Lexicography as a Branch of Applied Linguistics

Lexicography (from Gk lexikòs – referring to the word and gráphō – write), that is the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries, is an important branch of applied linguistics.

Lexicography has a common object of study with lexicology, both describe the vocabulary of a language. The essential difference between the two lies in the degree of systematization and completeness each of them is able to achieve. Lexicology aims at systematization revealing characteristic features of words. It cannot, however, claim any completeness as regards the units themselves, because the number of these units being very great, systematization and completeness could not be achieved simultaneously. The province of lexicography, on the other hand, is the semantic, formal, and functional description of all individual words. Dictionaries aim at a more or less complete description, but in so doing cannot attain systematic treatment, so that every dictionary entry presents, as it were, an independent problem. Lexicologists sort and present their material in a sequencedepending upon their views concerning the vocabulary system, whereas lexicographers have to arrange it most often according to a purelyexternal characteristic, namely alphabetically.

The term ‘dictionary’ is used to denote a book that lists the words of a language in a certain order and gives their meanings or that gives the equivalent words in a different language.

The lexicographic school in this country whose acknowledged founder is academician L.V. Shcherba (1880-1944), proceeds from the assumption that lexicography is a science, but not an art or technique of compiling dictionaries, as many foreign linguists think it to be.

Lexicographyas a science has two aspects:

· scientific (theoretical);

· practical (applied).

Scientific lexicography deals with the following general theoretical problems:

· the working out of the typology of dictionaries and dictionaries of new types;

· the working out of the basic principles of dictionary compiling – selection of lexical unites for inclusion; their arrangement; the problem of homonymy etc;

· the working out of the principles of entry setting – the selection and arrangement of word-meanings; the definition of meanings; the contents of the entry; semantic and functional classification of words; illustrative material; supplementary material; the system of notations; the percentage of linguistic and extra linguistic information in the dictionary.

Practical lexicographyaims at dictionary compiling proper on the basis of theoretical principles worked out by scientific lexicography, so these aspects of lexicography are closely connected and interrelated, neither of them could develop successfully without the other.

Modern lexicography is based on the following theoretical assumptions:

· the word stock of the language is a system, the dictionary is to reflect the system of the language upon the whole and the semantic structure of the word in particular;

· the meaning of the word can change in the course of its development;

· lexicography is closely connected with grammar and other branches of linguistics.