Jem Clear wrote:
> Dear Corpora-people
>
> I've just had an idea for a collaborative venture that might benefit
> the whole language-research community.
>
> Suppose I were to post on the CORPORA list a word plus its definition
> as taken from some good dictionary. Then I invite all and any
> CORPORA list members to select from whatever corpora they may have
> accessible to them one or more instances of an authentic context
> in which the word is used with the given sense.
[snip]
> Just for starters, here's a definition for the word "fierce" followed
> by some illustrative examples:
>
> Fierce feelings or actions are very intense or enthusiastic, or
> involve great activity.
>
> Ex: A fierce battle has been raging all day in the Croatian town
> of Pakrac
> Ex: He inspires fierce loyalty in his friends.
>
> Send any examples you can find (from any corpora to which you have
> access) to "jem@cobuild.collins.co.uk".
>
If one of the uses you have in mind for the corpus is to give some
information about how context selects sense, you may want to limit
examples to those in which context clearly selects one sense over
another, or ask each contributor to rate how strong the contextual
pressure is for the defined sense. For instance, in that last example,
all the context really tells me about "fierce" is that it's a possible
characteristic of human loyalty; if "fierce" had the sense "weak", it
would fit in that sentence just about as well.
- Bill F.
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