miranda

• Lexicography


  Branch of linguistics that deals with the making of dictionaries
• Dictionaries are hugely expensive to produce from scratch, and most 'new' dictionaries still owe much to some earlier incarnation
• Pre-lexicography stage


  1. When the most fundamental decisions are taken, affecting every aspect of the Lexicography

  2. The decision-making progress typically involves a dialogue between publisher & senior editor, the final say rests with the publisher, who holds the purse strings
• The birth of a dictionary


  1. The marketing team starts by going into the market & decides the gaps which are found in the market that needs to be filled

  2. The editorial team works on the dictionary itself: what'll be included in it, the words that needs to be defined

  3. The I.T. part when the editorial team needs software
• Steps in the birth of a dictionary

  • The marketing department spots a 'gap' on the booksellers' shelves, the new work will have to sell against existing dictionaries produced by competitor publishers
  • The marketing department specifies the type of dictionary needed & the type of user it is destined for, and paints a broad-brush of what its contents should be
  • The eventual selling price of the proposed dictionary and the overall budget of the project
  • The budget dictates the schedule and both of them passed to the editorial department where the dictionary is designed & developed
  • The dictionary planners work with The I.T. department to customize the dictionary writing software (DWS)
  • The editorial planners set up a system of text flow, text back-up etc.,… often one which allows the dictionary editors to work online
  • The editors also have in mind the type of presentation needed to be affective & attractive
  • When the dictionary text is ready, it's passed to the production department
  • The marketing department, in consultation with the editorial department, handles the launch of the new dictionary
• The e-dictionaries are usually commissioned from an outside firm, allowing both print & electronic versions of the dictionary to be complied simultaneously
• General principles of the birth of a dictionary


  • Limited space in paper form
  • A dictionary is like an eco-system: Decisions about content, presentation, and design because One change impacts on all the other parts
• No dictionary in the whole world can claim that it includes all the vocabulary of any language. Regardless its size or knowledge it has
• Trade-off between coverage and accessibility

  Coverage: how much information a dictionary includes

  Accessibility: how easy it is for users to find the information they need and successfully process it
• Until its ninth edition (1995), the Concise Oxford Dictionary packing an astonishing amount of information into a small-format one-volume dictionary. But not all of this information is readily retrievable by an unskilled user
• The dictionary as eco-system

  The number of decisions that have to be made regarding the different linguistic information in the dictionary
• Types of dictionaries


  • Based on users' skills

  Based on users' language

  Based on the dictionary's size

  Based on the dictionary's medium

  Based on the dictionary coverage

  Based on the dictionary language
• Properties of dictionaries


  • The users' skills

  The users' language

  The dictionary's size

  The dictionary's medium

  The dictionary coverage

  The dictionary language

  The dictionary's organization

  Use the dictionary for: decoding, encoding
• You can't use these categories to sort dictionaries into distinct classes, simply to describe them. The categories should be thought of as sets of properties
• User research


  Any method used for finding out what people do when they consult their dictionaries, what they like and dislike about them, and what kinds of problem they look to the dictionary to solve
• Types of user research

  • Market research (carried out by publishers)

  Academic research (carried out by teachers, etc.)
• Market research


  Dictionary publishers do market research (or at least claim to do it)

  This research can be formal (surveys) or informal (conversations)

  Results are usually kept private, but publishers like to say they do research for PR

  Despite secrecy, good market research likely impacts what dictionaries include
• A 'good dictionary was defined by lexicographer Janet Whitcut as 'one that's got in it what you're looking for'
• Presentation: design and layout

  The way information is presented makes a big difference to how easily users find what they are looking for

  Decisions are made by the publisher and designer, but some input from the editorial team is essential

  Good design is intended to serve the reader by making the structure of the author's text clear and also by making the book pleasant to handle
• Tendencies of traditional dictionaries

  • They pack the maximum information into the smallest possible space, giving the page a very dense look

  They rely on variations in typeface to signal different information types
• Contemporary dictionaries have improved through the use of more 'white space' and the practice of starting new meaning blocks in longer entries at least on a fresh line
• The test of the system is not whether it satisfies lexicographers' desire for order, but whether users actually understand the information being offered
• Equivalence in Bilingual Dictionaries

  Signifié (meaning): Points to something real in the world

  Signifiant (word): Points to the sound or symbol representing the meaning
• Problems in translating between languages

  • The "real thing" might not exist in both cultures

  The word might exist in both languages, but describe something different
• Translating is more complex than just finding a matching word
• Types of translation


  • Faithful (exact meaning)

  Adapted (slightly changed)

  Transposed (completely reworked)

  Recreated (new idea keeping original spirit)
• Degrees of equivalence


  • Have the same annotation & denotation

  Agree on denotation, disagree on connotation

  Denotatively faithful, but has no connotative relevance

  Same denotation but marginally acceptable

  Same connotation & disagree on denotation
• Bilingual dictionaries have limited space, so explanations need to be short
• Annotation


  Adding notes or explanations like a diagram or a graph
• Denotation


  The literal or direct meaning
• Connotation


  The feelings or ideas
• Translation involves complexities beyond simple word swaps. Bilingual dictionaries do their best to bridge the gap but might offer different levels of explanation depending on the situation
• Translating isn't just about finding matching words. It's about finding the closest equivalent that captures the meaning and cultural context, even if it's not a perfect match
• Dictionaries try to add helpful details, but they can't become mini-encyclopedias. They need to keep explanations short, especially for uncommon words
• Some words seem like easy translations (one word to another) but might not be exact synonyms
• Translation isn't just about finding matching words. It's about understanding the different ways languages describe the world
• Words spelled similarly in different languages can have different meanings ("faux amis")
• The rare use of "pneumothorax" can cause confusion because you might expect them to mean the same thing
• Different Languages, Different Levels of Detail


  This shows how languages can describe things in different ways. English uses more specific words, French uses more general terms.
• Translation isn't just about finding matching words. It's about understanding the different ways languages describe the world.