Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. Vol. 1. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 24)

Geoff Barnbrook: From description to prescription and back again

GEOFF BARNBROOK FROM DESCRIPTION TO PRESCRIPTION AND BACK AGAIN: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MONOLINGUAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY Abstract: This paper explores the development of monolingual English dictionaries from their earliest origins through to modern corpus-based learners' dictionaries, considering the changes in their approaches and methods and the basic nature of their relationship with the language they document. It has been adapted from Chapter 2 of Barnbrook (1995). 1 The nature of monolingual dictionaries Modern English monolingual dictionaries, especially learners' dictionaries, describe the meanings of their headwords, often together with other information. This paper examines their development and considers the major changes that have taken place in their functions. The overall aims of lexicographers seem to alter during the process of dictionary development from an attempt to describe certain aspects of English, through overtly prescriptive programmes for maintenance and reform of the language, back to a descriptive account of general use of English. This last approach is seen most clearly within dictionaries produced for learners of English. Within a monolingual dictionary language is used reflexively, to describe itself, and it is important to understand the main complications arising from this fact. Lyons (1977, vol.1, pp.

5-6) describes the standard philosophical distinction between reflexive use of language and other possible uses, which assigns technical meanings to the terms 'use' and 'mention' to indicate respectively non-reflexive and reflexive use. He also describes the main problems that can arise for linguists in following this distinction without a clear understanding of what is implied by it, which arise from the fact that 7