The Lexicographical Notes in Bilingual Dictionaries

Dictionary notes play an important role in description of a title unit. A note is an abbreviated word or phrase which gives a certain characteristic to the language unit. Traditionally, different types of notes are distinguished: grammatical, stylistic, sectoral, chronological, etc. The object of this research is a lexicographic note which can be justified if it demarks the usage sphere and language peculiarities of the title unit. The material for the research is bilingual (Russian-Tatar and Russian-Chinese) dictionaries of various types of the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st centuries. The paper presents the results of comparative analysis of the notes system in bilingual dictionaries. The study revealed the following: 1) when lexical units are supplied with notes, the authors and compilers of bilingual dictionaries, as a rule, use the data from thesauri of the entry language, though not always consistently; 2) stylistic notes (разг., груб., бранн., сниж., пренебр., презр., etc.) do not have distinct boundaries, thus, a user may have difficulties seeing the difference between the properties; 3) the problem of singularia tantum and pluralia tantum words should be specially highlighted, namely, if one meaning of a word is singularia tantum and another is pluralia tantum; 4) a certain group of notes is rare in the analyzed dictionaries, for example, statistical notes, the notes pointing out the dialectical character of the described unites, etc. Terminological notes should be used only for describing polysemantic words to distinguish between their meanings and homonyms; 5) when using lexicographic notes, one of the linguography principles is often violated – to describe similar things in a similar way

The Lexicographical Notes in Bilingual Dictionaries

Dictionary notes play an important role in description of a title unit. A note is an abbreviated word or phrase which gives a certain characteristic to the language unit. Traditionally, different types of notes are distinguished: grammatical, stylistic, sectoral, chronological, etc. The object of this research is a lexicographic note which can be justified if it demarks the usage sphere and language peculiarities of the title unit. The material for the research is bilingual (Russian-Tatar and Russian-Chinese) dictionaries of various types of the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st centuries. The paper presents the results of comparative analysis of the notes system in bilingual dictionaries. The study revealed the following: 1) when lexical units are supplied with notes, the authors and compilers of bilingual dictionaries, as a rule, use the data from thesauri of the entry language, though not always consistently; 2) stylistic notes (разг., груб., бранн., сниж., пренебр., презр., etc.) do not have distinct boundaries, thus, a user may have difficulties seeing the difference between the properties; 3) the problem of singularia tantum and pluralia tantum words should be specially highlighted, namely, if one meaning of a word is singularia tantum and another is pluralia tantum; 4) a certain group of notes is rare in the analyzed dictionaries, for example, statistical notes, the notes pointing out the dialectical character of the described unites, etc. Terminological notes should be used only for describing polysemantic words to distinguish between their meanings and homonyms; 5) when using lexicographic notes, one of the linguography principles is often violated – to describe similar things in a similar way.Las notas del diccionario juegan un papel importante en la descripción de una unidad de título. Una nota es una palabra o frase abreviada que da una determinada característica a la unidad de lenguaje. Tradicionalmente se distinguen diferentes tipos de notas: gramaticales, estilísticas, sectoriales, cronológicas, etc. El objeto de esta investigación es una nota lexicográfica que puede justificarse si delimita el ámbito de uso y las peculiaridades lingüísticas de la unidad de título. El material para la investigación son diccionarios bilingües (ruso-tártaro y ruso-chino) de varios tipos de finales del siglo XX - principios del siglo XXI. El artículo presenta los resultados del análisis comparativo del sistema de notas en diccionarios bilingües. El estudio reveló lo siguiente: 1) cuando se suministran notas a las unidades léxicas, los autores y compiladores de diccionarios bilingües, por regla general, utilizan los datos de los tesauros de la lengua de entrada, aunque no siempre de forma coherente; 2) las notas estilísticas (разг., Груб., Бранн., Сниж., Пренебр., Презр., Etc.) no tienen límites distintos, por lo que un usuario puede tener dificultades para ver la diferencia entre las propiedades; 3) debe destacarse especialmente el problema de las palabras singularia tantum y pluralia tantum, es decir, si un significado de una palabra es singularia tantum y otro es pluralia tantum; 4) cierto grupo de notas es raro en los diccionarios analizados, por ejemplo, notas estadísticas, las notas que señalan el carácter dialéctico de las unidades descritas, etc. Las notas terminológicas deben usarse solo para describir palabras polisemánticas para distinguir entre sus significados y homónimos; 5) cuando se usan notas lexicográficas, a menudo se viola uno de los principios de la lingüística: describir cosas similares de manera similar