[Tshwanelex-l] Fwd: Explanation Problem

[Claire Bowern]

That's right - for a monolingual dictionary, you wouldn't need a translation equivalent. 
I would put this in the definition field rather than encyclopedic information. 
Claire



----
Claire Bowern
Associate Professor
Yale University
370 Temple St
New Haven, CT

On Sep 18, 2011, at 10:38 AM, Lap Siu wrote:

> This is very helpful. My language (Jarai) has two words for "to eat." ƀŏng (verb) =  eat (of non-rice); Huă (verb) =  eat (of rice). I am not sure whether to put these definitions under TE since they have explanation in parentheses or under Explanation or Encyclopedic information? If I remember it correctly, David Joffe said only Definition for monolingual dictionary. 
> 
> Thanks for your help!
> 
> From: Claire Bowern <claire.bowern at yale.edu>
> To: Lap Siu <jaraisiu at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2011 4:07 PM
> Subject: Re: [Tshwanelex-l] Fwd: Explanation Problem
> 
> My rule of thumb for TE vs definition is that a TE should be something that would use as an interlinear gloss (this is probably a hangover from using Toolbox a lot); anything more detailed is a definition or encyclopedic information. If it's part of the meaning, it's a definition, if it's information about the item, it's encyclopedic. There is still a fair amount of ambiguity here, but it does provide some structure for what goes in the different parts of the entry.
> Claire
> 
> On Sep 17, 2011, at 4:44 PM, Lap Siu wrote:
> 
> > Hello, 
> > See below: 
> > 
> > From: Claire Bowern <claire.bowern at yale.edu>
> > To: tshwanelex-l <tshwanelex-l at mailman.yale.edu>
> > Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2011 11:42 AM
> > Subject: [Tshwanelex-l] Fwd: Explanation Problem
> > 
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: David Joffe <david.joffe at tshwanedje.com>
> > Date: Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 1:45 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Tshwanelex-l] Explanation Problem
> > To: tshwanelex-l at mailman.yale.edu
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > >    I have one more question:Which of the following translated
> > >    English 'word/s' can appropriately go under TE. You can
> > >    just write Yes and/or No on the right hand side of each
> > >    word:
> > >
> > >    1) sluggish [Yes]
> > >    2) very sluggish [if monolingual 'English to English', then the phrase should go under "Definition" but if Bilingual, then Explanation 'you can create this'] 
> > >    3) not very energetic (of humans) [under Explanation for Bilingual, Definition for monolingual]
> > >    4) plow [Yes]
> > >    5) water buffalo [Yes or No, but I would put under TE for bilingual b/c a specific type of buffalo]
> > >    6) military trenching hoe [Explanation for bilingual, definition for monolingual]
> > >    7) great grandfather [Explanation for bilingual, Definition for monolingual]
> > >    8) deep (of knowledge only) [Not sure about this, but maybe under TE]
> > >
> > >    I'm not sure whether only 'a single word' or 'a phrase' can
> > >    be used under TE.
> > 
> > Multi-word phrases are generally fine as TEs, particularly if they
> > functionally still fit the equivalent 'part of speech', i.e. if you
> > can grammatically drop in a phrase where a noun would go, e.g.
> > 'water buffalo', and the source word is a noun, then it's fine.
> > Sometimes it's just impossible to use the same part of speech,
> > especially if the two languages are very different, then this is
> > more likely to occur. To be honest I must admit I'm not really sure
> > exactly when something stops being a 'translation equivalent' and
> > starts being a 'description' or 'explanation' (e.g. 'military
> > trenching hoe' or 'not very energetic' sound like they could be
> > both, to me, depending how you look at them) ... but my main
> > expertise and background is computer programming, not linguistics,
> > and this sort of thing is usually my colleague Prof Gilles-Maurice
> > de Schryver's area of expertise!
> > 
> > 
> > > By way the Tutorial videos you made on
> > >    Youtube are excellent and they help me a lot. I'm sure
> > >    others found them to be very helpful as well.
> > 
> > Great, thanks :) We'll definitely still be making more.
> > 
> >  - David
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Tshwanelex-l at mailman.yale.edu
> > http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/tshwanelex-l
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > 
> > -----
> > Claire Bowern
> > Associate Professor
> > Department of Linguistics
> > Yale University
> > 370 Temple St
> > New Haven, CT 06511
> > North American Dialects survey:
> > http://pantheon.yale.edu/~clb3/NorthAmericanDialects/
> > _______________________________________________
> > Tshwanelex-l mailing list
> > Tshwanelex-l at mailman.yale.edu
> > http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/tshwanelex-l
> > 
> > 
> 
> Claire
> 
> 
> 
> ----
> Claire Bowern
> Associate Professor
> Yale University
> 370 Temple St
> New Haven, CT
> 
> 
>