A Historical Study On Usage Notes In The American Heritage Dictionary Of The English Language

Being one of the major information categories in dictionaries,especially American collegiate dictionaries,usage information has proved to be of fundamental importance to language learning.This kind of information,however,has received little attention from dictionary researchers and dictionary users.The present study is a tentative attempt at exploring in detail the origins,status quo,development,and merits and demerits of usage notes in five editions of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language（AHD）so as to elaborate on the usage orientation of the dictionary and then propose a usage-based theoretical model for the treatment of usage information in AHD,hoping to provide theoretical underpinnings for future optimization of usage information in AHD or even other collegiate dictionaries.This study first explores the origins and status quo of usage notes in AHD.Then,lexicographic archaeology,coupled with comparative studies and case studies is carried out to explore the development of usage notes over successive editions and the changes existing in the usage orientation of the dictionary by comparing usage notes of words at letter C in five editions of AHD.Moreover,it also compares the usage information of some words in AHD4（2000）with that in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary(11^th Edition)（MWCD11）（2003）so as to specify the merits and demerits of the AHD usage notes,based on which a tentative theoretical model for the treatment of usage information in the dictionary is proposed.The main findings of the present study are as follows:1)The usage information has been much more comprehensively and systematically treated in AHD than in other collegiate dictionaries;2)Usage notes in AHD have been in constant optimization over the successive editions,which reflects the changes in language ideologies of the dictionary;3)Initially,AHD holds a“prescriptively descriptive”usage orientation,which is tending more and more in a descriptive direction in recent editions;4)The development of the usage principles in AHD indicates that language use is inextricably linked with language change and a usage-based theoretical framework might be more conducive to the systematic presentation of usage information in the dictionary.The historical investigation into the AHD usage notes in the present study might contribute to users’understanding and consultation of usage information in the dictionary,and the usage-based theoretical model proposed in this study may help promote future optimization of usage information in AHD and other collegiate dictionaries.