Present and future in lexicography

Abstract

The purpose of this lecture is to demonstrate the evolution of lexicography from the practical task of compiling dictionaries to their theoretical approach as reference works. The first issue to be discussed is the status of the discipline itself, since there are lexicographers, like Atkins; Rundell (2008), that deny the existence of a lexicographic theory. Secondly, and accepting that a lexicographical theory does exist, we present the main advances in the area, such as the research on dictionary classification, the criteria used to calculate the number of headwords in a dictionary (macrostructure), the set of comments that appear in each entry (microstructure) and the system of cross-references (middlestructure). Finally, the lecture will offer a reflection on the normativity in dictionaries.