- •Для некоммерческого использования.
- •9. Fundamentals of English Lexicography:
- •§ 1. Definition. Links with
- •§ 2. Two Approaches to Language Study
- •§ 3. Lexicology and Sociolinguistics
- •§ 4. Lexical Units
- •§ 6. Course of Modern English
- •§ 2. Meaning in the Referential Approach
- •§ 3. Functional Approach to Meaning
- •§ 4. Relation between the Two Approaches
- •§ 5. Grammatical Meaning
- •§ 6. Lexical Meaning
- •§ 7. Parf-of-Speech Meaning
- •§ 8. Denotational and Connotational Meaning
- •§ 9. Emotive Charge
- •§ 10. Sfylistic Reference
- •§ 11. Emotive Charge and Stylistic Reference
- •§ 12. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 13. Lexical Meaning
- •§ 14. Functional (Parf-of-Speech) Meaning
- •§ 15. Differential Meaning
- •§ 16. Distributional Meaning
- •§ 17. Morphological Motivation
- •§ 18. Phonetical Motivation
- •§ 19. Semantic Motivation
- •§ 20. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 21. Causes of Semantic Change
- •§ 22. Nature of Semantic Change
- •§ 23. Results of Semantic Change
- •§ 24. Interrelation of
- •§ 25. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 26. Semantic Structure of Polysemantic Words
- •§ 27. Diachronic Approach
- •§ 28. Synchronic. Approach
- •§ 29. Historical
- •§ 30. Polysemy
- •§ 31. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 32. Homonymy of Words and Homonymy of Word-Forms
- •§ 33. Classification of Homonyms
- •§ 34. Some Peculiarities of Lexico-Grammatical Homonymy
- •§ 35. Graphic and Sound-Form of Homonyms
- •§ 36. Sources of Homonymy
- •§ 37. Polysemy and Homonymy:
- •§ 38. Formal Criteria: Distribution and Spelling
- •§ 39. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 40. Polysemy and Context
- •§ 41. Lexical Context
- •§ 42. Grammatical Context
- •§ 43. Extra-Linguistic Context (Context of Situation)
- •§ 44. Common Contextual
- •§ 45. Conceptual (or Semantic) Fields
- •§ 46. Hyponymic (Hierarchical) Structures and Lexico-Semantic Groups
- •§ 47. Semantic Equivalence and Synonymy
- •§ 49. Patterns of Synonymic Sets in Modern English
- •§ 50. Semantic Contrasts and Antonymy
- •§ 51. Semantic Similarity
- •§ 52. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 1. Lexical Valency (Collocability)
- •§ 2. Grammatical Valency
- •§ 3. Distribution as the Criterion of Classification
- •§ 4. Lexical Meaning
- •§ 5. Structural Meaning
- •§ 6. Interrelation of Lexical
- •§ 7. Syntactic Structure
- •§ 8. Polysemantic and Monosemantic Patterns
- •§ 9. Motivation in Word-Groups
- •§ 10. Summary and Conclusions
- •§11. Free Word-Groups
- •§ 12. Criteria of Stability
- •§ 13. Classification
- •§ 14. Some Debatable Points
- •§ 15. Criterion of Function
- •§ 16. Phraseological Units and Idioms Proper
- •§ 17. Some Debatable Points
- •§ 18. Criterion of Context
- •§ 19. Some Debatable Points
- •§ 20. Phraseology as a Subsystem of Language
- •§ 21. Some Problems of the Diachronic Approach
- •§ 22. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 1. Segmentation of Words into Morphemes
- •§ 2. Principles of Morphemic
- •§ 3. Classification of Morphemes
- •§ 4. Procedure of Morphemic Analysis
- •§ 5. Morphemic Types of Words
- •§ 6. Derivative Structure
- •§ 7. Derivative Relations
- •§ 8. Derivational Bases
- •§ 9. Derivational Affixes
- •§ 10. Semi-Affixes
- •§ 11. Derivational Patterns
- •§ 12. Derivational Types of Words
- •§ 13. Historical Changeability of Word-Structure
- •§ 14. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 1. Various Types and Ways of Forming Words
- •§ 2. Word-Formation.
- •§ 3. Word-Formation as the Subject of Study
- •§ 4. Productivity of Word-Formation Means
- •§ 5. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 6. Definition. Degree
- •§ 7. Prefixation. Some Debatable Problems
- •§ 8. Classification of Prefixes
- •§ 9. Suffixation. Peculiarities of Some Suffixes
- •§ 10. Main Principles of Classification
- •§ 11. Polysemy and Homonymy
- •§ 12. Synonymy
- •§ 13. Productivity
- •§ 14. Origin of Derivational Affixes
- •§ 15. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 16. Definition
- •§ 17. Synchronic Approach
- •§ 18. Typical Semantic Relations
- •I. Verbs converted from nouns (denominal verbs).
