Types of Dictionaries

Lexicography as a branch of linguistics

Lexicography is a brunch of applied linguistics which deals
with the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries.
 The object of study: the vocabulary of a language (cf.
lexicology: diff. in degree of systematization and
completeness).
 The aim: semantic, formal and functional description of
all individual words. Dictionary - a book listing words of
language with their meanings and reference information.
Types of English dictionaries
differ in the choice of items and information
about them.
 Encyclopaedic dict-s: concepts (objects and
phenomena), their relation to other objects
and phenomena.
 Linguistic (or philological): lexical units and
their linguistic properties.
 The encyclopaedic dictionaries include
items of designations such as: names of
substances, diseases, plants and animals,
institutions, terms of science, some important
events in history, geographical and
biographical entries.
Types of English dictionaries
 A linguistic dictionary is a book of
words of a language, usually listed
alphabetically, with definitions,
pronunciations, etymologies and other
linguistic information or with their
equivalents in another language (or
other language).
 American dictionaries include
scientific, technical, geographical and
bibliographical items. British
dictionaries devote maximum space to
the linguistic properties of words.
 Classification of dictionaries
according to as to the number
the nature of of languages
word-list used (except for
translation ones)
as to the according to
information they the medium
provide used
According to the nature of word-list:

general
restricteddictionaries
(terminological,
phraseological, dialectal
word-books, dictionaries of
new words, etc.)
As to the information they provide:
  explanatory
 special dictionaries (only some characteristics)
 sphere of human activity (technical
dictionaries)
 type of units (of idioms)
 relationships b/w units (of synonyms)
Associative dictionaries (the lexical entry is a
stimulus word with a list of response words
either in an alphabetical order or according to
their frequency).
According to the medium used:
 paper d.
 computerized d.
 computerized versions of paper d.
 proper el. d.: for human use, machine d. for text processing (synt.,
sem., (pseudo-)morph., diphone, etc.)
Explanatory dictionaries provide info on all aspects of the
lexical units entered: graphical, phonetic, grammatical,
semantic, stylistic, etymological, etc.
 diachronic
 synchronic
 Types of dictionaries
 Translation (parallel) dictionaries - a list of vocabulary items in one language and their equivalents in (an)other
language(s).
 Phraseological dictionaries - idiomatic or colloquial phrases, proverbs and other, usually with illustrations.
 Dictionariesof neologisms (neologism - <20 years). The new items are collected from the reading of newspaper,
magazines and - rarely - books.
 Dictionaries of slang (substandard speech such as vulgarisms, jargonisms, taboo words, curse-words, colloquialisms).
 Usage dictionaries (usage problems of all kind - for native speakers: the difference in meaning of synonyms, the
proper pronunciation, etc.)
 Dictionaries of word frequency (frequency of occurrence of lexical units in speech for teaching purposes, the basic
vocabulary, for the machine translation systems to choose a better - more frequent - variant of a word).
 Reverse dictionaries (the entry words are arranged in an alphabetical order starting with the final letter - e.g. for
rhyming purpose).
 Pronouncing dictionaries (contemporary variation of pronunciation).
 Etymological dictionaries.
 Ideographic dictionaries.
 Problems of dictionary compiling
Stages:
 collection of material
 selection of entries and their arrangement
 setting of each entry
 selection of lexical units for inclusion
 arrangement of entries (alphabetical, clusters, frequency)
 setting of the entry (structure and content)
 selection and arrangement of meanings (historical, empirical / actual
/ frequency, logical order)
 definition of meanings (encyclopaedic, descriptive, synonymous,
cross-referential)
 illustrative examples (quotes, corpus e.g.'s)