Lexicographic Practice Research Articles

Teaching Lexicography as a University Course: Theoretical, Practical and Critical Considerations

This paper offers an account of a university course in Lexicography, designed particularly for advanced EFL students. The discussion and accompanying material derive from around fifteen years of the author's experience in developing and teaching this course. The aims of the paper are twofold: firstly, to draw attention to the fact that lexicography today is no longer just 'the art and craft of' dictionary making of yesteryear but a fully-fledged applied linguistic discipline, with its own theory, methodology and practice, some of which is teachable as a dedicated academic subject; and secondly, to encourage the teaching of practical and theoretical lexicography to university students by putting forward concrete proposals. The exposition is divided into five parts, as follows: Section 1 brings some opening remarks, including that on the scientific status of lexicography; Section 2 reviews theoretical aspects regarding the design of this course; Section 3 describes practical aspects regarding the implementation of the course; Section 4 examines critical aspects regarding the evaluation of the course; and Section 5 recapitulates the main points of the paper and projects the modifications to the course in the future.

Which Defining Model Contributes to More Successful Extraction of Syntactic Class Information and Translation Accuracy?

Definitions in English monolingual learners' dictionaries are the central focus of the paper. Metalexicographers have had a consuming interest in the following three types of definitions: analytical definitions (or classical definitions), full-sentence definitions (also called contextual definitions) and single-clause when -definitions. The use of when -definitions, the role of which is to define abstract nouns, has raised questions and doubts as to their efficacy on correct part of speech recognition of the definiendum , or item being defined, in light of the problems related to the substitutability of headwords and parts of definitions (lack of general category words in this definition format). By and large, existing research has substantiated the superiority of the classical definition-type over single-clause when -definitions with respect to the accuracy of word class identification. The current experiment attempts to further delve into the subject of part of speech recognition with regard to the three aforementioned defining formats — in previous studies only data from analytical and single-clause when -definitions were collated, since contextual definitions were not included in the study design. The study was conducted on a group of 120 advanced-level Polish university students of English. The subjects were tested on their ability of correct extraction of syntactic class information and translation accuracy of abstract noun headwords as regards the three predominant definition-types in English lexicographic practice.

Special Field and Subject Field Lexicography Contributing to Lexicography

Restricted dictionaries are fully-fledged dictionaries and their contribution to lexicography should never be underestimated. Because restricted dictionaries often are neglected in lexicographic discussions this article emphasises the significance of their role as members of the lexicographic family. Within a comprehensive dictionary culture the focus should not only be on dictionaries dealing with languages for general purposes but also on dictionaries in which languages for special purposes are treated. This paper firstly offers some terminological clarity and distinguishes between subject field dictionaries and special field dictionaries. The user-perspective is then discussed before it is shown how aspects of a general theory of lexicography also prevail in these dictionaries. This applies among others to the subtypological classification as well as different lexicographic functions. Using a dictionary from each of the categories of subject field and special field dictionaries it is indicated how dictionary structures are employed and further developed in an innovative way. Attention is given to structures like the article structure and the frame structure and to a transtextual approach in monolingual dictionaries with a bilingual dimension. The focus in the discussion of the subject field dictionary is on different aspects of the macrostructure. An explanation is given of double-layered sublemmata and it is shown how integrated macrostructures are employed in this dictionary. It is indicated how this section of the lexicographic practice can enrich the field of metalexicography and dictionary research. Keywords: back matter texts; double-layered sublemmata; first level sublemmata; guiding element; integrated macrostructure; learner's dictionary; partial article stretches; special field dictionary; specialised dictionary; subject field dictionary; sublemmata; transtextual approach; user-perspective

TYPES OF LEXICAL MEANINGS

This article analyzes the types of vocabulary used as an example of Uzbek language. In lexicology research, the vocabulary has different levels of meaning. However, the relationship between hierarchical types of lexical meanings is not comprehensively studied. The article shows that the lexical meanings form several interrelated pairs. The vocabulary of the word is a complex phenomenon, and its species is a couple of interrelated species. These pairs are: 1) semantic and vocabulary meaning; 2) naming meanings and additional meanings (denotative and conventional), 3) own meaning and portable meaning, 4) physical and spiritual meaning - symbolic, 5) the present meaning and the etymological meaning. The lexicon of semema and vocabulary is related to both general and private. Consistent differentiation of semantics and vocabulary is important in the development of practical lexicography, that is, annotated dictionary. Some annotations have more than 30 meanings, with the exception of this distinction. The word and its meanings can be traced in synonymic lines. In addition to the meaning of the word, the emotional attitude of the speaker the way in which the word is expressed and so on. Self and portable are the types of vocabulary meaning. These are related to the semantic and semantic use of semema in speech. The literal meaning arises because of the need to express it in a figurative and affective way, rather than the word itself.

