Welsh Dictionaries in the twentieth century: a critical analysis

Sabine Heinz

ISBN 10: 3895867500 ISBN 13: 9783895867507

Publisher: LINCOM publishers, 2003

Synopsis

The book presents the first investigation of modern Welsh dictionaries in their socio-historic context. It is based on the latest lexicographical and grammatical research. It focuses pre-dominantly on the analysis of the grammatical information contained in modern Welsh general-purpose dictionaries. In the light of a rich lexicographical production in contemporary Wales, this aspect is of highest priority, since such grammatical information provides the basic knowledge of how to use lexical items in context and how to apply them in speech. An adequate linguistic description of a given language will thereby support its maintenance and the identity of its speakers, a problem area also discussed here. In view of this, Welsh nouns and verbs are presented in a new classification which aims to reflect their properties more clearly and make them more easily reflectable in dictionary entries. A plea has been made for the inclusion of comprehensive morphological information into dictionary entries, but also phonetic transcription in order to promote language acquisition and maintenance. The works pays respect to the lexicographical work which has been thus far in Wales produced under intricate socio-historical conditions. It is meant to encourage further linguistic research and thereby to contribute to the stabilisation of the language. The author of the book is a lecturer on Celtic. She has published widely on various aspects of Celtic matters.

Edition details

• Publisher: LINCOM publishers
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 3895867500
• ISBN 13: 9783895867507
• Binding: Unknown Binding
• Language: English