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Dictionary and Its Types

This document defines and classifies different types of dictionaries. It discusses: - Modern dictionaries provide definitions, pronunciation, etymology, usage, and sometimes illustrations. - Dictionaries can be classified by language (monolingual, bilingual, trilingual), intended user (school, college, desk, pocket, unabridged), subject scope (specialized), and language of the user (ESL dictionaries). - Examples are given for each type including school dictionaries for different age groups, college/desk dictionaries, pocket dictionaries, unabridged dictionaries, and ESL dictionaries for various skill levels.

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Ahmad Chaudhry
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709 views2 pages

Dictionary and Its Types

This document defines and classifies different types of dictionaries. It discusses: - Modern dictionaries provide definitions, pronunciation, etymology, usage, and sometimes illustrations. - Dictionaries can be classified by language (monolingual, bilingual, trilingual), intended user (school, college, desk, pocket, unabridged), subject scope (specialized), and language of the user (ESL dictionaries). - Examples are given for each type including school dictionaries for different age groups, college/desk dictionaries, pocket dictionaries, unabridged dictionaries, and ESL dictionaries for various skill levels.

Uploaded by

Ahmad Chaudhry
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WHAT IS A DICTIONARY

A dictionary is a book that lists words in alphabeticalorder and describes their


meaning. Modern dictionaries includeinformation about spelling, syllabication,
pronunciation, wordderivation, usage, synonyms, grammar and sometimesillustrations.

TYPES OF DICTIONARIES
Dictionaries can be classified according to : the numberof languages, the age of
the user, size, and scope covered bysubject.

1. Number Of Languages

o Monolingual dictionaries: they are written in onelanguage. they are chiefly


intended for native speakers.They provide many kinds of information about
theirentry word. Each entry word is rephrased in words in thesame language as the
entry word.

o Bilingual dictionaries: They contain an alphabetical listof words and expressions


in one language for whichexact equivalents are given in another language. The
purpose of bilingual dictionaries is to provide help forsomeone who understands one
language but not another.
Bilingual dictionaries may be unidirectional or bi-directional. They may go in one
direction from Englishto Arabic or may be combined with another dictionarythat goes
from Arabic to English.

o Trilingual dictionaries: They consist of 2 widelyunderstood languages as English


and French plus onelanguage having much more local use such as a littleknown
African language.

2. The Age Of The User

School dictionaries: they have simplified and gradedvocabularies, large type, and
attractive graphics, attractiveformat and illustrations, sometimes in color. The
are usuallydivided into: elementary school (ages 3-8), middle school (ages6-10),
and secondary school (ages 9-12). Children's dictionariesshould have controlled
vocabulary and limited definitions. Somehave graded vocabularies. They assign a
grade level to eachvocabulary entry. High school dictionaries contain 75,000-
100,000 entries. Most high school dictionaries resemble adultdesk dictionaries, but
are set in larger type with moreillustrations and have sturdier bindings. School
dictionariesdefinitions are somewhat simpler than those of most adultdictionaries
but their vocabulary is various enough for thestudent to find his own level.

3. The Size Of The Dictionaries:

English lexicon has about 4 million. It includes 700,000in the Meriam-Webster


files, 1 million words in the scientificvocabulary, dialectical words, slang,
neologisms, exotic words(from other languages), trade names, words derived from
placenames, obsolete words and spellings of them; 6 million chemicalcompounds;
200,000 medical terms. Those include Latinanatomical words and expressions.

College Dictionaries: contain 130,000-160,000 entries.They are used in colleges


and schools. For example:
o Collins dictionary of The English Language
o Longman New Universal Dictionary

Desk dictionaries: They contain from 60,000-100,000words. They can be picked up


easily ate a desk. They donot have fewer entries than a college dictionary,
buttheir definitions are briefer and fewer senses are givenfor each word. For
example:
o Thorndike-Barnhart Comprehensive Desk Dictionary.
Pocket dictionaries: They have 40,000-60,000 entries.They are cheap dictionaries
of small size (usually 4" X6") with paper covers. They are good to use for
spelling.Their definitions are close to synonyms. They ofteninclude small maps and
population statistics.

Unabridged dictionaries: They contain between400,000-600,000 entries. They give


full coverage to thelexicon in general use (in common use in the public press and
in ordinary speech in both informal andreserved styles) and substantial coverage to
specializedlexicon. For example:
o Webster's third New International Dictionary.

Semi-abridged = semi-unabridged: They contain260,000 words

4. Scope Of Coverage By Subject

o Special subject dictionaries: there are subject fielddictionaries in law,


medicine, biology, electronics,architecture, geography, education, engineering.
Someare limited to one aspect of language such as dictionariesof pronunciation,
spelling, abbreviations and acronyms,synonyms, etymological, proverbs, quotations,
andidioms. Specialized dictionaries tend to be moreencyclopedic in content
depending on concept ratherthan terms for classifying information.

5. The Language Of The User


ESL dictionaries: they are designed for those who arelearning English as a second
language. They providedetailed information on pronunciation, verb patterns
andcollocations. Definitions are expressed in simplifiedlanguage and sometimes in a
controlled vocabulary.They are designed to enable L2 learners to produceutterances
in English not just comprehend them. There ESL dictionaries for beginning,
intermediate andadvanced students. The vocabulary of ESL dictionariescontain many
idiomatic expressions and culture-specificterms. They contain information that
ordinarymonolingual dictionaries do not. They tell the user whichnouns are
countable and which are not, whether verbs aretransitive or intransitive and what
sort of objects theytake if they are transitive. They tell how to inflect verbs,and
how to compare adjectives and adverbs, whetheradjectives occur before a noun of
following a verb; howwords are pronounced in British English and inAmerican English
and how compounds are stressed. Forexample:
o Longman Dictionary of Current English
o Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary ofCurrent English

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