IX.

Fundamentals of English Lexicography

Lexicography, the science, of dictionary-compiling, is closely connected with lexicology, both dealing with the same
problems — the form, meaning, usage and origin of vocabulary units — and making use of each other’s achievements.
On the one hand, the enormous raw material collected in dictionaries is widely used by linguists in their research. On the
other hand, the principles of dictionary-making are always based on linguistic fundamentals, and each individual entry is
made up in accordance with the current knowledge and findings of scholars in the various fields of language study. The
compiler’s approach to various lexicological problems (such as homonymy, phraseological units, etc.) always finds reflection
in the selection and arrangement of the material.
MAIN TYPES OF ENGLISH DICTIONARIES
§ 1. Encyclopaedic and Linguistic Dictionaries
There are many different types of English dictionaries. First of all they may all be roughly divided into two groups —
e n c y c l o p a e d i c and l i n g u i s t i c .
The two groups of reference books differ essentially in the choice of items included and in the sort of information given
about them. Linguistic d i c t i o n a r i e s are wоrd-books, their subject’ matter is lexical units and their linguistic
properties such as pronunciation, meaning, peculiarities of use, etc. T h e e n c y c l o p a e d i c d i c t i o n a r i e s , the
biggest of which are sometimes called simply encyclopaedias are t h i n g - books, that give information about the extra-
linguistic world, they deal with concepts (objects and phenomena), their relations to other objects and phenomena, etc.
It follows that the encyclopaedic dictionaries will never enter items like father, go, that, be, if, black, but only those of
designative character, such as names for substances, diseases, plants and animals, institutions, terms of science, some
important events in history and also geographical and biographical entries.
Although some of the items included in encyclopaedic and linguistic dictionaries coincide, such as the names of some
diseases, the information presented in them is altogether different. The former give much more extensive information on these
subjects. For example, the entry influenza in a linguistic dictionary presents the word’s spelling and pronunciation, grammar
characteristics, synonyms, etc. In an encyclopaedia the entry influenza discloses the causes, symptoms, characteristics and
varieties of this disease, various treatments of and remedies for it, ways of infection, etc.
Though, strictly speaking, it is with linguistic dictionaries that lexicology is closely connected and in our further
consideration we shall be concerned with this type of reference books only, it may be useful for students of English to know
that the most well-known encyclopaedias in English are The Encyclopaedia Britannica (in 24 volumes) and The Encyclopedia
Americana (in 30 volumes). Very popular in Great Britain and the USA are also Collier’s Encyclopedia (in 24 vols) intended
for students and school teachers, Chamber’s Encyclopaedia (in 15 vols) which is a family type reference book, and
Everyman’s Encyclopaedia (in 12 vols) designed for all-round use.
Besides the general encyclopaedic dictionaries there are reference books that are confined to definite fields of knowledge,
such as The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Oxford Companion to Theatre, Cassell's Encyclopaedia of World
Literature, etc.
There are also numerous ‘dictionaries presenting information about notable persons (scientists, writers, kings, presidents,
etc.) often called Who’s Who dictionaries.
As concept and word-meaning are closely bound up the encyclopaedic and linguistic dictionaries often overlap.
Encyclopaedias sometimes indicate the origin of the word, which belongs to the domain of linguistics. On the other hand,
there are elements of encyclopaedic character in many linguistic dictionaries. Some of these are unavoidable. With terms, for
instance, a lexicographic definition of meaning will not differ greatly from a short logical definition of the respective concept
in encyclopaedic dictionaries. Some dictionary-compilers include in their word-lists such elements of purely encyclopaedic
nature as names of famous people together with their birth and death dates or the names of major cities and towns, giving not
only their correct spelling and pronunciation, but also a brief description of their population, location, etc.
For practical purposes it is important to know that American dictionaries are characterised by encyclopaedic inclusion of
scientific, technical, geographical and bibliographical items whereas it is common practice with British lexicographers to
exclude from their dictionaries information of this kind to devote maximum space to the linguistic properties of words.

§ 2. Classification of Linguistic Dictionaries

Thus 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 (or other
languages).
Linguistic dictionaries may be divided into different categories by different criteria. According to the nature of their word-
list we may speak about g e n e r a l d i с t i о n a r i e s , on the one hand, and restriсted, on the other. The terms
g e n e r a l and r e s t r i c t e d do not refer to the size of the dictionary or to the number of items listed. What is meant is
that the former contain lexical units in ordinary use with this or that proportion of items from various spheres of life, while the
latter make their choice only from a certain part of the word-stock, the restriction being based on any principle determined by
the compiler. To r e s t r i c t e d d i c t i o n a r i e s belong terminological, phraseological, dialectal word-books,
dictionaries of new words, of foreign words, of abbreviations, etc.
As to the information they provide all linguistic dictionaries fall into those presenting a wide range of data, especially with
regard to the ’semantic aspect of the vocabulary items entered (they are called explanatory) 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 termed specialised dictionaries.
Dictionaries with the same nature of word-lists may differ widely in the kind of information they afford, and the other way
round, dictionaries providing data of similar nature may have a different kind of word-list. For example, dictionaries of
u n r e s t r i c t e d word-lists may be quite different in the type of information they contain (explanatory, pronouncing,
etymological, ideographic, etc.), terminological dictionaries can also be explanatory, parallel, ideographic, presenting the
frequency value of the items entered, etc. On the other hand, translation dictionaries may be general in their word-list, or
terminological, phraseological, etc. Frequency dictionaries may have general and terminological word-lists.
All types of dictionaries, save the translation ones, may be m о n o l i n g u a l or b i l i n g u a l , i.e. the
information about the items entered may be given in the same language or in another one.
Care should be taken not to mix up the terms m o n o l i n g u a l and e x p l a n a t o r y , on the one hand, and
b i l i n g u a l and t r a n s l a t i o n dictionaries on the other. The two pairs of terms reflect different dimensions of
dictionaries. The terms m o n o l i n g u a l and b i l i n g u a l * pertain to the language in which the information about
the words dealt with is couched. The terms e x p l a n a t o r y and t r a n s l a t i o n dictionaries characterise the kind
of information itself.
Thus among dictionaries of th3 same type, say phraseological or terminological, we may find both monolingual and
bilingual word-books. For example, Kluge’s Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache is bilingual, but it is not its
purpose to supply translation of the items entered.
It is important to realise that no dictionary, even the most general one, can be a general-purpose word-book, each one
pursues a certain aim, each is designed for a certain set of users. Therefore the selection of material and its presentation, the
language in which it is couched depend very much upon the supposed users, i.e. whether the dictionary is planned to serve
scholarly users or students or the general public.
Thus to characterise a dictionary one must qualify it at least from the four angles mentioned above: 1) the nature of the
word-list, 2) the information supplied, 3) the language of the explanations, 4) the prospective user.
Below we shall give a brief survey of the most important types of English dictionaries, both published in English-speaking
countries and at home. We shall first dwell on the dictionaries that are u n r e s t r i с t - e d in their word-lists and general in
the information they contain, — on explanatory and translation dictionaries, — presented by the greatest number of word-
books, then deal with word-books of restricted word-lists and with specialised dictionaries and after that with a special group
of reference books, the so-called learner's dictionaries.

