On the lexicographical description of equivalent open class expressions

H Wiegand

doi:10.4314/lex.v13i1.51379

Abstract

The contribution proceeds from the assumption that linguistic equivalence is already determined, and therefore only deals with questions of the lexicographical description of equiva-lent open class expressions in completely condensed dictionary articles in bilingual printed dic-tionaries, with the purpose of establishing a notion of lexicographical equivalence. Firstly, the most important differences between non-condensed, partially condensed and completely condensed dictionary articles are explained. In completely condensed dictionary articles, which are not natural language texts, addressing relationships are present. These relationships have a vital role in the lexicographical description of equivalent open class expressions. They are, therefore, explained in more detail. A further assumption for the development of a notion of lexicographical equivalence is the notion of semantic-pragmatic equivalence, which is therefore introduced briefly. Next, there is a stepwise development, by means of examples, of what one can understand by the notion of lexi-cographical equivalence. The developed notion of lexicographical equivalence can on the one hand form the point of departure for the lexicographical textualisation of semantic-pragmatic equiva-lence, and on the other hand it takes into consideration that the linguistic equivalence relationship has to be inferred first by the user-in-action by means of complex results of lexicographical textu-alisation. The developed notion of lexicographical equivalence presents a firm foundation for the optimisation of the presentation of lexicographical equivalence. Keywords: addressing, semantic-pragmatic equivalence, lexicograph-ical equivalence, lexicographical text condensation, condensed dic-tionary articles

Highlights

Abstrakt: Zur lexikographischen Beschreibung nennlexikalischer äquivalenter Wortschatzeinheiten
It is taken for granted that the equivalence of the open class expressions is already determined linguistically, so that — according to the title of the article — specific questions of the lexicographical description of equivalent open class expressions in completely condensed dictionary articles in bilingual printed dictionaries are dealt with
Some explanations will be given of the type of completely condensed dictionary articles and of the textual features of articles of this article type, preferred in modern bilingual lexicography

Summary

Some assumptions from lexicographical theory

Some assumptions from lexicographical theory, which have been developed in more recent works (cf. Wiegand 2002, 2002a, 2002b, 2002c and 2003) and which are necessary in order to understand the following expositions, are briefly explained or at least referred to. It is taken for granted that the equivalence of the open class expressions is already determined linguistically, so that — according to the title of the article — specific questions of the lexicographical description of equivalent open class expressions (and here the topic is being narrowed) in completely condensed dictionary articles in bilingual printed dictionaries are dealt with. Das Wort steht für eine Betriebsamkeit, die vor allem durch Spontaneität und Kreativität gekennzeichnet ist

40 Herbert Ernst Wiegand

On the notion of lexicographical equivalence