Systematic Exemplification In A Learner's Dictionary--General Principles

This thesis proposes general principles on systematic exemplification in a learner's dictionary. Examples in a learner's dictionary are of great importance as they contain semantic information, syntactic patterns, grammatical and pragmatic usage of the headwords. Meanwhile, they can activate learners' imaginations within a lexical network. They also fulfill several functions simultaneously, explaining meanings of headwords, indicating related grammar and manifesting cultural and style information. However, not all language materials can be proper examples in a learner's dictionary. Proper examples should meet some criteria, including typicality, naturalness, interest, comprehensibility, and self-sufficiency.In practice, both authentic examples and invented ones are adopted in existing dictionaries. And they both bear advantages and disadvantages. As authentic examples can perform more functions and meet more criteria, they should be predominant in a learner's dictionary. In order to get rid of their disadvantages, lexicographers should make moderate modifications to the original examples. With regard to principles of treatment details, various aspects of examples have been checked through comparisons between different dictionaries. The items that were compared include example types, length and number of examples, words used in examples, grammatical information, etc. As a result, some rules of these aspects are suggested.Another important factor of exemplification is learners' reactions to examples. With the intention of discovering their tendency, questionnaires have been conducted among them. The analysis of the result shows students' tendency and gives other implications.As a result, a tentative proposal on general principles of exemplification is put forward.