Problems of lexicography

The most important problems the lexicographer comes across in compiling dictionaries are the selection of words, the selection, arrangement and definition of meanings, differentiation of meanings, discriminating between homonyms and lexico-semantic variants, and the illustrative examples to be supplied.

Dictionaries can’t register all occasional, slangish or obsolete words. It is impossible to present all occurring technical terms because they are too numerous (e.g. there are more than 400.000 chemical terminology in English). Therefore selection in made according to the aim of the dictionary, the type of the dictionary, and the size of the dictionary.

Different types of dictionaries differ in their aim, in the information they provide and in their size. They differ in the structure and content of the entry. The most complicated type of entry is found in explanatory dictionaries. The entry of an explanatory dictionary of the synchronic type usually presents the following data: accepted spelling, pronunciation, grammatical characteristics, the indication of the part of speech, definitions of meanings, modern currency, illustrative examples, derivatives, phraseological units, etymology, synonyms, antonyms, etc.

Dictionaries by different compilers can have a different entry setting. Compare the entries from the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (Screenshot 2) and the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (Screenshot 3).

Screenshot 2.

Screenshot 3.

There are two modes of presentation of entries: the alphabetical order and the cluster type.

The dictionary entries organized in the alphabetical order can be structured in two ways (see Table 11 below); word by word method takes into account the blank space, and letter by letter method doesn’t take into account the blank space).

The dictionary entry organized in the cluster type arranges the entered units in nests, based on this or that principle. For example, in dictionaries of synonyms words are arranged in synonymic sets and its dominant member serves as the head-word of the entry.

Table 11.

Word meanings can be arranged in the historical order like in the New English Dictionary, according to their frequency of use like in the Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary or in the logical order like in P. M. Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.

Meanings of words can be defined in the following ways: 1) by means of linguistic definitions that are only concerned with words as speech material (they are used in the majority of entries); 2) by means of encyclopedic definitions that are concerned with things for which the words are names; 3) by means of synonymous words and expressions for adjectives and verbs mostly; 4) by means of cross-references for derivatives, abbreviations and variant forms.

The illustrative material varies from dictionary to dictionary depending on its aim and type. Illustrative examples can be drawn from classical literature or contemporary media sources. For example, in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English illustrative examples are based on the Longman Citation Corpus which includes the recent citations from American and British newspapers. To give an idea of the time when the word occurs some dictionaries indicate the author, the work, the page, verse, or line.