- •II. Nouns converted from verbs (deverbal substantives).
- •§ 19. Basic Criteria of Semantic Derivation
- •§ 20. Diachronic Approach of Conversion. Origin
- •§ 21. Productivity.
- •§ 22. Conversion and Sound-(stress-) Interchange
- •1) Breath — to breathe
- •§ 23. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 24. Compounding
- •§ 25. Structure
- •§ 26. Meaning
- •§ 27. Structural Meaning of the Pattern
- •§ 28. The Meaning of Compounds. Motivation
- •§ 29. Classification
- •§ 30. Relations between the iCs of Compounds
- •§31. Different Parts of Speech
- •§ 32. Means of Composition
- •§ 33. Types of Bases
- •§ 34. Correlation between Compounds and Free Phrases
- •§ 35. Correlation Types of Compounds.
- •§ 36. Sources of Compounds
- •§ 37. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 1. Some Basic Assumptions
- •§ 2. Semantic Characteristics and Collocability
- •§ 3. Derivational Potential
- •§ 4. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 5. Causes and Ways of Borrowing
- •§ 6. Criteria of Borrowings
- •§ 7. Assimilation of Borrowings
- •§ 8. Phonetic, Grammatical
- •§ 9. Degree of Assimilation and Factors Determining It
- •§ 10. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 11. The Role of Native and Borrowed Elements
- •§ 12. Influence of Borrowings
- •§ 13. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 1. Notional and Form-Words
- •§ 2. Frequency, Polysemy and Structure
- •§ 3. Frequency and Stylistic Reference
- •§ 4. Frequency, Polysemy and Etymology
- •§ 5. Frequency and Semantic Structure
- •§ 6. Development of Vocabulary
- •§ 7. Structural and Semantic
- •§ 8. Productive Word-Formation
- •§ 9. Various Ways of Word-Creation
- •§ 10. Borrowing
- •§ 11. Semantic Extension
- •§ 12. Some Debatable Problems of Lexicology
- •§ 13. Intrinsic Heterogeneity of Modern English
- •§ 14. Number of Vocabulary
- •§ 15. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 1. General Characteristics
- •§ 2. Lexical Differences of Territorial Variants
- •§ 3. Some Points of History
- •§ 4. Local Dialects in the British Isles
- •§ 5. The Relationship Between
- •§ 6. Local Dialects in the usa
- •§ 7. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 1. Encyclopaedic and Linguistic Dictionaries
- •§ 2. Classification of Linguistic Dictionaries
- •§ 3. Explanatory Dictionaries
- •§ 4. Translation Dictionaries
- •§ 5. Specialised Dictionaries
- •§ 6. The Selection
- •§ 7. Arrangement of Entries
- •§ 8. Selection and Arrangement of Meanings
- •§ 9. Definition of Meanings
- •§ 10. Illustrative Examples
- •§ 11. Choice of Adequate Equivalents
- •§ 12. Setting of the Entry
- •§ 13. Structure of the Dictionary
- •§ 14. Main Characteristic
- •§ 15. Classification of Learner’s Dictionaries
- •§ 16. Selection of Entry Words
- •§ 17. Presentation of Meanings
- •§ 18. Setting of the Entry
- •§ 19. Summary and Conclusions
- •§ 1. Contrastive Analysis
- •§ 2. Statistical Analysis
- •§ 3. Immediate Constituents Analysis
- •§ 4. Distributional Analysis and Co-occurrence
- •§ 5. Transformational Analysis
- •§ 6. Componental Analysis
- •§ 7. Method of Semantic Differential
- •§ 8. Summary and Conclusions
- •I. Introduction
- •II. Semasiology
- •Meaning and Polysemy
- •Polysemy and Homonymy
- •III. Word-groups and phraseological units
- •Interdependence of Structure and Meaning in Word-Groups
- •IV. Word-structure
- •V. Word-formation
- •Various Ways of Forming Words
- •Affixation
- •Word-Composition
- •VI. Etymological survey of the english word-stock
- •Words of Native Origin
- •Borrowings
- •Interrelation between Native and Borrowed Elements
- •VII. Various aspects of vocabulary units and replenishment of modern english word-stock
- •Interdependence of Various Aspects of the Word
- •Replenishment of Modern English Vocabulary
- •Ways and Means of Enriching the Vocabulary
- •VIII. Variants and dialects of the english language The Main Variants of the English Language
- •IX. Fundamentals of english lexicography Main Types of English Dictionaries
- •Some Basic Problems of Dictionary-Compiling
- •X. Methods and procedures of lexicological analysis
§ 16. Selection of Entry Words
Compilers of learner’s dictionaries have to tackle the same cardinal problems as those of ordinary explanatory and translation dictionaries, but they often solve them in their own way, besides they have some specific policies to settle on to meet the needs of language learners to whom the book will be addressed.
