Table Of ContentLEXICOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF ENGLISH
STUDIES IN LANGUAGE COMPANION SERIES (SLCS)
The SLCS series has been established as a companion series to
STUDIES IN LANGUAGE, International Journal, sponsored by
the Foundation "Foundations of Language".
Series Editors:
John W. M. Verhaar Werner Abraham
Divine Word Institute & University of Groningen
Madang The Netherlands
Papua New Guinea
Volume 14
Morton Benson, Evelyn Benson & Robert Ilson
Lexicographic Description of English
LEXICOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION
OF ENGLISH
MORTON BENSON, EVELYN BENSON
and
ROBERT ILSON
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1986
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Benson, Morton.
Lexicographic description of English.
(Studies in language companion series, ISSN 0165-7763; v. 14)
"Companion volume to the BBI combinatory dictionary of English" - Pref.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. English language - Lexicography. I. Benson, Evelyn. II. Ilson, Robert. III. Title. IV.
Series.
PE1611.B46 1986 423'.028 86-17506
ISBN 90 272 3014 5 (Netherlands: alk. paper)
© Copyright 1986 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or
any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE ix
ABBREVIATIONS xi
CHAPTER ONE — HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 1
General 2
A Brief History of Dictionaries in Great Britain 2
A Brief History of Dictionaries in the United States 6
Recent Developments 8
Notes 12
CHAPTER TWO — MODERN VARIETIES OF ENGLISH:
BRITISH AND AMERICAN 13
General 14
Spelling Differences 15
Punctuation 18
Syntax and Grammar 20
Morphology 26
Lexicon 28
Ten Groups of Lexical Differences 28
Transitional Items 34
Rules of the Road 37
Summary — The Ten Groups of Lexical Differences 39
Notes 41
Lists 2A-2E 43
Number Table 174
CHAPTER THREE — THE PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTION
OF ENGLISH 175
General 176
The British Transcription of Vowels; IPA Transcription; RP 177
The American Transcription of Vowels 178
An Historical Perspective 178
The Phoneme 179
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
The American Standard Pronunciation; General American
(GA) 179
The Transcription of Vowels in Dictionaries 182
The LDOCE Transcription; The ESD Transcription 182
The Simplified Transcription (ST) of Vowels 182
Differences between RP and GA Vowels 183
The British Transcription of Consonants 185
The Simplified Transcription of Consonants 186
Differences between the RP and GA Distribution of Consonants 187
Stress 188
Notes 189
Comparative Table of Simplified Transcription (ST) and
IPA Transcription 191
Lists 3A-3D 193
CHAPTER FOUR — BASIC PRINCIPLES OF LEXICOGRAPHIC
DEFINITION 202
General 203
Types of Lexicographic Definition 203
Synonym Definitions 203
Referential Definitions 204
Formulaic Definitions 204
Twelve Basic Principles of Lexicographic Definition 205
1. Referential Definition by the Same Part-of-Speech 205
2. The Function of Metalanguage 206
3. The Use of Synonyms 206
4. Illustrative Phrases: Their Role, Lexicographic Accept
ability and Relevance 207
5. The Specificity of Definitions 211
6. Inclusion of Lexical Patterns 212
7. Labeling: Types of Labels (Field, Temporal, Regional,
Stylistic), Prescriptivism Versus Descriptivism, The
Usage Panel 214
8. The Order of Defined Meanings 217
9. The Treatment of Connotative Meanings 219
10. Clarity: The Wording of Definitions, The Defining
Vocabulary 220
11. Consistency in Defining 221
12. The Need for Objectivity 222
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
Notes 224
CHAPTER FIVE — GRAMMAR IN THE DICTIONARY 227
Historical Background 228
The Contribution of the Learner's Dictionary 228
The Contribution of Modern Linguistics 231
Topics Requiring Special Attention in the Dictionary 235
Notes 237
Lists 5A-5E 239
CHAPTER SIX — LEXICAL COMBINABILITY 251
General 252
Free Combinations 252
Idioms 252
Collocations 253
Transitional Combinations 254
Compounds 254
The Lexicographic Treatment of Combinations 254
The ECD 256
Obligatory Collocations 258
CA Collocations 258
EN Collocations 260
Conclusion 261
Notes 261
BIBLIOGRAPHY 263
INDEX 276
PREFACE
The second half of the twentieth century has witnessed a remarkable
growth in the study, teaching, and use of English as a foreign or second lan
guage throughout the world. This phenomenon reflects the emergence of
English as the leading language of international communication. Therefore,
it is not surprising that there is an acute need for the creation of new dic
tionaries and the improvement of existing dictionaries of English — monolin
gual and bilingual.
Although the achievements of lexicographers in describing English have
been noteworthy, serious problems remain. The information provided in this
book indicates solutions to the more important of these problems, which are:
the treatment of American English as compared with British English (Chap
ter Two); the phonemic transcription of English, treating both American and
British pronunciation (Chapter Three); lexicographic definition in monolin
gual and bilingual dictionaries (Chapter Four); the presentation of grammar
and of grammatical collocations (Chapter Five); the presentation of lexical
collocations (Chapter Six). It is hoped that the suggested solutions will help
lexicographers to improve future dictionaries of English.
This book is a companion volume to the BBI Combinatory Dictionary of
English: A Guide to Word Combinations. The BBI Dictionary provides a
large number of grammatical and lexical collocations. (See Chapters Five and
Six of this book). In addition, the BBI Dictionary shows many differences
between collocations used in American English and in British English,
thereby supplementing the information given in Chapter Two of this book.
We are grateful to our families, friends, and colleagues on both sides of
the Atlantic who offered help and support while this book was being written.
We especially appreciate the contribution of Professor Arthur J. Bronstein,
of the City University of New York, who read and commented on Chapter
Three. Finally, we wish to express our gratitude to our friends at John Benja
mins B.V. for their help in guiding a complicated manuscript to publication.
The authors will welcome comments and suggestions.
M.B.,E.B.,R.I.
