The subject of Lexicology and types of Lexicology Branches of English Lexicology Connections with other branches of Linguistics

Answer the following questions:
1. What is the subject matter of Lexicology?
2. What types of Lexicology do you know?
3. What aspects of the language is Lexicology connected with?
4. What are the main features of the lexical unit?
5. What subdivisions of Lexicology do you know?
6. Name the branch of Lexicology which studies the following aspects of the vocabulary:
a) the meaning of lexical units? b) the types of set expressions?
c) the derivational patterns? d) the types of dictionaries?
e) the origin of lexical units? f) the semantic classes of words?
LEXICOGRAPHY AS A TOOL AND THE RESULT OF LEXICOLOGICAL STUDIES
Plan of the lecture:
1. History of British Lexicography
2. History of American Lexicography
3. Encyclopaedic and linguistic dictionaries
4. Classification of linguistic dictionaries.
5. Criteria for selection of lexical units
6. Problems of dictionary compiling

Lexicography is a branch of Lexicology, which deals with compiling of dictionaries.

English Lexicography as a prescriptive science began with publication in 1755 of Samuel Johnson’s “Dictionary of the English Language in which the words are deduced from their originals and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers”. The influence of this two-volume book was so great that in 1880 a Bill was thrown out of the Parliament because a word in it was not in “the Dictionary”, as S.Johnson’s dictionary was named.
S. Johnson became a linguistic legislator: he fixed the spellings of many disputed words, revised some etymologies and exhibited the vocabulary of English more fully than before. It is still referred to as “The Dictionary” and the bookstores know it under this name, just like what is meant as “The Bible” or “The Prayer Book”. It had 2500 pages and included 40 000 glosses/entries.
History of English Lexicography starts with “Epinale Glossary” from 7thcentury (Epinale is a French city where the only copy of this glossary was found). It has definitions of difficult Latin and Old English words. The first English-Latin Dictionary was compiled by a monk Galfrid from Norfolk in 1440 including translation of 10 000 English words into Latin.
There are 4 periods in English Lexicography:
1/Glossarization (description of lexicon)
2/Description of “difficult words”
3/Prescriptory (normative)
4/ Scientific (lexicon as a system – Roget’s Thesaurus)/
The most authoritative English Dictionary is “A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1858 – 1928), known as Oxford English Dictionary, including 12 volumes (in 1933 –Volume 13 with new words was issued). It comprises 414 000 lexical units, illustrated with 1 827 306 citations, selected from 6 million references, and includes words from 1150 in their historical development.
American lexicography started with publication of Samuel Jonson’s (namesake of SJ) “A School Dictionary” in 1789. Other dictionaries followed mainly describing differences in New World lexicon. The most authoritative American Dictionary Noah Webster’s “An American Dictionary of the English Language” (1806) published in 1828, including 70 000 entries. “Look up Webster” is a popular phrase in US when it comesto consulting a dictionary.
The problems of lexicography are numerous. They are:
1) the selection of items for inclusion and their arrangement;
2) the setting of the entries;
3) the selection, arrangement and definition of meanings;
4) the illustrative examples to be supplied;
5) the supplementary material.
The choice among the possible solution of these problems depends upon the type of the dictionary, the aims of the compiler and the users of the dictionaries.
All dictionaries are divided first of all into two big groups:
encyclopaedic (reference books, Who’s who book, etc.) and linguistic.
The first are thing-books, the second - word-books. The first give information about extralinguistic world, the second - all kinds of intralinguistic information.
Most famous encyclopaedias are The Encyclopaedia Britannica (24 v.), The Encyclopaedia Americana (30 v.), also Oxford Companion to English Literature.
A linguistic dictionary is a book of words in a language, usually listed alphabetically, with definitions, pronunciations, etymologies and other linguistic information or with their equivalents in another language.
Linguistic dictionaries may be divided into different categories by different criteria:
1) the nature of their word-list;
2) the information they contain;
3) the language of the explanations;
4) the intended user.
