OGDEN's PANOPTIC METHOD

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   The term Panoptic means "at a glance." The Panoptic Method used to select the words is described in BASIC ENGLISH : A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar , Part II Chapter 3, "How the 850 Words to their Work"
    By putting the word to be tested in the middle of a circle with lines going out from it like the arms or rays of a starfish, so that on every line we get a relation or connection with some other possible word, questions may be framed in the form -- "What word takes the place of the word in the middle in this connections?" These other words will then be placed at the end of the lines, all round the circle. For example, if the key-word dog is in the middle: What is another name for a dog in connection with Time? Answer: Puppy. Clearly the word puppy will not be needed if we have dog and the connection with Time is covered by young. The same will be true of bitch, in relation to sex, if we have female in our Basic list. And when our range of questions is complete, we have a complete picture of the word in relation to all the other words in a language which have a connections with it.
    If, for everyday needs, the word in the middle, used with the words on the joining line, will take the place of the new word at the end of the line, that word may go. It is not necessary in this connection. So if we have young and dog, puppy will not be kept in the Basic list. The question "What is a puppy?" is answered fully and readily by 'a young dog' on the line marking the Time-relation.
    In making a map for all sorts of words there are thirty lines for thirty sorts of possible questions; though for a word like dog, some questions will not be answered. Dogs do not come into all the relations talked about in connections with men, mountains, machines, or music; so there is, for example, no special word (such as litigant, plaintiff, client) for a dog in relation to Law.
    This then, is the apparatus used in 'Panoptic definition'; and when the answers are all put in on any one map, with special uses underlined, or colored, we get a picture with an important and interesting story for the Basic expert; and with its help he is in a much better position to make up his mind about the value of words for which an argument might be put forward. With his working selection of key words, he will be read to go through the Pocket Oxford to make certain that every one of its 25,000 commonest words has a place somewhere on one of the maps.

Here are some of the thirty questions.
comparison
direction
identity
law
position
time
size
shape
sequence
sex
time
Others suggested by Volapük: Number, Gender, Case, Person, Degree, Tense, Mood, Voice. 

"The Panoptic Method was outlined in our Editorial of January, 1930, (Vol X, No 3)".
A planned book on the subject was never completed.

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FLASH !   A member has found it !   Or, at least, a version of it.
 

From : http://homepage3.nifty.com/BasicEnglishSociety/takata.html in Japanese.
Leading into the picture seems to be the quote from Basic English : A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar
Credit seems to be given to his book : Opposition : A Linguistic and Psychological Analysis
 

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Related, if only by name.   Panopticon, Word Wheel, sentence builder
    Ogden's idea of a Panopticon, word wheel, is to let the new Basic learner see a logical way to put his thoughts into English sentences. See discussions on the Institute web pages for both Education and Learning.

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Links : Panoptic Method / Panopticon -- be1 , be4 , dictionary , isl111 , psyche35
    be3 be23 beas begr isl112 isl113 isl530 wordwheel
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About this Page: Panoptic.html -- methodology for determining the Basic words.
Last updated December 7, 2004 - Add image.
URL: http://zbenglish.net/sites/basic/panoptic.html