The lexicography of English copula verbs

This work analyzes the treatment of copula verbs in general-purpose, monolingual dictionaries of English. The first chapter introduces English dictionaries and contrasts the general dictionaries with which we will be concerned with specialized dictionaries of various sorts, and it also presents the overall perspective from which dictionaries are examined and criticized. The second chapter distinguishes prototypical copula from noncopula constructions, describes the continuum which moves from noncopula 'look-alike' constructions, to quasi copula, and on to transitional and central copula verb usage, and finally characterizes the major subcategories of copula verbs. The third chapter focuses on the grammatical coding and examples sentences given in lexical entries. The lack of a distinct code for copula verbs in standard dictionaries (works aimed at native speakers) is criticized, and the improvements in the grammatical coding systems in learner's dictionaries--along with their remaining weaknesses--are detailed. Major points are that, with the exception of the recent fourth edition of the Oxford advanced learner's dictionary, coding systems in dictionaries are linguistically inadequate and that in all works grammatical codes are not applied consistently. Moreover, copula verbs are not consistently illustrated with appropriate examples of usage, although learner's dictionaries and the unabridged Webster's third international are superior to other works in this regard. The fourth chapter discusses the definitions given for copula uses of verbs. The archetypal pattern for definitions of verbs (the analytic definition) is introduced, and then dictionary definitions are evaluated based on how well they establish the linguistic class of the verb by means of the 'defining headword'. The final section of chapter 4 discusses the inconsistency with which special lexicographic 'coded language' is used to identify the copula uses of words. The final chapter summarizes the suggestions made for improving dictionary entries and points to some areas for further research.