SOME PROBLEMS OF UZBEK LEXICOGRAPHY AND DICTIONARY ELABORATION

The article provides an indepth analysis of the lexicographical functions, the principles of explaining obsolete language units to linguists, and the experience of Uzbek lexicography. Lexicography and vocabulary are inextricably linked to all sections of linguistics, in particular lexicology. In this sense, these three sections represent three stages in the disciplines: fundamental; innovative field; explanation to describe the practical area; tasks for practical lexicography. General typology of dictionaries and development of new dictionaries; to create a common dictionary structure (word choice, word and dictionary articles, definition, synonyms, polyphonic and polysemantic units, to include reference materials in the dictionary); the process of creating an individual personal dictionary of the dictionary (i.e. developing each glossary article, grammatical and phonetic interpretation of the word, separating and classifying word meanings, types of illustrations as proofs, types of symbols, information about the etymology of words). The dictionaries offer solutions to the problems of "modernity" and "obsolete" principles, the choice of words and meanings in the dictionary.

ОПИСАТЕЛЬНЫЕ ГЛАГОЛЬНО-ИМЕННЫЕ ОБОРОТЫ С КАУЗАТИВНОЙ СЕМАНТИКОЙ В СОВРЕМЕННОМ РУССКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ

The article discusses descriptive verbal-nominal constructions with causative verbal components. The relevance of the study is due to the attention of modern linguistics to the problem of analyticism in the Russian language grammar, the lack of study of the structural and semantic features of analytical constructions with causatives. The novelty of the work consists in identifying the features of the semantic structure of sentences with causative verbal components. A feature of causative DVNC is recognized as dismembered semantics. Two varieties of causative constructions formed by descriptive verbal-nominal constructions are distinguished – sentences with arbitrary and automatic causation. The description of statements draws attention to the main semantic components – causative and causable subjects, methods of their formal expression. Differences in the semantic structure of sentences with spontaneous and automatic causation are shown. The purposefulness of causative action in sentences with spontaneous causation and indirectness of influence in sentences with automatic causation are due to the semantic features of the main components of causative statements with DVNC – the causative and causable subject. Constructions with spontaneous causation form polysubject monopropositive, DVNC with automatic causation form polysubject polypropositive structures. The peculiarity of the semantic structure of additional statements of DVNC unpretentious forms – participal – with causative semantics was noted. In sentences with DVNC unpretentious forms, the incentive is mitigated. Additional statements with DVNC form polypropositive constructions. The development of verbal-nominal constructions with causatives is associated with a tendency to analyticism, characteristic of the modern Russian language grammar. The materials of the article will be used in lexicographic practice – when compiling a dictionary of descriptive verbal-nominal constructions, in teaching special courses on the problem of nomination.

СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ТЕНДЕНЦИИ В КОНЦЕПТУАЛИЗАЦИИ ГЕНДЕРА И ИХ ОТРАЖЕНИЕ В БРИТАНСКОЙ ТОЛКОВОЙ ЛЕКСИКОГРАФИИ

