„Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno“ iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas

DAIVA MURMULAITYTĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language SELECTION AND PRESENTATION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES IN THE DICTIONARY OF STANDARD LITHUANIAN KEYWORDS: illustrative usage example, explanatory dictionary, lexeme, word combination, sentence. INTRODUCTION The purpose of usage examples is to illustrate the explanation of meaning, supplement it with finer shades of meaning, and show the possibilities and features of a word’s use (LVV 10). They substantiate the inclusion of a word in the dictionary and convince the reader that the word has been properly explained and stylistically classified (БАСРЯ I 29). In general, usage examples help to better understand the content of the word being defined and show, at least in part, its lexical environment and syntactic relations (DŽ4 XIII). Illustrations are presented differently in different explanatory dictionaries. This depends on the dictionary’s purpose, aims, structure, size, the methodology chosen by the lexicographers, and other factors. The methodology and techniques used to present illustrations are often explained in a dictionary’s introduction. In newer dictionaries (e.g., WCD), the structure of a dictionary entry is sometimes also explained graphically, indicating the location of each part of the entry. Smaller dictionaries (MLKŽ, NSJP) often stop at this, without providing a fuller introduction to their methodology for explaining meanings, illustrating them, presenting grammatical and other labels, and so on. As a rule, word meanings are illustrated more extensively in larger dictionaries (LKŽe, LLVVe, БТСРЯ), whereas smaller dictionaries (MLKŽ, LVV) include illustrations only when necessary (cf. Jakaitienė 2005: 103–104). Words are most often illustrated with word combinations and sentences. These may be edited, shortened, or otherwise adapted to the dictionary entry so that they best demonstrate the usage, semantic and syntactic combinability, and other features of the lexical unit being defined (cf. LLVV I 16, LKŽI 76). Sometimes authentic sentences selected as illustrations are not shortened; they may even consist of several sentences, and the sources of the quotations are indicated D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 129 citatų šaltiniai1, pvz.: lengvasparnis, –ė adj. (2) greit, lengvai lekiantis: Baltapūki debesėli, lengvasparni lakūnėli, kur tu skriesi? V. Myk-Put. [...]; reivė sf. (4) [...] 3. ms.: Kreive reive, kur tu bėgi? – Skuste pešte, kas tau darbo! (upelis ir pieva) Pnd. (LKŽₑ); vaina [...] 2. Negatīva, nevēlama psihe, rakstura, personības īpašība. Nevēlams (cilvēka organisma) veidojums, arī stāvoklis. Viņa kritizēja un brākēja gluži visas meitenes un sievietes, kas vien grozījās Gusta [dēla] tuvumā, atrada neskaitāmus trūkumus un vainas.. Ezera 9, 291. «Neņem ļaunā, siev! Man savas vainas, tev savas un Austrumam [dēlam] atkal savas. Cilvēks paliek cilvēks.» Indrāne 5, 188; zīdenis, –ņa v. Ēdiens no pupām, zirņiem, grūstiem miežu graudiem un žāvētās cūkgaļas. Arī grūdenis (1). [...] Mūsu māte stingri turējās pie veciem paradumiem. Tā Meteņos katru gadu viņa vārīja zīdeni ar cūkas ausi. Austriņš 1, 360. Vai jūs zināt, kas ir zīdenis? Grūbu zupa ar pelēkajiem zirņiem un žāvētu cūkas gaļu.. Ves 86, 6, 30. Meteņa dienā vārīja ēdienus ar cūkas gaļu, īpaši cūkas galvas pusi.. Vārīja tradicionālo ēdienu – zīdeni jeb grūdieni. Lauku Dzīve 90, 2, 20 (LIVVe); АЗБУКА [...] 4. // Разг. То, что всем известно, всеми признано (обычно в функции сказуемого). Кто побеждает в бою? – продолжал подполковник. – Господа, ведь это азбука: побеждают сплоченные между собою люди, зажженные идеей. Верес. На япон. войне. (БАСРЯ). For Lithuanian speakers, it is important that dictionaries show matters of stress, and illustrations vary in this respect as well. In the illustrations in LKŽₑ and DŽ₆ₑ, only forms of the headword are marked for stress, e.g.: motinėlė sf. (2) 1. M, Pc godmother: Motinėlė and tėvelis take the child to be baptized Rz. Someone took the beads given by Motinėlė Sdb. 2. see motina 4: As soon as a second motinėlė appears, the bees swarm Dbk. [...] (LKŽₑ); būti, yra (būva, būna, ēsti), buvo 1. to have being, to exist in reality: The world is big. Is there any milk left? There is no hay left. There is no house without smoke (proverb). 2. to live, reside: There were three brothers. She now lives with her daughter. 3. to occupy a place, stand, lie: There used to be a smithy there. The cows are in the cowshed. Even a stone grows moss when it stays in one place (proverb). 4. to visit, pay a visit: I visited my sister yesterday. Have you ever been to Latvia? [...] 6. to happen, take place: We know what happened, but not what will happen. Present, past (simple, frequentative), future tense (ling.). Coming days. [...] (DŽ₆ₑ); dėm||ė (4) 1. a stained, smeared spot: D. on 1 When quoting dictionary entries, an effort is made to preserve the same form as in the dictionary being quoted. Omitted parts of the text are marked [...]. 130 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 84 of a headscarf. 2. a spot that stands out in colour from its surroundings: Sunspots. A red spot on the face. 3. fig. a consequence of immoral conduct, a vice: A person without a single ~. [...] (DŽ6e). Meanwhile, in a dictionary intended for learning purposes (MLKŽ), examples are accented according to sentence stress, that is, all words emphasized when the phrase is spoken are accented: pavéikslas noun (1, 1) a drawing or painting: Have you seen Čiurlionis’s paintings? ° There isn’t a single picture on the wall. [...]. Elsewhere, enclitics and proclitics are also accented, though inconsistently; cf.: blõgas [...] there’s no such thing as ~ that wouldn’t turn out well, pasául is [...] old as the world; prisiim̃ti [...] what you have undertaken, you must also carry out, pasileisti [...] they ~ let him chase the thief, but bókštas [...] build ~s out of sand, kalénti [...] he keeps drumming the same thing into my head, telkšóti [...] a lake ~ed here long ago, pasíekti [...] I’m just ~ing his heel (LNŽ)2. The aim of the article is to introduce the presentation of illustrative usage examples in the Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian (BŽ), and to draw attention to some matters that raise questions3. In compiling this dictionary, examples are taken from a variety of sources, including an increasing number of electronic ones. The internet is searched using the Google search engine; the search string is formed by entering the word’s entire inflectional paradigm or a substantial, essential part of it (Aleksandravičiūtė 2008: 267). Examples are sought in the Corpus of Contemporary Lithuanian Language, the Terminology Bank, various encyclopedias, and other sources (for more, see the section “The Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian in Preparation” on the