English Lexicography

English Lexicography

•Historical development of Lexicography as a linguistic science

•Some debatable problems of lexicography

•Types of Dictionaries

Lexicography•is the theory and practice

of compiling dictionaries•a branch of applied

linguistics

Dictionary• a book listing words of a language

with their meanings and often with data regarding pronunciation, usage and/or origin

Metalanguage• a language used to make

statements about other languages. • it can refer to any terminology or

language used to discuss language itself - a written grammar, for example, or a discussion about language use.

Historical development of

English lexicography• Old English period – glosses of

religious books with translation from Latin

• the 15th century – regular bilingual English-Latin dictionaries

Historical development of

English lexicography• 1604 – “A Table Alphabeticall,

containing and teaching the true writing and understanding of hard usuall English words borrowed from the Hebrew, Greeke, Latine, and French”

• first unilingual dictionary explaining 3000 words by English equivalents (Robert Cawdrey)

Historical development of

English lexicography• 1721 – “Universal Etymological

Dictionary”• first etymological dictionary,

explained etymology of words and included pronunciation (Nathaniel Bailey)

Historical development of

English lexicography• 1775 – explanatory dictionary by

Dr Samuel Johnson• words were illustrated by

examples from English literature• pronunciation was not included• helped to preserve the English

spelling in its conservative form

Historical development of

English lexicography• 1780 – first pronouncing

dictionary (Thomas Sheridan)• 1791 – “The Critical Pronouncing

Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language” (John Walker)

Historical development of

English lexicography• 1858-1928 – New English

Dictionary (NED), 12 volumes, included all words existing in the language

• 1933 – Oxford English Dictionary (OED), 13 volumes

• includes spellings, pronunciations, detailed etymologies, quotations

Historical development of

English lexicography• “A Shorter Oxford Dictionary”, 2

volumes, smaller number of quotations

• 1911 – “The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English”, contained only word of current usage, no quotations

Historical development of

English lexicography• “English Dialect Dictionary” by

Joseph Wright

Historical development of American lexicography

• 1798 – “A School Dictionary” (Samuel Johnson Jr.)

• 1828 – “American Dictionary of the English Language” (Noah Webster)

• attempts to simplify the spelling and pronunciation

• provides definitions, etymology, explanations about things named

Historical development of American lexicography

• 1891 - “Century Dictionary”• 1895 – “Funk and Wagnalls New

Standard Dictionary”• 1967 – “Random House Dictionary

of the English Language”

Main Problems of Lexicography

• number of dictionary entries• selection of head words• arrangement and contents of the

vocabulary entry• definitions in a unilingual

dictionary

Number of dictionary entries and selection of

head words• phraseological units (e.g. It is the

early bird that catches the worm, at length)

• homonyms (e.g. to work – work)• occasional or nonce words (e.g.

footballer)

Arrangement of the vocabulary entry

• sequence of meanings of a polysemantic word

Contents of the vocabulary entries

• distribution of a word: part of speech, grammatical peculiarities, syntactical distribution

• stylistical reference and emotive colouring

Definitions in a unilingual dictionary• synonyms• linguistic definitions – concerned

with words as speech material (lexical data) – British dictionaries

• encyclopedic definitions – concerned with things for which the words are names (realia) – American dictionaries

• examples (context)

Types of English Dictionaries

• Encyclopedic – thing-books dealing with concepts (objects and phenomena, their origin and development, etc.)

• e.g. influenza – causes, symptoms, treatments and remedies, etc.

Types of English Dictionaries

• Linguistic – word-books dealing with vocabulary units (semantic structure, usage, etc.)

• e.g. influenza – spelling, pronunciation, grammar characteristics, derivatives, synonyms, etc.

Types of Linguistic Dictionaries

linguistic dictionarieslinguistic

dictionariesgeneralgeneral specializedspecialized

explanatoryexplanatory

parallel,or translation

parallel,or translation

synonyms andantonyms

synonyms andantonyms

collocationscollocations

phraseologicalphraseological

slangslang

General Dictionaries

• present a wide range of data about the vocabulary items in ordinary use

• Webster’s New International Dictionary, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Current English

Explanatory (Unilingual) Dictionary

• spelling and pronunciation• grammatical characteristics (part

of speech, (in)transitivity, irregular forms)

• meanings (extended definitions or synonyms)

•

Explanatory (Unilingual) Dictionary

• illustrative examples (citations from literary sources, sentences invented by compilers)

• derivatives (grouped in one entry or in separate)

• phraseology, etymology, synonyms and antonyms

Translation (Bilingual) Dictionary

• contain vocabulary items in one language and their equivalents in another language

• main problem – to ensure adequate translation

Special Dictionaries

• cover only a specific part of the vocabulary (synonyms, antonyms, phraseology, neologisms, terms, etc.)

• provide information limited to one particular aspect (collocability, word-frequency, etymology, pronunciation, etc.)

Dictionaries of Synonyms

• A Dictionary of English Synonyms and Synonymous Expressions (R. Soule)

• Webster’s Dictionary of Synonyms

Phraseological Dictionaries

• The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs

• Book of English Idioms (V.H. Collins)

• An Anglo-Russian Phraseological Dictionary (A.V. Koonin)

Ideological Dictionary

• words are arranged not alphabetically

• words are grouped according to their semantic fields

• designed for English-speaking writes, translators

• Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (P.M. Roget)