§ 3. Explanatory Dictionaries
Out of the great abundance of linguistic dictionaries of the English language a large group is made up of the so-called
e x p l a n a t o r y d i c t i o n a r i e s , 1 big and small, compiled in English-speaking countries. These dictionaries provide
information on all aspects of the lexical units entered: graphical, phonetical, grammatical, semantic, stylistic, etymological,
etc.
Most of these dictionaries deal with the form, usage and meaning of lexical units in Modern English, regarding it as a
stabilised system and taking no account of its past development. They are synchronic in their presentation of words as distinct
from diachronic, those concerned with the development of words occurring within the written history of the language. For
instance, the New English Dictionary on Historical Principles commonly abbreviated in NED and its abridgement The
Shorter Oxford Dictionary on Historical Principles (SOD) coyer the history of the English vocabulary from the days of King
Alfred down to the present time; they are diachronic, whereas another abridgement of the NED — the Concise Oxford
Dictionary of Current English (COD) as well as H. C. Wyld's Universal Dictionary of the English Language are synchronic.
Other series of authoritative synchronic explanatory dictionaries are Webster dictionaries, the Funk and Wagnalls (or
Standard) dictionaries and the Century dictionaries.
It should be noted that brief remarks of historical and etymological nature inserted in dictionaries like the COD do not
make them diachronic. Moreover, dictionaries of a separate historical period, such as Anglo-Saxon Dictionary by J. Bosworth
and T. N. Toller, Stratmann's Middle English Dictionary by H. Bradley, which are sometimes called historical, cannot be
strictly speaking referred to diachronic wordbooks. They do not trace the evolution of the language, but study a synchronic
c r o s s - s e c t i o n , i.e. the words of a historical period are regarded from a synchronic angle.

§ 4. Translation Dictionaries
T r a n s l a t i o n d i c t i o n a r i e s (sometimes also called parallel) are wordbooks containing vocabulary items in
one language and their equivalents in another language. Many English-Russian and Russian-English dictionaries have been
made in our country to meet the demands of language students and those who use English in their work. The most
representative translation dictionaries for English are the New English-Russian Dictionary edited by Prof. I. R. Galperin, the
English-Russian Dictionary by Prof. V. K. Müller and The Russian-English Dictionary under prof. A. I. Smirnitsky's general
direction.
1
It is common practice to call such word-books English-English dictionaries. But this label cannot be accepted as a term for it only points out that the
English words treated are explained in the same language, which is typical not only of this type of dictionaries (cf. synonym-books).

§ 5. Specialised Dictionaries
P h r a s e o l o g i c a l d i c t i o n a r i e s in England and America have accumulated vast collections of idiomatic or
colloquial phrases, proverbs and other, usually image-bearing word-groups with profuse illustrations. But the compilers’
approach is in most cases purely empiric. By phraseology many of them mean all forms of linguistic anomalies which
transgress the laws of grammar or logic and which are approved by usage. Therefore alongside set-phrases they enter free
phrases and even separate words. 1 The choice of items is arbitrary, based on intuition and not on any objective criteria.
Different meanings of polysemantic units are not singled out, homonyms are not discriminated, no variant phrases are listed.
 An Anglo-Russian Phraseological Dictionary by A. V. Koonin published in our country has many advantages over the
reference books published abroad and can be considered the first dictionary of English phraseology proper. To ensure the
highest possible cognitive value and quick finding of necessary phrases the dictionary enters phrase variants and structural
synonyms, distinguishes between polysemantic and homonymic phrases, shows word- and form-building abilities of
phraseological units and illustrates their use by quotations.
N e w W o r d s d i c t i o n a r i e s have it as their aim adequate reflection of the continuous growth of the English
language.
There are three dictionaries of neologisms for Modern English. Two of these (Berg P. A Dictionary of New Words in
English, 1953; Reifer M. Dictionary of New Words, N. Y., 1955) came out in the middle of the 50s and are somewhat out-of-
date. The third (A Dictionary of New English. A Barnhart Dictionary, L., 1973) is more up-to-date.
The Barnhart Dictionary of New English covers words, phrases, meanings and abbreviations which came into the
vocabulary of the English language during the period 1963 — 1972. The new items were collected from the reading of over
half a million running words from US, British and Canadian sources — newspapers, magazines and books.
D i c t i o n a r i e s of s l a n g contain elements from areas of substandard speech such as vulgarisms, jargonisms,
taboo words, curse-words, colloquialisms, etc.
The most well-known dictionaries of the type are Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English by E. Partridge,
Dictionary of the Underworld: British and American, The American Thesaurus of Slang by L. V. Berry & M. Den Bork, The
Dictionary of American Slang by H. Wentworth and S. B. Flexner.
U s a g e d i c t i o n a r i e s make it their business to pass judgement on usage problems of all kinds, on what is right
or wrong. Designed for native speakers they supply much various information on such usage problems as, e.g., the difference
in meaning between words like comedy, farce and burlesque, illusion and delusion, formality and formalism, the proper
pronunciation of words like foyer, yolk, nonchalant, the plural forms of the nouns flamingo, radix,
1
E. g. A Desk-Book of Idioms and Idiomatic Phrases by F. N. Vizetelly and L. G. De Bekker includes such words as cinematograph, dear, (to) fly,
halfbaked, etc.