Lithuanian Language Institute website, http://www.lki.lt/LKI_LT/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=592&Itemid=1). In many cases, the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language (LKŽe) is relied on; it is often the sole source for illustrating vocabulary denoting older or rural and farm-life realities, ethnographic terms, botanical terms, and the like. 2 The author of this article is one of the compilers of BŽ and writes and edits its text. The article is based on a paper presented on 24 February 2011 at the seminar “Problems in the Final Stages of Compiling the Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian” at the Lexicography Centre of the Lithuanian Language Institute. It seeks to summarize the author’s and colleagues’ experience in compiling this dictionary. Since the methodology for compiling BŽ is being revised in response to emerging problems, and a complete version of the instructions was not yet available when the article was written, the author’s view on selecting and presenting illustrative material may in some respects differ from the editorial board’s final position on the matter. Nevertheless, the author considers it important to acquaint the public with some of the fundamental principles of this long-awaited dictionary, provide information about its development, and perhaps encourage discussion, so that the dictionary itself can be improved promptly in response to comments. 3 At the time this article was written, BŽ was still being edited, so the examples presented below may yet be revised. D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 131 1. GENERAL METHODOLOGY FOR ILLUSTRATION AND SELECTION OF USAGE EXAMPLES 1.1. At the beginning of work on BŽ, it was thought that many words did not need illustrative examples at all. These included terms (obojus music, maniãkas, ūšorius 2 zool., báitas computing, pilkapýnas history), other words with highly concrete, well-defined meanings (kaišas, peñkakė, išsituokėlis, -ė), names of peoples and tribes (gruzinai), and designations for people based on their place of residence (alytiškis, -ė, alsėdiškis, -ė), and so on. According to the latest methodology, illustrative examples may be omitted only in exceptional cases, for instance with vulgarisms or rarely used words included for other reasons. Every lexeme—that is, every meaning or shade of meaning of a word, word combination, or idiom—must be illustrated, whether it is defined or merely noted. For example4: plikas, plikà adjective (4) 1. hairless: My grandfather is already completely bald. Men are afraid of going bald. | without feathers, leaves, etc.: Bare trees. A newly hatched, featherless little bird was sitting in the nest. 2. without trousers, a hat, gloves, etc.: Bare hands. Why are you walking bareheaded? Don’t go outdoors with your neck bare; wrap a scarf around it. His bare chest could be seen. | barefoot: Bare feet. 3. without vegetation or greenery: A bare field. Bare rocks. Bare mountains. | snowless: A bare road. He lay down on the bare ground. | without pictures, or describing an empty room: Bare walls. | uninsulated: Bare electrical wires are sticking out. [...] pliaúškinti, pliaúškina, pliaúškino verb [...] 6. (with what) colloq. to take photographs, snap away: With a digital camera, you can snap away without worrying about image quality. | (what, with what): She got her first good camera as a gift and snapped pictures of everything her eye happened to catch. He starts shooting frame after frame. [...] brìzgilas noun (3b) 1. BIT: To bridle a horse with a bit. To control a horse, metal, elongated levers called a bit or bit-bar are placed in its mouth and connected to the reins. 2. a bridle with a bit for controlling a horse, a halter: You won’t be able to hold a horse with a brìzgilas like that. kraipyti, kraĩpo, kraĩpė verb [...] ♦ gálvą kraipyti 1. to express surprise, be astonished: Weather forecasters are shaking their heads. 2. to doubt, hesitate: He shakes his head, not believing what I say. úodegą kraipyti 1. to wriggle out of a difficult situation, evade: At first he didn’t care about anything; now he’s trying to wriggle out of it. 2. to make great efforts to please, act coquettishly: The girls are swaying their hips. related rights specialized rights of performers, phonogram producers, broadcasting organizations, and producers of the first recording of an audiovisual work (film): To infringe copyright and related rights. To acquire related economic rights to a film. 4 At the time this article was written, BŽ was still being edited, so the examples presented below may yet be revised. 132 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 84 Each lexeme is illustrated with usage examples, including cases where the word is not presented explicitly (as a headword). For example, lexemes marked sngr. and neig. appear in the middle of an entry, but are independent lexical units—reflexive verbs or nouns, or words with negation; likewise, lexemes with figurative meanings (marked prk.), impersonal usage (marked beasm.), and other cases are separated in the dictionary entry by a vertical bar. For example: išmėsti, išmeta, išmetė verb. 1. (what, from what, into what) to throw out, hurl out, carry out: The horse threw the rider out of the saddle. Throw the clothes out onto the balcony to air them. | impers. (what, through what, from what): The impact threw him through the windshield of the car. | (what, to whom, through what, through what) to pass something out by throwing it from somewhere: Throw me the keys through the window [across the balcony]. 2. (what, from what, into what) to remove by throwing or carrying out: I bought a new cabinet and threw the old one into the hallway. After eating the candy, throw the wrapper in the trash. We moved the loom out of the cottage into the granary a long time ago. Your worn-out sneakers have already been thrown away; you needn’t look for them. If storks throw their chicks out of the nest, it will be a bad year. | neg. (what, from what): You can’t remove a word from a song (folklore). | refl. (what): The mushrooms are very worm-eaten; many will be discarded. [...] nušviesti, nušviečia, nušvietė verb. 1. (what, for whom) to make visible or bright by shining light: Fires lit up the roads for them. The moon illuminated everything with its pale light. | figurative: A smile lit up the winner’s face. 2. refl. to clear up, become cloudless: The skies cleared up again. | impers.: Perhaps it will clear up in the afternoon. [...] Difficulties arise when dealing with ethnographic terms (etnogr.), historicisms (ist.), obsolete (psn.) and other relatively rare vocabulary. Such words are practically absent from the internet, which means there is a strong likelihood that they are indeed rarely used today. In such cases, a decision is made as to whether these words really need to be included in BŽ (for example, because they are needed to better understand other meanings, or because of their use in the