Contents: 2 introduction

2.3. Dictionary compilation as one of the difficult issues of modern English lexicology.
Some experts believe that lexicography is not just a technique, not just a practical activity in compiling dictionaries, and not even an art, but an independent scientific discipline that has its own subject of study, its scientific and methodological principles, its own theoretical problems, its place among others. language sciences.
For the first time, this point of view on lexicography was clearly expressed by the famous Soviet linguist Academician L.V. Shcherba. In the preface to the Russian-French Dictionary (1936), he wrote: “I consider it extremely wrong that our qualified linguists have a disdainful attitude towards dictionary work, thanks to which almost none of them have ever done it (in the old days it was done for pennies by random amateurs , who had absolutely no special training) and thanks to which she received such an absurd name "compilation" of dictionaries. Indeed, our linguists, and even more so our "compilers" of dictionaries overlooked that this work should have a scientific character and in no way consist in a mechanical comparison of some ready-made elements" [Shcherba, 1974, p.35].
Developing the provisions put forward in 1936, L.V. Shcherba published an article in 1940 (which later became widely known abroad), in which he began to develop the main theoretical questions of lexicography using a large amount of factual material. The researcher planned to write several articles (etudes, as he called them) on the general theory of lexicography, in which he intended to discuss such important problems as the main types of dictionaries, the nature of the word, the meaning and use of the word, the construction of a dictionary entry in connection with semantic, grammatical and stylistic analysis of the word, etc. However, premature death prevented the implementation of this plan. L.V. Shcherba wrote only the first etude "Basic types of dictionaries", which began with the following now well-known statement: "One of the first questions of lexicography is, of course, question about different types of dictionaries. It is based on a number of theoretical oppositions that need to be revealed." Since then, the thesis that lexicography is not only the practice of compiling dictionaries, but also a theoretical scientific discipline, has firmly entered a number of starting positions of the Russian lexicographic school.
What is science in general? What are its most important features? The main and most important features of science, any scientific discipline are the following:
the presence of a knowledge system;
The need for their objective research.
These two essential features are interconnected, closely intertwined, because only then can a system of knowledge adequate to reality be built when this reality is objectively studied. As applied to lexicography, it looks like this.
If we accept the thesis that lexicography is an art, then the doors open to a subjective understanding of the tasks and subject of lexicography, techniques and methods of its study, and a subjective solution of its problems. It is unlikely that such an approach will be fruitful and certainly not scientifically objective. If we accept the thesis that lexicography is just a technique for compiling dictionaries, a kind of purely practical activity, then we will have to transfer to other sciences (lexicology, semantics, stylistics, etymology, etc.) the solution of all theoretical issues, and lexicography will have to use only ready-made solutions of these sciences. It is unlikely that this will be fruitful, because other sciences of the language are not familiar enough with the state of affairs in lexicography. They, therefore, will solve questions of lexicography from their own positions, from their own points of view, and therefore detrimental to lexicography. Thus, the thesis that lexicography is a science is the only correct and most fruitful one. From this it follows that lexicography as a science has its own subject of study, its own special research methods, its structure, its place among other linguistic disciplines .
Like any science, lexicography has two sides: scientific-theoretical and practical-applied. The first one (theoretical lexicography) poses general theoretical problems and works on their solution. The second (practical lexicography) deals directly with the compilation of dictionaries of various types based on theoretical solutions to the main problems. Of course, the division of lexicography into two parts is highly arbitrary. These two aspects of lexicography always go together, they are interconnected: a theoretical lexicographer cannot engage in naked theorizing without working on specific material, without participating in some kind of practical lexicographic work; and, conversely, no practical lexicographer can immerse himself only in his purely empirical work, without knowing the latest problems of lexicography as a science. Nevertheless,
Being part of the science of language, lexicography is closely related to such linguistic disciplines as lexicology, semantics, stylistics, etymology, phonology, etc. With these disciplines, lexicography has a common problem. Sometimes she uses the results of their research, and often ahead of them in solving some problems. Thus, gradually, step by step, lexicography takes shape as an independent linguistic discipline, becoming equal among other linguistic sciences.
English lexicography has a long history. Its origins date back to the 6th-8th centuries, the era of the spread of Christianity in England, when Latin was the international language of all Western Europe. Latin throughout the Middle Ages remained a means of interethnic communication, a means of creating written monuments and one of the main academic disciplines in schools that were entirely in the hands of the church .
