LEXICOGRAPHY

Lexicography and Lexicology

Lexicography is the branch of applied linguistics dealing with the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries. It is closely connected with lexicology. They both have a common object of study - the form, meaning, usage and origin of vocabulary units. The difference between the two lies in the degree of systematization and completeness. Systematization and completeness cannot be achieved in lexicology simultaneously, because the number of units it studies is very great. Lexicography, on the other hand, aims at a more or less complete description of individual words, but cannot attain systematic treatment. So, the relationship between these branches of linguistics are that of theory and practice dealing with the same object.

The term dictionary is used to denote a book listing words of a language, usually in alphabetical order, with their meanings and often with data regarding pronunciation, usage and / or origin.

Encyclopedic and Linguistic Dictionaries

There are many different types of English dictionaries. First of all they may be roughly divided into two groups - encyclopedic and linguistic. They differ:

(1)in the choice of items included;

(2) and in the sort of information given about them.

Linguistic dictionaries are word-books, their subject matter is lexical units and their linguistic properties - pronunciation, meaning, peculiarities of usage. Encyclopedic dictionaries are thing-books, that give information about the extra-linguistic world, they deal with concepts (objects and phenomena).

We won't find in the encyclopedia such items like what, if, go. What can be found their is names of substances, diseases, plants and animals, institutions, geographical and biographical entries.

Although some of the items included in encyclopedias and linguistic dictionaries coincide, the information presented in them is different.

Task: look for the word "cancer" in both types of dictionaries and compare the information given in each of them.

The most well-known encyclopedias in English are: The Encyclopedia Britannica (in 24 volumes). The Encyclopedia Americana (in 30 volumes). Besides these general encyclopedic dictionaries there are reference books confined to definite fields of knowledge, such as The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Oxford Companion to Theater, Who's Who dictionaries (present information about notable persons: scientists, writers, kings, presidents, etc.)

Sometimes there are elements of encyclopedic character in many linguistic dictionaries and' v.v. Some dictionary-compilers include in their word-lists such elements of purely encyclopedic nature as the names of cities, giving not only their spelling and pronunciation, but also a brief description of their population, location, etc.

For practical purposes it is important to know that American dictionaries are characterized by encyclopedic inclusion of scientific, technical, geographical and bibliographical items, whereas British lexicographers devote maximum space to the linguistic properties of words.'

Classification of Linguistic Dictionaries

A linguistic dictionary is a book of words in a language, usually listed alphabetically, with definitions, pronunciations, etymologies and other linguistic information or with their equivalents in another language(s).

According to the nature of their word-list linguistic dictionaries are divided into general and restricted. The terms do not refer to the size of the dictionary. General dictionaries contain lexical units from various spheres of life, while restricted - only from certain part of the word-stock.

General dictionaries represent the vocabulary as a whole with a degree of completeness depending upon the scope. The group includes the thirteen volumes of "The Oxford English Dictionary" alongside with any pocket dictionary. According to the information supplied general dictionaries are subdivided into: (1) explanatory dictionaries and (2) specialized - those having very specific aim. The second subgroup includes, for instance, etymological, frequency, phonetical, rhyming and thesaurus type of dictionaries. A frequency dictionary is a list of words, each of each is followed by a record of its frequency of occurrence in one or several sets of reading matter. A rhyming dictionary is arranged in inverse order. A thesaurus is an ideographic dictionary compiled according to the semantic parameters, contains all the words of language.

According to the information they provide restricted dictionaries are classified into dictionaries of abbreviations, synonyms, antonyms, borrowings, new words, proverbs, surnames, toponyms, of American English, dialect and slang dictionaries, glossaries of scientific and other special terms.

All types of dictionaries, save the translation ones, may be monolingual or bilingual, i.e. the information about the items entered may be given in the same language or in another one.

Don't mix up the terms monolingual and explanatory, on the one hand, and bilingual and translation on the other. The two pairs reflect different dimensions of dictionaries. The terms monolingual and bilingual pertain to the language in which the information is given. The terms explanatory and translation dictionaries characterize the kind of information itself.

It is important to realize that no dictionary can be a general-purpose word­book, each one is designed for a certain set of users: students, general public, etc.

Thus to characterize a dictionary one must qualify it at list from the four angles:

(1) the nature of the word-stock;

(2) the information supplied;

(3) the language of the explanations;

(4) the prospective user.

Some Basic Problems of Dictionary-Compiling

To get maximum information from dictionaries it is useful to have an insight into the experience of lexicographers and some of the main problems underlying their work.

The work at a dictionary consists of the following main steps: the selection of material, the selection of entries and their arrangement, the setting of each entry.

