Information Technology Reference
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understood to occur on the basis of congruence of characters between
query and document strings, with a further algorithmically generated
ordering
of references based on such features as number of links and
recency. Inclusion of the context for the query string in the display of
references embodies a practical understanding of the syntagma's value in
reducing multivalency. Instances of
stand for
and
stood for
are difficult to
assign exclusively to the sense distinguished lexicographically, although
a sense of
to represent legitimate interests
seems numerically dominant,
and
stand for
is also present in its semiotic sense (see figures 8.2 and 8.3).
8
Indeterminacy can remain, and multivalency has been reduced.
Stand for
also occurs with
stand
as a noun. The display is indicative of the com-
plexity that might confront a lexicographer. The witty clarity of the ini-
tial contrast—
stood for something … stood for plenty
— is confirmed as
imposed rather than emerging.
If the extent of the syntagma for matching is increased to
stood for
something
and
stood for plenty
, multivalency of items retrieved are fur-
ther reduced, although
plenty
still occurs as use and mention (figure 8.4).
The number of occurrences of each multiword sequence and of docu-
ments retrieved is also further reduced, explicable by an information
theory perspective on the occurrence and recurrence of words and multi-
word sequences.
The wit of the utterance, written but intended for oral delivery, stems
from the clarity of the contrast between the two senses and the rapid tran-
sition from one to the other. The association between the two senses may
have its origins in the unconscious (Freud 1905/1976, 215-238), but their
mutual contrast is deliberately intellective. The contrast between the word
senses also embodies reservations about attempts to construct a semantic
unity or even strong coherence for a word:
The various contexts of usage for any one particular word are thought of as form-
ing a series of circumscribed, self-contained utterances all pointed in the same
direction. In actual fact, this is far from true . . . Contexts do not stand side by side
in a row, as if unaware of one another, but are in a state of constant tension, or
incessant interaction and conflict. (Vološinov 1929/1986, 80)
The wit arises from the tension between the two senses and is lost when
their order is reversed. Experience with full-text retrieval has tended to
offer empirical confirmation of the variety of unpredicted syntagmas for
words.