The aim of this article is to identify how modern English-language dictionaries reflect the recent shift in the conceptualization and categorization of gender caused by the changes in gender theory, gender ideology and social transformations. The need to address this topic is driven by the fact that, in the Anglophone academic discourse and everyday life, the binary structure of the gender is no longer considered the norm and gender-neutral communication practices are gaining in scale. The study focuses on various structural components of entries from the latest editions of five major British dictionaries for EFL students (‘the Big Five’): Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (OALD), Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary (CLD), Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE), Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (MEDAL), and Collins English Dictionary (CED). To identify the shifts in the recording of gender relevant information, the authors analyzed the headwords of dictionary entries, definitions, illustrative examples, gender relevant usage notes, and non-sexist language guidelines. Illustrative examples were also selected from dictionary entries thematically related to issues of family, marriage and sexual relations, as well as to the topics of discrimination, debate, (in)tolerance, and prejudice. The authors used definitional analysis and semantic interpretation to achieve the aim. The findings were then compared with the results of an earlier study on the construction of gender in the first (1948) and fifth (2005) editions of OALD. The study demonstrates that in modern lexicography deconstruction of gender stereotypes has become even more pronounced than in the dictionaries published at the beginning of the century. Different elements of dictionary entries emphasize such issues as women’s rights campaigning and elimination of gender discrimination in all its forms. New types of masculinity are represented in various entry components. The ideas of gender fluidity and same-sex relations have become much more prominent than in the 2000s. Along with recording traditional gender representations, modern dictionaries tend to consistently avoid the implications of heteronormativity and heterosexuality by recognizing multiple gender identities. This tendency is registered in all structural components of the analyzed dictionaries. New types of communicative practices that stem from the changes in gender conceptualization, such as ‘preferred pronouns’ and others, are reflected in illustrative examples and by the new coinages used as headwords. The major trends affecting the way gender ideology is reflected in modern dictionaries include digitalization of lexicographic practices, increased role of corpora as a source of illustrative examples, and democratization of dictionary making process by registering new coinages, particularly gender relevant ones, submitted by the users.

First Citations and First Occurrences: How Sensitive to Language Change Were Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century American Dictionaries?

This article compares the relative effectiveness of large, monolingual American dictionaries and a large-scale corpus of American English (Corpus of Historical American English, or COHA) at documenting new verb senses that arise from nouns through conversion, like backpack and earmark. Seventy-five such denominal verbs, established in English at varying times throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, were selected, and their first record in an American dictionary as well as their first attestation in COHA were tallied. The results show that COHA is slightly better at catching a new use in the empirical record, but dictionaries have been effective as well. For nearly a third of the words, COHA and the dictionaries were essentially tied in documenting newly emerging senses. This suggests that dictionaries have been finely attuned to changes in English throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and that a large-scale corpus like COHA will come close to matching the empirical effectiveness of dictionaries. Since each method uncovered some words much earlier than the other method, current lexicographic practice of including corpora as well as traditional methods like reading programs and citation files seems well justified.

ФИЛОСОФСКАЯ ДЕФИНИЦИЯ «ВООБРАЖЕНИЕ» В ЛИНГВОКОГНИТИВНОМ И ЛИНГВИСТИЧЕСКОМ АСПЕКТАХ

The article provides an analytical description of the widely used in philosophical science term “imagination”, which for the first time is examined from the linguo-cognitive and linguistic viewpoints. The paper compares the most frequent philosophical definitions of imagination with a view to systemize the key cognitive components of this concept, to identify the interpretations inadequate in the meaningful and verbal aspects and to correct them. Relying on the findings, the authors offer their own definition of the term “imagination”, which can be used in lexicographical practice.

Some issues of English medical terminography in the context of English globalization

The research suggests the list of the most critical problems inmedical terminography, such as, difficulties in the identification of terms, polysemyand synonymy, a great quantity of abbreviations, rapid expansion of theterminological field of medicine. The approach used consists in the analysis of thedefinitions of English medical terms in medical dictionaries widely used inUkraine. The study of the theoretical literature and the results of the empiricalresearch show, that the following aspects as adequacy (compliance of the meaningof the term with the modern scientific knowledge); accuracy (sound and semanticaccuracy without doublets in microterminosystem); unambiguity (unified structuraland semantic model); unification of terms representation should be central inimproving lexicographical practice in the field of medical terminography. Theidentification of medical terms needs the specification of theoretical and clinicalmedicine at macro-, micro- and sub-microsystems levels. The work makes theattempt to identify these critical issues with focus on the problem of synonymy. Toevince the state of the art in this area, we studied dictionary articles in which termscomprising the synonymic set “damage”: disorder, disturbance, hurt, impairment,injury, are defined. These and other issues are evident to the dictionary compilers.In different attempt to solve them, lexicographers resort to the incorporation of26collocations with the key terms. New strategies of dictionaries compilation shouldbe developed for medical terminography to serve the tasks of promoting effectivemultinational communication in English. Some of the strategies can be based onthe complex dynamical systems theory. Medical terminography in the aggregateshould be a complex dynamical system developing in context with the globalprocesses in the field of medicine and in compliance with linguistic theory.

