Running head: DICTIONARY REVIEW 1 Dictionary Review Andy W. Fuller Colorado State University
DICTIONARY REVIEW 2 Abstract This paper will critically review the Cambridge Advanced Leaner s Dictionary (CALD) and the American Heritage Dictionary (AHD). The purpose of this review is to compare and contrast these two dictionaries in terms of usefulness for English language learners (ELLs). The CALD is a well designed and organized learner dictionary. The AHD seems less helpful to language learners because of the content and more complicated language in the actual entries. Keywords: learner dictionary, entries, collocations, phrases, fixed expressions, idioms
DICTIONARY REVIEW 3 Dictionary Review The beginning of the CALD discusses parts of speech used in the dictionary and offers an explanation of grammar, style, and usage labels. The rest of the sections of the dictionary are as follows: introduction, how to use the dictionary, numbers that are used like words, the dictionary, color pictures, study sections (jobs, money, phrasal verbs, etc.), idiom finder, word families, Geographical names, common first names, prefixes and suffixes, irregular verbs, regular verb tenses, symbols, units of measurement, pronunciation, and pronunciation symbols. All of these sections are obviously geared towards the language learner. Unlike the CALD, the AHD s front and back matters are obviously tailored to the needs of native speakers of the language. The AHD begins with entry notes. For example, words that have regional, usage, living language, synonym or word history notes are listed under these categories. In the introduction, they explain the new features of the 4 th edition, reasons for the various notes and explain that color pictures are used to clarify the definitions or help explain concepts (AHD, p. ix). The rest of the dictionary is organized as follows: regional patterns of American speech, variation and change in our living language, usage in the AHD, guide to the dictionary, pronunciation key, the dictionary, Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans, Guide to Appendix I, Appendix I Indo-European roots, Semitic roots, Proto-Semitic language and culture, guide to Appendix II and chart of the Semitic family tree, Appendix II Semitic roots and the picture credits. At the very end of the dictionary, there is an interesting chart displaying the Proto-Indo-European family of languages. The actual entries in the CALD are extremely helpful for language learners: the head words are colored in blue which makes them easy to find. n the CALD, primary stress is shown with and secondary stress with. For example, the entry of a compound word looks like
DICTIONARY REVIEW 4 this. The entries themselves do not contain syllabication; however, the phonological spellings, written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), do reflect spoken syllables in English and not hyphenation. Unfortunately, when looking up compounds like scrambled eggs, learners would need to go to each word entry individually to find pronunciation information. It seems unhelpful to require students to do this instead of providing the IPA spellings for all entries. The CALD gives highly detailed information to learners in the entries. Take the word run for example; there are 21 separate entries for this word including forms like run, runner, runners, and running. The first entry for run is the verb form to move quickly. Go Quickly is the guideword used after this verb to help learners quickly find the meaning of run they are looking for. Each form of the verb is contained in the entry after the IPA spelling and the part of speech information. The main reason there are so many entries for run is that derivational forms, different parts of speech, and homographs are all given separate entries under the headword that they are most related. Inflected forms are included in the entry. In each entry, the senses related to that entry are numbered and given in order from most common to least common. Additionally, each complicated entry begins with the most common verb form. After the most common verb form entry, entries for other parts of speech or derivations are related to that verb form. For example, after the first entry for run comes the form run (n)- to go for a run, then runner (n)- someone who runs, and finally, running(n)- running shorts. The next entry for run is another verb with the guideword Travel. Subsequent entries follow the same pattern described above. Phrasal verbs are also given when applicable and occur after an obvious heading like Phrasal verbs with run. In the case of the entry run, the phrasal verbs come after all 21 entries.
DICTIONARY REVIEW 5 Some examples are run across sb, run after sb/sth, and run away. Definitions and usage examples are given for each phrasal verb. In the CALD, there is also detailed grammatical information contained in entries concerning count and non-count for nouns, intransitive or transitive for verbs, verbs with objects followed by a noun, adjective, or an infinitive, tense, and adjectives that only follow nouns or verbs. The entries also delineate between American and British English, offer common learner errors with some words, inform the reader if the entry is a common suffix or prefix, and crossreference to other words that have either similar or contrastive meaning. As words are often listed in groups, compound words might not be listed exactly alphabetically. Learners might go to an entry that is not present. For example, the words compliance and compliant are not technically separate entries, but grouped under comply, and slightly indented to reflect their relationship to the entry comply. To deal with this problem after compliance and compliant, see comply is written, thereby directing the learner to the correct entry. In the CALD, collocations are given within an entry (this is explained in the how to use the dictionary section) and noted by boldfaced words in sentences that come after the definitions. In the entry run, for example, collocations are represented as follows A little girl ran up to (= came quickly beside) me, crying for her daddy. Are you running against each other or against the clock? In the AHD, collocations are not explicitly defined as in the CALD; however, collocations, such as the ones listed above, are included in the phrasal verb section of the entries. In terms of connotation, the CALD seems to have separate entries for connotational meaning whereas the AHD lists this as one of the senses. For example, when the entry blue has the meaning to feel sad or depressed it is given a separate entry in the CALD. In the AHD it is simply the fifth sense of the adjective form of the entry blue.
