Pictorial Illustration And Its Way Into ECLDs

Pictorial illustrations are by nature more descriptive than verbal expressions for the explanation of certain concepts. That's why they are included in many dictionaries. As far as learner's dictionary is concerned, ELDs and EJLDs on the whole have fairly good inclusion of illustrations. However, the treatment of pictorial illustrations has not been given due attention in the compilation of ECLDs.This study, taking function as a basis, attempts to tackle the treatment of pictorial illustrations in ECLDs. To begin with, the study elaborates the study basis: function — a working definition of function, the function of learner's dictionary, the function of LD definition, and the functions of LD illustration (to complement conceptual definition, to represent lexical relations and to discriminate meanings). An analysis is then conducted of the illustration treatment in ELDs, EJLDs and ECLDs, with summaries of their respective features and particularly enlightenment from those of the first two to the third.Based on the analysis results, and still taking function as the basis, this thesis proposes a tentative treatment of pictorial illustrations, with all concerned aspects considered at the same time — words to be illustrated, ways to illustrate, and supplementary measures (use of verbal support and cross reference). The words are classified into three categories to mainly fulfill the three functions respectively and ways to illustrate are directed to the three categories of words. In this way, the treatment of illustrations is considered as a self-contained whole, not segmentally.After the tentative treatment, the thesis ends with some implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further study.