GK la: How to Make a Dictionary KS 23 03 76

WS 1999/2000

Course programme

Introduction

Place of this course within English Linguistics

Types of dictionaries

scope, price:	lilliput - pocket - desk - encyclopedic dictionaries
target group:	layman vs linguist/professional, native speaker vs foreign learner, language teacher, translator
area covered:	mono vs bilingual dictionaries general purpose dictionaries tourist's phrasebooks essential word lists Grundwortschätze learner's dictionaries pictorial dictionaries dictionaries of errors and false friends pronouncing dictionaries dialect dictionaries historical/etymological dictionaries dictionaries of synonyms thesauri dictionaries of phrasal verbs and idioms dictionaries of usage style slang dictionaries of cliches proverbs quotations proper names "culture" dictionary vs encyclopedia/almanac technical dictionaries and glossaries

Types of lexical information

phonetic/phonemic:	pronunciation
graphemic:	spellings
morphological:	word forms
syntactic:	grammar
semantic:	meanings
pragmatic:	anguage use
sociolinguistic:	social class

Macro-structure

directions for use
abbreviations & symbols
alphabetical order
maps & appendices

Micro-structure

typical entries/lemmata
transcription systems
word classes/parts of speech
full words vs function words
inflexions/word endings
word-formation: compounds, prefixes, suffixes,
zero and backerivations, blends & clippings
onomatopoeia
word meanings:
kinds of definition
contextual examples

Lexical semantics

denotation vs connotation
word fields
semantic features/primes/components
prototypes, fuzziness, gestalt
semantic relations: synonymy - antonymy,
ambiguity, homonymy - polysemy

Empirical basis, types of data

intuition, introspection
spoken & written corpora, databases
informant testing

Dictionaries in translation

tools of the trade
DIN, ISO, Infoterm
statistics, frequency, word counts

"Correctness" and "class"

grammaticality vs acceptability
divided usage
U and non-U
politeness, intercultural awareness,
national stereotypes, manager training
slang & taboo

Tips & hints for practice

reference skills

Making your own dictionary

from texts, eg advertisements
newspaper articles
news bulletins
university prospectuses
fanzines
websites
recipes
technical manuals

Summary & conclusion

final discussion
feedback