Err.. so you are saying that the dictionary only need give definitions
for MWEs which violate the rules, "tool for Verbing Noun" or "tool for
Verbing, shaped like a Noun"? (e.g., "pencil pusher" needs a definition,
because it's meaning is only metaphorically related to "a tool for
pushing pencils"?)
Minimally, one would need another rule, "a person who Verbs Noun" which
then allows "a person who pushes pencils" so that the metaphor is
direct. This allows "wood carver" to be "a person who carves wood". But
that's not enough, clearly "cork stopper" doesn't work, i.e., we now
need "a stopper made out of cork" and need to distinguish that from "a
carver made out of wood". I guess what I'm driving at here is that there
is no telling how many rules there are and every time the rule set
grows, the indeterminate nature of the MWEs grows, until it isn't
predictable, hence the need for definitions.
It does sound interesting to create a large inventory of MWEs with
accompanying rules that predict what their minimal definitions would be;
however, the minimal definitions aren't the definition that a dictionary
should contain; a dictionary should give more information than the
minimal definition, especially when such information is known to native
speakers.
On 3/15/06, will.fitzgerald@pobox.com wrote:
The thing is, the various meanings of 'pencil sharpener', 'crayon
sharpener' and 'stick sharpener' are all predictable just not from
their immediate lexical items. I think that any 'tool for Verbing Noun'
or a 'tool for Verbing, shaped like a Noun' will apply in Noun Verb-er
expressions. Certainly, because there is a greater need for pencil
sharpeners, pencil sharpeners tend to have standard shapes & components,
but a pencil sharpener that worked via laser beams would still be a
pencil sharpener. And imagine a tool for sharpening knives that had a
graphite core; in the proper context, 'pencil sharpener' (or maybe even
'pencil knife sharpener' is ok.
The point is that general real-world knowledge, plus rules of phrasal
combination, create predictable meanings for some expressions that are
not predicatable based on the lexical meanings.
Oh, by the way, here is a 'pencil pencil sharpener':
<http://www.shop-eds.com/ProductDetail.aspx?prntdid=1810&did=1828&pid=23
623>
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