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eLexicography in the 21st century: New challenges, new applications
Abstract
The field of lexicography is undergoing a major revolution. The rapid replacement of the traditional paper dictionary by electronic dictionaries opens up exciting possibilities but also constitutes a major challenge to the field. The eLexicography in the 21st Century: New Challenges, New Applications conference organized by the Centre for English Corpus Linguistics of the Université catholique de Louvain in October 2009 aimed to bring together the many researchers around the world who are working in the fast developing field of electronic lexicography and to act as a showcase for the latest lexicographic developments and software solutions in the field. The conference attracted both academics and industrial partners from 30 different countries who presented electronic dictionary projects dealing with no less than 22 languages.
The resulting proceedings volume bears witness to the tremendous vitality and diversity of research in the field. The volume covers a wide range of topics, including:
- the use of language resources for lexicographic purposes, in the form of lexical databases like WordNet or corpora of different types
- innovative changes to the dictionary structure afforded by the electronic medium, in particular multiple access routes and efficient integration of phraseology
- specialised dictionaries (e.g. SMS dictionaries, sign language dictionaries)
- automated customisation of dictionaries in function of users’ needs
- exploitation of Natural Language Processing tools
- integration of electronic dictionaries into language learning and teaching tools
In recent years there has been an increasing focus on the lexicon in applied linguistics, while the technology of dictionary compiling and dictionary publishing has changed beyond recognition, due to the availability of electronic resources such as very large corpora.
This article reports on the results of a study which investigated the use of an online dictionary by Chinese EFL learners in identifying the meanings of verb phrases. Thirty-two stu-dents with English as major subject participated in a meaning determination task with and without the help of the Macmillan English Dictionary Online (MEDO). Introspective and retrospective ques-tionnaires were used to establish the participants' perception of the usefulness of the online dic-tionary, and how they used the online dictionary to search for their needed information. The results of the study show that learners improved in doing the task after consulting the online dic-tionary, but they also encountered some problems which led to incorrect choices. It is suggested that dictionary skills training should be provided, and improvements to online dictionaries should also be made.
El inglés se ha convertido en la lengua vehicular del saber especializado
y su aprendizaje es una tarea imprescindible para desenvolverse en la sociedad
actual. Además, el léxico especializado ha pasado de pertenecer a un grupo restringido
de expertos a formar parte del acervo lingüístico de un hablante con un
nivel cultural medio. En este contexto, una de las herramientas a la que acuden
los aprendices de esta lengua para solventar los obstáculos que surgen durante el
trasvase interlingüístico se corresponde con los diccionarios electrónicos, tanto
generales bilingües como monolingües de aprendizaje. Por nuestra experiencia
como docentes de lenguas, consideramos que las obras mencionadas ofrecen una
cobertura parcial y desigual del léxico especializado, razón por la que estimamos
pertinente realizar un estudio del tratamiento conferido a este léxico en los diccionarios
generales bilingües y en los diccionarios de aprendizaje. Con un análisis
de una muestra de léxico especializado del campo de la informática e Internet,
pretendemos obtener un diagnóstico lo más ajustado posible de la realidad, de
manera que podamos valorar como docentes de lenguas extranjeras la eficacia o
no de dichas obras a la hora de responder a las necesidades de nuestros estudiantes.
En última instancia, redundará en pautas fidedignas a la hora de implementar
el diseño y uso de estas obras.
It was March 2012 in Paris: one of us was attending the annual Journee des dictionnaires organized by Jean Pruvost. Paul Bogaards was also there. During a break, we began discussing the upheavals in the dictionary world caused by the digital age. That was when the idea for this special issue of IJL was conceived. In August 2012, a number of people at the 15th Euralex Congress were approached about the project and, according to Paul, "the idea was enthusiastically received". Paul Bogaards passed away only a few weeks later in October 2012, so naturally we wish to dedicate this special issue to him. Thank you to Anne Dykstra for making this issue possible.
The primary aim of the article is to compare the usefulness of paper and electronic versions of OALDCE7 (Wehmeier 2005) for language encoding, decoding and learning. It is explained why, in contrast to Dziemianko's (2010) findings concerning COBUILD6 (Sinclair 2008), but in keeping with her observations (Dziemianko 2011) with regard to LDOCE5 (Mayor 2009), the e-version of OALDCE7 proved to be no better for language reception, production and learning than the dictionary in book form. 1 An attempt is made to pinpoint the micro-and macrostructural design features which make e-COBUILD6 a better learning tool than e-OALDCE7 and e-LDOCE5. Recommendations concerning further research into the significance of the medium (paper vs. elec-tronic) in the process of dictionary use conclude the study. The secondary aim which the paper attempts to achieve is to present the status of replication as a scientific research method and justify its use in lexicography.
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