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

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)