Review of the Book Modern Lexicography： An Introduction

【Abstract】： Modern Lexicography： An Introduction by Professor Henri Béjoint is a book which gives entry-level knowledge of modern lexicography， or it touches upon some studies of English lexicography’s history， the relationship between lexicography and other subjects， such as sociology and linguistics， and lexicography’s future with abundant examples， illustrations and clear focus. It is by any standard an exceptional textbook for postgraduate students majoring in lexicography as well as a good reference book for language teachers and researchers. The publication of this book will undoubtedly promote the development of teaching and researching in modern lexicography in China.

【Key words】： Modern Lexicography： An Introduction； Henri Béjoint； postgraduate students； textbook

【摘要】：亨利貝朗教授編著的《現(xiàn)代詞典學(xué)入門》是一本介紹現(xiàn)代詞典學(xué)入門知識的著作。該書對英語詞典史、詞典學(xué)與其他學(xué)科、對于詞典未來發(fā)展進行了研究，在該書中，示例豐富、重點突出，既是一部詞典專業(yè)研究生的好教材，也是詞典學(xué)學(xué)者和外語教師的重要參考書。該書的問世將為我國在現(xiàn)在詞典學(xué)的教學(xué)與研究領(lǐng)域的發(fā)展起到進一步的推動作用。

[關(guān)鍵詞]：《現(xiàn)代詞典學(xué)入門》；亨利貝朗；研究生；教材

1. Introduction

The author， Henri Béjoint， gives a concise history of the general-purpose dictionary， describing both the main approaches to dictionary making and the main kinds of dictionary. After comparing the different lexicographical traditions of Great Britain and the USA， and considering the roles of dictionaries in those countries， he explores the linguistic problems in such matters as distinguishing meanings writing definitions， providing synonym， etc. The book ends with a discussion of current lexicographical trends.

His book Modern Lexicography： An Introduction introduces some lexicographical histories （in chapter two and chapter three）， traditional features in encoding a dictionary （in section two of chapter six） and the relationships between lexicography and other subjects （in first section of chapter six）. It has also demonstrated clearly that the dictionary users have influences on the development of dictionaries （in chapter four and five） and that the other subjects’ theories have potential value on lexicography’s development in future. Henri Béjoint combines well the histories with the theories in teaching courses of lexicography’s introduction from a special perspective.

2. Evaluation of the Book

2.1 Clear Skeleton

The book expounds lexicography from two perspectives， or overall perspective （chapter one， two， six and seven） and typical perspective （chapter three， four and five）.

The author introduces definitions of dictionaries and the dictionary from micro- structure and overall perspective， and thinks that a dictionary should have 8 features and at same time he also lists types of dictionaries from morphology， function and origin. Among all the types of dictionaries， the monolingual general-purpose dictionary occupies a particular position in all societies， and the general-purpose dictionary is the prototypical dictionary. Next， the author puts forward the different lexicographical scenes between America and Great Britain at aspect of their different social and cultural contexts. The American scene is characterized by two types of dictionaries： general-purpose dictionaries that are typically encyclopedic， and dictionaries that are designed to be usage guides， like dictionaries of synonyms. British scenes are concluded as an exclusive focus on words， as opposed to things， with very little encyclopedia； the fact that they are basically tools for decoding， mostly for reading literature； and a relative elitism.

The first two chapters show lexicography from an overall perspective， and the next three chapters （chapter three， four and five） pays more attention to general-purpose dictionaries to discuss its origins， social relationships and purpose. During chapter four and five， the author shows that the dictionary users have influences on the development of dictionaries. On the one hand， studying the population of dictionary users is important because the results could determine the contents and layout of the dictionary， on the other hand， lexicographers must give to the public what the public expects， or at least what they think the public expects， at the expense if necessary of what a truly scientific description of the language would require， and no lexicographers can escape these social pressures， whether they like it or not. The aim of the dictionary user is a key factor for compiling a dictionary because it can also determine the contents of the dictionary. So Henri Béjoint separates one another chapter （the chapter five）， and he says that the study of the needs and skills of the users should be seen as an effort to produce more user-friendly dictionaries. The last part demonstrates that the education of dictionary users will be modified when computerized dictionaries become widely available and used， for a computerized dictionary is at the same time easier and more difficult to use than a paper dictionary.

The last two chapters take an overall perspective again to show the relationship between lexicography and linguistics. More linguists have started to join in compiling dictionaries since in the 1940s. In Chapter six， Henri Béjoint introduces structuralism and semantic theories adopted in compiling dictionaries. The next section shows readers some lexicographical traditions， including that the more frequent words are also the more useful， word meanings are discrete and each word is a unit which is represented by a lemma. In chapter seven， the author pays attention to the importance of hypothesis of idiomaticity on completing words’ meanings in dictionaries hence that finds new creative port of compiling new dictionaries in future. And the author also introduces some treatments of polysemy， especially the elimination of polysemy and the prediction of polysemy.

2.2 Illustrations and clear focus

In this book， when introducing the development of dictionaries， the author quotes many examples from the dictionaries to find their differences and also quotes lots of studies of famous scholars in order to convince readers. Such as chapter two shows a number of American scenes of W3 and AHD and British scenes of OED， COD， CTD to find a general idea for American and British respectively. In chapter seven， the author demonstrates plentiful examples to explain that idiomaticity has potential value in compiling dictionaries， especially in terms of treating polysemy in dictionaries. In chapter five， many questionnaires of British scholars， like Quirk， Miller and Gildea， are included， which aims at providing answers to such questions as： In what sort of situation do the users feel the need to consult their dictionaries？ When do the users use a dictionary rather than other potential sources of information？ Why？ What sort of lexical item， and what sort of information on these items do the users consult most？...

What’s more， every chapter gives prominence to the key points， and this book is an English book， so in order to make it known clearly for the Chinese beginners of learning lexicography， the guiding reading is written by Chinese and lists main ideas of every part.

2.3 Combing hot topics and frontier domains

In chapter five， the author combines psychology and lexicography and puts forward a new concept ‘psycholexicography’ （or ‘psycholexicology’）. He thinks that psycholexicography could make dictionaries more effective by modelling lexicographers’ organization and metalanguage on what is known of the mental lexicon. Lexicographers now realize that this is an important area for potential improvement， but they have not done much about it.

In chapter seven， the author combines linguistics and lexicography， and context is used in explanations of words in dictionaries. The idea of indicating general meanings was discussed by many grammarians in the eighteenth century， and implemented in some dictionaries， for example in Passow’s Greek-English dictionary （1831）， in Richardson’s dictionary （1836-7）， and to some extent in the OED， etc. But a brief review of some the recent research in linguistics that could be relevant to lexicography could not hope to be exhaustive. Surely the ideas outlined above will be of varying usefulness in future lexicography.

In the last chapter， the author says that the challenge facing lexicographers is clear： dictionaries will have to evolve， at the same time improving the quality of their description of language as it is used and maintaining a reasonable accessibility of the information that they provide， refining their evaluation of the dictionary user’s needs and skills， and at the same time refusing to be guided exclusively by the desire to be accessible.

3.Conclusion

Modern Lexicography：An Introduction is a good book for learners of lexicography. It introduces briefly development of foreign dictionaries， and meanwhile， points out some limits of the recent dictionaries， and at last shows lexicography’s trending in future. Therefore， it is by any standard an exceptional coursebook for postgraduate students majoring in lexicography as well as a good reference book for language teachers and researchers. And the publication of this book will undoubtedly promote the development of teaching and researching in modern lexicography in China.

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