commander-in-chief, the meaning of such foreign words as quorum, quadroon, quattrocento, and of such archaic
words as yon, yclept, and so forth. They also explain what is meant by neologisms, archaisms, colloquial and slang words and
how one is to handle them, etc.
The most widely used usage guide is the classic Dictionary of Modern English Usage by N. W. Fowler. Based on it are
Usage and Abusage, and Guide to Good English by E. Partridge, A Dictionary of American English Usage by M. Nicholson,
and others. Perhaps the best usage dictionary is A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage by B. Evans and C. Evans.
(N. Y., 1957).
D i c t i o n a r i e s of w o r d - f r e q u e n c y inform the user as to the frequency of occurrence of lexical units in
speech, to be more exact in the “corpus of the reading matter or in the stretch of oral speech on which the word-counts are
based.
Most frequency dictionaries and tables of word frequencies published in English-speaking countries were constructed to
make up lists of words considered suitable as the basis for teaching English as a foreign language, the so-called basic
vocabulary. Such are, e.g., the E. Throndike dictionaries and M. West’s General Service List.
Other frequency dictionaries were designed for spelling reforming, for psycholinguistic studies, for an all-round
synchronic analysis of modern English, etc.
In the 50s — 70s there appeared a number of frequency dictionaries of English made up by Soviet linguo-statisticians for
the purposes of automatic analysis of scientific and technical texts and for teaching-purposes (in non-language institutions).
A R e v e r s e d i c t i o n a r y is a list of words in which the entry words are arranged in alphabetical order starting
with their final letters.
The original aim of such dictionaries was to indicate words which form rhymes (in those days the composition of verse
was popular as a very delicate pastime). It is for this reason that one of the most well-known reverse dictionaries of the
English language, that compiled by John Walker, is called Rhyming Dictionary of the English Language. Nowadays the fields
of application of the dictionaries based on the reverse order (back-to-front dictionaries) have become much wider. These
word-books are indispensable for those studying the frequency and productivity of certain word-forming elements and other
problems of word-formation, since they record, in systematic and successive arrangement, all words with the same suffixes
and all compounds with the same terminal components. Teachers of English and textbook compilers will find them useful for
making vocabulary exercises of various kinds. Those working in the fields of language and information processing will be
supplied with important initial material for automatic translation and programmed instruction using computers.
P r o n o u n c i n g d i c t i o n a r i e s record contemporary pronunciation. As compared with the phonetic
characteristics of words given by other dictionaries the information provided by pronouncing dictionaries is much more
detailed: they indicate variant pronunciations (which are numerous in some cases), as well as the pronunciation of different
grammatical forms.
The world famous English Pronouncing Dictionary by Daniel Jones, is considered to provide the most expert guidance on
British English pronunciation. The most popular dictionary for the American variant is A Pronouncing Dictionary of
American English by J. S. Kenyon and T. A. Knott.
E t y m o l o g i c a l d i c t i o n a r i e s trace present-day words to the oldest forms available, establish their
primary meanings and give the parent form reconstructed by means of the comparative-historical method. In case of
borrowings they point out the immediate source of borrowing, its origin, and parallel forms in cognate languages.
 The most authoritative of these is nowadays the newly-published Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology edited by С. Т.
Onions.
Quite popular is the famous Etymological English Dictionary by W. W. Skeat compiled at the beginning of the century
and published many times.
I d e o g r a p h i c d i c t i o n a r i e s designed for English-speaking writers, orators or translators seeking to express
their ideas adequately contain words grouped by the concepts expressed.
The world famous ideographic dictionary of English is P. M. Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.
Besides the most important and widely used types of English dictionaries discussed above there are some others, of which
no account can be taken in a brief treatment like this (such as synonym-books, spelling reference books, hard-words
dictionaries, etc.).
SOME BASIC PROBLEMS OF DICTIONARY-COMPILING
To get maximum efficiency from dictionaries, to secure all the information afforded by them it is useful to have an insight
into the experience of lexicographers and some of the main problems underlying their work.
The work at a dictionary consists of the following main stages: the collection of material, the selection of entries and their
arrangement, the setting of each entry.
At different stages of his work the lexicographer is confronted with different problems. Some of these refer to any type of
dictionary, others are specific of only some or even one type. The most important of the former are 1) the selection of lexical
units for inclusion, 2) their arrangement, 3) the setting of the entries, 4) the selection and arrangement (grouping) of word-
meanings, 5) the definition of meanings, 6) illustrative material, 7) supplementary material.

§ 6. The Selection of Lexical Units for Inclusion

It would be a mistake to think that there are big academic dictionaries that list everything and that the shorter variants are
mere quantitative reductions from their basis. In reality only a dictionary of a dead language or a certain historical period of a
living language or a word-book presenting the language of some author (called concordance) can be complete as far as the
repertory of the lexical units recorded in the preserved texts goes. As to living languages with new texts constantly
coming into existence, with an endless number of spoken utterances, no dictionary of reasonable size could possibly register
all occasional applications of a lexical unit, nor is it possible to present all really occurring lexical items. There is, for instance,
no possibility of recording all the technical terms because they are too numerous and their number increases practically every
day (chemical terminology alone is said to consist of more than 400,000 terms). Therefore selection is obviously necessary for
all dictionaries.
The choice of lexical units for inclusion in the prospective dictionary is one of the first problems the lexicographer faces.
First of all the type of lexical units to be chosen for inclusion is to be decided upon. Then the number of items to be
recorded must be determined. Then there is the basic problem of what to select and what to leave out in the dictionary. Which
form of the language, spoken or written or both, is the dictionary to reflect? Should the dictionary contain obsolete and archaic
units, technical terms, dialectisms, colloquialisms, and so forth?
There is no general reply to any of these questions. The choice among the different possible answers depends upon the
type to which the dictionary will belong, the aim the compilers pursue, the prospective user of the dictionary, its size, the
linguistic conceptions of the dictionary-makers and some other considerations.
Explanatory and translation dictionaries usually record words and phraseological units, some of them also include affixes
as separate entries. Synonym-books, pronouncing, etymological dictionaries and some others deal only with words. Frequency
dictionaries differ in the type of units included. Most of them enter graphic units, thus failing to discriminate between
homographs (such as back n, back adv, back v) and listing inflected forms of the same words (such as go, gone, going, goes)
as separate items; others enter words in accordance with the usual lexicographic practice; still others record morphemes or
collocations.
The number of entries is usually reduced at the expense of some definite strata of the vocabulary, such as dialectisms,
jargonisms, technical terms, foreign words and the less frequently used words (archaisms, obsolete words, etc.).
The policy settled on depends to a great extent on the aim of the dictionary. As to general explanatory dictionaries, for
example, diachronic and synchronic word-books differ greatly in their approach to the problem. Since the former are
concerned with furnishing an account of the historical development of lexical units, such dictionaries as NED and SOD
embrace not only the vocabulary of oral and written English of the present day, together with such technical and scientific
words as are most frequently met with, but also a considerable proportion of obsolete, archaic, and dialectal words and uses.
Synchronic explanatory dictionaries include mainly common words in ordinary present-day use with only some more
important archaic and technical words. Naturally the bigger the dictionary, the larger is the measure of peripheral words, the
greater the number of words that are so infrequently used as to be mere museum pieces.
In accordance with the compiler’s aim the units for inclusion are drawn either from other dictionaries or from some
reading matter or from the spoken discourse. For example, the corpus from which the word frequencies are derived may be
composed of different types of textual material: books of fiction, scientific and technical literature, newspapers and
magazines, school textbooks, personal or business letters, interviews, telephone conversations, etc.
Because of the difference between spoken and written language it is to be remembered in dealing with word-books based
on printed or written matter that they tend to undervalue the items used more frequently in oral speech and to overweight the
purely literary items.

