语料库在词典释义中的应川研究

语料库在词典释义中的应川研究 ［Abstract］Definition is the main task of dictionary compilation. With the application of corpora to dictionary compilation, the problems also arise. This paper mainly points out the problems in the application of corpora to definition and tries to find the solutions.

［Key words］definition,corpora,dictionary compilation I. Introduction Nowadays, the combination of dictionary compilation into corpora can be said to be the most popular and promising topic in the field of linguistics, especially lexicography. However, what role the corpora are really playing in dictionary compilation? To be specific, what advantages do corpora bring into play in dictionary compilation? When mentioning about corpora, do they provide the great advantages for dictionary compilation? Or, are they really objective to compiling dictionary? First, let’s look back the history of dictionary compilation, i.e. what methods dictionary compilers have been used in dictionary compilation and what advantages and disadvantages these methods have in dictionary compilation. What purpose of dictionary is made for and what’s the first purpose of dictionary compilation?

The main purpose of corpora is designed to make dictionary. We can prove this from the update definition of corpus, i.e. corpus (plural corpora or corpuses) 1. formal. 2. linguistics, a collection of written and spoken language stored on computer and used for language research and writing dictionaries. (Rundell, 2002: 312) From this definition, we can conclude that the basic task of corpus is used to compile dictionary. 1995 witnessed the great history of dictionary compilation. In that year, four dictionaries were published based on corpus with 100 million entries: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (3rd edition), Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (5th edition), Collins COBUILD English Dictionary (2nd edition), and Cambridge International English Dictionary.[1]

Defining words, the central part of the work of compiling a dictionary, is the core of a reference unit (MICROSTRUCTURE). The principle of defining words in a dictionary should be defining rarely-used words in popular ones, and defining recondite words in lucid ones. In the era with advanced science and technology, the combination of dictionary compilation into advanced technology including computer-assisted system such as corpus has become an absolutely necessary trend in the field of dictionary compilation. We cannot deny that computer technology influence greatly many fields including dictionary compilation. First, let’s see how corpus applies to compiling dictionary, especially definition, the core of dictionary. Ⅱ. The Great Application of Corpora to Definition 2.1 The methods of corpora applied to compiling dictionary Speaking about the application of corpus to dictionary compilation, we cannot ignore the joint between corpus and dictionary compilation, ―Sketch Engine‖ which is designed to improve the efficiency of compiling dictionary based on corpus.

In the process of dictionary compilation, lexicographers need induce the examples to the vocabulary in the corpus and find out the senses in an abstract way to write them in the dictionary. Large-scaled corpus provides dependable information for dictionary compilation. However, when searching the common vocabulary and collocations in the corpus, lexicographers always find numerous concordance lines in several hundreds or evening in thousands or ten thousands, which is very inconvenient for lexicographers to discover the usage rules of language. In the face of ―information overload‖, the work of lexicographers becomes time-consuming and effort-wasting, inappropriate to the advance development of modern technology, which compels modern people to develop an efficient language information acquiring tool dependent on natural language management technology.[2]807-818

―Sketch Engine‖, developed by Kilgarriff et al, is just such a dictionary compiling assistance system based on the above consideration. This system serves as the joint between corpus and dictionary compilation, gathering language information of large-scaled corpus for the purpose of convenience of dictionary compilation. ―Sketch Engine‖ is virtually a database, building a bridge between lexical collocation and semantic meaning.

Sketch Engine has the following functions: 1)automatically producing Word Sketches — a page layout summarized from corpus. The page layout collects all the information of given words’ grammatical features and collocation features; 2) assisting dictionary compilers in decomposing lexical meanings; 3) establishing corpus of lexical meaning by analysis of lexical meaning from dictionary compilers, and carrying out Word Sense Disambiguation to corresponding words’ other using examples. (Kilgarriff et al., 2003)