[Lexicog] Inclusion policies for phrases in well-known dictionaries

[Doug Trick]

With regard to your first question, "any textbooks you could recommend for the amateur
lexicographer to learn more about it short of doing a course" - I would highly
recommend the following two books:

Newell, Leonard. 1995. Handbook on Lexicography For Philippine and Other Languages.
Manila: Linguistic Society of the Philippines.

Coward, David F. and Charles E. Grimes. 1995. Making dictionaries: a guide to
lexicography and the Multi-Dictionary Formatter (Version 1.0). Waxhaw: Summer Institute
of Linguistics. ix, 234 p.

(While the Coward & Grimes book is written to document a specific process and
associated software, it also contains excellent, well-illustrated explanations of
various principles of lexicography.)

Concerning your 2nd question, "any place where I can find the inclusion
policies for any of the well-known dictionaries in any language" - I can't help you with
policies for specific well-known dictionaries, but I can point you to a quote from
Newell's book, chapter 8, concerning criteria for making such decisions:

Zgusta (1971) suggests testing the degree of setness of a phrase by
investigating the combinatorial possibilities. For example, in an expression "light
burden" the substitutions for "burden" are almost limitless (thus this would not be
considered a set phrase); for "light supper", however, the substitutions for "supper"
are very limited, thus the ‘setness’ factor has increased. With the word
combination "light fingered" we have a definite set phrase since a synonym cannot
substitute for either constituent. It is the job of the lexicographer to decide where
to draw the line—a modest dictionary will probably only include set phrases such
as "light fingered".

(The Zgusta reference is:  Zgusta, Ladislav. 1971. Manual of lexicography. The Hague:
Mouton.)

Hope this is helpful.

Doug

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Dunbar" <hippytrail at gmail.com>
To: <lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tue, Oct 11, 2005 6:28 AM
Subject: [Lexicog] Inclusion policies for phrases in well-known dictionaries


I consider myself an amateur lexicographer. I have been a contributor
on the English Wiktionary for a couple of years. I have a couple of
questions to ask of some professionals in the field.

1. Are there any textbooks you could recommend for the amateur
lexicographer to learn more about it short of doing a course.

2. Wiktionary is currently including more and more phrases whose
meanings are transparent and which are not in any print dictionary. It
is becoming an issue. Some phrases which have been given definitions
at some point are: "Egyptian pyramid", "fictional character", "file
sharing", "item of furniture", "leaf storm", "radioactive material",
and "unauthorized copy". After debate, only a couple have been
removed. Since none of our contributors have any training in
lexicography, I am keenly interested in knowing how qualified people
draw the line between phrases to include in a dictionary and phrases
not to include.

3. Can anybody guide me to any place where I can find the inclusion
policies for any of the well-known dictionaries in any language?

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Andrew Dunbar (hippietrail)

--
http://en.wiktionary.org



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