Phonetics of EFL dictionary definitions
A book in press by Włodzimierz Sobkowiak
1. Contents
Abstract
0. Introduction
1. Phonetic difficulty in EFL vocabulary learning
2. A reference lexicon: from CUV2 to CUV3
2.1. CUV2
2.2. From CUV2 to CUV3
3. Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI)
3.1. Short history of PDI
3.2. Implementation of PDI
3.3. Empirical validation of the PDI assignment algorithm
3.4. PDI statistics
4. The phonetics of defining vocabularies (DV)
4.1. COBUILD
4.2. LDOCE DV
4.3. CIDE DV
4.4. OALD DV
4.5. MEDAL DV
4.6. MEDLIST
4.7. Summary of DVs
4.8. PDI of DVs
5. The phonetics of EFL dictionary definitions
5.1. E-dictionaries for language learning
5.2. Phonetics in EFL dictionaries
5.3. Dictionary definitions as text corpora
5.4. The phonetics of EFL dictionary definitions
6. The phonetics of MEDAL definitions
6.1. Phonetic transcription of MEDAL definitions
6.2. Phoneme frequency in MEDAL DV and MEDLIST vis-à-vis general British lexicon
6.3. Phoneme frequency in MEDAL definitions vis-à-vis running British text
6.4. Word frequency in MEDAL definitions vis-à-vis running British text
6.5. Most frequent content words in MEDAL definitions
6.6. Most frequent word n-grams in MEDAL definitions
6.7. PDI of MEDAL definitions
6.8. MEDAL definition PDI vis-à-vis other EFL dictionaries
6.9. Definition phonetics: a closer look
6.10. Summary
7. Pedagogical applications of phonetically treated definitions
7.1. Searches based on PDI values
7.2. Searches based on transcription and PDI monograms
7.3. Searches based on PDI polygrams
7.4. Searches based on the "words commonly mispronounced" list in Sobkowiak 1996
7.5. Prospectus
8. Summary and conclusions
Appendices
Bibliography
Mikorzyn 2006, Włodzimierz Sobkowiak: Phonetics of EFL dictionary definitions
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2. Background
 Now that the benefits of form-focused instruction are being positively reassessed, we may
see a change in attitude towards vocabulary lists (Nation & Waring 1997:19), for example...
 "Words containing infrequent or unusual sequences of sound can be deliberately avoided in
the early stages of language learning" (Nation 2001:44), because...
 "In learning the foreign vocabulary for native words, the pronounceableness of the foreign
word has a strong determining effect (0.37) depending on the degree to which it conforms to
the phonotactic patterns of the native language, even if the word does not have to be
spoken" (as quoted by Ellis & Beaton from Rodgers 1969; my emphasis – WS).
 "The MLD (monolingual learners' dictionary – WS) [...] should be seen first of all as a
language learning resource, its compilers as much in the business of language teaching as of
lexicography" (Rundell 1988:134).
 "Dictionaries are less satisfactory in pronunciation than in spelling, meaning, or etymology.
The record of the spoken language is difficult to acquire, difficult to transcribe accurately
and unambiguously, difficult to represent understandably in a dictionary transcription, and
in most cases of less interest to the user than other kinds of information" (this summary of
James Hulbert's views in his 1955 book comes from Landau 1991:97).
 Even in the most sophisticated electronic dictionaries for FL learners definitions (as well as
example sentences) remain almost completely pedagogically unexploited as a corpus of FL
text.
 There is no reason to assume that the acquisition of vocabulary, whether deliberate or
incidental, mediated through dictionary definitions is in principle different from one
effected in the course of 'ordinary' reading.
 It stands to reason that phonetically difficult definitions will tend to impede the reading and
understanding process, the essential part of dictionary lookup, particularly in those learners
who continue to vocalise or articulate subvocally in silent reading.
3. Phonolapsological analysis of definitions – an example
Table 37. MEDAL definition of discrimination, PDI=3.2, analyzed phonolapsologically
word
transcription
unfair
,Vn'f7
treatment 'tritm@nt
of
0v
someone 'sVmwVn
because bI'k0z
of
0v
their
D7
religion
race
or
rI'lIJ@n
r4s
OR
PDI PDI
phonetic difficulties and likely
value code
mispronunciations
6 ABEQ13 linking /r/; //; // quality and overnasalized;
accent confusion; secondary stress: /a'fer/
2 JQ
schwa quality and overnasalization: /tritmet/
2 N1
devoicing; spelling pronunciation; accent
confusion: /af/
2 dE
// quality: /'samwan/
3 fN1
-au- (spelling pronunciation); final devoicing;
accent confusion: /b'kous/
2 N1
devoicing, spelling pronunciation; accent
confusion: /af/
5 cABL1 -ei- (spelling pronunciation); linking /r/; /e/;
//; accent confusion: /zei/, /zer/, /eir/
2 JU
schwa quality; /d/ quality: /re'ldn/
0 *
2 A1
linking /r/; accent confusion: //
Mikorzyn 2006, Włodzimierz Sobkowiak: Phonetics of EFL dictionary definitions
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other
'VD@
5 AEJL1
personal 'p9s@nl
5 JKQX1
features
5 bJNU1
'fiC@z
linking /r/; // and schwa quality; //; accent
confusion: /aze/, /ae/
short and long schwa quality, vowel
overnasalization*, syllabic /l/, accent confusion:
/'personal/
-ur-; schwa quality; final devoicing; /t/ quality;
accent confusion: /fites/, /fiters/
4. Main findings
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The most powerful factor responsible for the ultimate phonetic profile of the definitions is
the composition and usage of the defining vocabulary adopted for the given dictionary.
