ln this study we deal with the notion of contour from a lexicosyntactic perspective. It is our contention here that, in the lexicographic definition of the predicative lexical units of monolingual semasiological dictionaries, contour states the 'arguments' (subject, objects, etc.) that they themselves select in virtue of their semantic-syntactic properties. Thus we hypothesize that the information provided by the contour is a constituent part of lexical items. Specifically, we argue that, contrary to what is often believed, in the dictionary the lexicographic definition contains grammatical information in its own right, as the contour is a 'projection' of the syntactic nature of the concerned entries. Besides, we have verified that procedures used ifi current lexicography to formally define the contour (restrictive formulas of the type Dicho de ..., Referido a-.., and square, round or angle brackets) are applíed in current general Spanish dictionaries, on an asystematic and barely exhaustive way, failing to describe the argument structure of the entries of their macrostructures. The use of bracketing, in particular, not only hinders the right comprehension of the senses provided by the definition, but it also baffles the reader.We therefore maintain that for a lexicographic definition to be considered well stated, al1 the arguments required by the entry must be explicitly stated regardless whether they are actualized in discourse or not.Finally, we subscribe to Bosque's (2001, a, b; 2004) idea that the contour irnplies Ihe 'selectional restrictions' that the entries themselves (when they are predicate) impose on their aguments and, in line with this notion, we propose a tentative typology of such restrictions based on the content (categoricaf, semantic and lexical) of the chosen elements.It is the author's conviction that a lexicographic approach of the kind discussed in this paper will certainly provide key insights into the syntactic structure of natural languages.
Serra Sepúlveda, S. (2006). Gramática y diccionario. El problema del contorno en lexicografía española. Boletín De Filología, 41, Pág. 197–240. Retrieved from https://revistasaludpublica.uchile.cl/index.php/BDF/article/view/20665
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