Treatment of Figurative Expressions in Two-Way School Dictionaries

In: Filolog: časopis za jezik književnost i kulturu, Band 22, Heft 22, S. 68-87

Abstract

This paper deals with the selection and the lexicographic treatment of figurative expressions in two dictionaries: a French-Serbian dictionary for elementary school students and an Italian-Serbian dictionary for elementary and secondary school students. First, the corpus is processed for the purpose of quantitative comparison of figurative expressions, then 18 related words from each dictionary are singled out in order for qualitative similarities and differences to be more thoroughly examined, with, finally, the same words being analysed by means of general two-way dictionaries. The highlights of the analysis are as follows: the number of marked figurative expressions is disproportionately greater in the dictionary intended for both elementary and secondary school students; translation equivalents are identical or very similar in both school dictionaries, with the exception of the way they are marked; both school dictionaries feature examples for all figurative meanings; and, the number of figurative meanings in school dictionaries is lower than in general dictionaries, but the former show more consistence with regard to their marking and exemplifying. As far as the results are concerned, they are interpreted through the prism of lexicological, lexicographic, and didactic factors. In the end, the author conclude(s) that an appropriate treatment of figurative expressions is one of the key reasons why two-way school dictionaries are still an indispensable tool in foreign language teaching.