A person devoted to lexicography is called a lexicographer.

General lexicography focuses on the design compilation use and evaluation of general dictionaries i.e. dictionaries that provide a description of the language in general use. Such a dictionary is usually called a general dictionary or LGP dictionary (Language for General Purpose). Specialized lexicography focuses on the design compilation use and evaluation of specialized dictionaries i.e. dictionaries that are devoted to a (relatively restricted) set of linguistic and factual elements of one or more specialist subject fields e.g. legal lexicography. Such a dictionary is usually called a specialized dictionary or LSP dictionary and following Nielsen 1994 specialized dictionaries are either multi-field single-field or sub-field dictionaries.

There is some disagreement on the definition of lexicology as distinct from lexicography. Some use "lexicology" as a synonym for theoretical lexicography; others use it to mean a branch of linguistics pertaining to the inventory of words in a particular language.

It is now widely accepted that lexicography is a scholarly discipline in its own right and not a sub-branch of applied linguistics as the chief object of study in lexicography is the dictionary (see e.g. Bergenholtz/Nielsen/Tarp 2009). Contents 1 Etymology 2 Aspects 3 Recommended reading 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Etymology

Coined in English 1680 the word "lexicography" derives from the Greek "" (lexikographos) "lexicographer"1 from "" (lexicon) neut. of "" (lexikos) "of or for words"2 from "" (lexis) "speech" "word"3 (in turn from "" lego "to say" "to speak"4) + "" (grapho) "to scratch to inscribe to write".5 Aspects

Practical lexicographic work involves several activities and the compilation of well crafted dictionaries require careful consideration of all or some of the following aspects: Profiling the intended users (i.e. linguistic and non-linguistic competences) and identifying their needs Defining the communicative and cognitive functions of the dictionary Selecting and organizing the components of the dictionary Choosing the appropriate structures for presenting the data in the dictionary (i.e. frame structure distribution structure macro-structure micro-structure and cross-reference structure) Selecting words and affixes for systematization as entries Selecting collocations phrases and examples Choosing lemma forms for each word or part of word to be lemmatized Defining words Organizing definitions Specifying pronunciations of words Labeling definitions and pronunciations for register and dialect where appropriate Selecting equivalents in bi- and polylingual dictionaries Translating collocations phrases and examples in bi- and polylingual dictionaries Designing the best way in which users can access the data in printed and electronic dictionaries

One important goal of lexicography is to keep the lexicographic information costs incurred by dictionary users as low as possible. Nielsen (2008) suggests relevant aspects for lexicographers to consider when making dictionaries as they all affect the users' impression and actual use of specific dictionaries.

