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The Oxford Handbook of Lexicography

Online ISBN:
9780191756856
Print ISBN:
9780199691630
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Oxford Handbook of Lexicography

Philip Durkin (ed.)
Philip Durkin
(ed.)
Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press
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Philip Durkin is Deputy Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. He has led the OED’s team of specialist etymology editors since the late 1990s. His research interests include etymology, the history of the English language and of the English lexicon, language contact, medieval multilingualism, and approaches to historical lexicography. His publications include The Oxford Guide to Etymology (OUP 2009) and Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English (OUP 2014).

Published online:
7 March 2016
Published in print:
26 November 2015
Online ISBN:
9780191756856
Print ISBN:
9780199691630
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book provides a guide to the most significant contours in the geography of the lexicographical world, as well as offering series of eye-witness accounts of the major issues confronting lexicographers and the users of dictionaries today. Part I considers the synchronic dictionary, and especially three characteristic types: (1) the dictionary for the general readership (many people’s conception of ‘the dictionary’); (2) the monolingual dictionary intended for L2 learners; and (3) the bilingual dictionary. These are placed together so that, after their distinctive features have been set out, common areas of methodology can be considered together, in particular the central role of the corpus in lexicography of this type today. Such dictionaries are normally also synchronic, and are typically intended for a mass market, and produced by commercial publishers. Part II deals with historical dictionaries, typically edited within an academic institution and published by an academic press, and typically intended for a more specialist readership. A diachronic perspective produces particular structural and presentational challenges, so that one can identify methods and procedures that distinguish ‘diachronic lexicography’ from ‘synchronic lexicography’. In Part III a set of slightly shorter chapters examine some of the most important types of specialist dictionaries and their salient qualities and methodologies, focusing on what sets each area apart, but also on the perspectives it brings to the wider lexicographical world. Part IV examines some topics common to various different types of lexicography, and some of the challenges and debates that cross the boundaries of sub-fields.

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