A Comparison Between Two Dictionaries
—
Concerning Macrostructure and Microstructure
王程程
Macrostructure is the system under which the arrangement of
lemmata in the lexicon is actualized, while the microstructure of the
dictionary specifies the way the lemma articles are composed.
Concerning the macrostructure and microstructure, I make a comparison
between Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary (Fourth
edition)
and
Longman
Dictionary
of
Contemporary
English
(English-Chinese).
First is the comparison concerning the macrostructure. Entry-words
in the two dictionaries are all arranged alphabetically. Generally speaking,
there are two different ways of realizing the macrostructure of dictionary
by means of alphabetization. However, the Oxford dictionary uses neither
the letter-by-letter order nor the word-by-word one. For example, it
arranges the entry-word “baby” in this way: baby; babyhood, babyish;
baby
carriage;
baby-faced;
baby
grand;
baby-minder;
baby-sit;
baby-snatcher; baby-talk; baby-tooth; though the Longman dictionary
adopts the letter-by-letter order to arrange its entry-words, such as baby;
baby carriage; babyhood; babyish, etc. On the other hand, the two
dictionaries
both
use
explicit
cross-reference
although
the
cross-references in bilingual dictionary may be classified into two types:
explicit cross-reference and implicit cross-reference. For instance, both
dictionaries use “ 参 见 ” to help readers refer to other interrelated
information.
After a talk about the comparison between the two of their
macrostructures, let’s have a look at their similarities and differences
concerning the microstructures. In those two dictionaries, the headword is
followed by spelling, pronunciation, the word class of the headword, the
inflectional form (if the headword happens to be an irregular noun, verb,
adjective or adverb), the definition and illustrative sentences. So they
have little difference in the aspect of lemmata structure. Second is the
definition structure. Sense ordering applies only to words with two or
more than two meanings as monosemous words have a single meaning
and therefore have only one definition in the lemma article. Both the
Oxford and the Longman order definitions of polysemous words by usage
or frequency. For example, the first meaning of the word “certainty” in
the Oxford dictionary is “[C] thing that is certain” while the second
explanation is “[U] state of being certain”; the first explanation of the
word “babble” in the Longman dictionary is “a confused sound of many
people talking at the same time” and the second one is “a sound like that
of a stream running gently over rounded stones”. Concerning the
structural organization of examples in bilingual dictionaries, two basic
principles
are
usually
used:
meaning-centered
principle
and
usage-centered principle. Through the process of comparison, I find that
the two different dictionaries make use of the two principles at the same
time without apparent distinction. Nevertheless, there is a great difference
between the two dictionaries with respect to the structural organization of
variants. The spelling variants are usually given immediately after the
headword but separated from it by a lemma. This is also what has been
done in the two dictionaries, but the ordering of variants of the headword
in the microstructure is determined by the dictionary contents. In the
Oxford dictionary, the British form precedes the American form. On the
contrary, the American form precedes the British one in the Longman
dictionary. For example, word “centre” performs as the entry-word and
“center” as its spelling variant in the Oxford dictionary whereas word
“center” takes the place of entry-word and “centre” as the spelling variant.
This difference also exists in the pronunciation aspect. At last, neither of
the two dictionaries has the characteristic of bidirectionality or
reversibility.
Macrostructure and microstructure are the two predominant threads
stringing various dictionary entry articles together and weaving them into
a coherent and cohesive body. Through the comparison above, we may
see that different dictionaries may have differences in macrostructure and
microstructure more or less. The main reason of these differences may
refer to the different purposes and different intended readers. Since we
are compiling dictionaries, we should pay more attention to the
macrostructure and microstructure in order to make our dictionary more
practical for target users.