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This book argues that a dictionary should show when to use one word rather than another, instead of treating each word separately.
List of contents
Prologue: the work in advance; 1. How the language is made up; 2. What a dictionary needs to do; 3. Semantic set: finish, cease, and stop; 4. Explaining hard words; 5. Putting everything in; 6. Semantic set: big and little, large and small; 7. Spreading wings; 8. Semantic organisation; 9. Semantic set: fast, quick, rapid, swift, slow, and speed; 10. No need to keep re-inventing the wheel; 11. The nineteenth century; 12. Semantic set: want, wish (for), and desire; 13. The role of grammar; 14. Standing still; 15. The way forward.
About the author
R. M. W. Dixon is Professor and Deputy Director of the Language and Culture Research Centre at James Cook University, North Queensland and a Fellow of the British Academy. His books include Australian Aboriginal words in English; their origin and meaning (2nd ed, 1995); A semantic approach to English grammar (2nd ed, 2005) and Making new words; morphological derivation in English (2014) He is the author of the classic three-volume text Basic linguistic theory (2010–2012), and has published grammars of languages from Amazonia and Fiji, and of several of the original languages of Australia.
Summary
This book describes the historical development of modern dictionaries that treat each word in isolation, and puts forward a new approach to lexicography which contrasts the meanings and functions of words. Written in an easy and accessible style, it will spark lively debate within the fields of lexicography and English linguistics.
