Chapter 4: USING YOUR DICTIONARY

Transcription

1 Chapter 4: USING YOUR DICTIONARY Oyin Christiana Medubi INTRODUCTION In this chapter, we shall endeavour to bring out the various ways in which a dictionary can be useful to you as a language learner in the hope of helping you to cultivate the habit of making it your constant companion in the learning process. We shall undertake this task under the following headings: What is a dictionary? What does a Dictionary do? When, and for what, do you use a dictionary? How do you use a dictionary? What is a dictionary? Virtually every user of the English language at the relatively advanced level is familiar with the dictionary. Even though we might know something of what it does, we would be at pains to say exactly what it is. Some have called the English dictionary the 'lexicon'. Others have referred to it as the Word Source Book. No matter what it is called, the basic characteristic of the dictionary helps to define it, and that is the fact that it is a word guide to the English language. It is a word-finder, word-speller and the complete word teacher. It is, if you like, a pathfinder in the perplexing word maze that is the English language. Perhaps, nothing illustrates better what the dictionary does than its history. Prior to the eighteenth century, the English language had been under many foreign influences, notably Roman, Viking, and French. Consequently, many words of foreign origin found their way into common usage in the language. Constant changes, irregular spellings and use of new incomprehensible words became regular features of the language. Everyone used words as he saw fit. Thus, an attempt to put order and respect into the language led to the first dictionary in that century. The duty of regulating word usage, meaning and spelling is still being performed today by the dictionary. This leads us to the critical question, what does a dictionary do? Exercise 1 Examine the features of a dictionary closely, and list down all the functions you think it performs. The Functions of & Dictionary The dictionary gives information about words. These pieces of information are often brief, yet detailed and frequently abbreviated for space conservation. They range from word existence, spelling, pronunciation, class, forms, to meaning, origin, and so on. Let us consider these one by one. Word Existence The first thing one notices about the dictionary is that it informs you about the existence or otherwise of a word in the English language. If a word you want to check on is not present in your dictionary, it may perhaps he because you are using a small pocket one.

2 If you try a bigger one, say The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, or The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and the word is still not found, then it probably does not exist as an English word. In the English Language, the smallest unit to which a word can be broken is the morpheme, and at the sound level, phonemes. Phonemes combine to form morphemes in an acceptable way in an axis called the syntagmatic or chain axis. In short, not all phonemic or morphemic combinations are allowed. As such, when one comes across a doubtful collocation of morphemes as in a game of scrabble, the dictionary is often the surest way to ascertain the existence of words. Spelling Deriving from the preceding paragraph is the fact-.that the dictionary, over the centuries, has regulated, and provided the ideal and exemplary ways to spell. Everyone has spells of forgetfulness about how a word should be spelt. Is it 'inconvinent 1 or 'inconvenient'? Such confusion can only be cleared up by a dictionary. Sometimes too, word spellings change when surrounded by other derivatives or inflections. Again, there are words that are spelt almost the same way but carry different meanings; words that sound alike but behave differently and words that nearly mean the same thing but are.quite different from each other. In all of these circumstances, the dictionary is the only trusted guide. Exercise 2 Find the correct spellings of the following words: colocate, recieve, perseive, inconvinient, accomodation, garbage, conscensiousness, decieve, prommce, instantanious. Pronunciation Most good English Dictionaries provide adequate guide to the pronunciation of all their word entries by including the full phonemic inventory of the English Language as discovered by either D. Jones or A. Gimson. Learners are thus, from the beginning on the inside cover of the dictionary, made familiar with this inventory so that they are aware that the segment [th], for instance, is written as two phonemes in English [θ or ð] Consequently, any word entry is duly transcribed in the dictionary in the proper way as a guide to how it is called..for instance, it is through the dictionary that we know that the [ch] in 'charade' /ʃ rad/ is pronounced differently from the one in 'chore' /ʧÐ(r)/ and again differently from the one in 'choir' / Kwaiə/. There is no system to knowing which of these phonemic options a 'ch 1 will accept hi a word. You can therefore save yourself embarrassment and probably pains and trouble by simply, consulting your dictionary for these and other problems, like the difference between 'cough' and 'hicough'. Although both words are spelt similarly (in the last syllable), yet they differ hi meaning and pronunciation. Can you find out these differences? Often, some words function differently even though they are spelt similarly. Words like this are said to change classes, since as we know by now, words in English are grouped and identified hi classes according to their functions. A word like 'object' can function as a noun, with the stress on the first syllable and as a verb, with the stress on the second syllable. This leads us to the point that English is a stress-timed language. This means that words are not pronounced flatly but according to a particular rhythm which is, in turn, determined by the placement of the stress, i.e. which syllable accepts more force in the word. Quite often, the stress placement changes the meaning and class of the word. Exercise 3 Find out the correct pronunciation of these words (taking note of the proper stress):