works of notable writers or in other significant sources). If so, examples are sought in LKŽ; if none are found, the words are treated as exceptional cases for which illustrations are unnecessary. For example, the Samogitian word brižės ‘spring-tooth harrow’ is included in several significant sources (ŽŪE, PŽ), but is not used on the internet. In BŽ, this word will be illustrated with the example: Harrow with brižės. In DŽ6e this was the definition of the verb brižioti, which will not be included in BŽ because it is rarely used. With only a few usage examples found, the phraseological expression 6e formerly included in DŽbāda [badùs] atgáuti ‘to satisfy one’s hunger somewhat’ will probably also not be included in BŽ. The second meaning of the word bušidò, though no instances of its use have been found in texts (it appears only in dictionaries), should nevertheless be included, as it may help explain the current first meaning: bušidò noun, masculine, indeclinable 1. an Eastern martial art combining kickboxing and wrestling techniques: Fighting in the bušidò ring. European-style bušidò in a Lithuanian ring. 2. in medieval Japan, the samurai code of honor and morality. D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 133 DŽ6e contains numerous abstract nouns (with the suffixes –imas / –ymas, –umas, etc.) that are simply included in the entries for their base words, without usage examples. These are regular formations that can always be derived from base verbs or nouns. Of these, BŽ will include only those that are quite frequent in actual usage, meaning that illustrative examples can be found for them. Exceptions are possible when a word is included not because it is frequently used, but for other reasons (spelling, its relation to the base word, its use in the definition of another word, stress, and so on). At the beginning of work on BŽ, before there was a strict requirement to illustrate every lexeme, it was planned to present several meanings of multi-meaning regular derivatives (abstract nouns) without illustrations, grouped under a single sense number. For example: buvìmas noun (2) → būti 1, 2, 5. lenkìmas noun (2) 1. → lenkti 1, 1, 4, 5, 10, 11. 2. → lenkti 2. | refl. 3. refl. → lenkti 7, 12 (refl.). 4. → lenkti 8: The section of the (road) lane must be clear for turning. išnèrimas2 noun (2) 1. → išnerti2 1, 2. 2. → išnerti2 3–5. | refl. 3. refl. → išnerti2 6 (refl.): A snake shedding its skin. In the course of the work, it became clear that, first, this approach does not accurately represent the semantic structure of a derivative and, second, such a presentation would not be clear or convenient for users. Therefore, during the final stage of dictionary compilation, this methodology was abandoned: each lexeme is defined individually or linked to a particular meaning of its base word, and illustrated. 1.2. To avoid burdening the dictionary with sentences that provide no new significant information (Jakaitienė 2005: 105, Hudson 1988) and to achieve a more uniform appearance across BŽ entries, the average target is three to four sentences illustrating one meaning or nuance (there may be more collocations). On the other hand, the very rich semantic or syntactic combinability of some words calls for more extensive illustrations, while finding examples for rarer ethnonyms, names for people based on their place of residence, and chemical element names is not so easy. In any case, illustrations should not be excessive; they should contain only information clearly necessary to illustrate the lexeme. This applies both to illustrations as a whole and to each individual usage example (sentence or phrase). Therefore, authentic usage examples are edited, for example: 134 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 84 Authentic usage examples Edited usage examples tansy noun (1) a medicinal, poisonous, strong-smelling plant with clusters of small, hemispherical, dark-yellow flower heads (Tanacetum): Tansy decoction kills parasites in the digestive tract and improves appetite. Tansy preparations are not recommended for long-term use—they raise blood pressure.) tansy noun (1) a medicinal, poisonous, strong-smelling plant with clusters of small, hemispherical, dark-yellow flower heads (Tanacetum): Tansy decoction improves appetite. Tansy preparations are not recommended for long-term use.) beaver kit noun (2) a young beaver: [...] At the end of April or beginning of May, the female gives birth to three or four (less often five) kits. In the photograph sent by the naturalist, we see a female beaver with a kit. beaver kit noun (2) a young beaver: [...] In spring, the female gives birth to three or four kits. In the photograph, a female beaver is with a kit. It is unacceptable to pad the text, but shortening examples should not diminish their informativeness. Comparing illustrations for one of the meanings of the abstract noun imposition (note that abstract nouns in BŽ are not defined; instead, reference is made to the base verbs), it is clear that the first sentence is undoubtedly more informative: The advice of sensible people usually remains advice, rather than becoming an imposition of opinion (1) and Do not consider that an imposition of my opinion (2). See also the particularly long, but also very informative, illustration in the entry: constitution noun (1) 1. law. the fundamental law of a state, establishing its system of government: Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. An amendment to the Constitution is an amendment made to the Constitution itself; when some other law or anything else is amended on the basis of the Constitution, such an amendment should be called constitutional. [...] 1.3. At the beginning of work on BŽ, it was planned that the lexicon would be illustrated only with authentic examples. However, when the aim is to illustrate every lexeme, there are inevitably cases in which the text’s author or editor has to create an illustration. Does this violate the earlier requirement of authenticity? Hardly, since the creators of BŽ are language users too. Moreover, examples may illustrate not only written language but also spoken language. Indeed, there are plenty of such examples in online communicative usage. This is a good opportunity to include more vivid instances of current spoken-language usage in BŽ, wh- D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 135 would slightly open up the somewhat overabundant section of illustrations reflecting rural realities of earlier times. In this way, the data presented in the dictionary would better correspond to actual contemporary usage. For example, in the entry baisūolis, baisūolė noun (2) an unattractive, ugly person: As a child, I was afraid that children would not want to be friends with me, such an ugly fellow [such an ugly girl]. Is this a beauty contest or an ugly-person contest? the final illustration is characterized by colloquial syntax (there is no Ar...), whereas in the entry bedantiškumas noun (2) the