All stages of his work the lexicographer is confronted with different problems. The most important of them are the following: (1) the selection of lexical units for inclusion, (2) their arrangement, (3) the selection and arrangement (grouping) of word-meaning, (4) the definition of meanings, (5) illustrative material, (6) the setting of the entries, (7) supplementary material.

(1) The Selection of Lexical Units for Inclusion

How do lexicographers decide when to put a new word into a dictionary? Well, that really is quite a problem because even the largest dictionaries cannot possibly include every word of a language. Nobody really knows how many words there are in English, and 2000 new ones appear every year. Therefore selection is obviously necessary for all dictionaries.

First of all the type of lexical units to be chosen for inclusion is to be decided upon. Then the number of items, then what to select and what to leave out in the dictionary. Which form of the language, spoken or written, is the dictionary to reflect? Should the dictionary contain obsolete and archaic units, technical terms, colloquialisms and so forth?

There is no general reply to any of these questions. The possible answer • depends on the type of the dictionary, the aim the compilers pursue, the prospective user, its size_and some other considerations.

Type: explanatory and translation dictionaries usually record words and phraseological units. Synonym-books, pronouncing, etymological dictionaries and some others deal only with words. Aim: as to general explanatory dictionaries, diachronic and synchronic word-books differ in their approach to the problem. Since diachronic dictionaries are concerned with the historical development of lexical units, they contain the vocabulary of oral and written English of the present day together with obsolete, archaic, and dialectal words. Synchronic explanatory dictionaries include mainly common words in ordinary present-day use. Size: the number of entries is usually reduced at the expense of dialectisms, jargonisms, technical terms, archaisms, obsolete words, etc.

(2) The Arrangement of Entries

There are three ways: alphabetical, cluster-type and mixed type of entry arrangement.

In most dictionaries of various types entries are given in a single alphabetical listing. Advantage - an easy finding of any word and establishing its meaning.

In many others the units entered are arranged in nests or clusters, based on this or that principle. Advantage - requires less space and presents clear picture of the relations of each unit under consideration.

In some explanatory and translation dictionaries entries are grouped in families of words of the same root. In this case the basic units are given as main entries that appear in alphabetical order while the derivatives are given either as subentries or run-ons. The difference between subentries and run-ons is that the former do include definitions and usage labels, whereas run-ons are not defined as their meaning is clear from the main entry.

In synonym-books words are arranged in synonymic sets and its dominant member serves as the head-word of the entry.

In some phraseological dictionaries the phrases are arranged in accordance with their pivotal words which are defined as constant non-interchangeable elements of phrase.

Practically, however, most dictionaries are a combination of the two orders of arrangement. In most explanatory and translation dictionaries the main entries appear in alphabetical order, with this or that measure of run-ons.

(3)'Selection and Arrangement of Meanings

If one compares the general number of meanings of a word in different dictionaries even of the same type, one will see that their number varies greatly. ,/ Students sometimes think that if the meaning is placed first in the entry, it must be the most important, the most frequent. This is not always the case. It depends on the plan followed by the compilers.

There are at least three ways in which the word meanings are arranged:

(1) historical order (in the sequence of their historical development);

(2) empirical or actual order (in conformity with frequency of use that is with the most common meaning first;

(3) logical order (in their logical connection).

(4) Definition of Meaning

Meanings of words can be defined in different ways:

(1) by means of encyclopedic definition; Encyclopedic definitions as distinct from descriptive definitions determine not only the word-meaning, but also the underlying concept. Encyclopedic definitions are typical of nouns, especially proper nouns and terms.

(2) by means of descriptive definitions or phrases; It is the descriptive definitions that are mostly frequently used.

(3) with the help of synonymous words and expressions; Synonymous definitions consists of words with nearly the same meaning, as distinct from descriptive definitions which are explanations with the help of words not synonymous with the word defined. Synonyms are used most often to define verbs and adjectives.

(4) by means of cross-references. Reference to other words define some derivatives, abbreviations, etc.

(5) Illustrative Examples

Practically all dictionaries, save those of narrowly restricted purpose, such as, e.g., frequency dictionaries, etymological, pronouncing or reverse dictionaries, provide illustrative examples.

The form of the illustrative quotations can differ in different dictionaries; the main variation can be observed in the length of the quotation and the precision of the citation.

Some dictionaries indicate the author, the work, the page, the date of publication, some indicate only the author.

It is necessary to stress that word-meaning can be explained not only with the help of definitions and examples but also by means of showing collocability (lexical and grammatical valency).

