This is a state-of-the-art Guide to the fascinating world of the lexicon and its description in various types of dictionaries. A team of experts brings together a solid Introduction to Lexicography and leads you through decision-making processes step-by-step to compile and design dictionaries for general and specific purposes. The domains of lexicography are outlined and its specific terminology is explained in the Glossary. Each chapter provides ample suggestions for further reading. Naturally, electronic dictionaries, corpus analysis, and database management are central themes throughout the book. The book also "introduces" questions about the many types of definition, meaning, sense relations, and stylistics. And that is not all: those afraid to embark on a dictionary adventure will find out all about the pitfalls in the chapters on Design.

Table of contents

Preface ix I. The forms, contents and uses of dictionaries Chapter 1. Foundations 1.1 ‘The’ dictionary: Definition and history Piet van Sterkenburg 3–17 1.2 Source materials for dictionaries František Cermák 18–25 1.3 Uses and users of dictionaries Paul Bogaards 26–33 1.4 Types of articles, their structure and different types of lemmata Rufus Gouws 34–43 1.5 Dictionary typologies: A pragmatic approach Piet Swanepoel 44–69 Chapter 2. Descriptive lexicography 2.1 Phonological, morphological and syntactic specifications in monolingual dictionaries Johan De Caluwe and Ariane van Santen 71–82 2.2 Meaning and definition Dirk Geeraerts 83–93 2.3 Dictionaries of proverbs Stanislaw Predota 94–101 2.4 Pragmatic specifications: Usage indications, labels, examples; dictionaries of style, dictionaries of collocations Igor Burkhanov 102–113 2.5 Morphology in dictionaries Johan De Caluwe and Johan Taeldeman 114–126 2.6 Onomasiological specifications and a concise history of onomasiological ictionaries Piet van Sterkenburg 127–143 Chapter 3. Special types of dictionaries 3.1 Types of bilingual dictionaries Mike Hannay 145–153 3.2 Specialized lexicography and specialized dictionaries Lynne Bowker 154–164 II. Linguistic corpora (databases) and the compilation of dictionaries Chapter 4. Corpora for dictionaries 4.1 Corpora for lexicography John Sinclair 167–178 4.2 Corpus processing John Sinclair 179–193 4.3 Multifunctional linguistic databases: Their multiple use Truus Kruyt 194–203 4.4 Lexicographic workbench: A case history Daniel Ridings 204–214 Chapter 5. Design of dictionaries 5.1 Developments in electronic dictionary design Lineke Oppentocht and Rik Schutz 215–227 5.2 Linguistic corpora (databases) and the compilation of dictionaries Krista Varantola 228–239 5.3 The design of online lexicons Sean Michael Burke 240–249 Chapter 6. Realisation of dictionaries 6.1 The codification of phonological, morphological, and syntactic information Geert Booij 251–259 6.2 The production and use of occurrence examples John Simpson 260–272 6.3 The codification of semantic information Fons Moerdijk 273–296 6.4 The codification of usage by labels Henk Verkuyl, Maarten Janssen and Frank Jansen 297–311 6.5 The codification of etymological information Nicoline van der Sijs 314–321 Chapter 7. Examples of design and production criteria for major dictionaries 7.1 Examples of design and production criteria for bilingual dictionaries Wim Honselaar 323–332 7.2 Design and production of terminological dictionaries Willy Martin and Hennie van der Vliet 333–349 7.3 Design and production of monolingual dictionaries Ferenc Kiefer and Piet van Sterkenburg 350–365 7.4 Towards an ‘ideal’ Dictionary of English Collocations Stefania Nuccorini 366–387 Glossary 389–419 Bibliography 421–442 General index 443–459