Encyclopedic Learners Dictionaries

This book describes and evaluates the usefulness of a recently developed lexicographical hybrid: the encyclopedic learner's dictionary (ELD). It attemps to answer three key questions: i) What are ELDs?, ii) How useful are they?, and iii) How can they be designed to serve their users most effectively? The first chapter analyses the ELD from a typological perspective. First, the elements combined to create this new branch of lexicographical typology are examined. Next, two encyclopedic learners' dictionaries are dissected and compared: The "Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture" and the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic Dictionary". Each ELD is compared with its non-encyclopedic parent dictionary, and a checklist of ELD-specific design features is drawn up. The second chapter focuses on the user perspective in lexicographical research. First, a critical survey of previous user-based studies is provided. Next, the questionnaire-based methodology used in the investigation is described. Fourty informants completed the questionnaire and an attempt is made to correlate user characteristics with dictionary use and with attitudes towards the inclusion of encyclopedic information in learners' dictionaries. In the third chapter each design feature found in the ELDs is described in depth and the informants' evaluations of its usefulness are supplied. In this manner, the typological focus of the first chapter and the user perspective of the second chapter are synthesized in a user-informed analysis and evaluation of ELD components. Finally, the implications of this research for the future production of ELDs are presented as a checklist of recommendations, and suggestions for future lexicographical research are made.

This volume undertakes a detailed analysis of the latest generation of learners' dictionaries of English. It assembles the papers delivered at the eponymous symposium held at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg in April 1997. There are a number of reasons why these dictionaries are of special lexicographic interest: 1. the type of learners' dictionary associated notably with the name of Hornby can look back on a long tradition in British lexicography; 2. competition between various publishers since the late 70s has given crucial impetus to the development of these dictionaries; 3. these new dictionaries are decisively marked by the evaluation of large-scale computer corpora. Central to the volume is the in-depth comparison of four dictionaries published in 1995: OALD5, LDOCE3, COBUILD2, CIDE. The aim is to exemplify specific differences of approach in the four dictionaries from a wide range of viewpoints (definitions, information on valency and collocations, policy on usage examples, political correctness, etc.). A number of articles also enlarge on the history of learners' dictionaries of English, the significance of corpus linguistics for lexicography, and perspectives for the future, notably in connection with the electronic media.

This is the first history of dictionaries of English for foreign learners, from their beginnings in Japan and East Asia in the 1920s to the present day. Anthony Cowie describes the evolution of the major titles, and their fight for dominance of what soon became an enormous market. He shows how developments in lexical and grammatical theory crucially affected the content and structure of ELT dictionaries.

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2 (B), Bielefeld University (FB Anglistics), course: GK Linguistik 1b How to Make a Dictionary, 15 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: There is a vast amount of different dictionaries available for users of the English language. All these dictionaries share the aspect that they provide information about English words and items, but they are also very different and need to be distinguished from each other. One may need a dictionary in one case and the same dictionary may be absolutely useless when one tries to solve another problem. “Monolingual learners’, general monolingual, and bilingual dictionaries present a problem: in spite of what may be advertised on the outside cover of these texts, no single dictionary can adequately serve all users. A variety of dictionaries is required to suit the backgrounds, needs, and expectations of individual language learners” (BATTENBURG 24). So different users and different questions require different dictionaries. One needs to know where to find the information asked for in a particular case, and one certainly needs more than one dictionary for different aspects of the English language. To avoid getting lost here, it is necessary to distinguish between the different types of dictionaries that exist. This report provides some suggestions for distinction, amongst other things established through empiric research. First, an outline of the different types of dictionaries is given, including general dictionaries (monolingual, bilingual), learner’s dictionaries, historical dictionaries and encyclopedias. Moreover, the typical structure of an entry in a dictionary is explained, because the dictionary entries examined later are mainly checked according to these parts of an entry; it is looked what parts they in- or exclude and how the parts are realized. After the theoretical part, the empiric research is documented. Five dictionaries (monolingual American and British, bilingual English-German, learner’s dictionary, historical dictionary) and one encyclopedia are compared in the way that three different items (general, encyclopedic, and regional) are looked up and the entries are compared in order to find differences and in this way get a guideline how and when to consult what dictionary.

Lexicographica. Series Maior features monographs and edited volumes on the topics of lexicography and meta-lexicography. Works from the broader domain of lexicology are also included, provided they strengthen the theoretical, methodological and empirical basis of lexicography and meta-lexicography. The almost 150 books published in the series since its founding in 1984 clearly reflect the main themes and developments of the field. The publications focus on aspects of lexicography such as micro- and macrostructure, typology, history of the discipline, and application-oriented lexicographical documentation.