1.Principles of dictionary compiling.
The basic components of a dictionary: Anybody learning the foreign language knows a value of a good dictionary. We all know how useful a bilingual dictionary can be in providing a quick translation for smth when we do not know a simple concrete word which translates easily. On the other hand a good well-organized monolingual dictionary can help a lot.
Let’s begin by looking at meaning. You know that one word can have a whole range of different meanings, some of them very similar to each other and some completely different. Which definition should you choose? Well, the first way in which a dictionary can help is by listing meanings so that the most common or frequent comes first, and at least common comes last. A good dictionary will also provide example sentences for each of the different meanings; it can solve a lot of problems if you can see how a word is actually used in a sentence.
The example sentence should also help with understanding the way the word combines with other words in a sentence. For example, you can’t really use a verb unless you know that it should be followed by a gerund or an infinitive or “that” clause or whatever.
Another important thing is the use of certain prepositional after some adjectives which a dictionary will prompt to you. Besides, dictionaries give examples of common compounds and phrases which include the word you’ve looked up.
The example sentences can give you quite a lot of information about the grammar of the word you’re interested in; but it isn’t the only way in which a dictionary provides grammatical information. A dictionary will indicate to what word class a word belongs. A well-though-out will also have a system of abbreviations or symbols to tell you, for example, whether a noun is countable, whether a verb is transitive or intransitive and so on. You won’t be able to use a word correctly in a sentence unless you know the answers to such questions.
English is famous for its unpredictable spellings and a dictionary is obviously going to be very useful here. A dictionary will tell you whether this spelling is English or American. You can even find out whether a verb has irregular past tence or whether an adjective has irregular comparative form.
The phonetic alphabet is used in dictionaries to tell you about the pronunciation of a word, and a special indication will help you get the stress in the right place.
2.Types of dictionaries and ways of their usage. Dictionary is a book that contains a selected list of words arranged in alphabetical order. It explains their meanings and gives information about them. In a dictionary a person can look up a word quickly, discover what it means and learn how it is pronounced. Dictionaries may be classified as general dictionaries and special dictionaries. A general dictionary contains information on everyday words such as it and the. But it also defines many technical terms. A specialized dictionary omits most everyday terms, and limits itself to information on words used in a particular field, such as biology.
General dictionaries range in size from small pocket dictionaries to large multivolume or table dictionaries. The number of entries in general dictionary depends, on its purpose. Each dictionary is designed to answer the questions of a certain type of reader. The World Book Dictioanry is an example of a dictionary designed for family use. The largest general dictionaries may contain over 400000 entries when a dictionary has this many entries, many absolete and technical terms are included. Other general dictionaries may have from 15000 entries to 200000 entries.
Specialized dictionaries are designed to give more information in particular fields than general dictionaries can. Dictionaries of this kind can be divided into such group as:
1) Explanatory dictionaries
2) Etymological dictionaries
3) Dictionaries of synonyms
4) Phraseological dictionaries
Bilingual or translating dictionaries reresent the most ordinary, widespread type. They contain words and expressions of the native language and their foreign equivalents, or vice-versa. (the English-Russian dictionary by V. K. Miller, etc)
Explanatory dictionaries give definitions of word meanings. In fact to a certain extent they acquaint us with the history of vocabulary development. The explanations are given in the same language, so they are one-language dictionaries, as it were. For example “Webster’s New World dictionary of the American language”, Webster’s “New International dictionary of the English language” are usually considered to be the most available and popular editions. But the greatest authority, naturally, and the most comprehensive is The New English dictionary on Historical Principles.
Etymological dictionaries state the origin of words. If borrowed, the source of borrowing and the original form are given, with all the subsequent changes in meaning and usage. If the native form is given together with the history of word development parallel forms in other Germanic languages. Skeat’s Etymological dictionary is believed to be one of the most widely used.
Dictionaries of synonyms give either groups of synonyms without any explanations of difference in shades of meaning or usage, as concise dictionaries usually do, or as in full-size synonymic dictionaries, one can find lengthy definitions of every synonym that the group contains with even directions as to how to use them. The dictionary of this kind is the Webster’s dictionary of synonyms. It does not give any etymological or historical information but it supplies very detailed and extensive explanations of the subtlest shades of meaning that synonyms differ in.
Phraseological dictionaries deal with phraseological group of a certain language (“English Idioms” by W. G. Smith, “English Idioms and how to use them” by W. McMordie etc)
The best known phonetical dictionary is “An English Pronouncing Dictionary” by Jones. Among dialectal dictionaries the “Slang Dictionary” by Chatto and Windus is famous. It is also called “Ethymological, Historical and Anecdotal”.Before using a dictionary, one should become familiar with the metods, principles, and scope of the book because various dictionaries are arranged in different ways. Many American dictionaries are arranged in different ways. Many american dictionaries arrange all entries in a single alphabetical list. Others put abbreviations, geographical and biographical names, and foreign words and phrases in separate lists, usually at the end of the book. All good dictionaries today have introductory sections that explain what the book contains and how it is arranged.