The common purpose of learner’s dictionaries is to give information on what is currently accepted usage, besides most compilers seek to choose
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the lexical units that foreign learners of English are likely to need. Therefore not only are obsolete, archaic and dialectal words excluded, but” also technical and scientific terms, substandard words and phrases, etc. Colloquial and slang words as well as foreign words of common occurrence in English are included only if they are of the sort likely to be met by students either in reading or in conversation. Moreover some of the common words may be omitted if they are not often encountered in books, newspapers, etc. or heard over the radio and in conversation.
Space is further saved by omitting certain derivatives and compounds the meaning of which can be easily inferred.
Alternative spellings and pronunciations are avoided, only the more accepted forms are listed.
Various criteria have been employed in choosing words for learner’s dictionaries. In the first place the selection of words is based on the frequency principle.
Frequency value, an important characteristic of lexical units, is closely connected with their other properties. That is why the word-counts enable the compiler to choose the most important, the most frequently used words.
However many methodologists and compilers of learner’s dictionaries have a tendency to exaggerate the significance of the frequency criterion. The research done in different countries (in our country and in France, for example) has shown that the frequency tables, helpful ‘as they are in the compilation of a vocabulary minimum, do not in themselves present the vocabulary minimum. While it is indisputable that every high-frequency word is useful, it is not every useful word that is frequent (e.g. carrots, fork, stamp, etc.). Consequently frequency cannot be the only point to be considered in selecting items for learner’s dictionaries as well as for other teaching materials. It must be complemented by some other principles, such as the words’ collocability, stylistic reference, derivational ability, semantic structure, etc.1
§ 17. Presentation of Meanings
The order of arrangement of meanings followed in learner’s dictionaries is usually empiric, that is beginning with the main meaning to minor ones. Besides the following principles of arrangement are considered proper for language learners: literal uses before figurative, general uses before special, common uses before rare and easily understandable uses before difficult. Each of these principles is subject to the limitation “other things being equal” and all are subject to the principle that that arrangement is best for any word which helps the learners most.
E.g. in Hornby’s entry for commit the first meaning is ‘perform’ (a crime, foolish act, etc.) and its primary meaning ‘entrust’ is given as its second meaning.
1 In the dictionary under Prof. I. V. Rakhmanov’s direction the choice of words is based upon three main principles: 1) combinability, 2) lack of stylistic limitations, 3) semantic value, and four additional principles: 1) word-building ability, 2) polysemy, 3) syntactical valency, 4) frequency.
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But this is not always the case. For instance, the first meaning of the word revolution given by Hornby is ‘act of revolving or journeying round’ and not ‘complete change, great reversal of conditions, esp. in methods of government’, which is more common nowadays. Thus the compilers preserve the historical order of meanings in this case.
In monolingual learner’s dictionaries the same types of definitions are used, as in ordinary monolingual explanatory word-books, but their proportion is different. Encyclopaedic definitions are usually used more rarely, the role of descriptive definitions is much greater.
Compare, for instance, the definition for coal taken from the Ladder Dictionary with that from COD given above.1
coal n. a black, hard substance that burns and gives off heat.
It would be wrong to think however that the definitions in learner’s dictionaries are always less complete than in the dictionaries designed for native users. More often than not these definitions are not so condensed in form and they are more complete in content, because the compilers have to make up for the user’s possible inadequacy in command of the language and lack of knowledge of some realia.
Compare, for example the two entries for prep given below:
COD II2 (abbr prep) preparation of lessons as part of school routine;
OALD [U]3 (colloq abbr prep) (time given to) preparing lessons or writing exercises, after normal school hours (esp at GB public or grammar schools): two hours’ prep; do one’s French prep;
In learner’s dictionaries cross-references are for the most part reduced to a minimum.
Compilers of learner’s dictionaries attach great importance to the language in which the definition is couched, the goal being to word them in the simplest terms that are consistent with accuracy. Some compilers see to it that the definitions are couched in language which is commoner and more familiar to the language learner than the words defined.
Some lexicographers select a special defining vocabulary held to be the commonest words in English or those first learnt by foreigners. For example, in the International Reader’s Dictionary the word-list of 24,000 items is defined within a vocabulary of 1490 words selected by M. West.
In some learner’s dictionaries pictorial material is widely used as a means of semantisation of the words listed. Pictures cannot only define the meanings of such nouns as dike, portico, domes, columns, brushes, etc., but sometimes also of adjectives, verbs and adverbs.
E.g. in Hornby’s dictionary, the definitions of the adjective concentrated, the verb clasp and the adverb abreast are illustrated with the pictures of concentrated circles, clasped hands, and boys walking three abreast.
1 See ‘Fundamentals of English Lexicography’, § 9, p. 220.
2 The parallel bars in COD = not US.
3 U = uncountable
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