Doctoral defence: Maria Tuulik “Systematic Polysemy of Estonian Adjectives on the Example of Perception Adjectives“

On 16 December at 14:15 Maria Tuulik will defend her doctoral thesis “Adjektiivide süstemaatiline polüseemia eesti keeles tajuadjektiivide näitel” (“Systematic Polysemy of Estonian Adjectives on the Example of Perception Adjectives”).

Supervisors:
Professor Renate Pajusalu, University of Tartu
Margit Langemets, Institute of Estonian Language

Opponent:
Ulla Vanhatalo, University of Helsinki (Finland)

Summary
Significant changes within European lexicography have taken place within the past few decades as dictionaries shift from paper to electronic, and along with that, Estonian lexicography has become corpus-based and is moving towards (semi-)automated solutions. As a result, there is a growing need for more accurate semantic tagging and a more systemic presentation. Polysymy is still a relevant painpoint within both corpus linguistics as well as lexicography. It is charicatistic of adjecives describe different qualities of nouns dependent on context (e.g. silky blouse, silky voice). The doctorate thesis is the first attempt within Estonian linguistics to explain the systemic patterns of adjective meanings. Polysemy patterns offer support for lexicographers when describing a polysemeus word as well as research material for linguistics, since they draw connectiones between different fields. The dissertation studies the systemic polysemy of Estonian adjectives based on three semantic groups: color adjectives, temperature adjectives, and tactile adjectives (mostly focusing on texture). The work also tackles the problem with boundries of the adjective class and offers a set of a corpus parameters to help define ambiguous cases within lexicographic work. The practical aim of clarifying polysemy patterns as well as creating corpus profiles for adjective is to simplify work with dictionaries and to facilitate more accurate descriptions of adjectives within lexicography.

The defence can be also followed in Zoom: https://ut-ee.zoom.us/j/94107096998?pwd=OWpWMU4vUHB1WGtyQlZvd3dCNUw3UT09 (Meeting ID: 941 0709 6998; Passcode: 188232).