THEORETICAL BASIS OF STUDYING POLYCODE DICTIONARY ENTRIES

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the theoretical premises of studying polycode dictionary entries in English learner’s lexicography. Learning any foreign language is unthinkable without the use of a variety of information resources: textbooks, reference books, encyclopedias and, first of all, dictionaries. The communicative specificity of learner’s dictionaries consists in their targeting to a clear segment of the readership. These are non-native speakers of English, studying it as a foreign language and living outside the area of its functioning, and, therefore, outside the situational context. The features of users to whom learner’s dictionaries are addressed determine the content and presentation of lexicographic material, which is aimed primarily at expanding the vocabulary of the reader and, moreover, familiarizing him more closely with the culture of English-speaking society. Lexicographers note that every user of the dictionary faces three problems: how to find the right information; how to understand it (comprehend) and how to apply what you understood. The history of the creation of educational dictionaries of the English language begins in the middle of the twentieth century. The main task of a lexicographic article in an explanatory dictionary is to provide a certain amount of information necessary for the reader to adequately understand a particular word of interest. To solve this problem, compilers of dictionaries resort to using both typesetting and pictorial non-verbal communication means. A polycode lexicographic article is a combination of two definitions of the same sememe, which are made with signs of two different semiotic systems: symbolic (linguistic) and iconic (pictographic).