Idioms in Bilingual Dictionaries Essay Example for Free

Idioms in bilingual Dictionaries EssayA vocabulary is a solicitation of oral communication in one or more(prenominal) addresss, and it reflects the lexicon of a talking to. Its theatrical role is to provide information on the mean of words, combinations with name words, sometimes similarly pronunciation and other aspects of a language. Dictionaries can be classified by many opposite aspects for example, a dictionary can be monolingual, bilingual, bilingualised or still multilingual.If the dictionary is bilingual, it can be either unidirectional or bidirectional. Dictionaries can deal with general language, with special harm or specific bea of a language and dictionaries vary for their purposes. Thus, dictionaries can also be classified according to their size. Usually the most popular dictionaries argon monolingual and bilingual, and this essay aims at exploring the utilization of multiword expressions, mother tongues in commenceicular, in bilingual dictio naries.Burkhanov (1998) defines a bilingual dictionary as a work of reference whose word list is organized in the chase focusing L1L2, which means that lemmata of one language commonly referred to as an object of language, are explicated using another language a target language (Burkhanov, 1998 29). Bilingual dictionaries incur a longer history than monolingual, and their position is already well-established. Typically bilingual dictionaries are translation dictionaries, and at this point the treatment of idioms and other multiword expressions should be seriously considered.Bilingual dictionaries can be general or specialized, encyclopaedic or linguistic, alphabetical or thematic, diachronic or synchronic, in print or electronic format and they also vary according to various user groups and various sizes. Bilingual dictionaries can be divided according to their purpose if your native-born language is the SL, then the dictionary is for encoding needs (also called an active dict ionary), but if your native language is the TL, then the dictionary is for decoding needs (also called a peaceable dictionary).This active-passive parameter is often equated with encoding vs decoding or productive vs receptive parameters and is used to classify bilingual dictionaries with respect to tasks for which they are employed by their users (Podolej, 2009 25). Dictionaries are organised in word entries or lexical items, and a lexical item is any word, abbreviation, partial word, or phrase which can figure in a dictionary (often as the headword of an entry) (Atkins, B. T. and Rundel, M. , 2008 163).As the authors point out, it is beta to be aware of the various kinds of lexical item, as thither are important differences in the way separately is handled in the dictionary (ibid. ). Lexical items are grouped as the single items and multiword expressions (ibid. ). Among multiword expressions there are classified fixed and semi-fixed phrases, phrasal idioms, compounds, phrasal v erbs and support verb constructions, and the authors bring forth raised a question of which multiword items should be treated as multiword expressions in our dictionaries? (ibid. 166). Multiword expressions, including idioms, implant a very important part of the vocabulary and need to be included in both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, but it is of particular importance to include them in bilingual learners dictionaries, since language learners may not recognize them as significant units of content, cannot usually compose them, and will often defend problems understanding them (ibid. 167).The authors have provided several cases of multiword expressions, the first of them world fixed and semi-fixed phrases, for example, transparent collocations (to risk ones life), fixed phrases (ham and eggs), similes (white as snow), catch phrases (horses of courses), proverbs (too many cooks), quotations (to be or not to be), greetings (good morning), and phatic phrases (have a ni ce day) (ibid. ). former(a) type are phrasal idioms that are the most difficult to handle in lexicography (ibid. 168). The third type that the authors provide are compounds that belong mainly to iii word classes nouns (the most frequent case, e. . , lame duck, civil servant), adjectives (e. g. , sky blue, stone deaf), and verbs (of which by far the most common are the phrasal verbs (ibid. 169). The fourth type is a phrasal verb a multiword expression consisting of a verb plus one or more particle(s) that can lick either as an adverb (away, out) or as a preposition (with, to), or both (in, through) (ibid. 171). The fifth type is the support verb construction, of which the most frequent are make, take, have, give, and do (ibid. 175).Other authors have made this classification in a more simple way they argue that there are five types of multiword expressions distinguished, and they are idioms, collocations, phrasal verbs, compounds and support verb constructions (Atkins, B. T. and Rundel, M. , 2008 359). In influence to distinguish in the midst of different multiword expressions, the difference between a collocation and an idiom must be stated. Cruse (1986) has argued that collocations are sequences of lexical items which habitually co-occur, but which are nonetheless full transparent in the sense that each lexical constituent is also a semantic constituent (Crude, 1986 41).Idioms, on the contrary, are expressions whose meaning cannot be inferred from the meaning of its parts (ibid. 37) and they are usually translated in bilingual dictionaries not with lexical, but semantic equivalents. According to Online Etymology Dictionary, the word idiom is derived from late Latin idioma, meaning a peculiarity in language and Greek idioma, peculiarity, peculiar phraseology (Online 1), but with a passage of time this word has call ford quite different denotations (Cruse, 1986. 