§ 7. Arrangement of Entries
 The order of arrangement of the entries to be included is different in different types of dictionaries and even in the word-
books of the same type. In most dictionaries of various types entries are given in a single alphabetical listing. In many others
the units entered are arranged in nests, based on this or that principle.
In some explanatory and translation dictionaries, for example, entries are grouped in families of words of the same root. In
this case the basic units are given as main entries that appear in alphabetical order while the derivatives and the phrases which
the word enters are given either as subentries or in the same entry, as run-ons that are also alphabetised. The difference
between subentries and run-ons is that the former do include definitions and usage labels, whereas run-on words are not
defined as meaning is clear from the main entry (most often because they are built after productive patterns).
Compare, for example, how the words despicable and despicably are entered in the two dictionaries:
COD despicable, a. Vile, contemptible Hence — LY2 adv.
WNWD despicable adj. that is or should be despised; contemptible. despicably adv. in a despicable manner
In synonym-books words are arranged in synonymic sets and its dominant member serves as the head-word of the entry.
In some phraseological dictionaries, e.g. in prof. Koonin’s dictionary, the phrases are arranged in accordance with their
pivotal words which are defined as constant non-interchangeable elements of phrases.
A variation of the cluster-type arrangement can be found in the few frequency dictionaries in which the items included are
not arranged alphabetically. In such dictionaries the entries follow each other in the descending order of their frequency, items
of the same frequency value grouped together.
Each of the two modes of presentation, the alphabetical and the cluster-type, has its own advantages. The former provides
for an easy finding of any word and establishing its meaning, frequency value, etc. The latter requires less space and presents
a clearer picture of the relations of each unit under consideration with some other units in the language system, since words of
the same root, the same denotational meaning or close in their frequency value are grouped together.
Practically, however, most dictionaries are a combination of the two orders of arrangement. In most explanatory and
translation dictionaries the main entries, both simple words and derivatives, appear in alphabetical order, with this or that
measure of run-ons, thrown out of alphabetical order.
If the order of arrangement is not strictly alphabetical in synonym-books and phraseological dictionaries, very often an
alphabetical index is supplied to ensure easy handling of the dictionary.
Some frequency dictionaries, among them nearly all those constructed in our country, contain two parts with both types of
lists.

§ 8. Selection and Arrangement of Meanings

One of the most difficult problems nearly all lexicographers face is recording the word-meanings and arranging them in
the most rational way, in the order that is supposed to be of most help to those who will use the dictionary.
If one compares the general number of meanings of a word in different dictionaries even those of the same type, one will
easily see that their number varies considerably.
Compare, for example, the number and choice of meanings in the entries for arrive taken from COD and WCD given
below1. As we see, COD records only the meanings current at the present moment, whereas WCD also lists those that are now
obsolete.
The number of meanings a word is given and their choice in this or that dictionary depend, mainly, on two factors: 1) on
what aim the compilers set themselves and 2) what decisions they make concerning the extent to which obsolete, archaic,
dialectal or highly specialised meanings should be recorded, how the problem of polysemy and homonymy is solved, how
cases of conversion are treated, how the segmentation of different meanings of a polysemantic word is made, etc.
It is natural, for example, that diachronic dictionaries list many more meanings than synchronic dictionaries of current
English, as they record not only the meanings in present-day use, but also those that have already become archaic or gone out
of use. Thus SOD lists eight meanings of the word arrive (two of which are now obsolete and two are archaic), while COD
gives five.
Students sometimes think that if the meaning is placed first in the entry, it must be the most important, the most frequent
in present-day use. This is not always the case. It depends on the plan followed by the compilers.
There are at least three different ways in which the word meanings are arranged: in the sequence of their historical
development (called h i s t o r i c a l o r d e r ) , in conformity with frequency of use that is with the most common meaning
first ( e m p i r i c a l or a c t u a l o r d e r ) , and in their logical connection ( l o g i c a l o r d e r ) .
1
See p. 223

In different dictionaries the problem of arrangement is solved in different ways. It is well-accepted practice in Soviet
lexicography to follow the historical order in diachronic dictionaries and to adhere to the empirical and logical order in
synchronic word-books.
As to dictionaries published in English-speaking countries, they are not so consistent in this respect. It is natural that
diachronic dictionaries are based on the principle of historical sequence, but the same principle is also followed by some
synchronic dictionaries as well (e.g. by NID and some other Webster’s dictionaries).
In many other dictionaries meanings are generally organised by frequency of use, but sometimes the primary meaning
comes first if this is considered essential to a correct understanding of derived meanings. For example, in the WCD entry for
arrive given below1 it is the primary, etymological meaning that is given priority of place, though it is obsolete in our days. 2
§ 9. Definition of Meanings
 Meanings of words may be defined in different ways: 1) by means of definitions that are characterised as encyclopaedic,
2) by means of descriptive definitions or paraphrases, 3) with the help of synonymous words and expressions, 4) by means of
cross-references.
Encyclopaedic definitions as distinct from descriptive definitions determine not only the word-meaning, but also the
underlying concept.
COD coal ft. 1. Hard opaque black or blackish mineral or vegetable matter found in seams or strata below earth’s surface
and used as fuel and in manufacture of gas, tar, etc. ANTHRACITE, BITUMINOUS COAL, LIGNITE; ...
Synonymous definitions consist of words or word-groups with nearly equivalent meaning, as distinct from descriptive
definitions which are explanations with the help of words not synonymous with the word to be defined.
For example, in the two entries for despicable given above COD defines the word-meaning with the help of synonyms,
while WNWD uses both descriptive and synonymous definitions.
Reference to other words as a means of semantisation can be illustrated with the following examples taken from COD:
defense. See defence decrescendo. = diminuendo
It is the descriptive definitions that are used in an overwhelming majority of entries. While the general tendency is the
same, words belonging to different parts of speech and to different groups within them have their own peculiarities.
Encyclopaedic definitions are typical of nouns, especially proper nouns and terms. Synonyms are used most
1
See p. 223.
2
See also a detailed comparison of the entries for the word anecdote in four dictionaries made by Mathews (Readings in English
Lexicology, pp. 196-201).

often to define verbs and adjectives. Reference to other words is resorted to define some derivatives, abbreviations and
variant forms.
Apart from the nature of the word to be defined the type of definitions given preference depends on the aim of the
dictionary and its size. For instance encyclopaedic definitions play a very important role in unabridged dictionaries (especially
those published in America); in middle-size dictionaries they are used for the most part to define ethnographic and historical
concepts. Synonymous definitions play a secondary role in unabridged dictionaries where they are used as an addition to
descriptive or encyclopaedic definitions, and are much more important in shorter dictionaries, probably because they are a
convenient means to economise space.

§ 10. Illustrative Examples

It is common knowledge that all dictionaries save those of a narrowly restricted purpose, such as, e.g., frequency
dictionaries, spelling books, etymological, pronouncing, ideographic or reverse dictionaries, provide illustrative examples.
• The purpose of these examples depends on the type of the dictionary and on the aim the compilers set themselves. They
can illustrate the first and the last known occurrences of the entry word, the successive changes in its graphic and phonetic
forms, as well as in its meaning, the typical patterns and collocations, the difference between synonymous words, they place
words in a context to clarify their meanings and usage.
When are illustrative examples to be used? Which words may be listed without illustrations? Should illustrative sentences
be made up, or should they always be quotations of some authors? How much space should be devoted to illustrative
examples? Which examples should be chosen as typical?
Those are some of the questions to be considered.
In principle only some technical terms that are monosemantic can, if precisely defined, be presented without examples
even in a large dictionary. In practice, however, because of space considerations this is not the case. It is natural that the
bigger the dictionary the more examples it usually contains. Only very small dictionaries, usually of low quality, do not
include examples at all.
As to the nature of examples, diachronic dictionaries make use of quotations drawn from literary sources, while in
synchronic dictionaries quoted examples are preferred by big dictionaries, in middle-size dictionaries illustrative sentences
and phrases drawn from classical and contemporary sources or those constructed by the compilers are employed.
The form of the illustrative quotations can differ in different dictionaries; the main variation can be observed in the length
of the quotation and in the precision of the citation.
Some dictionaries indicate the author, the work, the page, verse, or line, and (in diachronic dictionaries) the precise date of
the publication, some indicate only the author, because it gives at least basic orientation about the time when the word occurs
and the type of text.
It is necessary to stress the fact that word-meanings can be explained not only with the help of definitions and examples
but also by means of showing their collocability (lexical and grammatical valency 1), especially their typical collocability.

