A Comparative Study Of Definitions In English And Chinese Lexicography

Definition is the core part of the dictionary microstructure and the definitions of verbs are always the focus of lexicography. Verbs of hand movement are a part of verbs, which are classified according to their meaning. The motion of hands is a way to change the nature and to reform the society of human beings. At the same time it is a way for people to communicate with each other. Hand verbs are mainly employed to describe the human activities by means of hands to fulfill different purposes. Both English and Chinese are rich in them. Hand verbs possess a common semantic feature of using hands to put force on objects directly or indirectly. In this research, the author has first mapped the types and structures of dictionaries. Then the principles and methods of dictionary definitions are discussed in terms of semantic theories. Then on the basis of comparing the definitions of hand verbs in the OALD7and CCD3, the author tries to point out the similarities and differences of hand verbs’definitions and find out the superiorities and inferiorities of definition patterns and methods in both dictionaries in the perspective of lexical simplicity, semantic completeness, syntactic correspondence, mutual substitution and prototypical effect. This study provides a theoretical evidence for some of the established lexical theory from a new prospective, which is beneficial for us to better understand the hand verbs, and for people to learn language better.