Demerits of the

dictionary.
A SHORT PRESENTATION TO GIVE AN IN-DEPTH VIEW OF THE
POSSIBLE DISADVANTAGES THE DICTIONARY USE COULD
BRING. BY GROUP THREE(3) S.E.R 101 STUDENTS.
Our point of view on this topic branches into
three major perspectives.

 First, we will look at the possible incumbrances that are inherent in the dictionary make
up process. This will be discussed under the heading the demerits of making a
dictionary.
 Then we will consider the difficulties languages and situations pose to the dictionary’s
effectiveness. This we will consider under the heading the limitations of a limited text.
 Finally, we will conclude by looking at the implications of the dictionary on the users,
and on their attitude to communicative bridges. This section will be under the heading
the implications of the dictionary on users.
Definition of key
term
“DICTIONARY”:
For a dictionary, we
mean a book or
electronic resource that CLASSIFICATION OF
lists the words of a
language (typically in THE DICTIONARY:
alphabetical order) and  Classification based on Language: Monolingual
gives their meaning, or and bilingual.
gives the equivalent  Classifications based on format: Electronic and
words in a different print.
language, often also
providing information
 Classifications based on specialisations
about pronunciation,
origin, and usage1.
 So you didn’t know, right???
 “There are a number of myths about the Oxford English Dictionary, one of the
most prevalent of which is that it includes every word, and every meaning of every
word,
 It may be added here that the question ‘How many words are there in the English
language?’ cannot be answered by recourse to a dictionary.
 Another myth about the Dictionary, and about dictionaries in general, is that they
provide a comprehensive analysis of each word treated. Again, this cannot be the case
in a finite text.
 The reader should be aware of this incongruity, and should regard the Dictionary as a
convenient guide to the history and meaning of the words of the English language,
rather than as a comprehensive and exhaustive listing of every possible nuance.”……
John Simpson editor for the OED 2000 edition
A general overview
:

 First, we will look at the possible incumbrances that are

inherent in the dictionary make up process. This will be
discussed under the heading the demerits of making a dictionary.
Then we will consider the difficulties languages and situations
pose to the dictionary’s effectiveness. This we will consider
under the heading the limitations of a limited text.
Finally, we will conclude by looking at the implications of the
dictionary on the users, and on their attitude to communicative
bridges. This section will be under the heading the implications
of the dictionary on users.
The demerits of
making a
dictionary: cost,
capital and
material.
Making a dictionary is really a gruesome task. The Second
Edition of the 20volume Oxford English Dictionary
contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and
47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500
derivative words included as subentries. 3.. The oxford press
has A staff of 120 scholars, research assistants, editorial
work have been published in quarterly instalments
 The expense on man power and on resources can be
exhilarating. With database that contains over three
million quotations (almost 100 million words) from
the main UK and North American Reading
Programmes maintained by the OED…The OED‘s
specialist consultants number over 400. Responding
to enquiries from OED editors constitutes only a
small part of their life
To help him trace the etymology of words,
Webster learned 26 languages. Webster
hoped to standardize American speech, since
Americans in different parts of the country
used somewhat different vocabularies and
spelled, pronounced, and used words
differently. Webster completed his
dictionary during his year abroad in 1825 in
Paris, and at the University of Cambridge.
His 1820s book contained 70,000 words,
of which about 12,000 had never appeared
in a dictionary before.
At the age of 70 in 1828, Webster
published his dictionary; it sold
poorly, with only 2,500 copies putting
him in debt. The comments given
after the completion of the 1934
edition, often called Webster’s
Second (an abbreviation of its official
title, Webster’s New International
Dictionary, Second Edition),which
was not only larger than all previous
editions, but was perhaps the largest
mass-produced book in American
publishing history, with more than
3300 pages and weighing 18 pounds,
was this "If Noah Webster had been
alive to undertake the task, it would
have required twelve generations of
him to finish the work."
THE
LIMITATIONS OF
A LIMITED TEXT.

