On The Optimal Design Of Appendixes In Chinese-English Bilingual Dictionaries

Along with the coming of information age and the booming of international communication, China is playing an increasingly important role. As the tools to spread Chinese culture, Chinese-English dictionaries are bound to receive more attention. Appendix, the carrier of abundant Chinese culture as well, was not treated with much emphasis at first. With the accelerating development of lexicography and attention of users, the appendix has become a significant and indispensable part in recent years.The evolution of Chinese-English dictionaries went through three periods, among which the third period was the highlight. Stepping into the21st century, the types of Chinese-English dictionaries are increasing in accordance with the progress of dictionary making. In light of it, the appendix making is becoming more and more diverse. Some issues are brought back to us:What’s the function of appendix? How to explore into the design of appendix multi-disciplinarily? Furthermore, how can we explore into the macro and micro structure of appendix and put it into the best practice on the framework of cognitive lexicography, which is composed of dual-coding theory, schema theory and so on?The object of this paper is the appendixes in domestic Chinese-English dictionaries. Most of the illustrations and main examples in this thesis are derived from New Age Chinese-English Dictionary (2000), A New Century Chinese-English Dictionary (2003), The Chinese-English Dictionary (2010), etc.Foreign cognitive theories are used for reference such as Piaget’s schema theory, Paivio’s dual-coding theory and Dan Sperber&Deirdre Wilson’s relevance theory. The main methodologies adopted include data analysis, literature review and comparison study, in the hope of giving a conducive reference to the compiling of appendixes in Chinese-English dictionaries.