How to make a dictionary- 13.11.2007

TYPES OF LEXICAL INFORMATION: PRONOUNCIATION

surface structure:
-2 levels: (1) linguistic description--> metalanguage
(2) units of language--> object language

-surface structure of:

* dictionaries--> metalanguage: the typography and layout of a book, hypertext…

* words in dictionaries--> object language: spelling, pronounciation…

metalanguage: language to speak about another language
f.e.: german (= metalanguage) used to talk about english (= object language)

semasiological dictionary--> metalanguage (f.e. headword)
onomasiological dictionary--> object language

Transcription: different views of sounds:
(1) Narrow phonetic transcription (1 and 2 more important, than 3 and 4)
(2) Phonemic representation
(3) Broad phonetic transcription
(4) Morphonemic representation

Goals: (1) represent as many phonetic details of phones (i.e. the allophones of phonemes) as needed
(2) represent phonemes (generalised from allophones using only information on phonetic context) needed
in the lexicon
(3) represent phonemes (generalised from allophones using information on phonetic context) as they
occur in texts
(4) represent morphophonemes (generalised from phonemes with additional information on morphological context) aas they occur in grammatical contexts

Phonemic transcription:
- the transcription used in dictionaries
- preferably in IPA ( not in “ad hoc” pseudo-spelling)
- the minimum amount of pronounciation
* to distinguish words
* for a native (or other competent) speaker of the language

Phonetic transcription:
- the transcription used to give as many details of pronunciation as possible
- actual pronunciation of phonemes (varies in different contexts)

For phonemic pronunciation representation in the lexicon:
- phonemic transcription
- just enough phonetic detail to distinguish words

For detailed phonetic representation of pronunciation:
- phonetic transcription based on
- articulatory phonetics (about speech production)
- remember the other dimensions of speech description:
* acoustic phonetics (about speech wave transmission)
* auditory phonetics (about speech perception)

Sounds in dictionaries:
Prosodic hierarchy:

Phonemes:
Function: smallest word- distinguishing segments

Internal structure: configurations of distinctive phonetic features

External structure:smallest part of syllables

Rendering: contextual variants, allophones

Syllables:

Function: word distinguishing phoneme configuration

Internal structure: configurations of sequential features and simultaneous features

External structure: (word)

Rendering: a function of the rendering of phonemes

Phonemes:
Several ways of defining phonemes:
(1) the minimal word- distinguishing sound segment
(2) the smallest unit of a syllable
(3) consists of dictinctive features
(4) consits of a set of allophones

English syllables: basics:
- Basic syllable structure: CCCVVCCC, e.g. /streIndZ/ - but affricates /dZ/ count as 1 phoneme, though phonetically they have 2 parts
- More detailed syllable structure- like a map: this kind of map is sometimes called a “transition network” or a “state diagramme”
--> each transition from one circle/ pode/ state describes the correct position of one phoneme

Spelling- to- sound rules:
- spelling: VISUAL modality
* ghoti à pronounced: fish
- I before e except after c, consonant doubling

More about English Syllable Structure: