Descriptive Or Prescriptive

With the publication of translatological dictionaries in succession in China and overseas, aspiring research in this new field has been carried out at home in recent years. Due to the fact that the scholarly study of translatological dictionaries falls behind the compilation practice worldwide, translatological dictionary studies are still at the initial stage at present. Although certain progress has already been made, many problems remain unsolved in this area. There is no doubt that compiling principles are of great significance for dictionary making. Unfortunately, final agreement has not been reached yet on compiling principles of DTS in the field of translatological dictionaries. Taking "descriptiveness" and "prescriptiveness" as study objectives, the author makes a tentative exploration in this aspect, hoping to achieve a dialectic viewpoint upon the seemly antagonistic pair in compiling principles of translatological dictionaries.Tracing the origins of descriptiveness and prescriptiveness, the author finds out that they are closely related to linguistics as academic terminologies which are opposite to each other. Being inextricably mixed with linguistics, lexicography experienced the same developmental path from prescriptiveness to descriptiveness in history. Prescriptive lexicography is based on normative attitudes as to how a language or language variety should be used rather than the facts observed about its usage. Descriptive lexicography, on the contrary, refers to an approach to dictionary-making which is based on the observed facts about a language or language variety rather than attitudes on how it should be used.As specialized dictionary, translatological dictionary has the double natures of translatology and lexicography, so it is quite different from language dictionary or the so-called translation dictionary. According to coverage of the content, translatological dictionaries can be classified into general type and specialized type. General translatological dictionary can be regarded as prototype of translatological dictionaries according to the principles of prototype study in that it embodies all the problems that crop up in the compilation practice. Therefore, this thesis largely focuses on general translatological dictionaries in its exploration into descriptiveness and prescriptiveness concerning compiling principles of translatological dictionaries.Case studies on the five well-acclaimed translatological dictionaries in China and abroad show that the prevailing principle is descriptive in translatological dictionary compilation. However, it doesn't mean prescriptiveness should be cast away absolutely. Translatological dictionaries should be compiled in line with the double requirements of translatology and lexicography. Besides, compiling principles of translatological dictionaries vary with their different macro and micro structures, sizes, readers, types and so on. Accordingly, compiling principles of translatological dictionaries should be treated from different angles. Taking all the related factors into consideration under the guidance of dialectical materialism of Marxism, the author holds that in compiling a general translatological dictionary at present, we should adhere to the principle of combining descriptiveness with prescriptiveness, with the former as the principal and the latter as the supplementary.Translatological dictionary studies are in the ascendant currently despite the deficiencies in many sides. Our viewpoints on this fresh topic in Translation Studies may be superficial or lopsided sometimes; however, the author believes optimistically that the new century will witness a picture of unprecedented prosperity of translatological dictionary studies in China with our persistent joint efforts.