Le programme d'informatisation du <em>Dictionaire critique de la langue française</em> de l'abbé Jean-François Féraud (1787)

Abstract

After several years of research work and publications on the lexicographic output of Abbe Jean-Francois Feraud, GEHLF (Groupe d'tude en Histoire de la Langue Francaise), TELMOO (Textes Lyriques Medievaux d'Oc et d'Oil), and the Morin-Dagenais research team (University of Montreal) joined together to create a database of the Dictionaire critique de la langue francaise (Marseille: Mossy, 1787).This paper first briefly mentions the reasons motivating this project and the practical limits to which it is subjected. It then sets out a typology of the DC revealing the main syntactic regularities of its entries and showing how these regularities allow us to create a motivated reference system. It also discusses the problems of reproducing typographic characteristics of the original (such as italics, capitals, etc.) and justifies the choices made for the purposes of the project.Results that can be expected from the computerized version of the dictionary are then briefly examined, as well as the system of codes to be keyed in along with the capture of the text. In the latter regard, a choice was made not to overburden the input operation in order to minimize the risk of typing errors.Finally, the problems raised by the encoding of the DC's usage labels and notes, which constitute the dictionary's main interest, are discussed. It is shown that because these notes are not standardized, the provision of a search tool enabling the user to explore, according to individual needs, the extremely variable and often discontinuous formulations used by Feraud is a more realistic approach than trying to force the text to fit a rigid encoding scheme.