Across Commas, Across Semicolons, Across Oceans: Presentation Style and Immigrant Dictionaries

Abstract

Abstract It is unfortunate that scholars have given scant attention to what can be called immigrant dictionaries. These books are significant to the history of (learner) lexicography; they meet pressing needs of immigrants and refugees. This article examines four immigrant dictionaries, Slovenian–English and English–Slovenian (Kubelka 1904, Kubelka 1912b, Košutnik 1912, and Kern 1919), published in the early twentieth century at a time when the Slovenian immigration to the United States was at its height. The presentation of information in these dictionaries is investigated with a focus on the treatment of homonymy, polysemy, conversion, and parenthetical information. Findings address the implications of a macrostructure-oriented versus a microstructure-oriented approach for immigrant user understanding. The paper recommends that learner lexicography should prioritize the design of the lexicographic presentation in the microstructure and prioritize the presentation of meaning over other possible elements covered traditionally in dictionaries.