Lexicography as a science. Historical background

Lexicography is a branch of linguistics that covers theory and practice of compiling dictionaries. Fundamental work in lexicographic theory was written by Scherba in 1940. Lexicography has a common object of study with Lexicology, both describe vocabulary of a language. The difference between them lies in systematization and completeness each of them is able to achieve. Lexicography aims at system-on revealing characteristic features of words. It can’t claim any completeness as regards units themselves, because number of these units being very great, systematization and completeness couldn’t be achieved simultaneously. Province of Lexicography is semantic, formal and functional description of all individual words. Dictionaries aim at a more or less complete description, but so cant attain systematic treatment. Lexicologists sort and presents their material in a sequence depending upon their views concerning vocabulary system, whereas lexicographes have to arrange it most often according to a purely external characters, namely alphabetically. Neither of these branches of Linguistics could develop successfully without each other.

Term dictionary is used to denote a book listing words of a lang. with their meanings and often with data regarding pronunciation, usage and origin. There are also dictionaries which concentrate their attention upon only one of these aspects: pronouncing and etymological dictionaries.

For dictionaries in which words and their definitions belong to the same language, term unilingual or explanatory is used, whereas bilingual or translation are those that explain words by giving their equivalents in another language. Multilingual or polyglot dictionaries are not numerous, they serve chiefly purpose of comparing synonyms and terminology in various languages.

Unilingual dictionaries are further subdivided with regard to time. Diachronic dictionaries reflect development of English voc-ry by recording history of form and meaning for every word.Synchronic and Descriptive dic-s concerned with present-day meaning and usage of words.

Both bilingual and unilingual dictionaries can be general and special. General represent vocabulary as a whole with adegree of completeness depending upon bulk and scope of book in question. Special dictionaries cover only a certain specific part of vocabulary. They are subdivided depending on whether words are chosen accaotding to sphere of human activity in which they are used (technical), type of unitsthemselves

(phraseological), or relationships existing between them dictionaries of synonyms).

The history of lexicography of the English language goes as far back as the Old English period where its first traces are found in the form of glosses of religious books with interlinear translation from Latin. Regular bilingual English-Latin dictionaries already existed in the 15th century.

The First unilingual English dictionary, explaining words appeared in 1604. Its aim was to explain difficult words.

The first big explanatory dictionary was complied by Dr Samuel Johnson and published in 1755. The most important innovation of S. Johnson's Dictionary was the introduction of illustrations of the meanings of the words by examples from the best writers.

The Golden Age of English lexicography began in the last quarter of the 19th century when the English Philological Society started work on compiling The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which was originally named. New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (NED).

The History of American Lexicography

Curiously enough, the first American dictionary of the English language was compiled by a man whose name was also Samuel Johnson. Samuel Johnson Jr., a Connecticut schoolmaster, published in 1798 a small book entitled "A School Dictionary". This book was followed in 1800 by another dictionary by the same author, which showed already some signs of Americanisation

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