Die lemmatisering van uitdrukkings in verklarende Afrikaanse woordeboeke

Abstract

<b>The Lemmatization of Expressions in Descriptive Afrikaans Dictionaries</b> A dictionary should award equal status to all three types of lexicon items, namely the sublexical, the lexical and the multilexical. No descriptive Afrikaans dictionary, however, consistently includes multiword lexical items as lemmas but treats them as microstructural elements in the articles of lexical lemmas. This article critically discusses the lemmatization of a very special group of multiword lexical items, namely expressions. The theoretical component of lexicography has long been in favour of the awarding of lemma status to expressions, yet has until recently not presented feasible suggestions on how this should be undertaken. Three possible ways of lemmatization are discussed. The discussion could help the practising lexicographer to present expressions in a more satisfactory and lexicographically correct way. A few guidelines are given for the microstructural treatment of expressions.