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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.
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 follow-
ing 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 innova-
tions.
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 explana-
tory dictionary but worded in the other language, or resort to translitera-
tion. Very often enumeration of equivalents alone does not supply a com-
plete picture of the semantic volume of this or that word, so a combination
of different means of semantisation is necessary.
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 dic-
tionaries.
1
See ‘Word-Groups’, § 2, p. 66.
2
See ‘Semasiology’, § 26, p. 33.
222
§ 1 1 . Choice of Adequate
Equivalents
§ 12. Setting of the Entry
In explanatory dictionaries of the synchronic type the entry usually
presents the following data: accepted spelling and pronunciation; gram-
matical 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 Col-
legiate 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 des-
tination.
—
v.t. Archaic.
To reach; come to.
As we see in
COD
the pronunciation of the word is given without re-
spelling, 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 syn-
onymy, 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 dis-
tinguishing 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.
223
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 disap-
pearance in the language are in fact their earliest known occurrences,
since the st i l l 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 про-
исшествия прибыла полиция; to ~ punctually [tardily, in good
time] прибыть точно [с опозданием, вовремя]; sold “to ~”
ком.
к прибытию
(условие сделки при продаже товара, находяще-
гося 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 заклю-
чению. ..
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
arro-
gan/ce, -cy, -t/ly ‘
ærэgen/s [-roug-, -rug-], -si, -t/li
224
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 differ-
ent books of synonyms depending upon the practical needs of the in-
tended 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 synony-
mies, 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, ac-
ceptance.
’
(Soule R.
A Dictionary of English Synonyms and Synonymous Expres-
sions.)
ADMISSION, ADMITTANCE
ADMISSION,
for being allowed to enter (usually a place), is
the commonly used word, and it has today almost entirely dis-
placed ADMITTANCE, which is now restricted to a few idio-
matic uses, e.g. “No admittance except on business".
(Collins V. H.
The Choice of Words. A Book of Synonyms with Expla-
nations)
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 word-
book, 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 abbrevia-
tions used and the like.
It is very important that the user of a dictionary should read this prefa-
tory 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 mate-
rial 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 ency-
clopaedic. In explanatory dictionaries the appendixes
225
§ 13. Structure of the Dictionary
of the first kind usually include addenda or/and various word-lists: geo-
graphical 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 mate-
rial may include a list of colleges and universities, special signs and sym-
bols 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 pro-
nunciation as well as brief outlines of English and Russian grammar.
LEARNER'S DICTIONARIES AND SOME PROBLEMS
OF THEIR COMPILATION
Nowadays practical and theoretical learner’s
lexicography is given great attention to, espe-
cially in our country. Lexicographers, lin-
guists and methods specialists discuss such problems as the classification
of learner’s dictionaries,
1
the scope of the. word-list for learners at differ-
ent 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 us-
ers, 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 spell-
ing-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 dictionar-
ies, 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 lan-
guage as their mother tongue have both imperfect command of English, it
is obvious that the needs and problems of the two groups of dictionary us-
ers 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.
226
§ 14. Main Characteristic
Features
of Learner’s Dictionaries