176).Longman Dictionary of coeval English provides the following explanation for th e word idiom a group of words that has a special meaning that is different from the ordinary meaning of each separate word (Online 2). Oxford online dictionary provides quite similar explanation a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (Online 3). One more interesting definition of an idiom is that it is a meaning where the sums meaning is different from that of the parts (Jones and West 1992, Johnson and Schlichting, 2004, quoted in Fuste-Hermann, 20084).Dictionaries have existed for hundreds of years and they have been developed to meet practical needs of people. The language evolution throughout centuries has been towards more idiomatical usage and more lexicalized combinations (Yong and Peng, 2007 175). Idioms are a unique part of the lexicon and have proved to be the most difficult part in vocabulary acquisition for both native learners ad foreign language learners (ibid. ).Each language contains a large number of idioms, and consequently, the treatment of idioms in dictionaries, particularly in bilingual dictionaries, has become an meaty issue in dictionary compilation and research (ibid. ). As the authors argue, idioms started to attract the focus of language researchers only quite recently, and a lot of work still has to be done in this field, either from the position of compiling a dictionary of idioms or from the position of treating idioms as an essential part of the process of making a dictionary (ibid. . Idioms are not a separate part of the language which one can choose either to use or to omit (Seidl and McMordie, 19781, quoted in Yong and Peng, 2007 175). Idioms form an essential part of the general vocabulary of language, thus accounting for a large proportion of the dictionary text in both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries (Yong and Peng, 2007 175).Both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries should decide where in the ordering of the entry should go compounds, phrasal v erbs and other MWEs, if they are to be included within the entry of one of their component words (Atkins, B. T. and Rundel, M, 2008 253). Usually they are considered as secondary headwords or they can be located in a separate section, entitled Compounds or Phrases, but there is another option of giving them a separate entry distinct from any related entry (ibid. ).In general there are five most common options of handling the multiword expressions, including idioms, in dictionaries there is a misfortune to make each multiword expression as a headword to make selected types of multiword expressions in their possess right to put all multiword expressions within the same entry, at the very end in separate blocks for each type to put all multiword expressions within the same entry, within the appropriate sense in separate blocks and there is an option of putting all multiword expressions within the same entry, within the appropriate sense, but without differentiating the multiword expression type (ibid. 254).However, according to Atkins, B. T. and Rundel, M. the tendency nowadays is to exclude secondary headwords if possible, as embedding one entry (however reduced) within another simply makes it more difficult for the user to find anything (Atkins, B. T. and Rundel, M. , 2008 493). Idioms should be covered to some extremity in general bilingual dictionaries, but usually they are tack in subordinate parts of entries. When compiling a bilingual dictionary, the question of classification of idioms must be decided according to a key word in idiom. For example, the idioms pigheaded person and to eat like a pig could be found together under one entry word pig. In practice most of bilingual and monolingual dictionaries use this approach that seems the easiest way to decipher a language.However, the second possibility involves identifying the underlying function expressed and recording idioms under this category for example, the previous two examples would be cl assified under the function to insult someone (Akbarov, 2010 137). Idioms do not co mply with other aspects of language that can be more easily explained in terms of rules and semantic characteristics (ibid. 140). As idioms and other multiword expressions are quite hard to treat in dictionaries, the compilers of bilingual dictionaries have to be very careful towards this question because we all know how pain it is to open a dictionary and fail to find a word that we were looking for.There is no dictionary that could include all words, and therefore lexicographers have to make decisions on selection of words in it, including idioms. Dictionaries are often regarded as a basic tool in the process of foreign language learning. Bilingual dictionaries have been the traditional lexical resource for learning a new language. Change is not something that dictionaries undertake very easily as their purpose and place is indisputably significant. Of course, modern dictionaries come in differen t formats they can be monolingual, bilingual, paper or electronic dictionaries, but when it comes to defining the meaning and giving definitions or equivalents in other languages, the dictionary is the same.There are many problems the lexicographer has to deal with when compiling a bilingual dictionary and the main problem is the basic deprivation of equivalence which exists between different languages. According to Nida (1958 279), the semantic problems that occur in compiling a bilingual dictionary are different from and also more complicated that those problems that occur in the compilation of a monolingual dictionary. The reason for that is the fact that monolingual dictionaries are compiled mostly for users who participate in and understand the glossiness being described, whereas bilingual dictionaries describe a culture that differs from that of the users. Baker and Kaplan (1994 7, quoted in Gauton, 2008 108) argue that equivalence is nebulous in nature, and cannot be repre sented by way of neat translation equivalents.The perfect translation in a bilingual dictionary where the SL word is translatable perfectly is very rare, and in the case of multiword expressions and idioms compilers have to be ready to face problems. As Atkins, B. T. and