Frequently used DV words will contribute most to the phonostatistics of the entire
definition database.
The average word-weighted phonetic difficulty of definitions is significantly lower than
that counted for the English lexicon: 1.52 versus 2.45, respectively. There is little
evidence, however, that this happens as an effect of deliberate phonolexicographic
control.
Most phonetic difficulties identified by the PDI algorithm, however, are very significantly
overrepresented in MEDAL definitions, compared to the English lexicon.
The top-frequency content words used in MEDAL definitions are significantly
phonetically easier than the definition average, as counted by the PDI metric.
Phonetic difficulty of definitions is partly affected by the prosodic and juncture
phenomena, which have not been captured by the PDI metric: phrase and sentence stress,
rhythm, sandhi assimilations, reductions and deletion.
The phonostatistic and phonolapsological profile of MEDAL definitions is quite similar to
that of other EFL dictionaries, specifically of the remaining four of the 'big-five'.
Better understanding of the phonetic aspects of EFL dictionary definitions among
dictionary makers might significantly improve the phonolapsological profile of definitions
making them phonetically easier (more 'user-friendly') to learners.
5. To be studied
A number of issues were left for further study throughout this dissertation, both in the narrow
area of phonolexicography and beyond. Some examples are: (1) the empirical testing of PDI
criteria on a suitably large sample of learners of a variety of L1s, (2) the extension of the
methods and procedures elaborated here onto definition and example sentence corpora of
other EFL dictionaries, (3) testing experimentally the effect of varied phonetic difficulty of
definitions and examples on the process of dictionary consultation in learners; in particular:
do phonetically difficult definitions and examples hinder the process of sense finding, entry
reading, headword understanding, incidental vocabulary learning, correct pronunciation
acquisition?, (4) investigating the style of EFL dictionary definitions in comparison with
different modes and genres of native and non-native text corpora of English, (5) exploring the
didactic potential of dictionary definitions and examples as corpora of native text, on the
phonetic, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic levels, in particular
(6) elaborating best methods to offer access to such corpora as an integral part of electronic
EFL dictionaries and CALL resources.
Mikorzyn 2006, Włodzimierz Sobkowiak: Phonetics of EFL dictionary definitions
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6. I have a dream
I dream of dictionaries which would redress the anti-phonetic bias of current lexicography. In
such dictionaries not only the phonetic representation of the headword would be carefully
thought over, but the entire entry would likely receive phonolexicographic attention.
Definitions would be designed and written according to some phonetic guidelines, just like
they are written according to strict syntactic and stylistic guidelines today. In consequence,
such definitions would be easier to read, both as meta-text and text, and the incidental
learning of vocabulary would get a boost. Properly annotated, they could be used as a
(phonetic) electronic corpus resource in simple look-up as well as in a variety of sophisticated
queries informing word-list generation, test preparation, materials design, etc. Audiorecorded or speech-synthesized, they could make an e-dictionary a yet more functional
didactic aid, with all the multimedia involvement expected by contemporary learners.
7. Abstract of the book at
http://elex.amu.edu.pl/~sobkow/abstract.htm#abs46
References
Ellis,N.C. & A.Beaton. 1993. "Psycholinguistic determinants of foreign language vocabulary
learning". Language Learning 43. 559-617.
Hulbert,J.R. 1955. Dictionaries: British and American. London: Deutsch.
Landau,S.I. 1991. Dictionaries: the art and craft of lexicography [2nd ed.]. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Nation,I.S.P. 2001. Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Nation,I.S.P. & R.Waring. 1997. "Vocabulary size, text coverage and word lists". In
N.Schmitt & M.McCarthy (eds). 1997. Vocabulary: description, acquisition and
pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 6-19.
Rodgers,T. 1969. "On measuring vocabulary difficulty: an analysis of item variables in
learning Russian-English vocabulary pairs". International Review of Applied Linguistics
7. 327-343.
Rundell,M. 1988. "Changing the rules: why the monolingual learner's dictionary should move
away from the native speaker tradition". In M.Snell-Hornby (ed.). 1988. ZüriLEX '86
Proceedings [2nd EURALEX Congress, Zürich 1986]. Tübingen: A.Francke. 127-137.
Mikorzyn 2006, Włodzimierz Sobkowiak: Phonetics of EFL dictionary definitions
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