Abstract:
The study compares the methods of defining concepts proposed by Anna Wierzbicka and Jerzy Bartmiński. Two variants of the maximal definition are identified: the extended variant, where the definition assumes the form of a narrative explication (Bartmiński), and the synthetic variant, with condensed content of the full definition (Wierzbicka, Bartmiński). Similarities and differences in the approaches of the two scholars to the problem of defining are discussed. The similarities include: the idea that a full understanding of a concept should be accounted for, the proposal that all linguistically, culturally, and communicatively relevant features be reconstructed, a facet-based ordering of the defining sentences, the importance of linguistic evidence for the features being included in the definition. The differences are identified in: the language being used, the use made of the data, the approach to the stability of features in the concept being defined, the ultimate shape (static or dynamic) of the reconstructed image.