3 The development of English lexicography.
The history of dictionary-making for the English language goes as far back as the Old English period where its first traces are found in the form of glosses of religious books with interlinear translation from Latin. Regular bilingual English-Latin dictionaries were already in existence in the 15th century. The unilingual dictionary is a comparatively recent type. The first unilingual English dictionary, explaining words by English equivalents, appeared in 1604. It was meant to explain difficult words occurring in books. This little volume of 120 pages explaining about 3000 words was compiled by one Robert Cawdrey, a schoolmaster. Other books followed, each longer than the preceding one. The first attempt at a dictionary including all the words of the language, not only the difficult ones, was made by Bailey who in 1721 published the first edition of his "Universal Etymological English Dictionary”. He was the first to include pronunciation and etymology. Big explanatory dictionaries were created in France and Italy before they appeared for the English language. The purpose of Dr Samuel Johnson’s famous Dictionary published in 1755 was to preserve the purity of their respective languages. S. Johnson’s Dictionary was meant to establish the English language in its classical form, to preserve it in all its glory as used by J. Dryden, A. Pope, J. Addison and their contemporaries. In conformity with the social order of his time, S. Johnson attempted to "fix” and regulate English. S. Johnson wrote that every change was undesirable, even a change for the best. When his work was accomplished, he had to admit he had been wrong "no dictionary of a living tongue can ever be perfect”. The most important innovation of S. Johnson’s Dictionary was the introduction of illustrations of the meanings of the words "by examples from the best writers", as had been done before him in the dictionary of the French Academy. S. Johnson, however, only mentioned the authors and never gave any specific references for his quotations. Pronunciation was not marked, because S. Johnson was aware of the wide variety of the English pronunciation and thought it impossible to set up a standard there; he paid attention only to those aspects of vocabulary where he believed he could improve linguistic usage. As to pronunciation, attention was turned to it somewhat later. A pronouncing dictionary that must be mentioned first was published in 1780 by Thomas Sheridan. In 1791 appeared "The Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language” by John Walker, an actor.
The Golden Age of English lexicography began in the last quarter of the 19th c when the English Philological Society started work on compiling what is now known as "The Oxford English Dictionary”, but was originally named "New English Dictionary on Historical Principles”. The purpose of this monumental work is to trace the development of English words from their form in Old English, and if they were not found in Old English, to show when they were introduced into the language, and also to show the development of each meaning and its historical relation to other meanings of the same word. The English of G. Chaucer, of the "Bible” and of W. Shakespeare is given as much attention as that of the most modern authors. The dictionary includes spellings, pronunciations and detailed etymologies. The completion of the work required more than 75 years. Dictionary-making became a sort of national enterprise. A special committee prepared a list of books to be read and assigned them to the volunteers, sending them also special standard slips for quotations. By 1881 the number of readers was 800, and they sent in many thousands of slips. The great amount of work done by these volunteers testifies to the keen interest the English take in their language. The first part of the Dictionary appeared in 1884 and the last in 1928. Later it was issued in twelve volumes and in 1933. These volumes were revised in the seventies. "The Oxford English Dictionary" prestige is enormous. It is one of the best dictionaries. The Oxford University Press published different abridged versions. "The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles” formerly appeared in two volumes, now printed on thinner paper it is bound in one volume of 2,538 pages. It differs from the complete edition in that it contains a smaller number of quotations. Words are defined and illustrated with key quotations. "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English” was first published in 1911, i.e. before the work on the main version was completed. It is not a historical dictionary but one of current usage. A still shorter form is "The Pocket Oxford Dictionary”. Another big dictionary, also created by joined effort of enthusiasts, is Joseph Wright’s "English Dialect Dictionary”. Dialects are of great importance for the historical study of the language. In the 19th century they were very pronounced though now they are almost disappearing. The Society existed till 1896 and issued 80 publications, mostly monographs. The first American dictionary of the English language was compiled by a man whose name was also Samuel Johnson. Samuel Johnson Jr., a Connecticut schoolmaster, published in 1798 a small book entitled "A School Dictionary”. This book was followed in 1800 by another dictionary by the same author, which showed already some signs of Americanisation. It was Noah Webster, universally considered to be the father of American lexicography, who emphatically broke away from English idiom, and embodied in his book the specifically American usage of his time. His great work, "The American Dictionary of the English Language", appeared in two volumes in 1828 and later sustained numerous revised and enlarged editions. In many respects N. Webster follows the lead of Dr S. Johnson (the British lexicographer). But he has also improved and corrected many of S. Johnson’s etymologies and his definitions are often more exact. N. Webster realised the importance of language for the development of a nation, and devoted his energy to giving the American English the status of an independent language, distinct from British English. At that time the idea was progressive as it helped the unification of separate states into one federation. The difference is not so great as to warrant American English the rank of a separate language, not a variant of English. The set of morphemes is the same. N. Webster’s dictionary enjoyed great popularity from its first editions. This popularity was due not only to the accuracy and clarity of definitions but also to the richness of additional information of encyclopaedic character, which had become a tradition in American lexicography. It is important to note that the name "Webster” may be attached for publicity’s sake by anyone to any dictionary. The practice of advertising by coupling N. Webster’s name to a dictionary which has no connection with him, continues up to the present day. To conclude we would like to mention that for a specialist in linguistics and a teacher of foreign languages systematic work with a good dictionary in conjunction with his reading is an absolute necessity.