Networks and Knowledge in Roget's Thesaurus [Hardcover]

In this book Werner H?llen examinesRoget's Thesaurusin relation to linguistics, philosophy and history. He explores the influence ofRoget's Thesaurusabroad (Germany and the Romance countries). He epitomizes its history and compares the various editions of the book. In lexical case studies he evaluates some entries with pertinence to their cultural and political implications. He discusses the didactic potential of thesauri in general and considers the implications of theThesaurusfor the study of scholarly linguistics and psychology. He discusses howRoget's Thesaurusprepared the way for the more recent idea of network semantics. By analyzing retrieval techniques one can show, he claims, how the words of languages were (and are) stored in the minds of those who speak them. Professor H?llen concludes by considering the role of synonymy in language from a perspective of cognitive linguistics showing that it is indispensable for communication.

1. A Roadmap toRoget's Thesaurus
2.Roget's Thesaurus, Deconstructed
3.Roget's Thesaurus, 1852 to 2002
4. Three Words from theThesaurus: Negro, Sex, andTolerance
5. Roget in Germany: The Adaptation of theThesaurus(1852) in Daniel Sanders'Sprachschatz(1873)
6. Roget in the Romance World: Th?odore Robertson's Translation ofRoget's Thesaurus(1852) into French asLe Dictionnaire Id?ologique(1859)
7. Wilkins and Roget Meet. An Experiment in Thought
8. On Background Knowledge and Seriality
9. The Didactic Potential of Thesauri
10. A Cognitive View of Synonymy
References
Index

Werner H?llen is Professor Emeritus of English Linguistics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. He has published widely on the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language and on the history of linguistics and lexicography, includingEnglish Dictionaries 800-1700: The TopicalTrl#!