6.1 Question one As already explained, the access structure can be viewed as the form in which
content is presented. Without an accessible form, data presented and arranged
in the macro-, micro-, frame and distribution structures cannot be accessed and
employed by the user. The failure of dictionary consultation procedures is
often attributed to the inadequate reference skills of the users, in this case
learners. But it is more often than not the structure of the dictionary that im-
pedes the user from sufficient access to data. According to Gouws (2001: 102),
the rapid and unimpeded access of the users to the relevant data presented in
the dictionary has to be regarded as a prerequisite for a successful lexico-
graphic product in a user-driven approach. The ease with which macro- and
microstructural information is located and retrieved determines the quality and
accessibility of the presentation. The lexicographer can therefore use the access
structure as primary instrumentto ensure the user-friendliness of a dictionary.
6.2 Question two Different outer texts in different dictionaries suggest that the outer access
structure of a dictionary is designed with a specific user in mind. In most com-
prehensive and standard dictionaries, the outer search route will start at the
cover, possibly continue to the table of contents, the running heads and the
thumb index and end at the desired lemma. Recently learner's dictionaries have
employed certain bridge texts to facilitate and enhance the outer search route of
the dictionary. These integrated outer texts are additional wordlists or equiva-
lent registers, found mostly in learner's dictionaries for beginners. They help
the user with a restricted knowledge of the language and specifically the
spelling of a foreign language word to reach the lemma via a mother tongue
equivalent. An equivalent register enables the learner to reach the unknown
word with the aid of a translation and thus enhances text reception and pro-
duction in the foreign language. In the same manner as the users' guidelines, an
outer text presenting an equivalent register should be regarded as a compul-
sory text in monolingual and monoscopal bilingual learner's dictionaries for
beginners and intermediate learners. If the learner reaches the advanced stage,
where thinking in the foreign language becomes a possibility, the need for this
special outer text decreases.
In the Passport English Hebrew Learner's Dictionary, the equivalent register
is given the status of a Hebrew–English dictionary or "reverse dictionary" that
also "forms an integral part of the dictionary in order to enable the learner to
locate the English headword" (p. viii).
It is also evident that the inner access structure varies according to the
dictionary type. If one examines articles from different dictionaries it would not
be difficult to decide what dictionary type they represent. It is not only the
294
Mariza
Steyn
amount and density of data that lead one, but the internal structure of the arti-
cles also suggests that different dictionary types have different inner access
structures to correlate with specific users.