Collocation, Colligation and Encoding Dictionaries. Part II: Lexicographical Aspects

The present article starts from a broad definition of collocations as holistic lexico-grammatical or semantic units (see Part I for full details), asking how such units can be adequately represented in bilingual and monolingual encoding dictionaries. It is found that an onomasiological approach to dictionary making is better suited to this task than a semasiological, framework-based methodology whereby individual lexicographers work on small, alphabetically classified sections of the dictionary. Typically, semasiological dictionaries and corresponding methodologies have difficulty in arranging items in a clear and memorable way, give patchy or inadequate coverage to semantic-pragmatic collocations, cannot provide adequate cross-referencing between synonymous items and are prone to translation errors. It is shown how onomasiological dictionaries and methodologies can remedy such deficiencies. The Bilexicon project aimed at creating thematic learners’ dictionaries is the main source laid under contribution with a view to illustrating the suggestions made.