The Cambridge Handbook of the Dictionary

Bringing together cutting-edge research, this Handbook provides a complete guide to how dictionaries are, and have been, created and used.

Edward Finegan (Edited by), Michael Adams (Edited by)

9781108836241, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 31 October 2024

801 pages
25 x 17.6 x 4.8 cm, 1.52 kg

'What a vast compendium! In addition to expectable chapters on the history, structure, progress, and prospects of dictionaries, this collection of essays by top-notch lexicographers brings us delightfully unexpected tidbits as well: looking backward, we learn why the 4th edition of Black's Law Dictionary includes an entry for Boston cream pie; looking forward, we envision a time when putting a dictionary next to an exotic restaurant dish will have it pick up aromas and tell us what herbs and spices are contained!' Joan Houston Hall, Chief Editor Emerita, Dictionary of American Regional English

There is no such thing as 'the dictionary'. Rather, there are innumerable kinds of dictionaries that respond to their authors' aspirations and their users' needs. In each case, the negotiation among a dictionary's material, its authors, and its readers tells a rich cultural story. Bringing together cutting-edge research from an international team of experts, this interdisciplinary Handbook provides an all-encompassing account of dictionaries in context. Organized into five thematic parts, its chapters cover a multitude of topics such as types of dictionaries, the place of dictionaries in intellectual, cultural and book history, and dictionaries as material objects, as well as their visual design. It also explores the role of dictionaries in a select group of special fields where words especially matter (for instance, law), the business contexts in which dictionaries are made, and finally the future of dictionaries. There is no fuller or more compelling overview of dictionaries available today.

Acknowledgments
Introduction Michael Adams and Edward Finegan
Part I. Types of Dictionaries: 1. Dictionary typologies Michael Adams
2. Historical and other specialized dictionaries Ammon Shea
3. Thesauri Kate Wild
4. Commercial dictionaries Orin Hargraves
5. Bilingual dictionaries Carla Marello
6. Learner's dictionaries Shigeru Yamada and Hai Xu
7. Children's dictionaries Susan Rennie
8. Dictionaries of quotations and dictionaries of proverbs Elizabeth Knowles
Part II. Dictionary as Book: 9. Dictionary typography Michael Adams
10. Illustrations in dictionaries Michael Hancher
11. Page and book design in dictionaries Wendalyn Nichols
12. Dictionaries in book history John Considine
13. Dictionaries as material objects Lindsay Rose Russell
Part III. Dictionaries and Ideology: 14. Dictionaries, language ideologies, and language attitudes David West Brown
15. Dictionaries and cultural politics Lindsay Rose Russell
16. Usage in dictionaries and dictionaries of usage Don Chapman
17. Dictionaries and language contact Jason F. Siegel
18. Dictionaries in religious history and biblical interpretation William A. Ross
19. Attitudes toward 'the dictionary
Edward Finegan
Part IV. Dictionaries and Domains of Use: 20. Dictionary audiences Katherine Connor Martin
21. Dictionaries and intellectual history John Considine
22. Dictionaries and social history Carol Percy
23. Linguistics and philology in dictionaries Anatoly Liberman
24. Dictionaries as literary artifacts Ilan Stavans
25. Dictionaries and editors Jonathon Owen
26. Lexicography and the law Bryan A. Garner
Part V. The Business of Dictionaries: 27. Organizing dictionary projects Cathal Convery
28. Editing dictionaries Joseph P. Pickett
29. Publishing the dictionary: the business side of the business John Morse
30. Legal and ethical issues in dictionary-making Michael Adams
Part VI. The future of Dictionaries: 31. The future of dictionaries Gilles-Maurice de Schryver.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]