state of being toothless: And does being toothless make men look younger, or what? (ironic) the lively, expressive usage example presented is clear even without context, and the situation is easy to imagine. However, the illustrations created should be genuinely lively, not formulaic—that is, lexemes belonging to the same semantic, accentuation, or other group should not be illustrated according to a single pattern (even before work on the BŽ began, illustrations consisting of elementary sentences that first came to mind were criticized: The girl is eating an apple. The boy is reading a book., and so on). Without trying to create livelier usage examples, their artificiality would be striking if all the words in a particular semantic group were selected and reviewed together. For instance, entries for ethnonyms or for people named after their place of residence are very likely to repeat constructions such as get acquainted with someone, meet someone, and the like—these words are most often in the second accentuation class, and such constructions are useful for illustrating difficult-to-accentuate inflected forms, e.g.: I got acquainted with a Bangladeshi man/woman; greet / meet Alsėdžiai residents; defeat the Croatians in a sports competition, and so on. If one tries to illustrate the usage of place names (especially non-Lithuanian ones) in an artificial way, sentences about living in, visiting, admiring, and so on that place will inevitably recur (since it is precisely in such contexts that the more difficult inflected forms of the headword place name, marked for accentuation, can be used). Thus, in these cases one should draw more on one’s creativity and aim for variety. 1.4. Definitions of lexical units in a normative explanatory dictionary cannot be overly encyclopedic, so examples can—and sometimes should—supplement and expand on them, especially when presenting less common or historical realities, 136 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 84 which are rarely discussed in contemporary everyday, non-specialist texts. In such cases, various encyclopedias—especially the VLE—are the best source of illustrations. For example: bavārai noun plural (2) [...] 2. a West Germanic tribe that became part of the German and Austrian peoples: During the Migration Period, in the late 5th and early 6th centuries, the Bavarians occupied the territory between the Danube and the Alps and established their own kingdom.5 bavāras, bavārė noun (2) 1. a member of the Bavarian ethnic group: [...] The waitresses bring to mind those Bavarian women who, during the beer festival in Munich, could easily carry five one-liter beer mugs in one hand. 2. historical: a member of the Bavarian tribe: These two spiral-shaped pendants worn by women of the Lamata culture have clear links to 6th-century Germanic (Alemannic, Bavarian) pendants. In the 6th–7th centuries, northern Frankish, Alemannic, Thuringian, Bavarian, and Lombard women fastened their hair with similar pins. babilonietis, babilonietė noun (2) a member of the Babylonian people: The Babylonian’s sense of time was governed by the principles of composure, stability, and durability. It is thought that the story of Noah’s Ark told in the Bible is merely a new version of the Babylonian Gilgamesh epic. endocrine glands glands without ducts, whose hormones enter directly into the blood or lymph; glands of internal secretion: The pituitary, adrenal glands, and thyroid are the most important endocrine glands. Normal growth and development of the body depend on the functioning of the endocrine glands. Endocrine gland function is impaired [damaged, increased, decreased]. Endocrinology studies the physiology and diseases of the endocrine glands. Sámi noun plural (2) a people living in Lapland and speaking Sámi languages of Finno-Ugric origin: There are four standardized Sámi languages. On this point, it should be added that specific surnames and dates are generally avoided in illustrations wherever possible: a dictionary is not a newspaper, and it is expected to serve for much longer. Current affairs may be incomprehensible ten years from now. Historicisms and other such rare realities are a different matter. It is also justifiable to mention Lithuanian and other classics, important historical places or dates, and specific institutions or organizations in illustrations, for example: brotherhood noun (2) [...] 3. a public religious organization of lay Christians led by clergy or monks: On the occasion of the brotherhood’s establishment, the parish priest congratulated the lay Franciscans. The Brotherhood of Orthodox Christians of Lithuania. Brothers’ school (historical). bùrtininkas, bùrtininkė noun (1) [...] 2. an outstanding specialist in their field, an exceptional artist: The great wizard of song and fairy tales, K. Andersen. būras1, būrė1 noun (2) Lithuanian peasant of Lithuania Minor: The freeholding peasants of Lithuania Minor were called būrai. In “The Seasons,” K. Donelaitis urged the būrai to undertake various kinds of work. A Lithuanian, a poor būras, [stood] before the manor lord. 5In this case, mentioning specific places and dates is justified, although it should be avoided in other cases. D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 137 charakiris [...] To commit charakìris. The ritual suicide of samurai is called charakiriù. The suicide of the Duke of Pilėnai, Màrgiris, by disemboweling himself is entirely identical to samurai charakiri. | figurative: Austerity-driven charakiris has not yet affected civil servants. 1.5. However, this raises another difficulty. The aim now is for illustrations to use only words that are themselves explained in the BŽ, that is, words appearing as headwords in separate entries. Previously, this strict rule applied only to words used in definitions (and as a result, rare deverbal abstracts will be included in the BŽ, since in certain more complex cases they could not be avoided when explaining other words). Nevertheless, on closer examination, it seems that this rule should not be applied strictly to illustrations either. Compare the illustrations for bavaras, bavarė in the second sense: the archaic ethnonyms used in them provide additional information about this rarely used word (except in specialist texts), but do not imply that those ethnonyms themselves need to be looked up in the BŽ for an explanation (anyone wishing to delve into historical matters would naturally seek information in encyclopedias and other publications devoted to the subject). 