Modern English Dictionaries. A Foreign User’s View

Olga Karpova

doi:10.15388/respectus.2019.36.41.19

Abstract

The article is devoted to the description of new trends in theory and dictionary making process of modern English lexicography. At the same time the paper also covers the main historic steps of formation and development of national English lexicography with special reference to the most reliable English dictionaries for general purposes (early glossaries and concordances, Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary, etc.) and special purposes (English writers’ glossaries, concordances, lexicons to the complete and separate works of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and other famous English men of letters). The main accent is made on the digital époque of English national lexicography, describing innovative features of both printed and Internet dictionaries of various types and formats from the point of view of a user studying English as a foreign language. The paper touches upon new branches of English lexicography (collaborative, volunteer) with users’ needs and demands at the centre of dictionary making process.

Highlights

English national lexicography has the richest repertoire of dictionaries in the world and dates back to the 15th c. when first glossaries and concordances to the English translation to the Bible appeared (The Oxford History of English Lexicography 2008: 11–12)
With intensive development of the English language in the 17th and 18th cc., lexicographers turned to dictionary making practice based on description of native words, offering English educated audience registrative lexicons which contained more than 9,000 entries with grammar, chronological and etymological labels. This period of time in the history of English lexicography is characterized by noticeable development of specialized dictionaries where English writers’ reference books played an important role
Looking into the future of English lexicography, it is necessary to note, that its rich historic traditions will definitely contribute to effective development of new approaches to the printed and online dictionary making process

Summary

Introduction

English national lexicography has the richest repertoire of dictionaries in the world and dates back to the 15th c. when first glossaries and concordances to the English translation to the Bible appeared (The Oxford History of English Lexicography 2008: 11–12). With intensive development of the English language in the 17th and 18th cc., lexicographers turned to dictionary making practice based on description of native words, offering English educated audience registrative lexicons which contained more than 9,000 entries with grammar, chronological and etymological labels This period of time in the history of English lexicography is characterized by noticeable development of specialized dictionaries (synonymic, dialectal, learners’, terminological, slang, idiom, etc.) where English writers’ reference books played an important role. The compilers of English dictionaries for general purposes borrowed quotations from reliable Shakespeare and other famous concordances to their reference works and continued this practice up to now Such technique contributed to productive formation of national English lexicography which up to the 19th – beginning of the 20th cc. Such technique contributed to productive formation of national English lexicography which up to the 19th – beginning of the 20th cc. had at its disposal hundreds of glossaries and lexicons of the English language (Karpova 2011: 32–35)

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary

Users’ needs and demands

Printed dictionaries

Internet dictionaries

Conclusions