Textual structures in electronic dictionaries compared with printed dictionaries : a short general survey

Textual structures in printed dictionaries are well known, adequately researched, and rather exhaustively described (cf. articles 3&10). This article investigates whether or not the models of textual structures in printed dictionaries can be applied to electronic dictionaries (EDs); or, more precisely, which parts of the order and terminology of textual structures in printed dictionaries are applicable to electronic ones and of which differences should one be aware. The focus will be on online dictionaries because they represent the most important kind of digital dictionary, and will become even more important in future. Furthermore, the emphasis will be more on potential future forms of online dictionaries than on current ones which are still sometimes produced as copies of their printed counterparts. To approach this question, basic differences between textual structures in electronic versus printed dictionaries will firstly be discussed. Secondly, further terminological and formal preliminary remarks will be made. The main part of the article will then follow to adapt de Schryver’s idea of “Creating order in dreamland” expressed in his article “Lexicographer’s dreams in the electronic dictionary age”. The aim here is to begin ‘create order in terminology land’ for textual structures in electronic dictionaries. A definitive order cannot be given here because electronic lexicography today involves constant change. In order to discuss the order of textual structures in EDs, not only theoretically, but also in concrete terms, their basic properties will be illustrated by means of a notional online dictionary. Following on from this fictitious scenario, a provisional survey of textual structures in EDs will be presented. Thereby, the focus is less on current online dictionaries than on the possibilities which the new medium provides. Finally, an explanation will be given as to how this view of structures in electronic dictionaries is useful for analyzing current EDs and for planning new ones. The overall aim here is not to introduce new kinds of textual structure in EDs and a corresponding terminology in detail, but to point out some constitutive differences between textual structures in printed dictionaries and those in electronic dictionaries.