Konception af fire monofunktionale ordbøger med faste vendinger

Abstract

Most metalexicographical contributions imply that a dictionary is polyfunctional, i.e. can be used by different kinds of users for different kinds of purposes. Moreover, such contributions argue that polyfunctional dictionaries should aim at the highest degree of completeness and thus avoid lack of lemmata or phraseological inadequacy. The thesis of this article, however, is different: A useful dictionary article should offer nothing more than the piece of information according to the user’s needs. This is only possible in a monofunctional dictionary, i.e. a dictionary for a specific kind of user in a specific situation. This article presents the concept for a phraseological database, which allows the user to enter four different dictionaries by choosing the one corresponding to his specific problem – e.g. text production or text reception. In this case knowing the exact linguistic terminology and the linguistic differences between the types of phrases isn’t important for the user. But by choosing the fourth and most comprehensive of the dictionaries the user gets access to a wider set of information if he wants to find out more about a phrase. In accordance with the monofunctionality of the dictionaries the additional information should only be provided on the user’s demand. Finally, it is suggested that the articles of the fourth dictionary should contain small lists of associations which could offer further possibilities of searching within the database.