Wishing to facilitate the reading of biblical texts, the monks wrote Anglo-Saxon equivalents over incomprehensible Latin words. This is how glosses were created. The purpose of such explanations was to reveal the meanings of obscure or difficult-to-remember words. Over time, lists of glosses began to be created, which were called glossaries, i.e. lists of Latin words with Anglo-Saxon equivalents - translations or simpler Latin words. Sometimes, in order to memorize Latin words, a list of English words was first compiled, and then Latin equivalents were looked for for them.
The creation of such glossaries became a necessity. They made available to wider circles of the clergy both religious treatises and scientific literature in Latin. According to M. Matyoz, by the 8th century. in English lexicographic practice, a special type of reference book has been formed that semantizes difficult foreign-language lexemes by means of the same or native language - monolingual and bilingual glossaries. The order of presentation of lexemes in glossaries varied in three ways: lexical units could be arranged in the order of their appearance in the manuscript, which was subjected to interlinear writing; words could be ordered alphabetically ("Leiden Glossary", "Epinal Glossary", "Corpus Glossary") and, finally, the order of tokens could be thematic ("Abbot Aelfric Glossary").
Early thematic glossaries, as noted by I.A. Vorontsova, do not yet claim the title of thematic dictionaries (thesauri), but are their prototypes, grouping vocabulary according to the extralinguistic principle, and being intended for mastering thematic groups of foreign (Latin) words [Vorontsova, 2002, p.79]. It was the educational goals - to explain and help to learn difficult foreign words and teach them a certain thematic set - that guided and developed English thesaurus lexicography in the period of its inception.
Gradually, with the ubiquity of the Latin language in the medieval European civilization, due to the need to read scientific, church and other books in this language, the compilers of ancient glossaries faced a more responsible task. It became necessary not only to explain certain difficult Latin words in manuscripts, but to give English translations to as many Latin words as possible. Certain lexicographic techniques developed in compiling glossaries prepared the next stage in the development of vocabulary in England - the compilation of more deeply thought out and skillfully executed Latin-English and Anglo-Latin glossaries.
The main features of the first lexicographic publications compared to glossaries were, firstly, complete independence, since when compiling a dictionary, the lexicographer made a selection from many texts and focused on the word as a unit of language, not speech. Second, the pairs of equivalents are organized alphabetically.
In the middle of the 15th century, the "Medulla Gramatice" appears - the first Latin-English dictionary, which later became the source for the "Ortus Vocabulorum". In the history of English lexicography "Ortus Vocabulorum" is famous for being the first printed dictionary [Stupin, 1985, p.55].
A big event is the publication in 1440 of the dictionary "Promptorium Parvulorum" - "Pantry (of words) for children." It is actually a prototype of modern bilingual dictionaries. It already notes the polysemy of words, which favorably distinguishes this dictionary from previous glossaries .
As noted by V.G. So, the fact of the existence of early educational lexicography is confirmed by the fact that even the names of many dictionaries contain an indication of their educational orientation, intended for students. French-Latin dictionaries published in France were called "Commentarius puerorum" "Explanations for youth", "Dictionariolum puerorum" "A small dictionary for youth", "Seminarium et planetarium fructiferarum" "Hotbed (of knowledge) for those who can bear fruit".
During the XV-XVI centuries. translated (bilingual and multilingual) dictionaries were published, which were initially close to bilingual glossaries. They were widely used in schools as reference books on the vocabulary of English and Latin.
The next stage in the development of English lexicography is characterized by the fact that the Latin language - as the language of international communication in Western Europe - begins to lose its influence. Translation dictionaries of new Western European languages ​​appear. The Renaissance, the intensive growth of trade, economic and cultural ties between countries - all this required the creation of translation dictionaries of new European languages ​.
John Palsgrave's Anglo-French Dictionary, published in 1530, was one of the first such dictionaries. It is an appendix to the French textbook, which indicates its educational orientation.
Then a series of other dictionaries was published: J. Baret "Alvearic or Triple Dictionary, English, Latin, French" (1573), R. Percyvall "Bibliotheca Hispanica" (1591), C Hollyband "A Dictionary of the French and English Tongues" (1593 ), J. Florio "Dictionary in Italian and English or World of Words" (1598), R. Cotgrave "A Dictionary of the French and English Tongues" (1611) and others [Stupin, 1985, p.58].
