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Capturing invisible culture in lexicography
Lauren Sadow
Australian National University
AUSTRALEX, 3-4 September 2019, ANU, Canberra
Outline
Invisible culture
In words
In values
A defining vocabulary for culture
Thematic structures
Targeting language learners
How can the underlying attitudes of a language be represented in a dictionary-like manner? What would that look like?
How would that be organised?
Background
NSM Semantics (Wierzbicka, 2014)/Cultural scripts (Goddard, 2014)
Cognitive lexicography (Ostermann, 2015)
Function lexicography (Tarp, 2008)
Culture in dictionaries
Culture = people, places, traditions, ceremonies, and events (see The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 2002)
Culture = practices (see The Dictionary of Hong Kong English, 2011)
Culture = culturally-specific semantics (see The Australian Cultural Dictionary, n.d.)
Entry for lai see in the DHKE (2011, Loc. 2511)
Invisible culture
Big ‘C’ CultureClassic or grand themes
Little ‘c’ cultureMinor or common themes
Invisible Culture“Bottom of the iceberg”
Examples:Core values, attitudes or beliefs, society’s norms, legal foundations, history, cognitive processes
Examples:Popular issues, opinions, viewpoints, preferences or tastes, certain knowledge (trivia or facts)
Visible Culture“Tip of the iceberg”
Examples:Architecture, geography, classic literature, presidents or political figures, classical music
Examples:Gestures, body posture, use of space, clothing style, food, hobbies, music, artwork
Invisible culture
Culture is, in some sense, encyclopedic knowledge unevenly distributed over
socio-historically specific groups of people who actualise their groupness through
interaction, principally discursive interaction. (Silverstein, 2006, p. 482)
As a consequence of understanding the richer, multiple, and interacting partial
systematicities involved in how it is that words and expressions occur in
discourse—in particular texts in their sociocultural contexts of use—lexicography
as such becomes, in part, an ethnographic undertaking. (Silverstein, 2006, p.
493)
Invisible culture in words (and phrases)
Longer entries to include such information
A note about entry length: e-lexicography
e.g. “SOOK” “SHE’LL BE RIGHT”
“sook” in the Macquarie Concise Dictionary (Butler (Ed.), 2009a, p. 1198)
“sook” in the Australian National Dictionary (Moore (Ed.), 2016, p. 1452)
Invisible culture in attitudes
“SHE’LL BE RIGHT” “SOFTENING DISAGREEMENT WITH PARTIAL AGREEMENT”
What do you call that attitude? Not defining the phrase…
Cultural scripts (e.g. Goddard, 2004)
Softening disagreement with partial agreement[in Australia, many people think like this:]when I want to say to another person about something:
“I know what you think about it, I don’t think the same”it is good to say something like this at the same time:
“I know what you think about it, I think the same about some of these thingsI don’t think the same about all these things”
(Wierzbicka, 2006, p. 94)
A defining vocabulary for culture
Minimal English (Goddard, 2018)
65 semantic primes + semantic molecules
(primes common across all languages)
100 ish molecules
Return to Function Lexicography Why are we defining these terms?
Determining “headwords”
Words + attitudes
Titles of scripts? Related words?
“Equality” vs “Thinking about other people in the same way”
How do users find entries?
Thematic structure
Multiple ways of accessing entries
Modules
Contents
Indexes
Search
Cross-referencing
Users: Language Learners
Lots of access points for different levels of knowledge
Can be related to classroom learning, but also real life
Explicit content, not just implicit
How can the underlying attitudes of a language be represented in a dictionary-like manner? What would that look like?
How would that be organised?
Conclusion
Invisible culture can be captured, but it looks a bit different to a traditional definition
Minimal English can help – provide framework
Structure can’t be alphabetical – how do you find what you want?
For language learners, simple language, explicit content
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