§ 1 1 . Choice of Adequate Equivalents

One of the major problems in compiling translation dictionaries and other bilingual word-books is to provide adequate
translation’ of vocabulary items or rather to choose an adequate equivalent in the target language.
According to Acad. L. V. Sčerba, translation dictionaries that do not give due attention to delimitation of word-meaning
cannot ensure real mastery of foreign words. The compilation of such dictionaries must be based on systematic and detailed
contrastive studies of the languages dealt with. Only this will enable the lexicographer to decide what parts of their
vocabularies diverge and thus require special attention in translation.
Speaking of scientific methods in compiling translation dictionaries we pay a tribute to Prof. A. I. Smirnitsky and Prof. I.
R. Galperin who following the principles of the Russian school of lexicographers (D. N. Ushakov, L. V. Sčerba, V. V.
Vinogradov) made a valuable contribution to Soviet lexicography, particularly bilingual lexicography, and made useful
innovations. The Russian-English Dictionary under Prof. Smirnitsky’s general direction and the New English-Russian
Dictionary edited by Prof. I. R. Galperin differ from other word-books of their kind on account of wider and more profound
information that is supplied both about the vocabulary items entered and their translations; more attention than usual is given
to the way words are combined in speech, to their emotional and stylistic overtones, etc.
Conveying the meaning of a lexical unit in the target language is no easy task as the semantic structures of related words
in different languages are never identical, 2 which is observable in any pair of languages. The lack of isomorphism is not
limited to the so-called “culture-bound words” only but also to most other lexical units.
The dictionary-maker is to give the most exact equivalent in the target language. Where there is no equivalent, to achieve
maximum accuracy in rendering the meanings to be entered the compiler may either describe the meaning with an
explanation, much similar to the definition of an explanatory dictionary but worded in the other language, or resort to
transliteration. Very often enumeration of equivalents alone does not supply a complete picture of the semantic volume of this
or that word, so a combination of different means of semantisation is necessary.

§ 12. Setting of the Entry

Since different types of dictionaries differ in their aim, in the information they provide, in their size, etc., they of necessity
differ in the structure and content of the entry.
The most complicated type of entry is that found in explanatory dictionaries.
1
See ‘Word-Groups’, § 2, p. 66.
2
See ‘Semasiology’, § 26, p. 33.

In explanatory dictionaries of the synchronic type the entry usually presents the following data: accepted spelling and
pronunciation; grammatical characteristics including the indication of the part of speech of each entry word, the transitivity
and intransitivity of verbs and irregular grammatical forms; definitions of meanings; modern currency; illustrative examples;
derivatives; phraseology; etymology; sometimes also synonyms and antonyms.
By way of illustration we give the entry for the word arrive from COD. arrive’, v.i. Come to destination (lit. & fig.) or
end of journey (at
Bath, in Paris, upon scene, at conclusion); (as Gallicism) establish one’s repute or position; (of things) be brought; (of
time) come; (of events) come about. (f. OF ariver f. L. L. arribare f. L. ADripare come to shore (ripa)).
The compilers of a dictionary of the same type may choose a different setting of a typical entry: they may omit some of
the items or add some others, choose a different order of their arrangement or a different mode of presenting the same
information.
Compare, e.g., the entry for the same word arrive from Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.
ar·rive /ă-riv'/, v.i. [O. F. ariver, deriv. of L. ad to + ripa shore, bank]. 1. Obs. To come to the shore. 2. To reach a place;
as, to arrive at home. 3. To gain an object; attain a state by effort, study, etc.; as, to arrive at a conclusion. 4. To come; — said
of time. 5. To attain success or recognition.
Syn. Arrive, come. Arrive implies more definitely than come the attainment of a destination.
— v.t. Archaic. To reach; come to.
As we see in COD the pronunciation of the word is given without respelling, only with the help of the stress mark (which
it is important for practical purposes to know is placed at the end of the stressed syllable); in WCD the word is transcribed in
full in special phonetic notation; besides in this word-book syllabification is indicated both in the graphic- and sound-forms of
the word. Etymology is placed at the end of the entry in COD and at the beginning in WCD.
The two entries also differ in other respects. E.g., WCD provides synonymy, obsolete and archaic meanings, whereas
COD gives more attention to the use of prepositions; the number of illustrative phrases is greater in COD than in WCD; in
COD the meanings are separated with semi-colons, while in WCD they are all numbered.
A typical entry in diachronic explanatory dictionaries will have some specific features. Apart from the chronological
arrangement of meanings and illustrative quotations to present the historical sense development, the etymology of the word is
accorded an exhaustive treatment, besides a distinguishing feature of such reference books is the dates accompanying each
word, word-meaning and quotation that indicate the time of its first registration or, if the word or one of its meanings is
obsolete, the time of its last registration.
See, for example, the presentation of two meanings of the verb arrive in SOD (the sign + =obsolete, the dash — before the
date indicates the time of the last publication):
arrive ...+3. To bring, convey — 1667. 4. intr. To come to the end of a journey, to some definite place, upon the scene.
Const. at, in, upon, + into, + to. ME. transf. Of things 1651.
It should be noted in passing that the dates that are often interpreted as the time of the word’s (or one of its meaning’s)
appearance or disappearance in the language are in fact their earliest known occurrences, since the still earlier records might
not have been examined by the staff collecting the material for the dictionary and the word might be current in oral speech a
long time before it came to occur in print.
In other types of dictionaries the content and structure of the entry will be altogether different. Compare, for instance, the
four entries for arrive taken from a translation and a frequency dictionaries, from an etymological and pronouncing word-
books:
The Dictionary edited by I. R. Galperin:
 arrive [a'raiv] v 1. (at, in, upon) прибывать, приезжать; to~ in London прибыть в Лондон; the police ~d upon the scene
на место происшествия прибыла полиция; to ~ punctually [tardily, in good time] прибыть точно [с опозданием,
вовремя]; sold “to ~” ком. к прибытию (условие сделки при продаже товара, находящегося в пути); 2. (at) 1) достигать
(чего-л.), приходить (к чему-л.); to ~ at understanding достигнуть взаимопонимания; to ~ at a decision принять решение;
to ~ at a conclusion прийти к заключению. ..
The General Service List by M. West:
arrive, v 532 (1) Arrive home, in London
Arrive at an age when ... 74%
(2) The parcel has arrived
The time has arrived when... 11%
(3) Arrive at a conclusion... 12%
(The count is to be read as follows: In a count of 5 million running words the word arrive occurred 532 times. In 74% of
these occurrences it had the first meaning, in 11% — the second, etc.).
Oxford Etymological Dictionary:
arrive [arэiv] + bring or come to shore, land XIII; come to the end of a journey, a goal, etc. XIV; + reach (a port, etc.)
XVI; + come to pass XVII. — OF. ariver (mod. arriver arive, happen) = Pr. aribar, Sp. arribar: — Rom. *arripare come to
land, f. ad AR+ripo shore (cf. RIVER). Formerly sometimes inflected+ arove, +ariven; cf. STRIVE.
Jones’ Dictionary:
arriv/e, -s, -ing, -ed; -al/s э'raiv, -z, iŋ, -d, -эl/z arrogan/ce, -cy, -t/ly ‘ærэgen/s [-roug-, -rug-], -si, -t/li
ascertain, -s, -ing, -ed, -ment; -able æsэ'tein [-sэ:'t-], -z, -iŋ, -d, -mэnt; -эbl
Sometimes the entries for the same word will look quite different in dictionaries of the same type. Thus the setting of the
entry varies in different books of synonyms depending upon the practical needs of the intended users. Some word-books
enumerate synonyms to each meaning of the head-word to help the user recall words close in meaning that may have been
forgotten. Other word-books provide discriminating synonymies, i.e. they explain the difference in semantic structure, use and
style, and show how each synonym is related to, yet differs from all the others in the same group.
Compare:
Admission, n. 1. Admittance, introduction, access, entrance, initiation, entrée. 2. Allowance, avowal, concession,
acknowledgement, assent, acceptance. (Soule R. A Dictionary of English
Synonyms and Synonymous Expressions.)
ADMISSION, ADMITTANCE
ADMISSION, for being allowed to enter (usually a place), is the commonly used word, and it has today almost entirely
displaced ADMITTANCE, which is now restricted to a few idiomatic uses, e.g. “No admittance except on business".
(Collins V. H. The Choice of Words. A Book of Synonyms with Explanations)

