| Abstract |
The label fig. [figurative] has traditionally been used in Spanish lexicography. Although it is firmly rooted in the dictionaries of the Real Academia Española, many current dictionaries of Spanish have eliminated it because some lexicographers contend that information deriving from the diachronic development of senses has no place in a synchronic usage dictionary. This paper discusses the use ofthis label in several different Spanish dictionaries. Examination ofentries from the Real Academia dictionary indicates that (1) the label has been applied erratically, and, in the case ofpolysemous words, (2) it has often been impossible to determine which sense the figurtive usage is based on. Such unsystematic application and the increased importance of frequency-related information has led to its demise. We argue that deletion of the label alone, with no additional strategy to indicate figurative usage, is not advisable in general monolingual dictionaries because information concerning possible usage environments of metaphorical extensions depends on the contexts in which the literal sense of the word is used. |
| BibTex |
@InProceedings{ELX02-063,
author = {María Paz Battaner, Janet DeCesaris},
title = {Figurative senses in Spanish lexicography },
pages = {589-595},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 10th EURALEX International Congress},
year = {2002},
month = {aug},
date = {13-17},
address = {København, Denmark},
editor = {Anna Braasch and Claus Povlsen},
publisher = {Center for Sprogteknologi},
isbn = {87-90708-09-1},
} |
