On the Wordtree by Henry G. Burger Cover Image

Drzewo słów. O słowniku The Wordtree® H. G. Burgera
On the Wordtree by Henry G. Burger

Author(s): Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Lexis, Semantics, Western Slavic Languages
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego

Summary/Abstract: This is a review article of the work by Henry G. Burger The Wordtre«®. The Wordtree is a dictionary-thesaurus published in 1984. It is an attempt at defining the lexicon of processes expressed by English transitive verbs. Burger provides information concerning different types of sense relations in each entry. The most challenging part refers to the conceptual analysis of lexical items. Burger applies the binary componential method and tries to define each verbal concept in terms of two sub-parts, one - indicating its cause, the other - its effect. Although the enterprise is unprecedented in its scale, it underrepresents the meaning of lexical items. Also while his binary selections seem convincing for the nodes higher in the hierarchy, they are more arbitrary for the lower ones.

  • Issue Year: 1992
  • Issue No: 26
  • Page Range: 95-100
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: Polish