§ 13. Structure of the Dictionary

When the selection of the dictionary entries, the contents and structure of the entries, their order of arrangement etc. are
decided upon, the lexicographer is to settle upon this or that structure of the dictionary.
In spite of the great variety of linguistic dictionaries their composition has many features in common. Nearly all of them
may be roughly divided into three unequal parts.
Apart from the dictionary proper, that make up the bulk of the wordbook, every reference book contains some separate
sections which are to help the user in handling it — an Introduction and Guide to the use’ of the dictionary. This prefatory
matter usually explains all the peculiarities of the word-book, it also contains a key to pronunciation, the list of abbreviations
used and the like.
It is very important that the user of a dictionary should read this prefatory matter for this will enable him to know what is
to be found in the word-book and what is not, will help him locate words quickly and easily, and derive the full amount of
information the dictionary affords.
Appended to the dictionary proper there is some supplementary material valuable for language learners and language
teachers. This material may be divided into one of linguistic nature, pertaining to vocabulary, its development and use, and the
other pertaining to matters distinctly encyclopaedic. In explanatory dictionaries the appendixes of the first kind usually
include addenda or/and various word-lists: geographical names, foreign words and expressions, forenames, etc., record new
meanings of words already entered and words that have come into existence since the compilation of the word-book. The
educational material may include a list of colleges and universities, special signs and symbols used in various branches of
science, tables of weights and measures, etc.
In translation dictionaries supplementary material is in some respects different from that in explanatory dictionaries, e.g.
the Russian-English dictionary referred to above does not only include a list of geographical names, standard abbreviations
pertaining to the public, political, economic and industrial life, but also contains the rules of English and Russian
pronunciation as well as brief outlines of English and Russian grammar.
LEARNER'S DICTIONARIES AND SOME PROBLEMS
OF THEIR COMPILATION

§ 14. Main Characteristic Features of Learner’s Dictionaries

 Nowadays practical and theoretical learner’s lexicography is given great attention to, especially in our country.
Lexicographers, linguists and methods specialists discuss such problems as the classification of learner’s dictionaries, 1 the
scope of the. word-list for learners at different stages of advancement, the principles of word selection, etc.
In the broad sense of the word the term l e a r n e r ’ s d i c t i o n a r i e s might be applied to any word-book designed as
an aid to various users, both native and foreign, studying a language from various angles. Thus, we might refer to this group of
word-books such reference books as Student’s Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon by H. Sweet, the numerous school-level or college-
level dictionaries for native speakers, the numerous spelling-books, etc. By tradition the term is confined to dictionaries
specially compiled to meet the demands of the learners for whom English is not their mother tongue. It is in this sense that we
shall use the term further on.
These dictionaries differ essentially from ordinary academic dictionaries, on the one hand, and from word-books compiled
specially for English and American schoolchildren and college students, on the other hand.
Though foreign language learners and children speaking the same language as their mother tongue have both imperfect
command of English, it is obvious that the needs and problems of the two groups of dictionary users are altogether different.
A foreign adult student of
1
See, e.g., the discussion “What should a learner’s dictionary be like?” on the pages of the magazine «Русский язык за рубежом», also «Вопросы
учебной лексикографии» под ред. П. Н. Денисова и Л. А. Новикова, М., 1969.

English even at a moderately advanced stage of learning will have pitfalls and needs of his own: among the other things
he may have difficulties with the use of the most “simple” words (such as play, wipe), he may not know the names for
commonest things in everyday life (such as oatmeal, towel, rug) and he will experience in this or that degree interference of
his mother tongue.
On the one hand, we have users who for the most part have command of the language, who have fluent speech habits,
since this language is their mother tongue; they need guidance as to which of the usage they come across is correct. On the
other hand, we have users that have a limited vocabulary and no speech habits or very weak ones and who have stable speech
habits in another language which is their native tongue and these native speech habits interfere with the foreign ones. That is
why these users must be given thorough instruction in how the words are to be used and this instruction must be given against
the background of the learners’ native language.
That is why the word-lists and the sort of directions for use for the benefit of the foreign adult learners of English must
differ very widely (if not fundamentally) from those given to English or American schoolchildren.
Hence the word-books of this group are characterised by the following features:
1) by their strictly limited word-list, the selection of which is based on carefully thought over scientific
principles;
2) the great attention given to the functioning of lexical units in speech;
3) a strong prescriptive, normative character;
4) by their compilation with the native linguistic background in view.

