About Technical Definitions

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©  Karen  Thompson  ● Department  of  English  ● University  of  Idaho

Definitions name and categorize our world.

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We learn from parents the names and categories.

It works so well, that even if we are not a botanist, most of us can tell a tree from a shrub.

Words are defined, in part, by what they are not.

Tree

Building

Shrub

Dog

Road

Truck

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A tree is not a building, shrub, dog, etc.

Each of the words I’ve crossed out could, in turn, be defined by what the word is not.

The result is an endless chain of difference, but it doesn’t tell us what the word means.

Dictionaries catalog usage.• The Oxford English Dictionary

has catalogued how English words have been used for the past 1,000 years and continues to be updated as new words and usages for old ones occur.

• But this dictionary (and any other) can only provide a literal definition; it cannot show us what a word means in context.

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Context determines meaning.

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Think of context like the setting of a story.

Audience needs and your purpose for communicating with the audience, exists in various discourse contexts.

Context changes the meaning of words (and, in some cases, their grammatical form)

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Bank (Noun):   financial  institution. Cloud  Bank  (Noun):  weather  phenomena

Bank  (verb):   type  of  plane  turn. Banking  a  Campfire  (verb):  a  safety  measure.

Definitions have power to shape how we think.

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This painting illustrates definitions of wilderness vs. civilization.

And these definitions may limit how we think about our world.

Currier  and  Ives  1868  painting  “Westward  the  Course  of  Empire  Makes  Its  Way”

Example: Ductal Carcinoma In SITU (DCIS)

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The definition of DCIS in medicine is a matter of debate within the medical community.

How physicians decide to define the word will determine what treatment they recommend to patients who have this cell abnormality.

Technical Definitions are complicated by:

• social,• political,• economic,

and• cultural contexts

and by • moral and ethical concerns.

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Example: Recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST)

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A dictionary definition of rBST cannot capture the context, which is highly contested, and the outcomes of this controversy affect milk labeling laws.

Technical definitions,

• answer the question: “what is x?”

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What’s  the  context?What  is  it?

For the definition to be clear, writers must provide the context that surrounds a given answer to this question.

How much context is needed is governed by audience needs and writer’s purpose.

• Studies have revealed that writers use four types of definitions to supply this context.

• Parenthetical• Sentence-Level• Operational• Extended

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Parenthetical Definitions are placed within the context of a sentence.

• Blight resistance in chickpease has been identified in both Kabuli (white seeded) and Desi (small, dark seeded).

• Winter dormancy in black bears (Ursus americanus) is likely an adaptation to predictable seasonable food shortages.

• The required gravel equivalent (GE) for the estimated traffic loading and sub grade conditions is 575 millimeters.

• Notice how each of these examples function differently. In the first, readers are given a description of the seeds, the second clarifies the scientific name, and the last provides an acronym. Readers can expect to see the acronym again.

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Sentence Definitions provide more context and follow this pattern.

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An elephant is a large mammal with a prehensile trunk, long ivory tusks, and large ears.

They are perfectly fine to use as an equal sign.

I thought we weren’t supposed to use “to be” verbs.

Operational Definitions are used in science and engineering to:

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• assign values to what cannot be directly measured.

Example: self-esteem

• make abstract values concrete.

Example: product quality and consumer satisfaction.

Operational Definitions are used by non-specialized audiences to:

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• enable them to engage in some kind of activity or operation.

Wait! I need an operational definition. What are the rules here?

I told you a thousand times already, there are no rules.

Extended Technical Definitions provide the most context.

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To extend a technical definition means to develop it beyond a sentence level based on audience needs and the writer’s purpose.

Next lecture…..

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