LEXICOGRAPHY Lexicography is the science of compiling dictionaries (and practice of it). It's an important branch of applied linguistics.

It is closely connected with lexicology because it also describes the vocabulary of a language. So lexicography as a term has two meanings. On the one hand it is a theory in accordance with which dictionaries are compiled. On the other hand it is a practical work connected with the compilation of dictionaries. English lexicography has a long and interesting history, though unfortunately it hasn't been as yet profoundly explored. There are many gaps and white spots in the history of English lexicography. But we are more interested in the types and principles of it. The English lexicography begins with the compilation, of glossaries that is lists of foreign words which are explained to the English reader. The first truly English dictionary was compiled by Samuel Johnson. It was a rather great work in the field of lexicography which hasn't entirely lost its value even nowadays. After it the work at compiling different dictionaries didn't stop, but one of the greatest English dictionaries is the so-called the Oxford Dictionary of the English language which is also known as the New English Dictionary: NED. It is a dictionary at which more than 250 people had been working during their lifetime. It consists of 12 great volumes and the 13-th additional explanatory volume. It covers almost half a million words. It gives words, their origin, first usage in printing, phraseology with it and many quotations from various authors. The greatest dictionaries published in the USA are Webster's dictionary one volume, not portable and a two-volume, 20-th century dictionary. These dictionaries may be called explanatory (). Such dictionaries are not published in this country because to reprint English edition would be a luxury. Besides explanatory dictionaries there are special dictionaries such as: pronouncing dictionaries, etymological, phraseological, dictionaries of synonyms and antonyms, spelling dictionaries, historical dictionaries, dictionaries of dialect, of slang, etc. Phraseological dictionaries published abroad are as a rule called idiomatic dictionaries or Dictionaries of English Idioms. GENERAL DICTIONARIES EXPLANATORY DICTIONARIES There is an abundance of explanatory dictionaries, big and small, compiled in English-speaking countries, e.g. The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles commonly abbreviated into NED. Most of these dictionaries deal with the form, usage and meaning of words in, Modern English, regarding it as a stabilized system and taking no account of its past development. They are synchronic in their presentation of words as distinct from those furnishing an account of the historical development of words. In explanatory dictionaries of the synchronic type the entry usually

presents the following data: spelling and pronunciation, grammatical characteristics, meanings, illustrative examples, derivatives, phraseology, etymology, synonyms and antonyms, The order and number of these items may vary, Not all of them are to be found in every word-book of this type (as, .g.e synonyms, antonyms and etymology). TRANSLATION DICTIONARIES Translation dictionaries (sometimes also called parallel) are word-books containing vocabulary items in one language and their equivalents in another language. The most representative translation dictionaries for English are the Russian-English Dictionary under Prof. A. 1. Smirnitsky's general direction and the EnglishRussian Dictionary by Prof. V. K. Muller. The main problem in compiling dictionaries of this type is to ensure adequate translation of vocabulary items, as the semantic structures of related words in different languages are national in character. Supplementary material in translation dictionaries is in some respects different from that in explanatory dictionaries, e.g., the dictionary referred to above contains a list of geographical names, the rules of English and Rus-sian pronunciation as well as brief outlines of English and Russian grammar. LEARNER'S DICTIONARIES - Out of the numerous general dictionaries we can single out those that were specially compiled for foreign language learners at different stages of advancement. It is only some fifteen years ago that first works of this kind appeared and they are few in number even nowadays. The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English by A. S. Hornby, E. V. Gatenby and H. Wakefield is a monolingual dictionary compiled on the basis of COD to meet the needs of advanced foreign learners of English and language teachers. It aims at giving among other things much in- formation about the lexical and grammatical valency of words. The supplementary matter in learner's dictionaries, besides that usually found in general dictionaries, may include other reference material necessary for language learners. For instance, attached to The Learner's English-Russian Dictionary there are numerous grammar tables of the Russian language. SPECIALIZED DICTIONARIES Included in this class are dictionaries that concentrate either on giving fuller treatment to a certain part of the vocabulary (e.g. synonyms and antonyms, phraseology, neologisms, terms, words peculiar to a locality ,etc) or on providing information limited to one particular aspect (colorability , word-frequency, etymology, pronunciation , etc.) DICTIONARIES OF SYNONYMS - Out of the numerous synonym-books available perhaps the best known are A Dictionary of English Synonyms and Synonymous Expressions by R.Soule and Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms. There is also a work of this kind compiled in our country English Synonyms Explained and Illustrated by A.F Gandelsman. PHRASEOLOGICAL DICTIONARIES - Another type of word-books which is also widespread in the English-speaking countries, is what we call

phraseological dictionaries, i.e. those treating phraseology. English and American lexicographers have accumulated vast collections of idiomatic or colloquial phrases, proverbs and other, usually image-bearing, wordgroups with profuse illustrations. But the compilers' approach is in most cases purely empiric. By phraseology many of them mean all forms of linguistic anomalies which transgress the laws of grammar or logic and which are approved by usage. Therefore alongside set-phrases they enter free phrases and even separate words. 1 The choice of items is arbitrary, based on intuition and not on any objective criteria. DICTIONARIES OF COLLOCATIONS -Dictionaries of collocations contain words which freely combine with the given head-word. The few reference books of this kind known to us belong to the pen of foreign com pilers. For example. A. Reum's Dictionary of English Style is designed for German students of English with a view to helping them to carry English correspondence, it shows the colorability of about 10,000 English words of the most frequent occurrence. The selection of words and word-groups was determined by the comparison of the semantic structures of English and German words. Each meaning of the head- word, its derivatives and some combinations are supplied with German equivalents. Phraseology is also presented, but it is lost in a miscellaneous mass of illustrations.