Kay Christian J., Smith Jeremy J. (Eds.). Categorization in the History of English

John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2004. — 279 p. — (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 261).The papers in this volume are linked by a common concern, which is at the centre of current linguistic enquiry: how do we classify and categorize linguistic data, and how does this process add to our understanding of linguistic change? The scene is set by Aitchison’s paper on the development of linguistic categorization over the past few decades, followed by Biggam’s critical overview of theoretical developments in colour semantics. Lexical classification in action is discussed in papers by Fischer, Kay and Sylvester on the structures of thesauruses, while detailed treatments of particular semantic areas are offered by Kleparski, Mikołajczuk, O’Hare and Peters. Papers by Lass, Laing and Williamson, and Smith are concerned with the nature of linguistic evidence in the context of the historical record, offering new insights into text typology, scribal language and vowel classification. Much of the data discussed is new and original.The rhinoceros’s problem: the need to categorize - Jean Aitchison
Prototypes and foci in the encoding of colour - Carole P. Biggam
The notional structure of thesauruses - Andreas Fischer
When ignorance is wisdom: some day-to-day problems of classification - Christian Kay
CDs, petticoats, skirts, ankas, tamaras and sheilas: The metonymical rise of lexical categories related to the conceptual category FEMALE HUMAN BEING - Grzegorz A. Kleparski
The archaeology of medieval texts - Margaret Laing and Keith Williamson
Texts as linguistic objects - Roger Lass
ANGER in Polish and English: a semantic comparison with some historical context - Agnieszka Mikołajczuk
Folk Classification in the HTE ‘Plants’ category - Cerwyss O’Hare
The vocabulary of PAIN - Hans Peters
Classifying the vowels of Middle English - Jeremy J. Smith
Categories and taxonomies: A cognitive approach to lexicographical resources - Louise Sylvester