1.6. Examples of usage found later often prompt revisions to an already formulated definition, the assignment of a new meaning or nuance, and sometimes even reconsideration of whether a word should be included in the BŽ at all and in what form. Illustrations must not contradict the definition. If a highly characteristic usage example found clearly does not match the definition, the definition is revised during editing; if an example that would “undermine” the structure of the entry is uncharacteristic or even questionable, the example is discarded. Here are several such cases: 1) báltas1, baltà adjective [...] ♦ baltóji mirtìs is said of sugar or salt, whose abundant consumption is harmful to health: This drug is called the white death. The illustration shows that the definition should be changed to “a harmful (when consumed in large quantities), health-endangering white-colored product: drugs, salt, sugar, preservatives, and the like.” 2) bumerángas noun (1) a flat, curved wooden throwing weapon used by the Indigenous peoples of Australia for hunting and fighting, which returns if it misses its target; also used for games: [...] The usage example Non-returning boomerang shows that the definition needs revision and the entire entry should also be edited: 138 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 84 boomerang noun (1) a flat, curved wooden throwing weapon used for hunting and fighting by Indigenous Australians: Returning [non-returning] boomerang. Throw [catch] a boomerang. If it misses the target, a (returning) boomerang comes back. Boomerangs are still used for games. A boomerang is an excellent pastime suitable for everyone, as well as a sport. | figurative: A lie sooner or later comes back like a boomerang. 3) The definition of the noun song as “a short musical composition with words” (also cf. “a short, rhymed verbal and musical composition” DŽ₆ₑ) is entirely incompatible with the quite usual and fairly common usage example A song without words. 4) The White House the residence of the presidents of the United States of America in Washington since 1800: A Lithuanian company will carry out the reconstruction of the White House. More than five thousand visitors visit the White House every day. However, there are many examples where the White House means something else: The White House finally admitted that the United States had entered a recession. The president urges Republicans to cooperate with the White House. Human rights advocates have brought new accusations against the White House. Both the White House and the Kremlin were relieved when the resolution was rejected, which clearly show that this shade of meaning or a second meaning of this phrase, “the US government,” should be formulated. 5) barrier noun (2) [...] 2. sports. a certain lightweight obstacle that a runner or a horse ridden by a jockey must clear: Low [high] barrier. Double barrier. Impressive horses jumping over barriers. Medium-sized barriers are used in long-distance running. The final sprint begins after the last barrier has been cleared. The usage example The dog always stops at the double barrier shows that the shade of meaning “an obstacle that a trained dog must jump over” should be formulated. 6) potato-digging season noun (1) the time for digging potatoes: Early [late] potato-digging season. Last year the potato-digging season was very wet and rainy. Usage examples Potato digging in the village is one of the most enjoyable late-autumn jobs. A celebration marking the end of potato digging. In the Mediterranean region, olive picking can be compared to the Lithuanian potato harvest. Once the potato tops have withered, let us not put off potato digging. There is no communal potato digging here; people simply go out and dig some (potatoes) whenever they need them and so on show that the shade of meaning “the work of digging potatoes, usually done collectively” should be formulated. 7) impiously adv. → i m p i o u s: To act impiously. By impiously denying many dogmas, he hurt millions of Christians. Accustomed to drinking, stealing, and D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 139 to live godlessly, immorally; they did not want to reform. Society submits godlessly to the modern cult of consumption. godless adj. (1) characteristic of godlessness or of godless people: Godless speech. Usage examples We do not cut down forests so godlessly. If those little blinds weren’t so outrageously expensive, I would have put them on all the windows are in no way suitable for illustrating the religious meaning of the adverb, and should therefore be presented as figurative illustrations or a second adverbial sense, “very,” should be established. Another more complex case that emerged while searching for illustrative examples is the adjective belatākis, belatākė. LKŽ does not include this word. Online, it is found only in combinations with the word liaukà. But a usage example containing the incorrectly derived form After the Second World War, another ascending intermittent ductless branching method was discovered suggests that ductless things may include not only glands, and that this adjective can be defined as “without a duct.” 1.7. Illustrations seek to provide more complex and, where possible, more varied forms of the word being illustrated—marking the stress in “dangerous” (i.e. frequently mis-stressed) case forms, pronominal forms with ogoneks, and so on, for example: rattle noun (2) [...] 4. a rhythmic musical instrument—a hollow ball with a handle, filled with small objects that rattle: Peoples around the world have used rattles since ancient times. At preschool, a child learns to sing and play the rattle. The dangers involved in creating illustrations for ethnonyms in less common usage and for names of people based on their place of residence have been mentioned. Here are several examples in which illustrations did not need to be created, as they were found in online usage6: Bashkir (masculine), Bashkir (feminine) noun (2) a member of the Bashkir people: I had quite a lot of contact and even lived in the same room with a Bashkir, a Mordvin, and a Buryat. A man from Kaunas met his wife three months after getting to know her online. It was decided to organize a Bashkir community in Lithuania. Bashkirs timidly pester their president by email. 6 Fewer illustrations should remain in these edited BŽ entries. When citing an unedited version of the dictionary entries, the aim is to show the variety of suitable examples, and so all of them are included. 140 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 84 a person from Batakiai, male or female noun (2) A person living in Batakiai or its environs, or originating from there: A car catching fire on the road cut short a woman from Batakiai’s journey to Tauragė. Since ancient times, the hillfort has attracted not only people from Batakiai; it is also visited by many tourists. The editor spoke by phone with people from Batakiai who did not wish to give their names. a Bavarian, male or female noun (2) 1. A member of the Bavarian ethnic group: Pity the brewer who, having tried to please a Bavarian, pushed the beer along. The question of what distinguishes Bavarians from Germans greatly surprised the Bavarian woman we met. It is not only patriotism and love of traditions that encourage Bavarians to cherish this wonderful celebration. [...] 