§ 15. Classification of Learner’s Dictionaries

Learner’s dictionaries may be classified in accordance with different principles, the main of which are: 1) the scope of the
word-list and 2) the nature of the information afforded.
From the point of view of the scope (volume) of the word-list they fall into two groups. Those of the first group contain
all lexical units that the prospective user may need, in the second group only the most essential and important words are
selected. To the first group we can refer A. S. Hornby’s Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (50,000 lexical units) and M.
West’s International Reader’s Dictionary (about 24,000 units); to the second group — A Grammar of English Words by H.
Palmer (1,000 words), and The English-Russian Learner’s Dictionary by S. K. Folomkina and H. M. Weiser (3,500 units).
As to the information afforded by learner’s dictionaries lexicographers and methodologists seem to have agreed that there
should be a whole series of them. There must be a group of dictionaries presenting different aspects of the vocabulary:
showing mainly the semantic structure of words (explanatory), presenting the syntagmatic relations between words
(dictionaries of collocations), providing information: about the word’s structure (derivational), supplying synonymous and
antonymous words, etc.
Another grouping of dictionaries reflects the practice of teaching different aspects of speech. The word-books having as
their goal the ability to read scientific and technical literature in a foreign language will need a vast word-list ensuring
adequate comprehension of written speech. Teaching oral speech habits requires a dictionary that contains a selected list of
a c t i v e words explained from the point of view of their use.
Since learners of different linguistic background will have different pitfalls in mastering the same language, will need
different directions for use, different restrictive remarks, each pair of languages requires its own dictionaries, dictionaries
based on a contrastive study of the learner’s native tongue and the language to be learned. 1
In this connection it must be said that Hornby’s dictionary, with all its merits and advantages, has an essential demerit —
it does not take into account the user’s linguistic background, so it cannot foresee and prevent the possible language problems
of this or that national group of English learners.
Not long ago Soviet lexicographers came to the opinion that separate reference books are called for teachers and learners.
As far as dictionaries of English go, perhaps the first attempts at producing dictionaries for teachers are the reference books
Adjectival Collocations and Verbal Collocations.
 Those are the main types of dictionaries considered necessary to ensure the process of foreign language teaching. As to
the present state of learner’s lexicography, it may be characterised as just coming into being, as the already existing
dictionaries are few in number and they do not make a system, rather some separate links of a system.
As to the information they provide they may be divided into two groups: those giving equal attention to the word’s
semantic characteristics and the way it is used in speech (these may be called learner’s dictionaries proper) and those
concentrating on detailed treatment of the word’s lexical and grammatical valency (dictionaries of collocations).
To learner’s dictionaries proper issued in English-speaking countries we may refer, for example, The Progressive English
Dictionary and An English Reader’s Dictionary by A. S. Hornby and E. С Parnwell designed for beginners, as well as Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English by A. S. Hornby and The New Horizon Ladder Dictionary of the English
Language by J. R. Shaw with J. Shaw for more advanced students.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English by A. Hornby has achieved international recognition as a most
valuable practical reference book to English as a foreign language. It contains 50,000 units and is compiled on the basis of
COD to meet the needs of advanced foreign learners of English and language teachers. It aims among other things at giving
detailed information about the grammatical and partly lexical valency of words.
1
We are now speaking about the nature of information, not the language it is couched in. Thus we may imagine several Anglo-Russian dictionaries,
each designed for a separate group of learners with a different linguistic background.

The New Horizon Ladder Dictionary includes 5000 of the most frequently used words in written English. It is called
Ladder Dictionary because the words are divided in it into five levels or ladder rungs of approximately 1000 each, according
to the frequency of their use (a figure in brackets attached to each word shows to which thousand the word belongs).
Compiled in our country is the English-Russian Dictionary of Most Commonly Used Words prepared by V. D. Arakin, H.
M. Weiser and S. K. Folomkina under Prof. I. V. Rakhmanov’s direction. This is a vocabulary minimum of 3250 words,
typical word-groups and phraseological units selected for active mastery in Soviet secondary school.
The Learner’s English-Russian Dictionary by S. Folomkina and H. Weiser does not, strictly speaking, belong to the group
of dictionaries under consideration, as it is designed for use by English-speaking students of the Russian language, but is
helpful as well when learning English. It contains about 3500 words.
The word-books given above differ in many respects: they are either monolingual or polylingual, they provide different
information, they differ in the kind of the intended user (learners of the English language who have reached different stages in
the course of their studies, adults or children of different linguistic background — English-speaking learners of Russian) and
in aim (an aid to oral speech — the development of reading and writing skills) and in other features. However these
dictionaries have some traits in common that distinguish them from the word-books considered in the preceding sections.
They all aim at teaching how to speak, write, etc., while the tendency in modern English lexicography is not to prescribe as to
usage, but to record what is actually used by speakers.
Dictionaries of collocation contain words which freely combine with the given head-word. The few reference books of
this kind known to us belong to the pen of foreign compilers. For example, A. Reum’s Dictionary of English Style is designed
for the Germans, Kenkyusha’s New Dictionary of English Collocations is intended for the Japanese, Adjectival Collocations
in Modern English by T. S. Gorelik and Verbal Collocations in Modern English by R. Ginzburg, S. Khidekel, E. Mednikova
and A. Sankin are designed for Russian school teachers and students of English.
Each of the two dictionaries of collocations prepared by Soviet linguists presents the collocability of 375 words that are
used in Soviet school text-books. The presentation of the word’s grammatical and lexical valency is based on identical
principles.

§ 16. Selection of Entry Words

Compilers of learner’s dictionaries have to tackle the same cardinal problems as those of ordinary explanatory and
translation dictionaries, but they often solve them in their own way, besides they have some specific policies to settle on to
meet the needs of language learners to whom the book will be addressed.
The common purpose of learner’s dictionaries is to give information on what is currently accepted usage, besides most
compilers seek to choose the lexical units that foreign learners of English are likely to need. Therefore not only are obsolete,
archaic and dialectal words excluded, but” also technical and scientific terms, substandard words and phrases, etc. Colloquial
and slang words as well as foreign words of common occurrence in English are included only if they are of the sort likely to
be met by students either in reading or in conversation. Moreover some of the common words may be omitted if they are not
often encountered in books, newspapers, etc. or heard over the radio and in conversation.
Space is further saved by omitting certain derivatives and compounds the meaning of which can be easily inferred.
Alternative spellings and pronunciations are avoided, only the more accepted forms are listed.
Various criteria have been employed in choosing words for learner’s dictionaries. In the first place the selection of words
is based on the frequency principle.
Frequency value, an important characteristic of lexical units, is closely connected with their other properties. That is why
the word-counts enable the compiler to choose the most important, the most frequently used words.
However many methodologists and compilers of learner’s dictionaries have a tendency to exaggerate the significance of
the frequency criterion. The research done in different countries (in our country and in France, for example) has shown that
the frequency tables, helpful ‘as they are in the compilation of a vocabulary minimum, do not in themselves present the
vocabulary minimum. While it is indisputable that every high-frequency word is useful, it is not every useful word that is
frequent (e.g. carrots, fork, stamp, etc.). Consequently frequency cannot be the only point to be considered in selecting items
for learner’s dictionaries as well as for other teaching materials. It must be complemented by some other principles, such as
the words’ collocability, stylistic reference, derivational ability, semantic structure, etc. 1
§ 17. Presentation of Meanings
The order of arrangement of meanings followed in learner’s dictionaries is usuall y e m pi r ic , t hat is be gi nni ng wi t h
the main meaning to minor ones. Besides the following principles of arrangement are considered proper for language learners:
literal uses before figurative, general uses before special, common uses before rare and easily understandable uses before
difficult. Each of these principles is subject to the limitation “other things being equal” and all are subject to the principle that
that arrangement is best for any word which helps the learners most.
E.g. in Hornby’s entry for commit the first meaning is ‘perform’ (a crime, foolish act, etc.) and its primary meaning
‘entrust’ is given as its second meaning.
1
In the dictionary under Prof. I. V. Rakhmanov’s direction the choice of words is based upon three main principles: 1) combinability, 2) lack of
stylistic limitations, 3) semantic value, and four additional principles: 1) word-building ability, 2) polysemy, 3) syntactical valency, 4) frequency.

