Kinds of Dictionaries

Deny A. Kwarywww.kwary.net

A Dictionary is … a systematically arranged list of

socialised linguistic forms compiled from the speech-habits of a given speech community and commented on by the author in such a way that qualified reader understands the meaning… (Zgusta 1971:17)

Typology of Dictionaries

(1) scholarly dictionaries of record;

(2) practical dictionaries for everyday use;

(3) pedagogical dictionaries;

(4) dictionaries of linguistic phenomena;

(5) special-subject dictionaries;

(6) bilingual dictionaries;

(7) onomasiological dictionaries.

(1) scholarly dictionaries of record

The 19th and 20th centuries saw an explosion of scholarly lexicographical activity.

Every language in the world that has an established literary tradition now has (or will soon have) a major dictionary.

Classic examples of great historical dictionaries are the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the Trésor de la langue française, and the Deutsches Wörterbuch.

(2) practical dictionaries for everyday use

The emphasis in practical dictionaries nowadays is often on presenting a wealth of complex facts about words in a way that is as accessible as possible for users.

Concise Oxford dictionary (1911) seems very dense and hard to use when compared with the 10th edition (1999), where a great deal of careful planning went into the page design and layout, as well as the selection of information.

(3) pedagogical dictionaries

the emphasis is either on helping the user to ‘encode’ or ‘decode’ the language.

A dictionary designed for encoding use typically has a smaller word list and many more examples of usage than one for decoding use.

Examples of pedagogical dictionaries: Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Collins Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced

Learners Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced

Learners

Some of the innovative design features of pedagogical dictionaries

The use of controlled/limited defining vocabulary in definitions

The use of corpus-driven contextual paraphrase as a defining technique

The extended use of authentic example sentences

The use of extensive (nonverbal) illustrations to support definitions

(4) dictionaries of linguistic phenomena

Typical examples of dictionaries of linguistic phenomena are Slang dictionaries.

English slang lexicography falls into three periods: 1. The ‘canting’ or criminal slang dictionaries of the

16th to the 18th centuries2. The ‘vulgar tongue’ works of the late 18th to the

mid-19th centuries, and 3. The ‘modern’ productions in the 20th and the 21st

centuries.

1. The ‘canting’ or criminal slang dictionaries of the 16th to the 18th centuries:

The hye way to the Spytell House, by Robert Copland (c. 1535). It describes the various categories of beggars and thieves, as well as their tricks and frauds.

A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew, by the anonymous B.E., Gent.[leman] (c. 1698),

2. The ‘vulgar tongue’ works of the late 18th to the mid-19th centuries: A classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue,

by the antiquary and former militia officer Captain Francis Grose (1785).

Modern slang, cant and vulgar words, latterly The slang dictionary, by Camden Hotten who was a bookseller/publisher and a cultivator of the ‘flower garden,’ books of flagellant pornography.

3. In the ‘modern’ productions in the 20th and the 21st centuries, American slang has taken over along with an explosion of US lexica. Examples: Vocabulary of criminal slang, by Jackson and

Hellyer (1914). American tramp and underworld slang, by

Godfrey Irwin (1931). Campus slang, by Connie Eble (1972). The slang and jargon of drugs and drink, by

Richard A. Spears (1986).

(5) special-subject dictionaries

Ranging from huge dictionaries of medicine and law to quite small dictionaries of particular sports or games.

Covering multifarious topics. Examples: A Dictionary of Color, by Ian Paterson; London:

Thorogood Publishing, 2004; 528 pages. Dictionary of Militery Terms, by Richard Bowyer;

London: A&C Black, 2007; 289 pages.

To be discussed further in Week 14.

(6) bilingual dictionaries

Bilingual dictionaries are typically practical tools for interlingual communication and learning, rather than scholarly studies.

Examples: Kamus Indonesia-Inggris, by John M. Echols and

Hassan Shadily, 3rd Edition, 1992. Kamus Lengkap Indonesia-Inggris, by Alan M.

Stevens and A.Ed. Schmidgall-Tellings, 2nd Edition, 2008.

To be discussed further in Week 13.

(7) onomasiological dictionaries

an onomasiological dictionary is to help the user to find the appropriate word for a particular meaning or concept.

For example: Roget’s Thesaurus, in which words are arranged in hierarchies under more general terms.

Types of Dictionarys based on the Language(s) used:

Monolingual dictionaries: For example, the entry words are in English and the definitions are also in English.

Bilingual dictionaries: For example, the entry words are in English and the definitions (or equivalents) are in Indonesian.

Semibilingual (or bilingualized) dictionaries: For example, the entry words are in English and they are provided with the definitions in English and the equivalents in Indonesian.

Multilingual (or pluralingual) dictionaries: Containing more than two languages.

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