(6) Setting of the entry

The most complicated type of entry is that found in explanatory dictionaries. In explanatory dictionaries of the synchronic type the entry usually presents the following data: accepted spelling and pronunciation; grammatical characteristics including part of speech, transitivity and intransitivity of verbs and irregular grammatical forms; definitions of meanings; illustrative examples; derivatives;

etymology; sometimes also synonyms and antonyms.

Sometimes the entries for the same word will look differently in dictionaries of the same type.

Structure of the dictionary

In spite of the great variety of linguistic dictionaries their composition has many features in common. Nearly all of them may be divided into three unequal parts.

Apart from the dictionary proper, that makes up the bulk of the word-book, every reference book contains some separate sections which are to help the user in handling it - an Introduction and Guide to the use of the dictionary. They explain all the peculiarities of the word-book and contain a key to pronunciation, the list of abbreviations used and the like.

MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH WORD. ENGLISH WORD-FORMATION AND WAYS OF VOCABULARY EXTENSION

How is it that we can use and understand words in the language that we have never encountered before? This is one of the central questions of lexicology, which deals with the structure of words. If we are watching a television program about homelessness, for example, we may here that many of the homeless are former mental patients who were released because of a policy of deinstitutionalization. An expert interviewed on the program may advocate reinstitutionalization as the only recourse for many of these people. Even if we have never heard these terms before, we understand quite effortlessly that they refer to the practices of releasing patients from hospitals for the mentally ill (deinstitutionalization) and returning them to these institutions (reinstitutionalization). We know this because we know what the word institution means.

Lexicology studies the internal structure of words and the rules of word-formation, the formation of new words from the resources of this particular language. Together with the borrowing, word-forming provides for enlarging and enriching the vocabulary of the language.

So, today we examine both word structure and word formation. We begin by identifying the minimal meaningful units of language.

1.1. Morphemes. Structural classification (free and bound), semantic classification (roots and affixes). Morphological classification of words.

In any science, one of the basic problems is to identify the minimal units, out of which more complex units are constructed. Molecules, atoms, cells - each is the minimal unit of some science.

Most people, if asked what the minimal meaningful units of language are, would have a ready answer - words. If viewed structurally, words are divisible into smaller units which are called morphemes (hunt-er-s). The morpheme is the minimum meaningful language unit. Morphemes are not independent, they occur only as parts of words, although a word may consist of a singe morpheme (love, house, red, cry).

The word is an autonomous language unit in which a particular meaning is associated with a particular sound complex and which is capable of a particular grammatical employment and able to form a sentence by itself (Arnold).

There are two basic types of words in human languages - simple and complex. Simple words are those that cannot be broken down into smaller- meaningful units while complex words can be analyzed into constituent parts, each of which expresses some meaning. While many English words consist of only one morpheme, others contain two, three and more:

1 morph. 2 3 4

and

hoy boy-s

hunt hunt-er hunt-er-s

hospital hospital-ize hospital-iz-ation hospital-iz-ation-s

gentle gentle-man gentle-man-ly gentle-man-li-ness

A major problem for morphological analysis is how to identify morphemes that make up words. In our definition of the morpheme strings of sounds match with the certain meaning. In the words

cats

dogs

judges

there is a meaning of plurality and 3 ways of pronouncing the plural morpheme -s: [s], [z], [iz]. These phonetically conditioned positional variants of the morpheme are called allomorphs. The negative prefix in- has the following allomorphs: im- (impossible), ir- (irregular), il- (illegal).

Morphemes can be classified:

a) from the semantic point of view;

b) from the structural point of view.

Semanticallv morphemes fall into two classes: roots and non-roots. The root is the lexical nucleus of a word, shared by other members of the word-family and does not admit any further analysis into ultimate constituents (work in worker, workers, working, worked).

Non-roots include inflections and affixes. Inflections are functional morphemes that serve to change the grammatical form of one and the same word (e.g. admires, roses). Affixes are further subdivided, according to their position and function, into prefixes, suffixes and infixes. They are derivational morphemes, because they form new words, (e.g. rose - rosy - rosiness).

Affixes are relevant for building various types of stems - the part of word, which remains unchanged throughout its paradigm.

Structurally morphemes can be free. bound and semi free (or semi-bound).

A free morpheme can constitute a word by itself (e.g. rain, sun, top). A bound morpheme always occurs only as a constituent part of a word (E.g. -less in topless). To bound morphemes are referred affixes and all unique and pseudo-roots (cranberry morphemes - they are neither affixes nor free morphemes and occur in extremely restricted contexts): cran- in cranbeny, huckle- in huckleberry, theor- in theory, -ceive in receive, deceive, -mil in permit, submit. Semi-bound morphemes are those that can function both as an affix and a free morpheme: morphemes well and half are bound in well-known, half-done and-free in sing well, half a page.