But this is not always the case. For instance, the first meaning of the word revolution given by Hornby is ‘act of
revolving or journeying round’ and not ‘complete change, great reversal of conditions, esp. in methods of government’, which
is more common nowadays. Thus the compilers preserve the historical order of meanings in this case.
In monolingual learner’s dictionaries the same types of definitions are used, as in ordinary monolingual explanatory word-
books, but their proportion is different. Encyclopaedic definitions are usually used more rarely, the role of descriptive
definitions is much greater.
Compare, for instance, the definition for coal taken from the Ladder Dictionary with that from COD given above.1
coal n. a black, hard substance that burns and gives off heat.
It would be wrong to think however that the definitions in learner’s dictionaries are always less complete than in the
dictionaries designed for native users. More often than not these definitions are not so condensed in form and they are more
complete in content, because the compilers have to make up for the user’s possible inadequacy in command of the language
and lack of knowledge of some realia.
Compare, for example the two entries for prep given below:
COD II2 (abbr prep) preparation of lessons as part of school routine;
OALD [U]3 (colloq abbr prep) (time given to) preparing lessons or writing exercises, after normal school hours (esp at GB
public or grammar schools): two hours’ prep; do one’s French prep;
In learner’s dictionaries cross-references are for the most part reduced to a minimum.
Compilers of learner’s dictionaries attach great importance to the language in which the definition is couched, the goal
being to word them in the simplest terms that are consistent with accuracy. Some compilers see to it that the definitions are
couched in language which is commoner and more familiar to the language learner than the words defined.
Some lexicographers select a special defining vocabulary held to be the commonest words in English or those first learnt
by foreigners. For example, in the International Reader’s Dictionary the word-list of 24,000 items is defined within a
vocabulary of 1490 words selected by M. West.
In some learner’s dictionaries pictorial material is widely used as a means of semantisation of the words listed. Pictures
cannot only define the meanings of such nouns as dike, portico, domes, columns, brushes, etc., but sometimes also of
adjectives, verbs and adverbs.
E.g. in Hornby’s dictionary, the definitions of the adjective concentrated, the verb clasp and the adverb abreast are
illustrated with the pictures of concentrated circles, clasped hands, and boys walking three abreast.
1
See ‘Fundamentals of English Lexicography’, § 9, p. 220.
2
The parallel bars in COD = not US.
3
U = uncountable

§ 18. Setting of the Entry

The structure and content of the entry in learner’s dictionaries also have some peculiar features. Chief among these is
marked attention to the ways words are used in speech, e.g. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary points out which nouns,
and in which of their meanings, can be used with the indefinite articles (the symbols [C] and [U] stand for “countable” and
“uncountable"). It also indicates the patterns in which verbs can be used. They are presented with the help of the abbreviation
VP and the number of the pattern preceding the definition of each meaning. All the patterns are listed in A Summary of the
Verb Patterns. The dictionary also gives information of a more detailed character about the lexical valency of words. Sets of
words with which the head-word may combine as well as illustrative examples taken from everyday language are given, e.g.
ar·rive /э'raiv/ vi [VP2A, С, ЗА] 1 reach a place, esp the end of a journey: ~ home, ~ at a port, ~ in harbour. 2. come: At
last the day ~ d. Her baby ~d (= was born) yesterday. 3. [VP3A] ~ at, reach (a decision, a price, the age of 40, manhood, etc)
4 [VP2A] establish one’s position or reputation: The flood of fan mail proved he'd ~d.
Each dictionary has its own specific features. For instance, in the Learner’s English-Russian Dictionary there is no
indication of the patterns the English word is used in. Designed for English learners of Russian the dictionary provides
Russian equivalents for all meanings with the stress indicated in each word and translation of all examples, indicates the types
of conjugation of Russian verbs. See the entry from the dictionary given below:
arrive [э'raiv] приезжать (64),1 perf приéхать (71); the delegation will ~ on Wednesday делегация приедет в среду;
what time do we ~? в котором часу мы приедем? ... when I ~d home they were already there когда я приёхал(а) домой,
они уже были там.
In dictionaries of collocations the setting of the entry assumes a different shape. See, for example, the entry for arrive
taken from the Verbal Collocations:
 arrive [э'raiv] I2 [come to a place]; ~ at some time (unexpectedly, early, late, safely, next week, at last, etc.) приезжать,
прибывать в какое-л. время; the train (the steamer, the plane, etc.) has~ d поезд (пароход и т. д.) прибыл, пришел; your
friend (his son etc.) has ~d твой друг (его сын и т. д.) приехал /прибыл/; a parcel has ~d посылка пришла;
1
The numbers in brackets indicate the number of the table presenting the type of conjugation of the Russian verb.
2
The black-faced Roman numbers indicate the pattern in which the word can be used.

I I I . [see I]; ~ with /by/ smth (with a train, with a steamer, by the six o'clock train, by aeroplane, etc.) прибывать чём-л.;
~ on smth (on horseback, on one’s bicycle, etc.) приезжать на чём-л.; ~ at some time (on time, just at the right moment, on
Monday, on March 3rd, at six o'clock, before /after/ dark, before /after/ smb, etc.) прибывать когда-л.; ~ somewhere (at a
small station, at a village in England, in a city, in London, in harbour, etc.) прибывать куда-л.; 2. [reach, attain]; ~ at smth (at
a goal, at perfection, etc.) достигать чего-л.; ~ at smth (at a conclusion, at a correct result, at an opinion, at an understanding,
etc.) приходить к чему-л.; ~ at a decision принимать решение.
The supplementary matter in learner’s dictionaries, besides that usually found in general dictionaries, may include other
reference material necessary for language learners. For instance, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary includes not only
lists of irregular verbs, common abbreviations, geographical names, etc., but also common forenames listed with their pet
names, numerical expressions giving help in the reading, speaking and writing of numbers and expressions which contain
them, the works of William Shakespeare and even ranks in the Armed Forces of GB and US.

§ 19. Summary and Conclusions

1. The numerous linguistic dictionaries of the English language may be grouped by the following criteria: 1) the nature of
their word-list, 2) the information they contain, 3) the language of the explanations, 4) the intended user.
2. The most important problems the lexicographer faces 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, and 5) the supplementary material. The choice among the possible solutions depends upon the type to which
the dictionary will belong, the aim the compilers pursue, the prospective user of the dictionary, the linguistic conceptions of
the dictionary-maker, etc.
3. Designed for foreign learners of English, learner’s dictionaries are characterised by their strictly limited
word-list, the great attention given to the functioning of lexical units in speech and their strong perspective orientation.