On the principles of creating an electronic dictionary of the linguoculturological type: raising the problem

Lexicographic practice is an essential and organic part of linguistics. Presently such a branch as computational lexicography has taken on special topicality and importance: development and implementation of electronic dictionaries, corpuses and databases are its most productive areas today. Undoubtedly, the need for converting the existing number of dictionaries of different kinds from paper to an electronic form appeared long ago: it is impossible to get some material prepared for work without any preliminary technical work -converting information to an electronic format is the first step of any activity with computer corpora. In particular cases data conversion may be accompanied by additional - and sometimes quite laborious - activities. Converting dialect speech records into an electronic format can be used for illustrative purposes: there is not only the digitization of the material itself (card indexes, notebooks, etc) but aslo huge preparation work realized with the development of a complex meta markup system and its adaptation in texts that form the basis of a computer dialect corpus. A dictionary existing in an electronic format is not just an electronic (scanned, digitized) version of a paper dictionary, it is a completely independent product, and its form of existence logically continues and supplements its content. At the present time, the greatest number of electronic lexicographic products is created in the area of translation industry. However, the need for creating Russian-language dictionaries of not only translational or explanatory types but also other types is obvious: linguoculturological and ethnolinguistic dictionaries are no exception. The authors of this paper aim at the development of an electronic dictionary of an indeed linguoculturological type: it was decided to develop and implement an electronic dictionary of national signs as an example which should unite the corpus of national signs and the linguoculturological commentary of the collected material in the electronic format. The realization of the project proposes the elaboration of the general concept of the dictionary, the structure (model) of a dictionary entry, and the principles of organisation of the material presented in the dictionary, and also it proposes the development of software to be conveniently and effectively used by dictionary compilers and readers. The originality of the project of the dictionary consists in, first of all, its physical implementation. The creation of an electronic dictionary of such a type allows elaborating and testing a series of universal principles for lexicorgaphic work with the material of linguoculturological value, including the representation of such a material in the computer dictionary format. On the other hand, the topicality and scientific value of the research consist in the physical part of the dictionary as well. It, in its turn, concerns with the fact that the content of the announced lexicographic product is based on the unique material - the corpus of national signs fixed in the process of work with different sources, it has certain culturological value and was created during several years and it is still supplemented.

Keywords

Authors

References