REALIZATION OF TRANSFORMATION AND CREATIVE POTENTIAL OF THE KRYLATIKA IN MEDIA DISCOURSE

The modern process of the mediatisation of all spheres of public life affects both the volume of speech creation and the media texts themselves. The mass character and the multi-language openness of media discourse allow us to consider winged units as a means for representing and imple- menting phraseological innovations. The role of mass media in the formation of new sustainable turns is being actively studied, which speaks of their significance in this process, since it is the media discourse that demonstrates most clearly the current usage and viability of phraseological innovations in language and speech. The media discourse has a large number of ways of influencing the mass addressee, and, as recent studies of Russian media texts show, the fund of winged units as an integral part of the phraseological corpus of the national language is widely used in it. Various phrase resources (idioms, winged expressions, paremias, aphorisms, etc.) are often used both in a strong text position - the title or ending of the publication, and in the creation of media texts connecting the verbal and visual parts in which their transformational and creative potential is most clearly realized, multiplying their linguo-pragmatic effect on the addressee. The analysis of the media content of the site “Orthodox Laughs” revealed the tendency of creative use of folklorism “Баю-баюшки-баю, не ложися на краю. Придет серенький волчок - И укусит за бочок!”, which has not yet been fixed by lexicographical practice, as well as its variants that are the result of various methods of transformation language units. Structural and semantic transformations of various categories of phraseological units are an effective means of implementing specific expression in the media text. Previously, fiction was considered the main source of winged units, today the situation is changing, and the leadership belongs to synthetic art forms (cinema, television, pop, etc.). The analyzed potential winged unit has not one source of appearance: along with Russian and German folklore, this is German literature, but the expression in the Soviet animated film “The Bremen Town Musicians” was actualized. In analyzing the publications of this site, interdisciplinary methods of studying media content were used: discursive, descriptive-analytical, linguocultural, and media linguistic. The conducted research has shown that the functioning of the considered potential winged unit and its transforms confirms the thesis that these language units are in demand and widely used in modern media texts, since they have productive mechanisms of meaning formation.

NONVERBAL MEANS OF COMMUNICATION IN THE ENGLISH DICTIONARIES

The article is devoted to the study of the periods of development of the English learner’s lexicography. 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. Lexicographers unanimously name such dictionaries as the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners as the “Big Five” of educational dictionaries, the highest achievement in this field of lexicographic practice (pinnacle of monolingual learners’ dictionaries).

LINGUISTIC SITUATION AS THE DEVELOPMENT FACTOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEXICOGRAPHY IN INDIA: BEFORE THE BRITISH RAJ

The given paper features the first part of the extended research focused on the investigation of the linguistic situation as a development factor of the English language lexicography in India. Thus, in this article the theoretical notions of ‘linguistic situation’ and its integral components are scanned, and the main constituencies of the linguistic situation in India before the British Rule are scrutinized. Special attention given to this historic period is justified by the specificity of the English language lexicography development moulded during this time. Linguistic situation is viewed as a network of the forms of one language or several languages in their areal and social interplay within explicit geographic territories and definite political entities. Such recognition of the notion places emphasis on the quantitative, qualitative and evaluative parameters, enabling the depiction of linguistic situation on any historic level. The study of the parameters of the linguistic situation in India in the period before the British Rule reveals a complex picture, the constituencies of which, on the one hand, are dependent on historic, cultural, socio-political and linguistic conditions, on the other, ascertain further lexicographic development of scientific thinking. The quantitative parameters of the linguistic situation in India display the variability of force, multicentricity and certain disharmonicity regarding demographic as well as communicative force leading to functional polycomponent structure. The essential feature of qualitative parameters resides in plurilingualism: a score of cognate languages and languages of different families has coexisted on the territory of Hindustan for many centuries favoring the development of both exo- and endoglossia. The character of linguistic situation in India leads to the rewarding development of lexicographic practice, to the compilation of various types of dictionaries, to the elaboration of guidelines towards dictionaries arrangement.

