38 Chief characteristic features of the American English lexicon.

40..Types of Dictionaries

Abridged Dictionary

An abridged dictionary does not have all of the words of the language in it; it does not include words that are very archaic (too old) or arcane (too specialized). This type of dictionary is your all-purpose dictionary and is fine for most occasions. Has some limited information on etymologies (roots) of words.

Unabridged Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is probably the most famous of all unabridged dictionaries. This type contains all words of the language, including arcane and archaic words and excellent information on etymology.

Student/Children's Dictionary

This type of dictionary has many fewer words than a (collegiate) abridged dictionary or an unabridged dictionary, generally has more pictures, and includes the words that will be the most important for gaining functional fluency of the language. This type of dictionary can be frustrating when a seemingly common word is not listed and time is wasted searching for it.

Article on Editing of Christian words from student dictionaries

Etymological (Historical) Dictionary This type of dictionary is mostly for linguistics and those interested in the roots of words. This type of dictionary can be extremely helpful in terms of making connections between words, increasing vocabulary, and gaining a fuller understanding of a word's definition(s).

Slang / Dialectical Dictionary

This type of dictionary contains slang and colloquial words that are common in speech but may or may not be "proper" or "actual" words. This type of dictionary is generally more helpful to historians of language or linguistics professors than to natural-born speakers, but it may be helpful to those learning another language.

Rhyming Dictionary

This type of dictionary contains the most common words and the words that rhyme with them. The dictionary may choose to only have "perfect" rhymes, or may have both "perfect" and "imperfect rhymes. See the Wikipedia article on Rhyme for more information.

Scrabble Dictionary

This is a very specialized type of dictionary that contains those words that are considered "legal" in playing Scrabble. Though not a true dictionary as they rarely contain definitions (as definitions are not important in Scrabble), they can be extremely helpful -- as a spelling resource or just while you play your friend in Scrabble.

41 The main problems in lexicography.

Lexicography, the science of dictionary compiling, deals with the problems of form, meaning, usage & origin of vocabulary units.

I. The problem of classification of English dictionaries.

There are many different types of English dictionaries:

1) Linguistic dictionaries are word-books, their subject-matter is lexical units & their linguistic properties of use etc.

2) The encyclopaedic dictionaries are thing books that give information about the extra-linguistic world; they deal with concepts (objects & phenomena, their relations to other objects and phenomena etc).

a) According to the nature of their world list linguistic dictionaries may be divided into:

· general dictionaries (which contain lexical units in ordinary use with this or that proportion of items from various spheres of life);

· restricted dictionaries (make their choice only from a certain part of the word stock, the restriction being based on any principle (dictionaries of foreign words, terminological, phraseological, dialectal word books) determined by their compiler).

b) According to the information they contain linguistic dictionaries are divided into:

· presenting a wide range of data, especially with regard to the semantic aspect of the vocabulary items (explanatory dictionaries);

dealing with lexical units only in relation to some of their characteristics, such as etymology, frequency of pronunciation (specialised dictionaries;

c) According to the language of explanation, all types of dictionaries are divided into:

· monolingual (information is given in the same language);

· bilingual (in another language).

d) According to the prospective user, all types of dictionaries are divided into:

· dictionaries for scholarly users;

· dictionaries for students;

· dictionaries for general public.

Thus, to characterise a dictionary one must qualify it at least from the different angles mentioned above.

II. Some basic problems of dictionary compiling.

The most important problems the lexicographers face are:

1. The selection of items for inclusion and their arrangement. The questions to be decided upon are:

a) The type of lexical units to be chosen for inclusion;

b) The number of items to be recorded;

c) What to select and what to leave out in the dictionary;

d) Which form of the language, spoken or written, or both, is the dictionary to reflect;

e) Should the dictionary contain obsolete and archaic units, technical terms, dialectisms, colloquialisms etc.