The types and features of English and Ukrainian dictionaries

The main functions of any dictionary are informative and normative.

The dictionary can be short (by 30000 words), middle-size (from 70000 – to 80000 words), and full (more than 80000 words).

Besides, dictionaries can be divided into two groups: encyclopaedic and linguistic. The two groups of reference books differ essentially in the choice of items included and in the sort of information given about them.

Encyclopaedic dictionaries are thing-books that give information about the extralingual world; they deal with concepts (objects and phenomena) and their relations to other objects and phenomena. Articles in encyclopaedias include only nouns or noun-combinations, either common (general) names or proper names. In an encyclopaedia, words disclose general and detailed information.

Linguistic dictionaries are wordbooks that determine the meanings of words and characterize their peculiarities; moreover, the subject matter is lexical units and their linguistic properties. Articles in linguistic dictionaries include all parts of speech; nouns there are common names. A linguistic dictionary presents the word’s spelling, pronunciation, grammar characteristics, polysemy, synonyms, etc.

Encyclopaedic dictionaries. The best-known encyclopaedic dictionaries in the English language are “The Encyclopaedia Britannica” (in 24 volumes) and “The Encyclopaedia Americana” (in 30 volumes). Very popular in Great Britain and the USA also is “Collier’s Encyclopaedia” (in 24 volumes) intended for students and school teachers. “Chamber’s Encyclopaedia” (in 15 volumes) is a family type reference book, and “Everyman’s Encyclopaedia” (in 12 volumes) is designed for general use. Besides general encyclopaedic dictionaries there are reference books that definite fields of knowledge, such as “The Oxford Companion to English Literature”, “Cassell’s Encyclopaedia of World Literature”, etc. There are also numerous dictionaries presenting information about notable persons—often called “Who’s Who” dictionaries.

Monolingual explanatory dictionaries provide information on all aspects of the lexical units entered: graphical, phonetical, semantic, stylistic, and etymological. Most of these dictionaries deal with the form, usage and meaning of lexical units in synchronic and diachronic aspects.

Translation dictionaries (parallel) are wordbooks containing vocabulary items in one language and their equivalents in another language.

Translation dictionaries can be general and special (most often—terminological)

Specialized Dictionaries.

Phraseological English dictionaries have accumulated vast collections of idiomatic or colloquial phrases, proverbs and other word-groups with profuse illustrations. However, many of such dictionaries mix phraseological items with all forms of linguistic anomalies that transgress the laws of grammar or logic but are approved by usage.

New words dictionaries are aimed at adequate reflection of the continuous growth of a language.

Dictionaries of slang contain elements from areas of substandard speech such as vulgarisms, jargonisms, taboo words, curse-words, dialectical words, and colloquialisms

Usage dictionaries are designed to pass judgement on usage problems of all kinds.

Reverse dictionaries are lists of words in which the entry words are arranged in alphabetical order starting with their final letters. The original purpose of such dictionaries was to indicate rhyming words.

Pronouncing dictionaries record contemporary pronunciation. These dictionaries indicate variant pronunciations as well as the pronunciation of different grammatical forms.

Etymological dictionaries trace present-day words to the oldest forms available, establish their primary meanings and give the parent form reconstructed by means of the comparative-historical method.

Ideographic dictionaries are designed for writers, orators or translators seeking to express their ideas adequately. They contain words grouped by the concepts expressed.

Thus, the numerous linguistic dictionaries may be grouped by the following criteria: (1) the nature of their word-list, (2) the information they contain, (3) the language of the explanations, and (4) the intended user.