The Sunday Notebook: Definitions
Who is responsible for our dictionary definitions? Falling in Love with Words: The Secret Life of a Lexicographer is gently uplifting: a portrait of a life shaped by a true love, and a nosy look around the (very quiet) offices of the Merriam-Webster editorial team (6,691 words)
But if you ever feel that chat about Definitions, Dictionaries, and Meanings muddles more than it helps, it's a philosopher you need. If you’re pushed for time or philosophical patience, section 8 is most-recommended: the classical concept of definitions as necessary-and-sufficient conditions that capture all the referents of a term is out of style. It’s now thought that most words are “cluster concepts”, “made up of a number of conditions which generally are not singly necessary and are jointly oversufficient” (18,085 words)
If we are not expecting classical definitions, is there any point arguing about the meaning of a word? Here it is claimed that Yes, You Can Argue About Definitions. We can and do argue about how words are in fact used in the wild. More intriguingly, it's suggested we can also make a ‘moral argument' about how words should be used, in cases where word-meanings can have helpful or harmful outcomes (920 words)
All philosophy-d out? Here’s a lexicographic palate cleanser, “Fixing” the Definitions of Philosophical Terms. “Fallacy: Male-dominated”. “Internal relation: Embryo.” “Theodicy: Companion piece to Theiliad” (474 words)
How do any of us learn, then, how to use our messily defined words? When we point and say “dog”, the range of things we might mean is befuddling. Happily, there are Constraints Children Place on Word Meanings. Experimentally, we find that infants assume a new word likely refers to a whole object, over properties or parts; is a mutually exclusive term (causing confusion when a ‘dog’ turns out to be a ‘pet’); and points to a taxonomic relation between like things. This causes errors, but overall greatly aids us (4,301 words)
While we’re on the subject
An object: A Dictionary of Victorian Slang (1909). Flip through and add some gems to your vocabulary. “Got the morbs” must be immediately adopted.
An image: First editor of the OED James Murray in his scriptorium. Exactly how you hoped lexicography looked.
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Caroline Crampton, Editor-In-Chief; Robert Cottrell, Founding Editor; Kaamya Sharma, Editor; Jodi Ettenberg, Editor-At-Large; Sylvia Bishop, Sunday Editor; Uri Bram, CEO & Publisher; Al Breach, Founding Director
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