Theoretical lexicography (or metalexicography) concerns the same aspects as lexicography but is meant to lead to the development of principles that can improve the quality of future dictionaries for instance in terms of access to data and lexicographic information costs. Several perspectives or branches of such academic dictionary research have been distinguished: 'dictionary criticism' (or evaluating the quality of one or more dictionaries e.g. by means of reviews (see Nielsen 2009)) 'dictionary history' (or tracing the traditions of a type of dictionary or of lexicography in a particular country or language) 'dictionary typology' (or classifying the various genres of reference works such as dictionary versus encyclopedia monolingual versus bilingual dictionary general versus technical or pedagogical dictionary) 'dictionary structure' (or formatting the various ways in which the information is presented in a dictionary) 'dictionary use' (or observing the reference acts and skills of dictionary users) and 'dictionary IT' (or applying computer aids to the process of dictionary compilation). One important consideration is the status of 'bilingual lexicography' or the compilation and use of the bilingual dictionary in all its aspects (see e.g. Nielsen 1994). In spite of a relatively long history of this type of dictionary it is often said to be less developed in a number of respects than its monolingual counterpart especially in cases where one of the languages involved is not a major language. Not all genres of reference works are available in interlingual versions e.g. LSP learners' and encyclopedic types although sometimes these challenges produce new subtypes e.g. 'semi-bilingual' or 'bilingualised' dictionaries such as Hornby's (Oxford) Advanced Learner's Dictionary English-Chinese which have been developed by translating existing monolingual dictionaries (see Marello 1998). Recommended reading Atkins B.T.S. & Rundell Michael (2008) The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography Oxford U.P. ISBN 978-0-19-927771-1 Bejoint Henri (2000) Modern Lexicography: An Introduction Oxford U.P. ISBN 9780198299516 Bergenholtz H. Nielsen S. Tarp S. (eds.): Lexicography at a Crossroads: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Today Lexicographical Tools Tomorrow. Peter Lang 2009. ISBN 978-3-03911-799-4 Bergenholtz Henning & Tarp Sven (eds.) (1995) Manual of Specialised Lexicography: The Preparation of Specialised Dictionaries J. Benjamins. ISBN 978-9027216120 Green Jonathon (1996) Chasing the Sun: Dictionary-Makers and the Dictionaries They Made J. Cape. ISBN 0-7126-6216-2 Hartmann R.R.K. (2001) Teaching and Researching Lexicography Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0582369771 Hartmann R.R.K. (ed.) (2003) Lexicography: Critical Concepts Routledge/Taylor & Francis 3 volumes. ISBN 978-0415253659 Hartmann R.R.K. & James Gregory (comps.) (1998/2001) Dictionary of Lexicography Routledge. ISBN 978-0415141444 Kirkness Alan (2004) "Lexicography" in The Handbook of Applied Linguistics ed. by A. Davies & C. Elder Oxford: Blackwell pp. 5481. ISBN 978-1405138093 Landau Sidney (2001) Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography Cambridge U.P. 2nd ed. ISBN 052178512X Marello Carla (1998) "Hornby's biligualized dictionaries" in International Journal of Lexicography 114 pp. 292314. Nielsen Sandro (1994) The Bilingual LSP Dictionary G. Narr. ISBN 978-3823345336 Nielsen Sandro (2008) "The effect of lexicographical information costs on dictionary making and use" in Lexikos (AFRILEX-reeks/series 18) pp. 170189. Nielsen Sandro (2009): "Reviewing printed and electronic dictionaries: A theoretical and practical framework". In S. Nielsen/S. Tarp (eds): Lexicography in the 21st Century. In honour of Henning Bergenholtz. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins 23-41.ISBN 978-90-272-2336-4 Ooi Vincent (1998) Computer Corpus Lexicography Edinburgh U.P. 1 ISBN 074860815X Zgusta Ladislav (1971) Manual of lexicography (Janua Linguarum. Series maior 39). Prague: Academia / The Hague Paris: Mouton. ISBN 978-9027919212 See also List of lexicographers Lexicology Lexicon Vocabulary Dictionary Bilingual dictionary Monolingual learner's dictionary Specialized dictionary (Picture dictionary Multi-field dictionary Single-field dictionary Sub-field dictionary Maximizing dictionary Minimizing dictionary LSP dictionary) Glossary (defining dictionary Core glossary) Idioms Lexicon Specialised lexicography English lexicology and lexicography Terminology Dictionary Society of North America References Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A GreekEnglish Lexicon on Perseus Digital Library Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A GreekEnglish Lexicon on Perseus Digital Library Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A GreekEnglish Lexicon on Perseus Digital Library Henry George Liddell Robert Scott An Intermediate GreekEnglish Lexicon on Perseus Digital Library Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A GreekEnglish Lexicon on Perseus Digital Library External links Look up lexicography in Wiktionary the free dictionary. Look up lexicography in Wiktionary the free dictionary. International Journal of Lexicography Societies: Centre for Lexicography EN version Dictionary Society of North America Euralex European Association for Lexicography Afrilex African Association for Lexicography Australex Australasian Association for Lexicography Nordic Federation for Lexicography Asialex Asian Association for Lexicography v d eLexicography Types of reference works Dictionary  Glossary  Lexicon  Thesaurus Types of dictionaries Bilingual  Biographical  Conceptual  Defining  Electronic  Encyclopedic  Language for specific purposes dictionary  Machine-readable  Maximizing  Medical  Minimizing  Monolingual learner's  Multi-field  Phonetic  Picture  Reverse  Rhyming  Rime  Single-field  Specialized  Sub-field  Visual Lexicographic projects Lexigraf  WordNet Other List of lexicographers  List of online dictionaries v d eLexicology Major terms Lexicon  Idiolect  Word  Lexis  Lexical unit Elements Morpheme  Grapheme  Glyphs  Phoneme  Sememe  Seme  Lexeme  Lemma  Meronymy  Chereme Semantic relations Holonymy  Hyponymy  Troponymy  Idiom  Synonym  Antonymy  Lexical semantics  Semantic net Fonctions Function word  Headword Fields Morphology  Controlled vocabulary  English lexicology and lexicography  Lexicographic error  Lexicographic information cost  Linguistic prescription  Specialised lexicography  International scientific vocabulary