1.8. Illustrations may be given either as word combinations or as sentences. If both kinds of illustrations are provided, word combinations are given first, followed by sentences. For example: light, mild adj. (4) [...] 5. not strong, weak, gentle: Light beer. A mild winter (not cold). A light cough [touch, breeze]. A mild punishment. A light degree of intoxication. • opposite: heavy. [...] 8. simple, uncomplicated: A book with light content. The book is written in a light style. to explain, explains, explained verb 1. (what, to whom) to present in writing or orally so that it is clear and understandable; to comment: To explain a lesson (to pupils). To explain a law (to the public). Explanatory dictionary. | reflexive verb (what): Explain the remaining problems yourselves. 2. reflexive verb (what) to try to uncover, find out, make known: The police are investigating the circumstances of the incident. [...] artificial, synthetic adj. (2) 1. manufactured, fake, unnatural: Artificial silk [honey]. Artificial insemination. The furniture is upholstered in natural or artificial leather. Are your teeth real or artificial? • opposite: real, natural. [...] to burn, burns, burned verb [...] 3. (what) to use as fuel to produce energy: To burn firewood [peat, natural gas]. To burn petrol with a high lead content. To consume electricity. In areas of the body under strain, oxygen burns fat and the muscles become firmer. Laughter helps burn calories. [...] At one of the final stages of editing the BŽ, it was decided to abandon the practice of illustrating word usage with sentences that have no subject, e.g.: Explains to the boss why [someone] was late. Had to explain to the management about disagreements with suppliers. They discuss their relationship calmly. Takes a light-hearted view of life. Also compare: to knit, knits, knitted 1. to tie a knot: She knits and knits but never manages to finish. [...] (DŽ₆ₑ); to dip transitive verb 1. R116, K to dip, moisten: [...] He dipped the bread in salt, ate, and left Lp (LKŽₑ). Such sentences are corrected in one of two ways—either the sentence is turned into a word combination with an infinitive (to discuss the relationship calmly), or a complete sentence is created (They are explaining to the boss why they were late. You take a light-hearted view of life). D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 141 It should be noted that incomplete sentences should not be confused with sentences of generalized semantics, which are included: akūtė noun (2) [...] 2. a developing bud in the axil of a plant leaf: Saplings are grafted with buds. brūzgùlis noun (2) [...] 4. a small stick used in place of a button: Whittle a little stick. They used to fasten their trousers with a little stick. 2. FORMAT FOR PRESENTING ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 2.1. Shortening headword forms In printed dictionaries, it is customary to save space, so headwords in illustrative examples are often abbreviated. Instead of their basic form, usually only the first letter is written; for other forms, only the inflected parts of the word, and so on. For example: dail|ùs, ~į (4) 1. pleasant to look at, very beautiful: A. torso. A. garment. A maple sapling grew in the yard, a very b. little tree (d.). And this third one is my own finest little steed (d.). | fig.: I have ~aũs (a lot of) time. 2. even: A. road. Smooth boards. [...] (DŽ₆ₑ); glùži adv. Completely, entirely. A. a wise person. A. simple question. A. my thoughts. A. a different appearance. (MLVV); poetycki, ~ccy «characteristic of poetry or a poet, created by a poet»: A poetic talent. Poetic prose. (NSJP); НРАВ, -а, м. 1. Character, a set of mental traits. A good character. A stern character. To one’s liking (pleasing). 2. pl. Customs, the way of life in society. Ancient customs. (СРЯ). In this respect, BŽ entries do not differ from ordinary text, since all the words in the illustrative examples are presented in full, without abbreviation. 2.2. Use of parentheses Illustrative examples may use parentheses and square brackets. Alternative portions of usage examples are given in square brackets, e.g.: abecėliškai adv. in alphabetical order, alphabetically: List [enumerate, arrange] alphabetically. klaviatūra noun (2) a system of keys or buttons—a component of various devices and mechanisms or a separate device that operates in coordination with them: The keyboard of a typewriter [computer, telephone, calculator, cash register]. A wireless keyboard. Keyboard driver (computing) [...]. 142 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 84 The information intended to be presented in square brackets is arranged systematically. Different terms are not given in the same square brackets unless they are varieties, for example: state noun (1) 1. way of being, living: Poor condition. 2. spec. way in which matter, consciousness, or phenomena exist: Vapor [liquid] state. State of rest [critical state]. Mental state. State of intoxication. Comatose state. To be in a depressed state. Sequence of states. In round brackets, an optional part of an illustration is given in italics, e.g.: one1, one1 numeral, cardinal (3) digit, number and quantity 1: Just one (hour). A child of one year. A twenty-one-year-old girl. [...] to give a ride, gives a ride, gave a ride, verb, dialectal. 1. (someone or something, by means of something, with someone or something, on something) to transport or ride around (usually for recreation or during ceremonies): Older children would give the little ones rides on a bicycle [on the bicycle]. [...] to drop, drops, dropped verb. [...] 3. (something) to stop holding, let fall (usually from one’s hands): The woman stumbled and dropped her handbag. It was a close call—you could have dropped the child. | negative imperative (something): Carry (the dishes) carefully; don’t drop them. [...] 10. (something, something each, something) colloq. to drink (alcohol), down: When we met, we had a chat and downed a shot (of vodka) each. to pay1, pays, paid verb (for something, with something, for something) to give money or the like for work, an item received, or services: We will pay fifty litas (50 Lt) for lunch. Will you pay in cash (money) or by credit card? How much do I have to pay for the taxi ride? [...] Cf. – in round brackets, an explanation of the illustration is given in roman type: light, mild adjective (4) [...] 5. not strong, weak, gentle: Light beer. A mild winter (not cold). to bow, bows, bowed verb. [...] 