Towards an Evolutional Chain of English Dictionary Paradigms from the Linguistic Perspective

Abstract

This paper aims to unfold, by tracing the evolutional thread of English dictionaries from their earliest roots to present state from the linguistic perspective, a coherent and complete picture of how English dictionary making develops from its archetype to the prescriptive, the his­torical, the descriptive and finally to the cognitive form. It builds up an integrated chain of English dictionary paradigms and demonstrates how English lexicography develops into its modern form through inheritance, innovation and self-perfection. Keywords: English lexicography, dictionary paradigms, archetype, Latin tradition, prescriptivism, descriptivism, diachronism, cognitivism