This study is a critical, analytic, and historical survey of the development of the American English dictionary from its beginning in 1798 until the publication of the Webster-Mahn dictionary in 1864. The survey is divided historically into three sections: (1) the British influence upon early American dictionaries, pre-Websterian American…

The subjective magnitude estimation (SME) procedure was used to obtain estimates of relative word frequency from two adult groups (15 lexicographers, 13 other adults) for 60 words ranging widely in objective frequency. Lexicographers rendered more reliable estimates, and their averaged data correlated more highly with objective log frequency than…

Presents humanistic behavioral objectives for teaching about semantics, grammar, dialects, lexicography, body language, foreign languages, and the history of English. (DD)

A commentary on a dictionary of Texas Mexican American Spanish now being compiled by Roberto Galvan and Richard Teschnev. This dictionary will be a valuable tool for translators of Hispanic literature. Topics treated are base and suppletive dictionaries, the kinds of corpus used in the new dictionary, and frequency as an objective yardstick. (AMH)

Paper to be presented at the Seventh International Congress of Slavists in Warsaw, Poland, August 1973. (DS)

Based on the 1979 edition of the "Petit Larousse Illustre," English or American loan words are evaluated as to their actual usage in modern French. It is concluded that anglo-americanisms have a greater impact on technical French than on everyday French. A list of 57 words that have become part of French usage is provided for pedagogical…

Presents a corpus-based analysis of two lexical items: Modern English "hand" and "fist" and their Middle Cornish equivalents, resulting in discovering semantic and collocational differences between the corresponding lexemes in these two languages. The article argues that grammatical meaning may form part of the lexical meaning…

Suggests that text and information design are rooted in the visual aesthetics of modernism as articulated by the Bauhaus. Explores four key ideas affecting visual design: unity of text and form; emphasis on economy and simplicity; search for a universal, objective style; and faith in individual and collective intuition. (KEH)

Emphasizes the importance of terminology in an age of machine-based translation systems. Discusses differences between lexicography and terminology. Concludes with an argument for a new system based on the Text Encoding Initiative-based notions of elements and attributes. (CFR)

Describes problems in devising a Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) encoding format for dictionaries. Asserts that the high degree of structuring and compression of information are among the most complex text types treated in the TEI. Concludes that the source of some TEI problems lies in the design of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). (CFR)

In a review of two decades of vocabulary research, it is noted that vocabulary has moved from "poor relation" to "guest of honor" status in language teaching. Research areas include specialized bibliographies, vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary teaching, course materials, and lexicography. Future research directions are suggested, including…

Results of the 1994 College Board Vocabulary Study, a comprehensive study of word frequencies in reading materials used at high school and first-year college levels, are summarized. The 76 book titles most commonly recommended, based on a related citation study, are listed. (MSE)

Describes the growing number of dictionaries available to reference librarians, discusses factors that have led to the need for more dictionaries, and provides buying guidelines to help in selection decisions. Electronic versions of various dictionaries are described, and a sidebar examines the "American Heritage Dictionary" revisions.…

This manual resulted from the work of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) and the International Information Centre for Terminology (Infoterm) in Vienna in developing methodologies for the work of multilingual organizations. Three papers are included in the document: "A Method for Controlled Concept…

The main purpose of this dictionary is to provide a corpus of basic words and phrases in standard Khmer useful for Western students of Khmer. The dictionary contains 40,000 English entries and subentries. Subentries were chosen to reflect not only the semantic structure of English, but also the semantic structure and content of Khmer. The second…