2. [...] | archaic (to someone, before something) to incline one’s head or body as a sign of respect or greeting: The singer bows to the audience. Everyone bowed before the cross as they passed. The proud maiden bows before all (a lever) (folklore). [...] board noun (4) 1. an elongated plank sawn from a tree trunk: Planed pine boards. Board flooring. To clad walls with boards. To saw boards. As thin as a board (very thin). [...] single-storey1, single-storey adjective (2) 1. having one storey: The water flooded single-storey buildings. Single-storey (single-storey houses) construction. [...] Regarding round brackets, it should be noted that their use in continuous texts is considerably more varied; most often, they clarify or explain an idea, D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 143 additionally, something is enumerated, and so on, for example: Meat rabbits that grow and mature quickly (broilers). The beginning of the Migration Period is considered to be the migration of Germanic tribes (the Alemanni, Franks, Goths, Burgundians, Vandals). A knob consisted of a thickening (also called a knob), a shaft, a hook, and a sliding loop. In the dictionary, consistently following the requirements of the BŽ instructions and the principle of systematicity, usage examples containing parentheses that express something else must be reorganized. In some cases, the reorganized sentence also properly illustrates the use of one or another lexeme; cf.: the Višakis (the source of the Šešupė) begins near Braziūkai and the Višakis, the source of the Šešupė, begins near Braziūkai; cranberries are disappearing, especially when berries are harvested mechanically (by combing) and cranberries are disappearing, especially when berries are harvested mechanically – by combing. However, sometimes it is impossible to reorganize an illustrative sentence without distorting its meaning and while preserving important semantic or stylistic nuances, etc.; in such cases the illustration is rejected as unsuitable. For example, the following illustrations were discarded: She won in three events (vault, uneven bars, balance beam). Sea (daytime) and shore (nighttime) breeze. The surviving Butautai manor (cultural heritage site, museum). 2.3. Order of illustrations The order in which usage examples are presented is more clearly defined in some cases than in others. As noted, usage is illustrated first with phrases and then with sentences. Verb entries must not contain unillustrated government or illustrations whose valency is not marked with the appropriate labels in the designated place; moreover, it is recommended that illustrations be presented in the same order as the government labels are listed (unless semantic valency requires them to be arranged differently—in such cases, semantic rather than syntactic valency takes precedence). to ask, asks, asked verb. 1. (what, about what) to address someone with a question, give, put, or pose a question, inquire: Ask your father [mother, others] for advice. What did you ask? Whoever asks, finds out. You asked their opinion [advice]. You asked him too, but he did not answer. I’ll ask where you were. He asked how old I was. The teacher also asked about you. [...] It is difficult to comply with this requirement when one knows that a particular government pattern exists but has no good examples to demonstrate it. In such cases, when no good illustrative example can be provided, a particular syntactic valency of the verb also remains unmarked, and the accuracy of the information therefore suffers. 144 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 84 Pronouns are illustrated following the order of cases, e.g.: I (Gen. me, Gen. poss. my, Dat. to me, Acc. me, Instr. with me, Loc. in me) pron. pers. sg. 1. used to refer to oneself: I’ll be back soon. Wait for me at home. Call me in the evening. You are younger than me. My friends will come with me, too. Anger boils within me [passions are battling]. 2. Gen. poss. belonging to me: Here is my house. Give back my letter. My children are still young. Listen to my opinion, too. My watch has stopped. 3. Gen. poss. used to indicate an agent expressed in the first person to whom an action expressed by a passive participle is attributed: Words spoken by me. Everything here was done [built] by me (myself). ♦ I’ll get you! said as a threat. The order in which usage examples for other inflected parts of speech are presented is not defined particularly strictly. In general, paradigmatic order is not as important as, for instance, semantic aspects, so the latter are given precedence. 3. ACCENTUATION OF ILLUSTRATIVE USAGE EXAMPLES All words in illustrative usage examples are given with stress marks, except for monosyllabic words belonging to non-independent parts of speech—particles, conjunctions, prepositions, etc. Function words of two or more syllables, as well as independent monosyllabic words, are stressed, e.g.: I’ll be back soon. The pupils here are very perceptive; I have never seen such sharp-minded teenagers before. Examples of accentuation in illustrations: to turn white turns white, turned white verb. [...] 2. to grow pale: I see her face growing pale. Her skin grew paler and paler. 3. to become somewhat gray, to turn gray: The temples are already turning gray. tear noun (1) 1. a drop of clear, slightly salty fluid from the glands of the eyes, released when crying: A tear rolled down her cheek. His eyes are full of tears. One tear drives another (the action begins). Hey, the poor thing, the sad little tears keep falling (folklore). Through her tears [because of her tears] she couldn’t see the path. 2. plural: WEEPING: I laugh through my tears. To beg with tears. Now he’s in tears. There will be tears again. [...] end noun (4) [...] 4. a stretch of road or time: There’s still quite a stretch of road left before we get home. I wasted a good part of the day at the clinic. 5. [syn.] ending: I stayed from the beginning to the end of the (seminar). The day is over. Summer is already coming to an end. The work is nearing its end [is coming to an end]. [...] on edge, edgewise adj. (4) 1. positioned on its narrow side, with its edge down or up: Lay the bricks on edge, not flat or upright. As he spoke, he kept wiping the table with his hand held edgewise, as if brushing away crumbs. [...] D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 145 CONCLUSIONS To sum up, several principal rules of the BŽ illustration methodology should be mentioned. 1. Illustrations show the semantic and syntactic combinability of a lexeme and often supplement the explanation of its meaning. 2. Each lexeme is illustrated with usage examples. 3. Usage is illustrated with word combinations and sentences. On average, three or four sentences are recommended, unless more usage examples are needed to demonstrate the word’s very rich semantic and syntactic relations. 4. The focus is on authentic usage examples found in various texts. However, illustrations may be shortened or otherwise edited. Some usage examples, especially those illustrating colloquial vocabulary, may also be created if it is difficult or impossible to find correct, suitable examples in texts. 5. The headword is not abbreviated in illustrative word combinations or sentences. 6. Illustrations are given with stress marks on all words in word combinations or sentences, except for monosyllabic function words. Care is taken to include correctly stressed forms of the headword, which are often misaccented. 