Framing constructicography

Abstract Constructicography can be defined as a blend between Construction Grammar and Practical Lexicography, which aims at developing constructicons: repositories of form and function pairings in a language. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of this emerging field by (i) tracking the origins of both Frame Semantics and Construction Grammar and the repercussions of their intertwined developments to Computational Lexicography and Constructicography; (ii) comparing the impacts of the different degrees of interconnection between constructicons and framenets and (iii) discussing the possible applications of these resources. Also, we argue that Constructicography, while obviously building on the accumulated knowledge compiled by numerous Construction Grammar approaches to language, also contributes to its mother theory, since the effort to build coherent formalized computational resources forces constructionist analysis to go beyond describing families of constructions into the enterprise of describing a coherent construction grammar of a language.

Lexicographical Contextualization and Personalization: A New Perspective

Contextualization, i.e. to provide solutions to users' information needs directly in the situation or context where these needs occur, played a significant role in the work of the Greek scribes who inserted glosses into manuscript copies of the works of Homer and other earlier writers in order to explain obsolete and unusual words. After the invention of the glossary, a schism developed within lexicography. On the one hand, there was the new compilation of glossaries and dictionaries of a still more complex and sophisticated nature. On the other hand, there was the traditional insertion of glosses into manuscript copies of books from previous periods. Although the advent of dictionaries diminished the use of contextualization procedures they were still adhered to in some publications. This paper discusses the occurrence of contextualization and personalization procedures in different eras and environments and it is shown how these procedures also introduced a lexicographic practice to some extra-dictionary environments. The importance of contextualization and personalization in modern-day lexicography is stressed. Lexicographers often have had unfulfilled dreams of new possibilities within the digital environment. However, the lack of adequate technology has made their dreams impossible – at that stage. Today new technologies and collaboration between lexicography and information science offer numerous new challenges that can be met by lexicographers. It is shown how lexicographical products being integrated into information tools little by little are closing the more than two thousand year old schism in European lexicography, i.e. reuniting contextualization and personalization. Lexicographers, the modern-day scribes, have to endeavour to make the seemingly impossible possible.

АКСИОЛОГИЧЕСКАЯ КОННОТАЦИЯ ИМЕНИ СОБСТВЕННОГО: ДИНАМИЧЕСКИЙ АСПЕКТ

The article identifies the evaluative component of connotation of different categories of proper names (not only anthroponyms but also toponyms, ergonyms, et al.), which have not been previously subjected to a comprehensive analysis aimed to reveal stadial changes in an onym’s axiological connotation. The findings have allowed the author to define axiological connotation of a proper name, to show its dynamic nature, dependence of the evaluative component of meaning on an onym’s development stage. The paper proposes recommendations on how the acquired results can be used in lexicographical practice.

A visão enciclopédica dos frames semânticos

Este trabalho tem como objetivo discorrer sobre a natureza enciclopédica dos frames semânticos e o seu papel na prática lexicográfica. Em termos teóricos, procuramos compreender a visão de Charles Fillmore (1982, 1992) com a proposição da Semântica de Frames, assim como buscar na Linguística Cognitiva os seus princípios. Em termos aplicados, focalizamos na interface da Semântica de Frames com a Lexicografia e apresentamos, na sequência, dois estudos de caso, ambos destacando a visão enciclopédica dos frames e a sua pertinência para a prática lexicográfica. Destacamos, por fim, tratar-se da ocupação de um nicho específico de pesquisa, à medida que nos voltamos apenas para os frames semânticos. Ressalta-se que outros tópicos da Semântica Cognitiva também têm a sua relevância para a Lexicografia.

Прилагательные со значением «длинный» и «короткий» в горизонтальном и вертикальном измерениях в бурятском языке и словаре

