Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic

Zhusup Balasagyn Kyrgyz National University

Individual
Work
Theme: Types of dictionaries
Done by: Zhunusova Tabiiat
Checked by: Gamalina Cristina Sergeevna
Group: LE-2-18(3)
 Bishkek-2021

Content
Introduction
1. Types of dictionaries and their content
2. Kinds of dictionaries
Conclusion
Bibliography
 Introduction

In many languages, words can appear in many different forms, but only the
undeclined or unconjugated form appears as the headword in most dictionaries.
Dictionaries are most commonly found in the form of a book, but some newer
dictionaries, like StarDict and the New Oxford American Dictionary are dictionary
software running on PDAs or computers. There are also many online dictionaries
accessible via the Internet. The given paper consists of introduction, two chapters,
conclusion and bibliography.

A dictionary is a listing of words in one or more specific languages, often

arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which
may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations,
translation, etc. or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in
another, sometimes known as a lexicon. It is a lexicographical reference that shows
inter-relationships among the data.
 1. Types of dictionaries and their content
Lexicography is the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries. The term
dictionary is used to denote a book listing words of a language and dealing with
their meanings, pronunciation, origin, or other aspects. Dictionary is a book that
contains a selected list of words arranged in alphabetical order. It explains their
meanings and gives information about them. In a dictionary a person can look up a
word quickly, discover what it means and learn how it is prononced.
Dictionaries give the meanings of many kinds of words. Most modern
dictionaries describe the facts of a language as educated speakers and writers use
it. They are called descriptive dictionaries because a dictionary editor does not
change the facts of a language. Many older dictionaries tried to prescribe rules,
some of wich did not agree with the way people commonly talked or wrote. These
books are called prescriptive dictionaries. Most general dictionaries include:
1) the ordinary words of everyday life, such as bread, run and with;
2) literary words used as aggregation, despoil, incontrovertible;
3) thechnical word, such as starboard, gene and ratio;
4) words used chiefly on informal occasions, such as gap and wimp;
5) words used in writing to give an old-fashioned flavor, such as aweary and
avaunt;
6) words not used today but found in the writtings of some authors, such as plaister
for plaster;
7) words or phrases form other languages, such as coup d'etat from French, tofu
from Japanese and barrio from Spanish.
8) Idioms, such as split hairs and unter the thumb of;
9) Abbreviations, such as USA, Kans., And p .;
10) Important propernames, such as Buddha and Jupiter.
No dictionary records all the words of our language. In fact, no one knows exatly
how many words there are. Besides ordinary words used in evereryday speech, the
English language includes thousands of geaografical names; hundreds of thousands
of technical terms, including more than 750000 names of inspects alone. New
words are coined for newscientifiv and technical discoveries, and slang words and
specific vocabularies constantly spring up. As nations draw closer together through
trade and travel, satellite communication, and sharing of technology, languages
tend to borrow more and more words from each other. That is why dictionary
editors must be selective in the words they decide to include.
Most dictionaries tell us much more than just the meanings of words. Many list
pronunciations, derivations, refixes and suffixes, illustrative quotations, synonyms
and other information. The illustration articles in dictionaries show in detail what
dictionaries contain.

2. Kinds of dictionaries

Dictionaries may be clasified as general dictionaries and special dictionaries. A