Thus, they may be:
1) General (units from various spheres) and Restricted Dictionaries (only certain part of the word-stock; Etymological D., New WW D.);
2) Explanatory and Translation Dictionary;
3) Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionary;
4) For scholarly users and students
5) For the general public, etc.
The choice of lexical units for inclusion in the prospective dictionary is one of the first problems.
At the first lecture I told you about the object of Lexicology, the lexical units Lexicology deals with, the branches of Lexicology and its connections with other linguistic sciences. So you know, that lexicology studies the word-stock of the language, which includes morphemes, words and various types of word-groups (phrases). The basic task of Lexicology is the study and systematic description of the English vocabulary in respect to its origin, development and current use. The results of the lexicological research conducted in the areas of Semasiology, Etymology, Phraseology, Word-Structure and Word-Formation are reflected in lexicographic sources, representing generalized linguistic knowledge about the vocabulary units. Lexicography is the science of dictionary-compiling, and it is closely connected with Lexicology.
They both deal with the same problems: the form, meaning, usage and origin of vocabulary units - and make use of each other’s achievements.
There are many different types of English dictionaries. The term “dictionary” is used to denote a book listing words of a language with their meanings and often with information concerning their pronunciation, usage and/or origin. First of all dictionaries may be divided into two groups : encyclopaedic and linguistic. Encyclopaedic dictionaries are thing-books and linguistic are word-books. Encyclopaedic dictionaries give information about the extra-linguistic world and deal with concepts and their relations to each other.
Linguistic dictionaries give information about vocabulary units and their linguistic properties such as pronunciation, meaning, peculiarities of usage, etc. Encyclopaedic dictionaries will never enter items like “go”, “that”, “be”, “if”, but only names of substances, plants, animals, terms of sciences, some important events in history, famous names and other extra-linguistic information. The most well-known encyclopaedias in English are The Encyclopaedia Britannica (24 volumes) and The Encyclopaedia Americana (in 30 volumes).
Besides the general encyclopaedic dictionaries there are reference books that give information in a definite field of knowledge - literature, arts, theatre, notable persons (Who’s Who dictionaries).
As concept and word-meaning are closely bound up the encyclopaedic and linguistic dictionaries often overlap. For practical purposes it is important to know that American dictionaries are characterised by including more encyclopaedic information while British lexicographers try to present maximum of words.
Linguistic dictionaries may be monolingual (unilingual) or explanatory, on the one hand, and bilingual or translation dictionaries on the other. Multilingual or polyglot dictionaries are not numerous, they serve the purpose of comparing synonyms and terminology in various languages.
Both bilingual and monolingual dictionaries can be general and special (restricted). General dictionaries contain lexical units from various spheres of life while restricted dictionaries make their choice only from a certain part of the word-stock, which is based on the aim of the compiler. To general dictionaries belong the thirteen volumes of the New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, The Shorter Oxford Dictionary on Historical Principles. Besides, their titles show that they contain information about the development of words within the written history of the language, and that is why they are etymological dictionaries. On the contrary, the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English (COD) as well as A. C.Wyld’s Universal Dictionary of the English Language are synchronic.
To restricted (or specialised) dictionaries belong terminological, phraseological, dialectal word-books, dictionaries of new words, of foreign words, of synonyms, abbreviations, etc.
Linguistic dictionaries can be divided into those which give a wide range of information especially about semantic aspect of the vocabulary and those dealing with lexical units only in relation to some of their characteristics, e.g. only in relation to their etymology, or frequency or pronunciation. These are called specialised dictionaries.
Monolingual dictionaries are often called explanatory dictionaries as it has been stated already, they may be diachronic and synchronic, or describe the words of a historical period (e.g. Anglo-Saxon Dictionary by J. Bosworth and T. N. Toiler).
