Language and Dictrionaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Language and Dictrionaries - quiz ExampleIn his proposal for the new undertaking in lexicography, Richard Chenevix Trench made a frank statement by announcing that it is not the function of a dictionary to provide standards (5). Trench described the procedure of a lexicographer as one of an historian of it language, not a critic (5), whose task is to collect and present each the words, whether good or bad, and to make his inventory complete (6).James A.H. Murray (not the branch editor, but who is usually associated with the beginning of the dictionary) further expounded on the ideas proposed by Trench. Murray explicated that the role of a lexicographer, as a historian, is not plainly to record wordsbut to furnish a biography of each word, giving as tight as possible the date of its birth or first known appearance, and, in the case of an old word or sense, or its last appearance, the source from which it was actually derived, the form and sense with which it entered the lang uage or is first found in it, and the successive changes of form and developments of sense which it has since undergone. (47)However, the original OED was not able to happen upon the truly descriptive model of lexicographical creation. Indeed, as adamant as Trench was on including all the words, whether good or bad (6), he conceded that A Dictionary ought to know its own limits (56). Trench particularly protested against the drafting into the Dictionary a whole army of purely technical words (57). Interestingly, these words he did not consider as words but as mere signs (57). Another stratum of style that was originally banned from the OED was obscene terminology. Indeed, Bryson contends that much of the obscene vocabulary did not appear in the OED until afterwards 1972 (222).Unlike Johnsons and Websters dictionaries, the OED was no longer a work of a single person but the combine action of many (Trench, qtd. in Landau 79). To reflect the fluidity of the language and the mutabi lity of the society, the OED editors continued making adjustments and additions to the dictionary. The first supplementary volume came out in 1933 - five years after the OED was published. In the OED2 preface, the editors recount that close of the additions for the Supplement and for the second edition of the OED concentrated on including more scientific vocabulary, slang, and words from different varieties of English. 1.1 prolusion and Front Matter While often overlooked by users, most dictionaries boast a lead/Front Matter. The aforementioned is often highly informative and as far as the lexicographer is concerned, an invaluable pull back to the dictionary and, possibly, previous editions. As one turns to the 8th edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, one finds that the above utter holds true. Taken together, both the Preface and Front Matter provide a concise and precise submit to the edition and a guide to its distinctive features. The Preface explains the variations bet ween the 8th and previous editions of the dictionary, outlining the changes made to the mental synthesis and layout. The breadth of these changes, as listed in the below, are a testament to the extent to which the editions editors, sub-editors and collaborators determined to reflect the times and ensure that the Concise Oxford