general dictionary contains information on everyday words such as it and the. But
it also defines many technical terms, such as chromatografhy and columella. A
specialized dictionary omits most everyday terms, and limits itself to information
on words used in a particular field, such as biology.
General dictionaries range in size from small pocket dictionaries to large
multivolume or table dictionaries. The number of entries in general dictionary
depends, on its purpose. Each dictionary is designed to answer the questions of a
certain type of reader. The World Book Dictioanry is an example of a dictionary
designed for family use. The largest general dictionaries may contain over 400000
entries when a dictionary has this many entries, many absolete and technical terms
are included. Other general dictionaries may have from 15000 entries to 200000
entries.
Specialized dictionaries are designed to give more information in particular
fields than general dictionaries can. Dictionaries of this kind can be divided into
such group as:
1) Explanatory dictionaries
2) Etymological dictionaries
3) Dictionaries of synonyms
4) Phraseological dictionaries.
Besides, such dictionaries can be mentioned as historical dialectal.
Bilingual or translating dictionaries reresent the most ordinary, widespread
type. They contain words and expressions of the native language and their foreign
equivalents, or vice-versa. (the English-Russian dictionary by V. K. Miller, etc)
 Explanatory dictionaries give definitions of word meanings. In fact to a certain
extent they acquaint us with the history of vocabulary development. The
explanation are given in the same language, so they are one-language dictionaries,
as it were. For example “Webster’s New World dictionary of the American
language”, Webster’s “New International dictionary of the English language” are
usually considered to be the most available and popular editions. But the greatest
authority, naturally, and the most comprehensive is The New English dictionary on
Historical Principles.
Etymological dictionaries state the origin of words. If borrowed, the source of
borrowing and the original form are given, with all the subsequent changes in
meaning and usage. If native, the Anglo-Dakon form is given together with the
history of word development paralel forms in other Gemanic languages. Skeat’s
Etymological dictionary is believed to be one of the most widely used.
Dictionaries of synonymes give either groups of synonyms without any
explanations of difference in shades of meaning or usage, as concise dictionaries
usually do, or as in full-size synonymic dictionaries, one can find lengthy
definitions of every synonym that the group contains with even directions as to
how to use them. The dictionary of this kind is the Webster’s dictionary of
synonyms. It does not give any etymological or historical information but it
supplies very detailed and extensive explanations of the subtlest shades of meaning
that synonyms differ in. The lists of synonymes are much more exhaustive than in
the earlier dictionaries of synonymes (e. g. amiable, lovable, gracious, cordial,
affable, genial, warm-hearted, warm, responsive, kind, tender, kindly, begignant,
benign).
Phraseological dictionaries deal with phraseological group of a certain
language(“English Idioms” by W. G. Smith, “English Idioms and how to use
them” by W. McMordie etc)
The best known phonetical dictionary is “An English Pronouncing Dictionary”
by Jones. Among dialectal dictionaries the “Slang Dictionary” by Chatto and
Windus is famous. It is also called “Ethymological, Historical and Anecdotal”.
Dictionaries msy all be divided into two groups – encyclopedic and linguistic.
The two groups of reference books differ essentially in the choice of items
included and in the sort of information given about them.
Linguistic dictionaries are word books, their subject matter is lexical units and
their linguistic properties such as pronunciation, meaning, peculiarities of use, etc.
Encyclopedic dictionaries have entries for the names of individual people and for
places as well as for common words. They give a wide range of general
information (great inventions, names of highest mountains, exotic animals,
political doctrines, etc. They do not define words but give background information
about them.

Conclusion
Each type of dictionaries has its own specificity and possesses its own
functionality. Each separate type of dictionaries has some distinctive features in the
choice of elements taken into consideration, the micro- and macro- structure.
During the different periods this or that dictionary appeared to prevail. The most
popular and widely used now is the explanatory dictionary, accumulating in itself
the most basic information, but it can appear insufficient if there is a need for the
detailed information concerning, for example, etymology of word, synonyms, and
antonyms, homonyms, homophones, variants of spelling and pronunciation of the
word in other dialects, quotations, etc. In this case we have to apply to other
dictionaries, and in each separate case – to miscellaneous and different ones.
When studying concrete lexical sets it is necessary to address to the dictionary of
lexical sets, when studying national colour - to the culture-oriented dictionary
when studying unfamiliar term - to the terminological dictionary of the given area
of knowledge.
We have tried to give classification of the existing dictionaries which are
appearing in great number and, probably, have missed this or that version, in fact
the orientation on studying lexical structure of language is constantly changing,
there appear new types of dictionaries which have not been needed before.
The concept of the dictionary is implicated in the dictionary structure, or explained
explicitly in the word entry. Reflection of different lexicographic parameters in the
concrete dictionary is determined by specificity of language, lexicographic
tradition of the corresponding country, type and purpose of the dictionary and
lexicographer’s points of view . Each parameter of the dictionary has its definite
typology of decisions, which determine the choice of the lexicographer.
Different dictionaries are arranged differently. Even the arrangement of words in
the dictionary is not always alphabetic, let alone structural features of the entry,
system marks, reductions or conventional signs.
 Bibliography
1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary
2. https://www.britannica.com/topic/dictionary/Kinds-of-dictionaries
3. https://studfile.net/preview/3488674/page:72/
4. http://www.ciil-ebooks.net/html/lexico/link5.htm