3 reject (noun), reject (verb), slough, little, important, education, market, convict (noun), convict (verb). Word Entry Due to the fact that a word functions so variously, you may have difficulty determining which of the entries to associate with your word. This is not a problem provided you are aware of the sense associations of your word. By this we mean that once you krrow the contextual sense of the word, then you can choose the correct entry for your word. (We shall discuss this more fully under meaning). Since the dictionary usually also indicates the class of a word and also gives information about its stress placement in addition to pragmatic examples on proper usage of the word, you should have considerably less problems about which entry to choose. Exercise 4 Locate the correct entry in your dictionary of the words italicized in the following sentences: a) The coach carrying four passengers pulled up to one side. b) He located the missing car in the outskirts of the town. c) He reeled with the shock of the news. Word Forms Words are constantly changing their forms and the various forms that words can take are duly noted in any good dictionary. These forms come hi the shape of derivatives and inflections. Derivatives are the means of forming new words with new functions and, possibly classes, by extending the base words. A word like "nation" can be extended to form "national"; "nation-ality", "nation-alism", all of which are nouns; "nation-alise," "nationalised," both of which are verbs; and "nation-alistic", an adjective, and so on. All these are derivatives that extend the power and range of the base word. Most nouns have such predictable behaviour. Regular verbs, on the other hand, can often be extended through the process of inflections, by which such verbs are overtly marked for plurality and tense. A good dictionary provides adequate information on what the plural form of a noun is, as well as whether a verb takes the past tense form, and what that past tense form is. Exercise 5 Find all the possible forms the following words can take as well as the word class the new forms belong to: locate, crucify, court, stable, establish, material. Word Meaning By far the most popular use to which a dictionary is put is that of explaining the meaning of words, known and unknown. In providing the meaning of all familiar and strange words, the dictionary thereby regulates and guides the proper usage of such words. When a word has more than one meaning, for instance, "object", "convict", "conflict", the dictionary provides the various meanings and practical examples of their usage in various entries. When such words occur in idioms, with or without prepositions or adverbial particles, the dictionary provides examples of such idiomatic usage and its range of meanings. Sometimes, the dictionary provides the history of a word from its original form (and the meaning) to the present form. Exercise 6

4 Write out from the dictionary the definitions of the words that are italicized and indicate their class through their functions: 1. An elderly man, harassed by the taunts of the neighbourhood children, devised a scheme. 2. Suddenly, the quaint homespun wisdom that was rejected took on new life. The first trip home after such awakening is always a return to reality. 3. Providence, however, was no match for the law. The city's building code requires an elevator in all new or multi-story buildings of this type. Installing an elevator would add upward of $100,000 to the cost. Using Your Dictionary Having and knowing what a dictionary does not necessarily equip one with the knowledge of how to use it. Merely using the dictionary for checking the meanings of unfamiliar words is gross underutilization. On the other hand, running to the dictionary at the scent of every and vaguely unfamiliar words is overutilization. To use a dictionary properly, we need to know: 1. When to use a dictionary: When you come across an unfamiliar word in the course of a reading exercise,, you should not just reach out for a dictionary. Such a step breeds mental laxity and laziness and eventually mental poverty. This is because the brain is not being taxed to function and will, hi time, like a disused muscle, atrophy. Sometimes, too, the dictionary meaning of a word is not quite the same as the sense that the word suggests when used with other words. It is therefore necessary to attempt to decipher what a word means from the way it co-occurs within a sentence structure. Most often, meanings can be got this way, i.e. through the contextual usage. If this fails, then you must try to break the word down to its component morphological units. This means to begin to guess at the meaning of a word from the way the various affixes (prefixes and suffixes) have been combined to form the word. It is only when this fails that you can resort to the dictionary. Exercise 7 Read the following passage carefully and then try to guess the meanings of the underlined words by: a) considering then- contextual usage; then if that fails, by b) breaking the words down to then" smallest categorical units. Until relatively recently, the tongues of preliterate, prestigeless groups have received in general, little attention in comparison with languages which serve as vehicles of acculturation...in the case of pidgins and Creoles, this disfavour is increased by the ease with which speakers (native and non-native) of the source-languages can recognise the extensive dislocation How to use a dictionary: When all attempts to obtain the meaning of a word fail, then the dictionary can be consulted. Locate the word by following the arrangement of the letters and you are first given the phonemic transcription of that word which serves as a guide to its pronunciation. Call out the word to yourself several times until you are familiar with it. Part of the transcription is the

5 stress marker,. ('), which tells you exactly which syllable to accentuate more than others. Immediately following this is the information of the word class of your word. This should serve as a guide to help you choose the correct entry for your word if it has more than one entry. Other variants of the word are then given, including its foreign usage, spelling and pronunciation. The origin of the word is also provided. Finally, examples of the usage of the word are given to further highlight the meaning, as well as examples of how it occurs in idioms and how it co-occurs with prepositions to form particles where necessary and so on. Having located your word, its meaning and how it functions, it only remains now to ensure you don't forget it again. This can be done by first consciously learning that word and its variants as well as its various uses. You can do this easily by forming several sentences of your own using that word. Do this throughout the day as you perform other tasks. Before you know it, that word would have joined the several tens of thousands of words resident in your brain. You should also, as a matter of habit, endeavour to learn at least one new word everyday or week. This is the only way you can arm yourself against embarrassment when you are confronted by a "hostile" speaker or word. You may very soon discover that you are, yourself, a kind of dictionary! Exercise 8 Learn a new word from your dictionary every week and use it constantly throughout that week until you get used to it. Begin this week with obviate. REFERENCES Crystal, D The English Language. England: Penguin. Montgomery, M Study Skills for Colleges and Universities in Africa. England: Longman. Obafemi, Olu., (ed.) New Introduction to English Language. Ibadan: Y- Books.