The paper examines adjectives denoting horizontal and vertical size (‘long’ and ‘short’) in the Buryat language and Russian-Buryat dictionaries. The analysis shows that adjectives to define objects in horizontal orientation are fewer than those dealing with vertical orientation. At the same time, adjectives of vertical orientation (oodon and ohor) are distinguished by exclusive compatibility characteristics. The adjective oodon characterizes objects hanging down, such as tails, lower hems, bottom edges of trousers, shoulder weapons, etc.; and the word ohor defines vertical, upwardsdirected objects, e.g., grass, rocks, etc. The dominant adjectives in synonymic chains of both orientations coincide and serve as general definitions of certain qualities or characteristics of an object (uta and bogony). For deeper understanding of peculiarities inherent to these adjectives, the paper examines no pictorial, stylistically loaded adjectives since those are often essentially evaluative and do not act as object definers directly; the single exception examined being the somewhat evaluative adjective unzhagar ‘long’ containing semes of both horizontal and vertical orientations. It defines objects stretched in perspective, as well as ones that hang down or face upwards. As for the analyzed adjectives, in both the synonymic chains the adjectives bogony and oodon ‘short’ are not used in a figurative sense, while uta and ohor are active enough in this function. This fact, apparently, attests to that those are basically used in their direct, utilitarian function ― determination of physical parameters of an object used in practice and economic activities. So, a different story is that of the word ohor which, when combined with ukhaan, bodol, naγan, express figurative meanings (ohor ukhaan ‘dull mind’, ohor γanaan ‘short-sighted’, ohor naγan ‘short life / short century’). Some of these adjectives are used to form compound nouns and adjectives, e.g., uta honshoor ‘bittern’, ohor γüül ‘tailbone’, oodon buu ‘carbine’, oodon terge ‘uniaxial cart’, oodon ümden ‘shorts’, etc. Distinction between Buryat (and other Mongolic) synonyms in vertical orientation requires a deeper analysis based on their etymologies, and in lexicographical practice – accompaniments in the form of semantic explanations.

Семантическая эволюция слова и формирование медиастилемы (существительное палач в отечественной лексикографии и публицистическом тексте)

The article is devoted to the semantic and pragmatic evolution of the word palach (tormentor) in the Russian language of the 20th–21st centuries and the reflection of this phenomenon in the Russian lexicography. Explanatory dictionaries of the 18th and 19th centuries, the data of the national corpus of the Russian language, as well as the texts from the magazine “Ogonek” published between 1916 and 2018 were used as research material. The author notes that before the revolution of 1917 Russian dictionaries recorded only the direct meaning of the noun. This lexicographic practice was in conflict with the simultaneous usage of word palach as ‘villain’ by Russian writers and journalists. The figurative meaning of the word was first recorded in the first Soviet dictionary published in 1935–1940. The ideological interpretation of the word was later included in the academic dictionaries of the Russian language in the 1950-s and 1960-s. Particular attention is paid to the functioning of the lexeme in the journalistic text. The publications from the magazine “Ogonek” demonstrate the use of the noun palach as an ideologeme which represented class alienation and historic doom for the enemies of the working people. In the post-Soviet period, political connotations faded into the background and the word palach was transformed into a philosopheme — a conceptually saturated term that serves to conceptualise the most important laws of existence. Materials of 2018 demonstrate the ability of the word palach to denote in the modern media text the foe which is not so much political but rather historical, one who desolates culture and opposes progress. Palach is an absolute evil, fulfilling itself in the historical arena. Palach is not an opponent in today’s struggle, but rather a negative historical example for future generations. The author concludes that it is necessary to reflect the pragmatic characteristics of the word more accurately in dictionaries. To define lexical units which are widely used in media texts and have the ability to communicate the worldviews of the author the term “mediastyleme” is proposed.

NEURAL NETWORK PATTERN FOR ENHANCING FUNCTIONALITY OF ELECTRONIC DICTIONARIES

The value of a dictionary is traditionally considered to be proportional to its physical volume, measured in the number of entries. However, the amount of useful data varies depending on existing hypertextual links across a dictionary. Therefore, its utility might also be calculated as proportional to the number of useful links among its structural parts which can interact in a similar way as neurons do via synapse links, provided that the number of links turns out to be exponentially greater than the number of entries. Today’s lexicographic practice, as well as an experiment held by the author with his own developed onomasiological electronic dictionary of phraseological synonyms “IdeoPhrase”, appears to demonstrate that the main criterion for establishing links automatically is the repetition of each kind of signs (stylistic labels, graphical word, metalinguistic comments). Automatically generated hypertextual links can be used for finding out semantic relations of different types among lexemes (synonymic, antonymic and others), semantic equivalence or similarity among lexemes in different languages (which is close to automatic translation), as well as compiling a new dictionary. The fact that generated relation established by а computer constitute new useful knowledge which has not been directly input by the compiler, qualifies this algorithm as artificial intelligence engine.