Part entry for ÉLÉGANT (Trésor de la langue française, collocations dictionary)
And .much the same justification is provided in Le Trésor as in Le Grand Robert for the inclusion, as a regular feature, of the nominal and verbal collocations. Here too they are intended to display the combinatorial possibilities of .
But there are at the same time, between the dictionaries, fine and broad differences of arrangement, of sources, and of descriptive intention. Whereas, in Le Grand Robert, most of the shorter examples are indeed ‘minimal’, and betray few of the peculiarities of actual utterance, in Le Trésor we sometimes find, immediately after the definition in collocations dictionary, an edited excerpt ‘dépassant le simple syntagme binaire, et de ce fait exactement référencé’ (Imbs 1979: ix). In the élégant entry, this type is represented by the examples from Flaubert and Duhamel, the first a complex noun phrase, the second a complex sentence.
Then again, in entries for the commoner words, and ‘en cas de surabondance d’usances typées’ (Imbs 1979: ix), the treatment of phraseology is rounded off by placing a broad range of short examples, usually verbal and/or nominal, and often with listing, in a block headed by the abbreviation S Y N T . (i.e. ‘syntagmes’). It can be seen from Fig. 3 that the examples are ordered according to complexity: patterns in which élégant is coordinated with another adjective come first; then follow adjective + noun and noun + adjective collocations.
What can be made of this extraordinary richness of exemplification? We need first to bear in mind that wherever they appear in collocations dictionary, and however they are adapted, examples in Le Trésor. And such choices, of course, point to broader preferences and judgements on the part of the editor, as when Imbs contrasts citations in the full sense – ‘phrases riches en informations de type culturel concret’ – with the shorter, commonplace examples – ‘énoncés de la langue banale qui les précédaient immédiatement’ (1979: x). Rey too laid stress on the value of the ‘fragment de texte véhiculant une beauté stylistique’ (1985: xxxvii), and did not shy away from the notion of the collocations dicti
onary as, in part, a literary anthology. But a literary flavour pervades the structure of entries in Le Trésor whereas in Le Grand Robert it is only part of a more diverse whole.
Examples and Collocations dictionary in the French ‘Dictionnaire de langue’ 85
One could argue that when examples are juxtaposed to the definition, as they are in the élégant entry, they contribute to the explanation and thus to the decoding role of the dictionary. But what of their appearance independently, at SYNT., in the same entry? Here, there is arguably a conscious purpose and an unconscious though, potentially, highly beneficial one. The conscious aim arises from a determination to make the dictionary record truly complete: it must provide a full account, not only of the word’s meaning, but also of its typical lexical and grammatical environments. These must be supplied, even if, as one suspects, they are seldom referred to by native speakers. But for the non-native student or teacher they are an additional boon, providing as they do a record of collocability that is seldom matched by specialist dictionaries of collocations dictionary.
86 A.P. Cowie
6. C o n c l u s i on
In her paper ‘Theoretical lexicography and its relation to collocations dictionary-making’, Sue Atkins insists that theorists and practitioners must work together if dictionaries are to be improved, and ‘electronic dictionaries are to rise to the challenge of the new medium’ (1992-93: 30). She also identifies those linguists and those theoretical developments that appear to have special relevance to practical lexicography. She is right to identify the British and American scholars
- Cruse and Fillmore among them – that she does. But as she surely also recognizes, lexicographers have a particular need, from time to time, to step outside their own languages and national traditions. Like the Russians, whose contribution since the walls began to crumble is immense, the French have much to teach us. First, they are less nervous about rubbing shoulders with linguists. French dictionary-makers find it less difficult than we do to accept the intimate
- indeed necessary – association between lexicography and lexicology. (It is no accident that. Second, the French recognize that all dictionaries are fundamentally didactic instruments, and that dictionaries fashioned for didactic ends may be works of high scholarship. Third, and this is the central theme of my chapter, examples – in the broadest sense – are regarded as an indispensable feature of French ‘dictionnaires de langue’, large and small.
The use of specially devised examples, including collocations dictionary, has, in the course of centuries, become common practice, while the pedagogical value of such examples is well understood.
And let us not overlook the quality of the work for collocations dictionary. The richness, diversity and fitness for purpose of examples in Le Grand Robert and Le Trésor, especially, are among the finest achievements of modern lexicography.
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