The Inclusion of Neologisms in the Revision of the Grand Dictionnaire Chinois–Français Contemporain

Abstract

Language change presents continuous challenges for lexicographers, especially with the rapid emergence of neologisms. The Grand Dictionnaire Chinois–Français Contemporain (GDCFC) was published in 2014 and its revision began immediately in order to keep the dictionary up to date. A central focus of the revision has been the inclusion of new words and new senses. This article describes the experiences of the dictionary revision team on the inclusion of neologisms using a wide spectrum of sources, ranging from the latest monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, monolingual and bilingual corpora, to online resources. It addresses four major challenges encountered by the team in the ongoing revision process, that is, the inclusion of neologisms absent from Chinese authoritative dictionaries into the GDCFC, the selection of variant neologisms and their French equivalents, the dilemma of whether to include neologisms as entries or merely as examples, and the challenge of ensuring complete relevance between neologisms and the existing entries. In light of these challenges, the article puts forward four criteria, namely, descriptivism complemented with prescriptivism, frequency, supplementation, and relevance. With the recommendations offered herein we hope to provide valuable insights into future lexicographic work on neologisms in bilingual dictionaries. Keywords: Grand Dictionnaire Chinois–Français Contemporain, neologisms, parallel corpora, sources, challenges, criteria