CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale of the Present Study
Definition is one of the most important content in semantic studies. Among a varietyof angles of semantic research, lexicography pays great attention to the explanation ofmeanings. Dubois also claims that the major task of lexicographers is definition (2001:6 cf: Xie Tingyu 2011).Entries in traditional dictionaries such as OALD, LDOCE, MED arealphabetically arranged and separately defined, which lead to the fragmentation ofsemantic network among the lexical items. They are defined in various patterns sincea dictionary is compiled by a group of lexicographers. And there is no uniform patternready for these compilers. When learners look up these related words in a dictionary,they may be confused by those unrelated definitions in it. Plants, being one of themost common things in our daily life, are unfortunately paid less attention to thanwhat they deserve. With the problems mentioned above, their definitions are notsatisfying in dictionaries.Lexicographers keep devoting their efforts to applying linguistic theories todefinition in dictionaries and they get some achievements in making definitions moreefficient. By applying different theories to lexicography, they make definitions moredynamic, more natural, and better reflect the mental images of human speech acts.However, their research only focuses on single definitions, not seeing it as a wholenetwork. Plant words in popular dictionaries are defined separately in various patternswithout much association; in fact they are closely related in categorization. Sincemost English learners are not familiar with so many foreign plants, those definitionsmay cause confusion to them. Illustration is an important way to help understanding,but it is unfeasible to provide all plant words with illustrations in learner’s dictionaries.Meanwhile, some features can hardly be presented in illustrations.
………
1.2 Research Questions and Significance of the Present Study
Plants can be categorized. Our objective is to provide plant words of a category with auniform definition pattern. In this way, learners can have a clear picture in their mindof the similarities and differences between plant words. To achieve this goal,following questions will be addressed:
(1) What is the current situation of the definitions of plant words in existingELDs? Are prototypical features and non-prototypical features of plant wordswell-presented?
(2) How can we construct a category system of plant words and what are theprototypical features of certain words in the same category?
(3) What is the ideal cognitive model of plant words? How can we improve thesedefinitions by the application of the category system theory?
The emphasis of the present study is put on how to deal with the presentation ofthe definitions of plant words in ELDs based on the category system. Some previousstudies have adopted categorization in definition research, and most of them are doneon the theoretical research rather than practical ones.
…….
CHAPTER TWORELEVANT STUDIES OF DEFINITIONANDCATEGORIZATION
2.1 Major Viewpoints of Definition
Most English dictionaries are passive ones before 1970s, and they are often called astraditional dictionary for comprehension. Definitions in these dictionaries areexplanation or illustration of the concept of headwords, viz. definitions are the otherway of saying the headwords. The headword is assigned to a genus, and itsdifferences from the members of the same genus are pointed out. This definition isoriginated from logical thinking of Aristotle and the principle is “necessary andsufficient condition”. After the pattern of “genus + differentia” had been adopted inthe definitions for many years, it was impugned by some scholars for it usedmeta-language only to provide the concept meaning of the lexical item, withoutcombining meaning with grammatical or syntactic forms. Some claim that it issuitable only in the definitions of terms or concepts such as animals or plants (ZhaoYanchun and Huang Jianhua 2003). Nevertheless, in consideration of the task of thedictionary for non-expert users’ needs, learners’ dictionaries should use the generallanguage rather than subject words concerning botanical knowledge.
……….
2.2 Categorization and Definition
Human beings understand and explain the world by categorizing complex things. Asfor the language system that bearing language function, one category is a conceptualset of words that can reflect common features of things (Zhang Yihua 2009).Categorization is a central concept of cognitive linguistics; it has long been applied todefinition. There are two major theories concerning categorization: classical categorization theory and modern categorization theory.Classical categorization, proposed by Aristotle, holds that human’s cognition andcategorization process is the direct reflection of the objective world, without anyinfluence of the mental activity. Categories are divided according to the “commonfeatures” of the same category members, the theoretical foundation of which is“sufficient and necessary conditions”. Features are binary, and there exists a clearborderline between different categories. All members of the same category share thesame status, have the same features, and fulfill the sufficient and necessary conditions.Category hierarchical structure is the single “generic-to-specific” structure. Theconceptual representation pattern is “genus + differentia”.
………..
CHAPTER THREE CLASSIFICATION OF THE PLANT...........11
3.1 Classification from the Botanical Perspective........11
3.2 Classification from the Cognitive Perspective.......14
3.2.1 Corpus of Beijing University......14
3.2.2 A Thesaurus of Modern Chinese.........15
3.3 Classification in the Present Study.........16
3.4 Summary........17
CHAPTER FOUR DEFICIENCIES OF DEFINITIONS IN PRESENTDICTIONARIES..........19
4.1 Definition Deficiencies of Plants in Tree Category....... 20
4.2 Definition Deficiencies of Plants in Bush Category......23
4.3 Definition Deficiencies of Plants in Fruit Category.......25
4.4 Definition Deficiencies of Plants in Crop Category...... 27
4.5 Summary........28
CHAPTER FIVE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CATEGORY SYSTEM....... 31
5.1 Function of the Category System...........31
5.2 Structure of the Category System.......... 33
5.3 Theoretical Basis and Tools for the Construction of the System...........39
5.4 Methods of the Construction of the Category System...........49
5.5 Summary........50
CHAPTER SIXA NEW DEFINITION PATTERN BASED ON PROTOTYPETHEORY
6.1ANew Definition Pattern for Tree Category
In this section, we will analyze the category system and demonstrate how to bringforward uniform definition with prototypical and non-prototypical features clearlypresented. And then we apply this approach to the tree category mentioned in theformer chapter to propose a new definition pattern for it. As we discussed before, categorization is the basic mental process of human beings tounderstand the world, and prototype is the most typical member of each category.From the perspective of prototypical semantics, the prototypical features include theperceptual models, viz. the features that need to be deduced from the directobservation or experience (Zhang Yihua 2002). Among these features, the former six are perceived features and the latter two arepropositional models. What kind of model should be applied to better illustrate theprototype depends on the complexity and particularity of the words semanticcomponent.
………
CONCLUSION
In the present study, the construction of category system of plant words is discussed,and based on the category system we conduct the analysis of the prototypical andnon-prototypical features of words belonging to the same category. Finally, a newdefinition pattern is attempted to be proposed: for each category, definitions of themembers illustrate their prototypical features in a uniform pattern and at the sametime demonstrate their distinctive non-prototypical features clearly. Learners can fullyunderstand the plant words by reading its definition: not only its prototypical meaning,but also its differences from its members in the same category. Furthermore, this kindof definition pattern will also help lexicographers promote their efficiency.In this chapter, we will sum up the major findings of the present study, itstheoretical and practical significance and its limitations. At last, we will provide somesuggestions for further studies.
…………
Reference (omitted)