Rundel, M argue, the equivalence relationship between a pair of words, SL and TL, varies from take up to very approximate, from perfect to just-adequate and the factors that play a role in evaluating SL-TL equivalence are the semantic content (single words and multiword expressions), collocational context (mainly single words), vocabulary type (single words and multiword expressions), message (of phrases, including idioms and sayings) and function (Atkins, B. T. and Rundel, M, 2008 468). Thus, there no right and wrong about how to present the various types of multiword expressions (ibid. 491).As Yong and Peng (2007) argue, idioms are the evolutional product of national culture and social life (Yong and Peng, 2007 176), thus they are conventionally lexicalized linguistic units and ready-made utterances (Crystal,1985 152, quoted in Yong and Peng, 2007 176). Structurally, the elements in idioms are usually bound together and they often do not permit the usual variability they display in other contexts (ibid. ). Thus, from the semantic point of view, idioms must be interpreted in connection with the historical and cultural contexts from which they emerged (Yong and Peng, 2007 176). Idioms are merge and the meaning cannot be guessed without knowing its sociocultural context even though the meaning of separate words is clear (ibid. ). However, some idioms are historically traceable with translations in several languages (Fuste-Hermann, 20085).The sociocultural context is of extreme importance in dealing with idioms in bilingual dictionaries as there are the so-called culture-bound words that denote objects or concepts peculiar to some particular SL culture (Gauton, 2008 110). It means that for t hese culture-bound items there are no translational equivalents in the TL and in order to overcome this lack, lexicographers use the explanatory equivalent in their illustrative sentences (ibid. 110-111). Mtuze (1990, quoted in Gauton, 2008 111) illustrates that cultural issues could create problems for lexicographers because they might not comprehend certain concepts foreign to their own culture. As Fuste-Herrmann argues, there are three major factors affecting idiom comprehension semantic transparency, familiarity and context (Fuste-Hermann, 2008 6).The first one, the semantic transparency, deals with the relative understanding of an idioms literal and figurative meanings (Nippold and Taylor 1995, quoted in Fuste-Hermann, 2008 6). There can be a transparent and an opaque idiom, a transparent idioms meaning matches closely with the image conjured up by that idiom and in contrast an opaque idiom conjures up an image that is not helpful in interpretation (Fuste-Hermann, 2008 6). Fo r example, the idiom a piece of cake could associate with some enjoyable task, whereas beat around the bush has nothing to do with its meaning (ibid. ). and then the previous studies have concluded that transparent idioms are generally easier to decipher than opaque idioms (Nippold and Taylor 1995, quoted inFuste-Hermann, 2008 6). The transparency of idioms can be also discussed in terms of their decomposition (Glucksberg, 2001, quoted in Fuste-Hermann, 2008 6). Idioms that are decompositional are able to be modified for example, he broke the ice, she breaks the ice, after the ice was broken etc (Fuste-Hermann, 2008 6). Therefore the noncompositional idioms cannot travel the same alterations (ibid. ). In general decompositional idioms are likened to transparent idioms, and less decompositional idioms are equated with opaque idioms (ibid. ). The other factor is familiarity the frequency with which an idiom occurs in a language (ibid. 7).It is relative and depends on such factors as geographical location, linguistic background , culture and age (Nippold and Rudinski 1991, quoted in Fuste-Hermann, 2008 7). The main idea is that the more frequently the idiom is used, it becomes more familiar (Fuste-Herrmann, 2008 7). The third factor is context contextual cues are imperative for comprehension of unfamiliar idioms in either the write or oral modality, particularly if idioms are more opaque in nature (Qualls et. al. , 2003, quoted in Fuste-Herrmann, 2008 8). According to Fuste-Herrmann, in the last several decades many researchers have speculated about how idioms are interpreted (Fuste-Herrmann, 2008 8).The first hypotheses that she advances is the Early Hypotheses that implied the idea of idioms when encountered for the first time in spoken or written language, the listener or indorser tries to interpret the idiom literally, thus, when the literal meaning fails to make sense, the listener/reader hen accesses a mental idiom list, described as a sort of a men tal idiom dictionary, in order to determine the figurative meaning (Searle, 1979, quoted in Fuste-Herrmann, 2008 9).Swinney and Cutler (1979) have challenged the existence of a mental idiom list and also proposed that the meaning of idioms were processed simultaneously as figurative and literal and the most appropriate interpretation wins (Fuste-Herrmann, 2008 9). Idioms are quite hard to acquire when learning a second language and it is considered that their arbitrary nature makes it difficult for learners to learn them, thus they are not easy to translate. Translating multiword expressions requires that they are not the exact word-to-word translation, but a translation of semantic equivalence should be offered.Traditionally idioms are perceived as rather fixed expressions that learners have difficulties with, but more and more modern dictionaries include idioms as well as other multiword expressions in their word lists that facilitate the language comprehension. As idioms can be f ound in either separate or sub-entries, sometimes it could be quite hard to find its location in a dictionary. For this purpose electronic dictionaries could be more useful than paper ones as it is more easy to locate the necessary idiom. Bilingual dictionaries are meant for learning a new language, and as idioms constitute a substantial part of any language, they should be treated properly and with care.