7. Parentheses are used purposefully in usage examples. Alternative (i.e., interchangeable) parts of usage examples are given in square brackets in italics, while optional (i.e., possible but not necessary) parts are given in parentheses. If an illustration needs explanation, this is provided in parentheses in roman type. When writing and editing the BŽ, illustrative usage examples often have to be sought long and patiently, even when the Google search engine appears to return thousands of them. One cannot simply take the first examples that come up and stop there, especially since this search engine now often prioritizes examples from all kinds of electronic dictionaries (often of questionable quality); these are not coherent texts and therefore do not reflect actual usage. Illustrations are an important part of a dictionary entry, helping readers better understand the lexical unit being defined and providing considerable information not only about its semantics but also about other aspects (e.g., syntax). They must therefore be selected responsibly and presented with equal care, especially in prescriptive dictionaries (Jakaitienė 2005: 104). This takes time, as does any meticulous work, but a good dictionary cannot be produced without such work. 146 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 84 LITERATURE AND SOURCES Aleksandravičiūtė S. 2008: Paieškos sistemos Google naudojimo galimybė tiriant kalbos reiškinius. – Kalbos kultūra 81, 266–282. BŽ – Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian (in preparation). Corpus of Contemporary Lithuanian, Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University. – Available online: http://donelaitis.edu.lt DŽ4 2000: Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian. Ed. in chief S. Keinys. 4th edition, Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language. DŽ6e 2006: Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian. Ed. in chief S. Keinys. 6th (electronic) edition, Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language. Hudson R. 1988: The linguistic Foundations for Lexical Research and Dictionary Design’. – International Journal of Lexicography 1(4), 287–312. Jakaitienė E. 2005: Leksikografija, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. LKŽe 2005: Lietuvių kalbos žodynas 1–20 (elektroninis variantas). Vyr. red. G. Naktinienė, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas. Prieiga per internetą: www.lkz.lt LKŽI 1980: „Lietuvių kalbos žodyno“ instrukcija, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas. LNŽ 2008: Jakaitiene E., Berg-Olsen S. Lietuvių–norvegų kalbų žodynas / Litauisk–norsk ordbok, Vilnius: Baltos lankos. LLVV 1972–1996: Latviešu literārās valodas vārdnīca 1–8, Rīga: Zinātne. LLVVe 1972–1996: Latviešu literārās valodas vārdnīca, LU Matemātikas un informātikas institūts, LU Latviešu valodas institūts, Zinātne. Prieiga per internetą: www.tezaurs.lv/llvv LVV 1987: Latviešu valodas vārdnīca, Rīga: Avots. MLKŽ 2010: Norkaitienė M., Šepetytė R., Šimėnaitė Z. Mokomasi lietuvių kalbos žodynas, Vilnius: Baltos lankos. MLVV 2003–2008: Mūsdienu latviešu valodas vārdnīca. Red. Dr. philol. I. Zuicena, LU Latviešu valodas institūts. Prieiga per internetą: www.tezaurs.lv/mlvv NSJP 2002: Nowy słownik języka polskiego. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. PŽ 1984: Rusų–lietuvių kalbų politechnikos žodynas. Sud. G. Daugėla, Vilnius: Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija. The Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian is being prepared. Available online: http://www.lki.lt/LKI_LT/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=592&Itemid=1 (accessed 2011 10 12). Terminynas 2004: Matematikos ir informatikos instituto lietuvių kalbos terminų bazė (Lietuvių kalbos terminynas), Vilnius: Matematikos ir informatikos institutas. Prieiga per internetą: www.terminynas.lt (žiūrėta 2011 10 12). D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 147 VLE 2001–2010: Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija 1–18, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. WCD 1996: The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language, Deluxe Encyclopedic Edition, Florida: Trident Press International. ŽŪE 1998: Žemės ūkio enciklopedija 1, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. БТСРЯ 2002: Большой толковый словарь русского языка, Санкт-Петербург: Норинт. БАСРЯ 2004–2010: Большой академический словарь русского языка 1–14, Москва, Санкт-Петербург: Наука. СРЯ 1988: Ожегов С. И. Словарь русского языка, Москва: Русский язык. Internet text resources searched using the Google search engine. Received 2011 10 21 SELECTION AND PRESENTATION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES OF ACTUAL USAGE IN THE BENDRINĖS LIETUVIŲ KALBOS ŽODYNAS (DICTIONARY OF STANDARD LITHUANIAN) Summary The paper aims at introducing the presentation of illustrative examples of actual usage in the Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas (Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian) and focus on some debatable issues. Illustrations make an important part of a dictionary entry; they help to better understand the lexical unit which is being defined in the entry. Illustrative examples in dictionaries show possibilities and specific features of the combinability of lexical units, their semantic and syntactic relations, add to the explication of their meaning. In Lithuanian they also show the correct accentuation pattern. Depending on the scope of a dictionary, its aim, structure and other issues of lexicographic methodology and techniques, illustrations are given in different ways. The main rules of giving illustrations in the Dictionary are as follows: examples of actual usage illustrate each lexeme; the illustrations include word combinations and sentences; examples of authentic, actual usage are given preference; however, the illustrations can be shortened, amended, produced by the author; the head word in illustrative word combinations and sentences is usually given in full; illustrations are given by accentuating all words of word combinations or sentences, except for monosyl- 148 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 84 labic functional words; illustrative examples tend to have the forms of the head word with errors of accentuation; brackets in examples indicate parts of examples of alternative usage [in square brackets] or parts of examples of optional usage (in round brackets). Examples illustrating the usage of the head (lexical) word should be selected with care and responsibility; so should they be presented in dictionaries. This is especially relevant for normative dictionaries, such as the Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian. KEY WORDS: illustrative example of actual usage, general dictionary, lexeme, word combination, sentence. DAIVA MURMULAITYTĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius [email protected] D. MURMULAITYTĖ. Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno iliustracinių pavyzdžių atranka ir pateikimas 149