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Estudios Ingleses de la Universidad Complutense ISSN: 1 ¡ 33-0392

1999, nY 7: 313-315

ALCARAZ VARO, ENRIQUE and MARTÍNEZ LINARES, MARÍA ANTONIA,


Diccionario de lingilística moderna. Barcelona: Ariel. 1997. (VIII + 643). ISBN:
84-344-0510-5.

This Dicíionary of Modern Linguisties is a welcome additien te [he growing


number of specialized dictionaries, beth in English and Spanish, whicb bave been
published in the last decade’. Altheugh no fixed criteria for assessment of dictienaries
is presently available (Hartmann, 1999), ene can reasonably consider [he merit of
dictionaries by examining the description, documentatien and codification of [he
elements of the particular field te be examined, in [bis case, linguistics.
One of [he major merits of [his dictienary is [he breadth of the terminology
included. Por beth Spanish and English readers, it documents [he majer terms as used
in te principal paradigrus studied ir the English- and Spanish-speaking academies. It
offers a particularly goed ceverage of structuralist and generative terms, including
useful chronological infermatien en [he peried credited with [he development of a
pa¡licular sense of a term. Fer exaniple, the defmition of te term sujeto includes two
major groups of meanings. The first group offers explanations from Halliday (1985),
Dik (1981), and Cemrie (1989) among ethers, but also from Moreno Cabrera (1991),
Gutiérrez Araus (1978), Alcina and Blecua (1975), l-lernanz and Brucart (1987) and
from the Diccionario of J. Dubois (1986); the second group covers [he meaning of the
term specifically as used in [be goverrment and birding paradigm.
The authors tackle areas of difficulty such as contlicting definitiens, originating in
different theorctical paradigms, for example, the term júnción er the term fonología.
Entries are accompanied by suggestions fer furtber study, either by referring readers
te ethcr analogeus entries or te ene of the many autbors whose works are usted in [he
very valuable reference section which closes the book.
One notable oversight is te partial coverage given te dic emerging paradigm of
cognitive linguistics. There is an entry for lingaistica cognitiva which lists Cifuentes
(1994) as a seurce, but the dictienary is missing [he supporting references of some of
the major werks frem English-based academe. Langacker is net listed in the relerence
sectien, and Lakeff, enly for bis work in generative grammar. Works from analogeus
paradigms, such a Tayler (1989), Geeraerts (1989) ant] ir Spain, Martín Mingeranee
(1998) are missing, altheugh the dictionary reference section does cite Garrudo’s
(1996) excellent Diccionario sintáctico del verbo inglés. In general, there are few
references te cegnitive principIes. The entry for domain (dominio, p. 190), for
instance, lists the sense of domain as used in morphosyntactic studies (‘campo de
aplicación de una regla’), in semantics (‘campo de la realidad extralingdistica a que se
refiere un campo semántico’) and in sociolinguistics (‘alude a las instituciones
formadas por determinados grupos de individuos que manifiestan pautas de conducta
similares’), but rot as [he term is used in cognitive linguistics.
Other recent trends in linguistic research de appear, fer example, corpus
linguistics, buí are given only partial treatment as well, perbaps because corpus
linguistics concerus research me[bodology rather [han a research paradigm.
On the other hand. the dictionary is an excellent indicator of current trends in
stylistics. In tbis respect, it can aid us in bridging the gap between linguistics asid
literary theory, disciplines which, of late, seem te have found a meeting ground almost

313
Resenas

selely in cultural studies. A case in point is [he listing for the term género. The
dictionary gives an interesting discussion of tbe linguistic complexities surrounding
grarnmatical gender in Spanisb and ten, in [he second subgreuping of socielinguistic
meanings, it offers information en recent work carried out on gender studies as
applied te dic differences in men’s ami women’s speech. In view of Che recent
objectiors posited by sorne Spanish journalists (Valdecantes, 1999; Molina Foix,
1999) against [he use of [he term ‘género’ te designate [he different social
expecta[ions related [o male and fernale behavier, [he dictionary authors are te be
commended for tbe inclusion of this term. Regardless of [be degree of contamninatien
from English [bat ene might wish te accept (and ene can only surmise wby [bis
particular borrowing has generated such ferocious debate), the term género (gender)
as alluding te social differences will probably remain in force as long as social
conditiens remain unequitable. In any case, a geod dictionary of linguistics can hardly
ignore such a widely-used term. Tbe [bird and feurth sectiens of the entry género deal
witb literary categories and with género (genre) as applied te linguistic analyses of
different types of disceurse, un urea clearly of interest te researchers in stylistics.
This dictionary is an important centributien te the field of linguistics in Spain and
is certain te be of interest te students and teachers of language and literature in English
ané Spanish departments.

