A course In Modern English Lexicology

§ 17. Presentation of Meanings in
learner’s dictionaries is usually empir ic,
t ha t is b egi nn i n g wi t h the main meaning to minor ones. Besides the following principles of arrangement are considered proper for language learners: literal uses before figurative, general uses before special, common uses before rare and easily understandable uses before difficult.
Each of these principles is subject to the limitation “other things being equal” and all are subject to the principle that that arrangement is best for any word which helps the learners most.
E.g. in Hornby’s entry for commit the first meaning is ‘perform’ (a crime, foolish act, etc.) and its primary meaning ‘entrust’ is given as its second meaning.
1 In the dictionary under Prof. I. V. Rakhmanov’s direction the choice of words is based upon three main principles: 1) combinability, 2) lack of stylistic limitations, 3) semantic value, and four additional principles: 1) word-building ability, 2) polysemy, 3) syntactical valency, 4) frequency.
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But this is not always the case. For instance, the first meaning of the word revolution given by Hornby is ‘act of revolving or journeying round’ and not ‘complete change, great reversal of conditions, esp. in methods of government’, which is more common nowadays. Thus the compilers preserve the historical order of meanings in this case.
In monolingual learner’s dictionaries the same types of definitions are used, as in ordinary monolingual explanatory word-books, but their proportion is different. Encyclopaedic definitions are usually used more rarely, the role of descriptive definitions is much greater.
Compare, for instance, the definition for coal taken from the Ladder Dictionary with that from COD given above.1
coal n. a black, hard substance that burns and gives off heat.
It would be wrong to think however that the definitions in learner’s dictionaries are always less complete than in the dictionaries designed for native users. More often than not these definitions are not so condensed in form and they are more complete in content, because the compilers have to make up for the user’s possible inadequacy in command of the language and lack of knowledge of some realia.
Compare, for example the two entries for prep given below: COD II2 (abbr prep) preparation of lessons as part of school routine; OALD [U]3 (colloq abbr prep) (time given to) preparing lessons or writing exercises, after normal school hours (esp at GB public or grammar schools): two hours’ prep; do one’s French prep; In learner’s dictionaries cross-references are for the most part reduced to a minimum.
Compilers of learner’s dictionaries attach great importance to the language in which the definition is couched, the goal being to word them in the simplest terms that are consistent with accuracy. Some compilers see to it that the definitions are couched in language which is commoner and more familiar to the language learner than the words defined.
Some lexicographers select a special defining vocabulary held to be the commonest words in English or those first learnt by foreigners. For example, in the International Reader’s Dictionary the word-list of 24,000 items is defined within a vocabulary of 1490 words selected by M. West.
In some learner’s dictionaries pictorial material is widely used as a means of semantisation of the words listed. Pictures cannot only define the meanings of such nouns as dike, portico, domes, columns, brushes, etc., but sometimes also of adjectives, verbs and adverbs.
E.g. in Hornby’s dictionary, the definitions of the adjective concentrated, the verb clasp and the adverb abreast are illustrated with the pictures of concentrated circles, clasped hands, and boys walking three abreast.
1 See ‘Fundamentals of English Lexicography’, § 9, p. 220.
2 The parallel bars in COD = not US.
3 U = uncountable
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