Translation dictionaries (sometimes called parallel) are word-books containing vocabulary items in one language and their equivalents in another language. The most representative translation dictionary for English is New English-Russian Dictionary edited by professor I. R. Galperin. As to specialised dictionaries, they can be phraseological (an Anglo-Russian Phraseological Dictionary by professor A. V. Koonin), new words (neologisms) dictionaries (The Barnhart Dictionary of New English, of slang words (Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English by E. Partridge, The Dictionary of American Slang by A. Wentworth), reverse dictionaries (entry words are arranged starting with their final letters), etymological dictionaries - they establish the primary meanings of the present-day words, give their parent form, point out the origin of the word, the source of borrowing if it is borrowed. Besides, there are special dictionaries of synonyms, proverbs and sayings, borrowings, surnames, etc.
English lexicography is probably the richest in the world with respect to variety and scope of dictionaries. The demand for dictionaries is very great. Correct pronunciation and correct spelling are of great social importance, because the speech of the upper classes differs greatly from the speech of the lower classes. Mispronunciation shows a lack of education and “good breeding”, that is why children at school are to consult dictionaries regularly to learn the meaning, spelling and pronunciation of words. One of the duties of school teachers is to install in their pupils the “dictionary habit”. Do you remember Judy, the girl we read about in Lesson 5 in analytical reading ?She bought a dictionary of synonyms to enlarge her vocabulary.
The entries of a dictionary are usually arranged in alphabetical order. In word-formation dictionaries they may be given in nests, the first word being the root-morpheme (stem-forming morpheme) of the following lexical units.
The most important problems which a lexicographer faces are as follows:
1) the selection of lexical units;
2) the arrangement;
3) the setting of the entries;
4) the selection and arrangement (grouping) of word -meanings;
5) the definition of meanings;
6) illustrative material.
It would be a mistake to think that dictionaries can list everything in the language. In reality only a dictionary of a dead language or a certain historical period of a living language can be complete. As to living language it is not possible to present all really occurring lexical items (terminology, neologisms, new meanings, etc.). That is why the choice of lexical units for inclusion is one of the first problems the lexicographer faces.
The principles of the choice of lexical units depend on the type of the dictionary, the aim the compiler pursue, the prospective user of the dictionary , its size, the linguistic conceptions of the dictionary-maker and other reasons.
The order of arrangement is also different in different dictionaries. In most dictionaries entries are given in a single alphabetical order, in many others they are given in nests (in subentries or run-ons. Subentries are given after the main entry and include definitions and usage labels whereas run-on words are not defined as meaning is clear by their structure as they are built after productive patterns). In synonymic sets and its dominant members serves as the head-word of the entry.
One of the most difficult problems is recording the word-meanings and arrangement them in the most rational way. There are at least three different ways in which word meanings are arranged: in the sequence of their historical development (called historic order), in accordance with frequency of use that is with the most common meaning first (empirical or actual order) and in their logical connection (logical order).
Meaning of words may be defined in different ways:
1) by means of encyclopaedic definitions;
2) by means of descriptive definitions or paraphrases;
3) with the help of synonymous words and expressions;
4) by means of cross-references.
It is the descriptive definitions that are used in the majority of the dictionaries.
The number and the form of the illustrative material differs from a dictionary to a dictionary. The purpose of these examples depend on the type of the dictionary and on the aim of it. They can illustrate the first and the last known occurrences of the entry word, the successive changes in its graphic and phonetic forms and its meaning, the typical patterns and collocations, the difference between synonymous words, etc.
Since different types of dictionaries differ in their aim, size and specialisation, they differ in the setting of the entries too. The most complicated type of entry is in the explanatory dictionaries. Their entries usually give information about the following properties of the word: accepted spelling and pronunciation, grammatical characteristics; definition of meanings; modern currency; illustrative examples; sometimes also synonyms and antonyms.
One of the important problems in compiling translation dictionary is to give adequate equivalent in the target language. It is not an easy task as the semantic structure of related words in different languages never fully coincide.
To conclude the lecture I should 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 important and necessary. Much valuable material on lexicography can be found in special literature in Lexicography.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the subject matter of Lexicography?
2. How can dictionaries be classified?
3. What is the difference between encyclopedic and linguistic dictionaries?
4. What problems can we face if we decide to compile a dictionary?
5. To what type does the English-Russian dictionary by I.R.Galperin belong?
6. Why is it important to develop a ‘dictionary habit’ in language learners?