DICTIONARY REVIEW 6 Also, some entries in the CALD contain bulleted information at the end that explains fixed phrases or combinations of words that may have a particular meaning when used together. A potential problem with these bulleted phrases is that this dictionary does not seem to differentiate between fixed expressions and idioms. Where the former can usually be understood from the words in the expression, and the latter is often abstract in meaning. However, the CALD does have an idiom finder in the back of the dictionary, which makes it even more puzzling that they do not make it clear in the entry which bulleted phrase is a fixed expression or an idiom. The AHD s entries are quite different than the CALD s entries. In the AHD, all entries are in strict alphabetical order including compound words and expressions longer than one word. The only exception is proper names which are only alphabetized by last name. Entries with different etymologies for the same word are given superscript number numbers and are, therefore, different entries. Words are syllabicated in the entry reflecting proper hyphenation; however, the phonological spellings may not be syllabicated in the same way as they reflect phonology not hyphenation. The phonological spelling is different than that of the IPA. Every other entry page has a key for relevant pronunciation on those pages. In the AHD, variants of an entry are represented by using or and also. Where the former represents both meanings recognized equally and the latter represents the less frequent form. Part of speech labels are also given after entries which include pl., sing., for nouns, tr., intr., for verbs, and pref (prefix) and suff (suffix) are also given when applicable. The inflected forms of an entry are given after the entry but before the definitions. Verb entries are listed in their present singular form with the past tense, past participle and the third person singular also given.
DICTIONARY REVIEW 7 The exception is irregular verbs. They are given separate entries. Derivational forms of an entry are listed at the end of the entry and labeled for part of speech. Irregular noun entries include the singular and plural forms, e.g. mouse, mice. Nouns that are singular and plural in form are given this symbol after an entry n., pl. Adjectives and Adverbs that have comparative and superlative forms of er, est, are included in the entries; however, when the forms are irregular, a separate entry is given e.g. good, better, best. In the AHD, senses are given so that the most common meaning is first and the most infrequent meaning is last. Senses are separated by numbers and boldface letters attached to numbers indicate a closely related sense to that particular number. Numbering starts over when the entry contains a change in part of speech. Phrasal verbs are also given after the main definition and before idioms. Etymological information for an entry in the AHD appears in square brackets after definitions. They contain information like language name, linguistic form, and a short definition for each stage of derivation. Many entries contain boldface words related to the entry word that come at the very end of the entry. These are run-on entries, and the words listed have the same basic meaning o the entry word but have different grammatical functions. The difference in grammatical function is given after each boldface word. The AHD contains many special labels and notes that give more specific information about an entry. For example, specialty words are given subject labels like chemistry, biology, etc. Status labels give the nonstandard form of a word. Some other labels denote words as offensive, vulgar or slang. Usage notes state possible difficulties involving grammar, diction or writing style with certain entries. For example, the usage note for the entry all right was quite interesting. The usage note states that although many writers have used the form alright for all
DICTIONARY REVIEW 8 right, it is actually still not accepted as a standard spelling. The AHD explains that the same fusion is true for already and altogether, but they were fused in the Middle Ages whereas alright has only been used as a single word for about a century (p. 49). In the CALD, the seven entries for all right have both spellings included in the entries with no explanation concerning why two spellings are given. However, the entry for alright in the CALD states that this is a US variant of all right and simply refers the reader back to the all right entries. In the AHD, temporal labels report on archaic and obsolete entries. English language labels reflect what native speakers use the entry. Dialect labels show regional specificity of words in America. Cross references are given when additional information like past tense, variant, or links to tables in the case of currency, subatomic particles etc. Synonym paragraphs are also given where appropriate. These paragraphs contain synonyms of special interest and antonyms as well. The CALD is for advanced Ell s and is based on a corpus of 500 million spoken and written words from British English and American English with special areas of law, computers and science included. The learner notes contained in the CALD are based on a corpus of 15 million words collected from Ell s Cambridge ESOL exams. The publishers argued that utilizing a corpus based on ESOL exams reflects their ability to understand learner needs with a dictionary. The publishers of the AHD state that their dictionary is both prescriptive and descriptive in nature. This is evident in the abundance of notes concerning usage and dialect differences. The AHD was the first dictionary to be compiled using a corpus and reflects These two dictionaries are extremely different. The CALD supplies learners with far more grammatical information than the AHD, and separates that information into digestible sections. One particular feature of the CALD that is very useful for language learners is the
DICTIONARY REVIEW 9 picture and study section in the middle of the dictionary. The pictures offer learners more connections to language that might be new to them. Additionally, the study section contextualizes the various registers like jobs, money, personal relationships etc. This is appropriate and helpful for language learners as they may be unfamiliar with the language used in those particular situations. The AHD seems, quite literally, over most learners heads. The layout of the entries are more complicated, Ells are less likely to understand the definitions, the front and back matters are next to useless for language learners, and there are many entries that most learners would not encounter in their academic studies. Conclusion As a teacher, this dictionary review was extremely valuable. I learned a lot about the organization of dictionaries and what type of information is contained in dictionaries other than definitions. I also feel that I would be able to evaluate other learner dictionaries fairly quickly and be able to recognize whether or not they were as useful as the CALD. In terms of the CALD, I would definitely use it in a class of intermediate through highly advanced students at universities. As the entries provide extensive information on how words are used together (collocations, phrases, fixed expressions, idioms), the CALD can actually help students with their writing and increase their overall comprehension of the language.
DICTIONARY REVIEW 10 References American Heritage Dictionary 4 th edition (2000). Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston. C i A v n L n Di tion y (2003). Cambridge University Press: United Kingdom.