Special unilingual dictionaries

Unilingual dictionaries of this type giving definitions of terms are often prepared by boards of commissions appointed for the task of improving terminology and nomenclature.The most burning issues are connected with the selection of head-words, the arrangement and contents of the vocabulary entry, the principles of sense definitions.

Longman Business English Dictionary (new edition; first edition published in 2000, second – in 2007) is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to business vocabulary. Based on analysis of millions of words of authentic business texts, the dictionary covers a broad range of business fields. Clear definitions and authentic example sentences show clearly how words and phrases are used. It includes 30,000 up-to-date buseness terms from marketing, computing, banking and finance. All definitions are written using the 2,000-word vocabulary, so that even difficult words are clearly defined and without technical jargon.

Real example sentences are based on authentic business sources such as The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Internet. British nd American English are equally important in the world of business and this dictionary has been written by both British and American lexicographers and it fully covers British and American business terms.

Business Resource Section includes BEC and BULATS exam practice, emails, and financial statements. There is edition with CD-ROM.

Whenever somebody thinks of law dictionaries, Black’s seems inevitably to come to mind. H.C.Black (1860-1927) first published his magnum opus in 1891, and his achievement might easily be taken for granted today. Black’s Law Dictionary evolved over its six unabridged editions. The last edition was compiled on modern lexicographic methods. The specialized vocabularies are included – from bankruptcy to securities law. All headwords, including abbreviations, are alphabetized letter by letter, not word by word. Many terms in this dictionary are collected by topic. For example, the different types of contracts are defined under the main term contract.

There are dictionaries concentrated on one of the distinctive features of the word.

The new (second) edition of the Cambridge Idioms Dictionary (2007)clearly explains the meaning and use of over 7,000 idioms current in British, American, and Australian English. Example sentences for every idiom and guidance on usage help learners understand and use idioms with confidence.

The new edition of the Cambridge Phrasal Verbs Dictionary (2007)covers around 6,000 phrasal verbs current in British, American, and Australian English. Its key features:

· Fully updated with new phrasal verbs.

· Clear advice on grammar and usage.

· Thousands of example sentences show phrasal verbs in typical contexts.

The Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (17th edition) is the ultimateguide to pronunciation in English. Thousands of pronunciations not shown in general dictionaries are included, from people and places, to words from science, technology and literature. It is based on the classic work by Daniel Jones. It includes clear, accessible layout with 80,000 entries and 220,000 British and North American pronunciations using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

 

Answer these questions.

1. What is lexicography?

2. What does the term “dictionary” mean?

3. What types of dictionaries do you know?

4. What dictionaries are called bilingual? Give examples.

5. Why a bilingual dictionary is not equivalent to a unilingual dictionary?

6. What dictionaries are called special?

7. What special bilingual dictionaries do you know?

8. What is the most famous unilingual dictionary of the English language?

9. What comprehensive dictionaries of English language do you know?

10. Speak about Webster’s dictionary and its history.

11. What type of dictionary is called “ideographic”? Give example.

12. What dictionaries are called special unilingual? Give examples.