Rolf,
I found your message fascinating, helpful, and relevant, having just read
the chapter by Harold P. Scamlin called "The Study of Semantics in General
Linguistics" in Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew ed. W. R. Bodine. He talks
about referential meaning as the meaning that cannot be known by non
mother-tongue speakers. It is precisely the examples given by a good lexicon
that help such people (and some mother-tongue speakers too) find these
meanings. His other terms are 'emotive' meanings (connotations) and
'grammatical' meanings. He also talks about unmarked meanings, which are
often used as glosses in dictionaries, vs. marked meanings, which can only
be known by hearing or reading the context.
Do you have any specific comments on the existing Hebrew dictionaries,
including NIDOTTE and TDOT? If lexical items have to be organised somehow,
traditionally alphabetically by root or form, or more recently by semantic
domain, how would you suggest organising them? Cognitive linguistics would
add another dimension - the 'frame' - to semantic domain. How helpful is
that?
David Gray
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