Thus, in the XVI century. The English lexicographic tradition of compiling bilingual and multilingual dictionaries was aimed at helping the reader master a foreign language.
By the end of the XVI - beginning of the XVII centuries. there was an urgent need to explain some of the English words themselves, the so-called hard words. The difficult words of that time are, as L.P. Stupin, firstly, numerous borrowings from Latin and Greek into English, especially into written language; secondly, obsolete Anglo-Saxon words, the use of which became extremely fashionable for writers, poets and scientists of that time; and, thirdly, numerous borrowings from new Western European languages ​​.
The average reader, who did not have sufficient education, could not cope with such a huge flow of borrowings without the help of a special reference book.
Dictionaries of difficult words began to appear. A distinctive feature of such dictionaries was that not all were interpreted there, but only difficult, incomprehensible words for the average reader. Simple everyday words, as a rule, were not included in these reference books. For the first time, neologisms began to be included in the dictionaries of difficult words. In the future, the development of dictionaries of new words went along the line of accumulating the language experience of national lexicography, which always reflected the latest achievements of linguistic science.
The emergence of the theory of lexicography of a new word, which originated in the 20th century, according to E.V. Yumshanova, were preceded by the works of scientists of early generations. Among them, the researcher singles out the works of R. Codri, D. Bullocar, and G. Cockeram .
The first lexicographical work of hard words was Robert Codrey's "A Table Alphabetical, containing and teaching the true writing and understanding of hard English words, borrowed from Hebrew, Latin or French, etc." London, 1604. The title itself reveals the purpose of the guide - to give a definition of the meaning of difficult words and their correct spelling. This lexicographic principle, taken as the basis of this handbook, testifies to its educational orientation.
The first edition of R. Codri's dictionary contained 2500 difficult words. Subsequently, it was published four more times, but the content of the dictionary remained practically unchanged. Each headword had either a definition or a synonym: Abandon, cast away, oryeclde up, to leave, or forsake Abash, blush Abba, father Barrester, one allowed to give counsel, or to plcde.
Following R. Codri, all subsequent compilers of dictionaries, having borrowed everything they could from him - from the title page to the lexicographic development of the word in dictionary entries - publish a series of dictionaries, making only minor changes and amendments to them. On the title pages, all compilers claim that their dictionary is the most complete and contains all the difficult words borrowed from Latin, Greek, French, Italian and other languages, with explanations in English.
John Bullocar's An English Expositor (1612) is the first attempt to define the scope of the term. As for the principles of word selection, here the author cites, in addition to borrowings from other languages, obsolete words (older words, now growne out of use), which are marked with an "*". J. Bullocar tried to show the chronological boundaries of the vocabulary of the dictionary of the modern English language. Compared with R. Codry's dictionary, this reference book was twice as large in volume - 6000 input units.
Dictionary G. Cockeram "The English Dictionary or An Enterpreter of Hard Words" (1626) was the first to be called "Dictionary", and in the future this is how most English dictionaries will be called. In terms of volume, this dictionary was almost the same as that of J. Bullocar. Its distinctive feature was that it consisted of three parts: the first contained difficult words with the definition of their meanings in a "simple" language; the second part contained at first "simple", ordinary words, which the author explained with "difficult", less everyday words. This part of the dictionary, as conceived by the compiler, was intended to teach the uninitiated the scientific language. The author seeks to teach the reader to use only "the most refined words" in speech. All "simple", "vulgar"
Thus, if the first part of G. Cockeram's dictionary is an ordinary lexicographic reference book on "difficult" words, then the second part is a manual on mastering an "elegant language". This shows the idea of ​​the dictionary as an example of a "correct", "pure" and "elegant" norm. In the future, this idea will become extremely widespread both in English and throughout the world lexicography. As L.P. Stupin, the second part of the dictionary was the forerunner of numerous dictionaries promoting one and only one "correct" norm .
It is G. Cockeram's dictionary, thanks to its second part, according to the just remark of V.V. Postnikova, became the first prototype of word usage dictionaries, since it was intended to reveal exemplary norms of the literary language.