Abstract
The present article deals with an investigation aimed at establishing the extent to which existing dictionaries provide potential dictionary buyers/borrowers with clear, unmistakable and easily understandable information about user need situations that might prompt consultation of the dictionary in question. The investigation analyses four monolingual English phrasal verbs dictionaries and five monolingual English specialised dictionaries. The primary sources of such information are identified as back cover blurbs of dictionaries, introductions to dictionaries and web ads for dictionaries. In the analysis, statements about user need situations extracted from these information sources are first classified as clear vs. unclear statements. The clear statements are then classified under the lexicographic function to which they are related. The results of the analysis disconfirm the hypothesis that the more well-defined and constrained the intended user group or groups for a given dictionary are, the more likely it is that the sources of information will provide the potential dictionary buyer/borrower with clear, unmistakable and easily understandable information about lexicographic function(s).
Highlights
For someone who finds himself/herself in a situation that requires the consultation of a dictionary to solve a particular problem, there are various sources of information which – in the ideal case – can tell the potential dictionary user whether a given dictionary will satisfy his/her needs
The analysis will be based on the functional theory of lexicography in the sense that it will attempt to uncover whether the three sources of information give clear, unmistakable and understandable information about the kind of user group or user groups the given dictionary is intended for and, more importantly, whether they provide the potential dictionary buyer with clear, unmistakable and understandable information about the lexicographic function(s) covered by the dictionary1, so that the potential dictionary buyer can readily establish whether the given dictionary will satisfy his/her extra-lexicographic needs
The hypothesis is that the more well-defined and constrained the intended user group for a given dictionary is, the more likely it is that the sources of information will provide the potential dictionary buyer with clear, unmistakable and understandable information about lexicographic function(s)
Summary
For someone who finds himself/herself in a situation that requires the consultation of a dictionary to solve a particular problem, there are various sources of information which – in the ideal case – can tell the potential dictionary user whether a given dictionary will satisfy his/her needs. Examples include clear explanations (Macmillan Phrasal Verbs Plus/Web ad) new entries to explain the concepts, vocabulary and jargon associated with current theories of leadership, motivation, and team building (Oxford Dictionary of Business and Management/Preface) where it is doubtful whether all potential dictionary buyers will interpret ‘explanations/explain’ as ‘definitions/define’ and conclude that the dictionary is intended to meet receptive needs. The same might perhaps apply to the following statements: Language Study articles on pronunciation, register, grammar, metaphor and learner errors (Macmillan Phrasal Verbs Plus/Blurb) explanations of how particles contribute to the meaning of phrasal verbs (Macmillan Phrasal Verbs Plus/Blurb) In these cases it is very unlikely that users will consult these outer matter texts to solve communicative problems. They have been classified only under the function ‘Cognition’
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