NOTES

1 Por sorne of the more extense references cited, this review owes much te the excellent

presentation, Lexicography, Dictionary Research and Applied Linguistics, giMen by R.R.K.


Hartmann of Exeter during the 1999 annual congrcss of the Asociación Española de Lingtiística
Aplicada (Exeter DRC: wwwex,ac.uk/drc).

REFERENCE 5
Alcaraz, E. and Hughes, B. (1999). Diccionario de términos jurídicos (Y ed).
Barcelona: Ariel.
Alcaraz, E. and Hugbes, B. (1998). Diccionario de términos económicos financieros y
comerciales (2~ cd.). Barcelona: Ariel.
Alcina Franch, J. and Blecua, J.M. (1975). Gramática española. Barcelona: Ariel,
Bailey, R.W. cd. (1997). Dictionaries of English . Prospecisfor the Record of Our
Language. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
Cifuentes, J.L. (1994). Gramática cognitiva. Fundamentos críticos. Madrid: Eudema.
Cemrie, E. (1989). Universales del lenguaje y tipología lingilística. Madrid: Gredes.
Dik, SL. (1981). Gramática funcional. Madrid: Sociedad General Española de
Librería, SA.
Dubeis, J. et. al. (1986). Diccionario de Lingilística. Madrid: Alianza.
Fernández-Barrientos, J. and Wallhead, C. (eds.) (1995). Temas de linguistica
aplicada. Granada: Universidad de Granada.
Geeraerts, D. (1989). Introduction: Prespec[s and Preblems in Protetype Theory,
Linguistics 27, 587-612.

Estudios ¡ngleses de la Universidad Complutense 314


¡999, nY 7: 313-315
Reseñas

Garrudo, E. (1996). Diccionario sintáctico del verbo inglés. Barcelona: Ariel.


Gutiérrei Araus, ML. (1978). Estructuras sintácticas del español actual. Madrid:
Sociedad General Española de Librería, SA.
1-Ialliday, M.A.K. (1985). An Introduction ¡o Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.
Hartmann, R.R.K. (1999). Lexicography, Dictionary Researcit and Applied
Linguistics, lecture given during [he 1999 annual congress of [he Asecicacién
Española de Linguistica Aplicada, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (April).
Hernandez Hernandez, H. (1989). Los diccionarios de orientación escolar
Contribución al estudio de la lexicograjía monoligñe española. Tubingen: M.
Niemeyer.
Hernanz, M. LL. and Brncart, J.M. (1987). La sintaxis. Barcelona: Crítica-
Martin Mingorance, L. (1998). El modelo lexem.áíico-funcional (ed. by Amalia Marín
Rubiales). Granada: Universidad de Granada.
Mathews, PH. (1997). Concise Oxford Dicdonary of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Molina Foix, V. (1999). El género epiceno, El País, March 9, ‘Cultura’, p. 44.
Moreno Cabrera, J.C. (1991). Curso universitario de linguistica general. Tomo 1:
Teoría de la gramática y sintaxis general. Madrid: Síntesis.
Taylor, J. (¡989). Linguis¡ic Categorization. Prototypes iii Linguistic Theory. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
Valdecasues, C. (1999). Sexo, sólo sexo, El País, March ‘7, ‘El defensor del lector’, p.
16.

JeAnne Neff van Aertselaer


Universidad Complutense
fiinglO@emducmsl.sis.ucm.es

315 Estudiar Ingleses de la Universidad Complutense


1999, nY 7: 3 ¡ 3-3 ¡5

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