Towards An Optimal Presentation Of Abbreviations In English-Chinese Bilingualized Learner's Dictionaries: A Contrastive Study

This thesis makes both synchronic and diachronic research of abbreviations. We find that there are some problems on abbreviations in existing ECBLDs through detailed study. The problems lie in two aspects: coverage and presentation. For synchronic research, it makes a thorough and detailed contrast of abbreviations in four ECBLDs. We find that the coverage of each dictionary is not the same. Some abbreviated words can be found in a dictionary, but they might not be found in other dictionaries. Even within a dictionary, the principles may not be strictly followed. We also find that the principles of setting the lemma in the four discussed ECBLDs are not identical. An abbreviation can be treated as part of the whole entry in one dictionary, and it can be set as a separate lemma in another. As to the presentation of abbreviations in these dictionaries, the senses that the dictionaries offer can be different. They differ in terms of the full forms, the number of senses offered, details of senses, and sequence of senses.For diachronic research, the focus will be mainly on the changes concerning abbreviations in different editions of the same ECBLD series. It will investigate which abbreviations are added in the new edition and which are deleted. It tries to give possible causes to the changes: Change of the society and change of language. The essential factor to that change is the economy principle. This thesis also employs questionnaires to get data from the dictionary users about comments and expectations on abbreviations in ECBLDs, for instance, the necessity of pronunciation, labels, full form, Chinese equivalent, examples, etc. In the end this thesis comes up with some principles on coverage and model of presentation of abbreviations in ECBLDs: The coverage of abbreviation words should reflect new language phenomena. The scope of abbreviation coverage in the dictionary should be kept balanced. For some abbreviations newly appearing in people's daily life, it is recommended that we wait and see if they are stabilized. Technical terms coming into frequent use of general language and proper names with high frequency can be included. Some abbreviations typically in target language can be covered in the bilingualized dictionaries. A complete abbreviation entry in ECBLDs are expected to include: written form, pronunciation, "abbr." labeling, grammatical categories, English full form, and its Chinese equivalent, which are compulsory in the entry. Other labels, English brief explanation, Chinese abbreviation equivalent, Chinese brief explanation, English example(s), Chinese translation of the example(s) and cross reference are optional elements.