How
language
evolution and
variation
affects the
dictionary’s
usefulness
Any careful user of English
would have to almost
unanimously agree that over
the past decades there has been
significant changes to the word
formation process especially the
semantic structure of words.
This unavoidable reality makes
the published dictionary one
book that is never up to date.
To illustrate this point here is a
couple of words where their
meanings both past and present
are contrasted:
1.’Girl’ was originally
a girl or boy
When Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of the
“young girls of the diocese” in the
prologue to the Canterbury Tales in the
late 1300s, he wasn’t just talking about
young women. Back when the word “girl”
first appeared in the language, in the
Middle English period, it was used to
mean “child”, regardless of the gender of
the child in question. That didn’t begin to
change until the early 15th century, when
the word “boy” – thought to have been
borrowed into English from French
around a century earlier as another name
for a slave, or a man of lowly birth –
began to be used more generally for any
young man. As boy encroached on its
meaning, girl was forced to change or else
risk disappearing from the language
altogether.
Clouds or Rocks
 A cloud was
originally a rock
The Old English word from which our
modern word “cloud” derives, clud,
didn’t mean “cloud” at all but rather
“rock” or “mountain”; through it,
cloud is actually a distant relative of
words like clot and clod. But because
enormous grey rainclouds can appear
(albeit with a little imagination) like
enormous grey masses of stone, it’s
thought that these two meanings
became confused, and eventually the
meteorological sense of the word won
out to give us the word we use today
NICE really meant
very bad
A few centuries ago if a
gentleman called a lady
“nice,” she might not know
whether to flutter her fan,
or slap his face. “Nice”
entered English via
AngloNorman from classical
Latin nescius, meaning
ignorant. Then it wandered
off every which way. From
the 1300s through 1600s
it meant silly, foolish, or
ignorant. During that same
time period, though, it was
used with these unrelated
Are you gay???
From a word that
showed happiness
or ecstasy, the
meaning of gay in
today’s world has
a varying meaning,
Like a minister
once said “growing
up I was happy
and gay, now I’m
just happy”
Hey! What
about
online
electronic
dictionaries
????
The Turkey students survey…
Three issues were raised
by the students:
Comprehensiveness
validity
convenience
 But it is generally simple word-by-word translation, not
more. Well… sometimes the pronunciation is available.
On the other hand, print dictionaries, as far as I am
concerned, have much more information; they include
word meaning, pronunciation, some grammatical
usages, collocations and example sentences. Besides,
there are a number of other words you can see on the
same page.” Another student had said “Well… I really
don’t like to carry heavy dictionaries. It is more logical
to use online sources to look up word meanings,
especially for translation courses… but, sometimes I
cannot be sure whether the meaning or usage in online
dictionary is really true.
 Of course, technology is
beneficial in education but…
I like touching the paper,
taking notes on it. I think I
enjoy conventional learning
materials more.
 “I hate the pop-ups in all online
dictionaries, why are they there?
I look up a word and I see an ad;
I look up another word, I see a
different ad… And, the loss of
connection… Searching through
print dictionaries may, at first
sight, seem to take a long time,
but in fact, there are bigger
problems with online ones. I
think using online dictionaries
are not practical at all... Besides,
they are not really reliable.”
 Another major draw back on the wholeness
of the dictionary is the multiplicity of
languages, and the translations. In this area
it its very crucial to remember that no
dictionary can be a complete whole of the
entire words available in that language. To
now add the enigma of translations across
languages makes it all the more tiresome.
The issues posed by ambiguous words and
by idiomatic or native expressions that
rarely have English variants or equivalents
makes the process more complicated
Learning over
here??? Click icon to add picture
The use of technology in the
dictionary’s use process; while it
has its many advantages, does
not take into consideration the
effect of user accessibility to the
latest updates on the
technology. In most cases,
especially with developing and
underdeveloped countries, there
has always been the problem of
accessibility to world class up-to-
date versions of the dictionary.
Also the costs of purchase in
these nations, in light of the
fact that these books in almost
all cases are imported from
westernised societies serves as a
strong deterrent to the use and
appreciation of the dictionary.
Now It’s your turn……
What did you
spell.. Don’t lie

Fluorescence
Flourescence
What did you
spell.. Don’t lie

Laissez-faire
Lasser-fare
 The electronic dictionary comes with a
feature called autocorrect. Here the writer
enters the word (even if wrong), or just the
first letter of the word and the word
automatically spells out. The reader is able
to recognize the orthographical sequence
of the words but pays little attention to the
structure of those words. Rarely do writers
notice this flaws until they try to write
without the aid of auto-correct.
 Computer spell checks have created an
‘auto-correct generation unable to spell
common words such as ‘necessary’ and
‘separate’, a survey has found. Only
one in five adults out of 2,000 who took
a short spelling test were able to
answer all five questions correctly.
Sixty-five per cent failed to spell
‘necessary’ correctly while 33 per cent
struggled with ‘definitely’ and
separate’
In conclusion:
Though the advantages
will exceed its
disadvantages, the
dictionary will still be
subject to review and
adjustments especially
as lexicographers and
linguist work out a
more suitable,
adaptable, flexible and
comprehensive type
that will cater for the
needs of the literate
public. In the mean
time, conscious efforts
must be taken to
maximize the potentials
it offers
On behalf of the authors: Ruth Akindeko,
Ojeleye Opeyemi, Wuraola Victor, Adewale
Elizabeth, Odubote Wunmi, Oloyede Ridwan,
Nwazue Israel

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