Practical Lexicography - Book Report/Review Example

Practical Lexicography (1993 Principles and methods of dictionary making. [209 pages] A book review. Bo Svensen , John Sykes and KirstenSchofield (Translators) Svensen, born 1941, Stockholm, studied Latin, Greek and French in Stockholm University. Primary degree, Latin, 1967. PhD. Stockholm, 1998. Editor of university textbooks 1967-76. Editor, Esselte Studium Dictionary Dept., 1976-78, Managing editor 1978-83. Terminologist, Swedish Centre for Technical Terminology, 1983-88. Private Secretary, Swedish Academy from 1988. Publications on lexicography and co-author of several dictionaries. Practical Lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. Theoretical lexicography is the scholarly discipline of analyzing and describing the semantic relationships within the lexicon or vocabulary of a language and developing theories of dictionary components and structures and linking the data in dictionaries. This is referred to as metalexicography. A person, devoted to lexicography is called a lexicographer. Dr Johnson in his Dictionary of the English Language (1757), [1, Dr Johnson 1757] defined a writer of dictionaries as 'a harmless drudge that busies him in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.' General lexicography focuses on the design, compilation, use and evaluation of general dictionaries, i.e. dictionaries providing a description of language in general daily use, this is called a general or LGP dictionary. Specialized lexicography focuses on compiling and evaluating specialized dictionaries containing restricted linguistic and factual elements, a good example is a legal lexicography, this is called a specialized or LSP dictionary. Practical Lexicography is the first book to provide a full and readable account of how dictionaries are made, it is both a general introduction to lexicography and a systematic guide to lexicographic methods. Included are sections on the treatment of pronunciation, inflection, constructions, collocations and idioms; the structure of entries and their arrangement in a dictionary; the planning, execution, and monitoring of a dictionary making project. Practical Lexicography demonstrates how both one-language and two- language dictionaries are constructed, how materials are selected, arranged and explained and how computers have revolutionised the construction of dictionaries. Bo Svensen [2, Svensen 1987] deals with theoretical innovation and linguistic scholarship required for compiling dictionaries. Svensen carefully designs methods to overcome the theoretical obstructions faced by the lexicographers and introduce some scientific rigours for scientific dictionary compilation. Svensen is a classical scholar, dictionary editor, terminologist and a Swedish academic official and correctly outlines that lexicography is highly stressful teamwork requiring efficient planning and administration. This work must be regulated in a detailed style manual in order to guide the selection and categorising of material for inclusion in the dictionary. The most important consideration is to determine if lexicography is an applied linguistic discipline. The author is concerned with what dictionary users demand from their dictionaries as well as what dictionaries demand from their users - two important requirements for further detailed discussion. Svensen's work on creating dictionaries has been widely replicated, however Svensen was most original in delineating the essential requirements for dictionary users in Chapter 14. Dictionary users: Groups: by age; occupation and level of knowledge Tourists; Pupils; Students; Translators; Secretaries; Journalists and Politicians Linguistic activity and the information categorisation process: listen and read (passive), decode, speak and write, encode actively; native language, explain in native language. Monolingual dictionary Monolingual dictionary Bilingual dictionary in native language not in native language from a foreign language Meaning Meaning Meaning Grammar Grammar Grammar Pronunciation Synonyms Use in context Usage in notes Pronunciation Spelling Spelling Language variety Pronunciation Etymology Etymology Etymology Svensen [3, Svensen 1993] focuses on the methods and techniques for compiling a dictionary; the evaluation of dictionaries currently available and assessing the reference role of dictionaries for the end user. This book will have a lasting impact on new generations of professional lexicographers. Academics lecturing on lexicography will benefit from regular reference to this guidebook. Johnson's Dictionary (1757) was less than perfect. Drawbacks included registration of obsolete words, coverage of word families, dating and marking of vocabulary, treatment of word meanings, distinction of synonyms, use of quotations from suitable sources and criteria for inclusion or exclusion of words in a dictionary. When the first Oxford English Dictionary was produced under the editorship of James Murray it diverged from Trench's original guidelines. Essential elements of a dictionary, [4, Listserv]: Aspects, a piece of information about a topic, for example a grammatical aspect; Organizing the components of the dictionary; Choosing the appropriate structures for presenting the data in the dictionary; Selecting words, a glossary appears at the end of a book and includes newly introduced or uncommon terms in the dictionary; Choosing lemma [5, Wikipedia], (noun, a special topic, for example mathematics) forms for each word; Defining words, a vocabulary is a set of words which are part of a specific language;. Organizing definitions; Specifying pronunciations of words; Labelling definitions and pronunciations for register and dialect where appropriate; Capacity, determines the amount of words a language user assimilates, a lexeme is defined as a dictionary entry. In summary, Bo Svensen wrote his first book, A Handbook of Lexicography in 1987 which was rapidly adopted as a ready reference work for aspiring lexicographers. Bo Svensen, a Swedish Classical Scholar and terminologist wrote Practical Lexicography, Principles and methods of dictionary making, in 1993. This book was innovative in that he overcame the theoretical and linguistic convolutions of creating a dictionary and set out guidelines for the efficient planning and administration of the content of a dictionary. Svensen's book is a well recognised guideline for modern lexicographers. Svensen's speciality is in compiling scientific dictionaries, fortunately, his guidelines are readily adapted to the compilation of general dictionaries. References: 1. Dictionary of the English Language, Dr Samuel Johnson (1755) 2. Svensen, Bo. 1987. Handbook I Lexicografi, Stockholm: Norstedts Tryckeri 3. Svensen, Bo 1993. Practical Lexicography. Oxford: Oxford University Press 4. http://listserv.linguistic.org/cgi/waA2=ind0507b8 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lexicography Read More