【词汇大师】字典啊，字典（2/2）

英语自学网

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字典是我们学习语言的利器，但是我们真的会查字典吗？
TIPS
本篇对话中，主持人的对话不需要听写，只需听写嘉宾的话
主持人对话① "Well, so now, were someone to ask you, well, what exactly is the lexicographer's dilemma -- besides the title of your new book -- what would you tell them?"
主持人对话②""And without spoiling the plot or anything, how do you answer that? What's your gut, your first reaction to that dilemma? Which side do you tend to fall on?"
HINTS
orthographer's dilemma
anarchy

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"Well, do pay careful attention to things like usage notes in dictionaries, which often give you some idea of the contexts in which a certain word is acceptable and the contexts in which it isn't."
"Well, it's the same dilemma faced by anyone who has to survey the whole language. So it can also be the grammarian's dilemma, or if you want to use a lovely word the orthographer's dilemma, which has to do with proper spelling. It's when you survey the entire language, should your function be to spell it out in all of its messiness, its disorderliness, its chaos, its sometimes pure anarchy?
"Or should you try to fix it when you go through it? Should a dictionary maker, for instance, say that this is a good word, this is a bad word, I think this word should be used this way and should not be used this way. Or should he or she simply say this is the way a lot of people use these words. That's the dilemma, that's the thing everyone who deals with the language has to wrestle with."
"Well, I fall on both sides depending on the situation. Descriptive linguistics just describes the state of the language. Prescriptive grammarians prescribe the language. They spell out what it should be and they say 'You are not allowed to say ain't, that's a naughty word.'"