Can every word in a dictionary be explained using Natural Semantic Metalanguage?
The NSM-LDOCE research dictionary was created to test the expressive power of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and its tiny set of semantic primes. In this dictionary, NSM was used to paraphrase definitions for each word in the controlled defining vocabulary of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE). The definitions were written using mostly NSM primes, mixed with a few other words from the LDOCE defining vocabulary.
Chains of circular definitions were detected using a computer program. Most were resolved by rewording one of the definitions in the chain, but three were resolved by adding tentative semantic primes (colour, number and shape).
The resulting NSM-LDOCE dictionary is non-circular, and by extension provides non-circular definitions for all the words in the LDOCE.
The NSM-LDOCE research dictionary served as the basis for creating Learn These Words First. New non-circular definitions for colour, number and shape were written and tested, so these three tentative primes could be removed. Other definitions were improved to eliminate more than half of the 700 words used as "semantic molecules" in NSM-LDOCE.
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