.  verbs in which the noun is object.  for adjectives—nouns which the adjective modifies.  for adverbs—verbs which the adverb modifies.

Things to include in a template (continued)  Pragmatic issues.  usage restrictions.  connotation.  Cultural setting.  Definition framework.  Secondary meanings.  Metaphors.  Examples of metonymy.  Complex forms that incorporate the lexeme.  Compounds, idioms, expressions Be creative. Words vary from each other in many ways. No two templates will be the same.

The value of using templates.  Information can be gathered faster.  Ensures that basic facts about a words are not missed.  Makes the approach to the lexical set more systematic.  Ensures that the definitions for each member of the set are consistent.  Writing template entries is a good way to train new lexicographers.

Assignment.  Develop a domain template for ‘Parts of the body’, using the words ‘head’ ‘eye’ ‘ear’ ‘nose’ ‘mouth’ and ‘tongue’.  Develop a domain template for ‘Color’, using the words ‘black’ ‘white’ ‘red’ ‘yellow’ and ‘blue’.  Spend about an hour on each domain.  The purpose is to learn what kinds of things to include in a template and to see the value of them.

Bibliography Atkins, Sue SALEX handouts. unpublished manuscript.