Unit 31

● English Dictionaries
●● Introduction
　　The dominant sense of the word dictionary for English?speaking people is a book which presents in alphabetical order the words of English, with information as to their spelling, pronunciation, meaning, usage, rules of grammar, and in some, their etymology. It is closely related to lexicology, which deals with the same problems: the form, meaning, usage and origins of vocabulary units. Although our concern is not to make dictionaries, yet a good knowledge of dictionaries will certainly be of great help to us in the use of dictionaries and ultimately the use of English words. In this chapter, we shall make a general survey of different types of English dictionaries, examine their contents and characteristics and discuss how to make an effective use of dictionaries.

●● Types of Dictionaries
　　10.1 Types of Dictionaries

●●● Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries
　　10.1.1 Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries
Monolingual dictionaries are written in one language. That is the headwind or entries and defined and illustrated in the same language. The Monolingual dictionary is rather a late development because as the earliest dictionaries were all bilingual. The target population of monolingual dictionaries are general native speakers or second language and foreign learners who have reached the intermediate and advanced stages. LDCE and CCELD published in Britain are both monolingual dictionaries.
Bilingual dictionaries involve two languages. The main entries are generally defined or explained in the same language with translations as Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English with Chinese Translation, and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English with Chinese Translation. Or rather the headwords are defined in another language or given their foreign equivalents. A good example is A New English-Chinese Dictionary and the like. Another kind of bilingual dictionary is A Modern Chinese-English Dictionary (1988), in which the Chinese words and expressions are translated into English.

●●● Linguistic and Encyclopedic Dictionaries
　　 10.1.2 Linguistic and Encyclopedic Dictionaries
　　Linguistic dictionaries aim at defining words and explaining their usages in the language. They usually cover such areas as spelling, pronunciation, meaning, grammatical function, usage and etymology, etc. These dictionaries can be monolingual and bilingual.
　　Encyclopedic dictionaries can be further divided into encyclopedia and encyclopedic dictionaries. An encyclopedia is not concerned with the language per se but provides encyclopedic information concerning each headword. There the reader cannot find pronunciation or meanings or usages but other information. The well?known ones are The Encyclopedia Britannica in 20 volumes and The Encyclopedia Americana in 30 volumes.
　　Encyclopedic dictionaries have the characteristics of both linguistic dictionaries and encyclopedia. In such dictionaries one can find the general information as in a linguistic dictionary and limited encyclopedic information as well. Take wind for example. Apart from the definition of what the wind means, the dictionary provides additional knowledge about winds such as types and names of winds, their velocity, force, etc. Moreover, the entries have a wider coverage including names, historical events and the like. Although most modern American dictionaries are tinged with encyclopedic features, the dictionaries which are really worth the title are few. One example is Chamber's Encyclopedic English Dictionary published in 1994. The dictionary provides all the characteristics of an English dictionary and a comprehensive world encyclopedia as well, for example , comprehensive coverage of history, politics, current affairs, the arts, science, modern culture and lifestyle, industry, law, economics, religion, institutions, and sports. It has a collection of 200,000 references and altogether 2,000,000 words of text.

●●● Unabridged, Desk and Pocket Dictionaries
　　 10.1.3 Unabridged, Desk and Pocket Dictionaries
　　1. Unabridged dictionaries. As the name indicates, an unabridged dictionary is an unshortened one. Theoretically, it is a complete record of all the words in use (actually no dictionary can contain all the words in the language). But such a dictionary is the most complete description of words in use available to us. It provides a great quantity of basic information about a word: its origin, meaning, pronunciation, cognates, usage, grammatical function, spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, derived forms, synonyms, and homonyms. Many words that are listed in the dictionary are new, specialized or may have fallen out of use. Therefore, it should be large in scope and size, containing at least 200,000 headwords. The best-known unabridged dictionary is Webster's Third New International Dictionary《韦氏新国际词典（第三版）》 (450,000).
　　A book which deserves a special mention is The Word Book Dictionary《图书词典》. It contains 220,000 entries in two volumes. Its definitions are simple and clear, most with quotations and their sources. In addition, it includes synonym study sections which differentiate synonyms and discuss their usages. The supplementary matter which provides useful information concerning different respects of use of language make up over 100 pages. As the dictionary is intended for the use of grade school and high school students, it is easy to read and so appropriate for Chinese readers among all the unabridged.
　　2. Desk dictionaries. Desk dictionaries are medium-sized ones containing words ranging from 50,000 to 150,000. As they are dictionaries that one finds most used on desks, they are called desk dictionaries. Among the best-known British dictionaries are The Concise Oxford Dictionary, New Edition (1982), Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 3rd Edition (1980), Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, New Edition (1987) and Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary (1987). Some of the most known American desk dictionaries are Webster's New World Dictionary, 2nd College Edition (1980), and Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1983).
　　3. Pocket dictionaries. These dictionaries have about 50,000 entries or fewer. Such a dictionary provides only the spelling and pronunciation of each word with a few most common meanings. They contain only a few or no examples. Their advantages are being inexpensive and easy to carry. For someone who needs a dictionary by their side to check spelling, or the meaning of an occasional word from his/her reading, a pocket dictionary can be good.

●●● Specialized Dictionaries
　　 10.1.4 Specialized Dictionaries
　　Special dictionaries concentrate on a particular area of language or knowledge, treating such diverse topics as etymology, synonyms, idioms, pronunciation, usages in language, and computer, engineering, literature and a variety of other subjects. These dictionaries may not be very large in size, yet each contains much more detailed information on the subject than you can find in a general unabridged one. Among the well?known specialized dictionaries useful for learners of English are: The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, by C. T. Onions, Revised Edition (1982), Practical English Usage, by Michael Swan, (1980), ColLins COBUILD English Usage, (1992), Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, by Rosemary Courtney, (1983) Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English, (Vol. I) by A. P. Cowie and R. Mackin (1975), and (Vol. II) by A.P. Cowie, R. Mackin and I.R. McCaig (1983), Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms, the late version seen in 1978, Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English, by Tom MacArthur (1981), to name just a few.