On 9th April 2013, we learned about lexicography which is
one of the areas under the big umbrella of corpus linguistics. Basically,
lexicography is the study of words, lexical items or vocabulary.
The experts in this area are called lexicographers. They are
linguists and expertise in writing dictionaries. Prof. Kev Nair, who was born
in Kerala, South India, in 1949, is the father of fluency lexicographer.
Lexicography does not only focus on English but also other
languages. It has two related disciplines which are practical lexicography as
well as theoretical lexicography. Practical lexicography deals with the area of
compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. Theoretical lexicography is quite intensive
than practical lexicography. It deals with the process of analyzing and describing the semantic, syntagmatic and
paradigmatic relationships within the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language. It also
focuses on developing theories of dictionary component and structures linking
the data in dictionaries. Other than that, theoretical lexicography studies the
needs of information by users in specific types of situation, and how users may
best access the data incorporated in printed and electronic dictionaries. This is
also known as ‘metalexicography.’
What is the relevance of lexicography to corpus
linguistics?
There is a relevance of linking corpus linguistics
with lexicography. As we all know, writing a dictionary is not an easy task. Lexicographers
have to do many researches on a particular word before they can put it in a
dictionary. To do this, lexicographers need to have a huge amount of data. The solution
for this problem is to use concordancer. By using concordancer, lexicographers
can go through the words and get data regarding the words, for example, the
meaning of the words, the contexts in which they can be used.
As the students of Bachelor of English Language
and Literature, who are taking Computer Applications for Language Studies, learning
about lexicography can expose us to one of the various fields in linguistics. Even
though we were only learning about the introduction of lexicography, it can
help to develop our interest in that area of study. When we have interest in
something, we would want to know more about it. Thus, we would read more and do
some research about it. This interest would later develop to love. Since
lexicography is not a very popular field in Malaysia, who knows someday in the
future, we can make this field as one of the most wanted jobs among Malaysians.
InsyaAllah.
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