The macrostructure of a dictionary

1. The nature of the macrostructure

Suggested reading
Hausmann, F.J. & H.E. Wiegand. 1989. Component Parts and Structures of General Monolingual
Dictionaries: A Survey, Hausmann, F.J. et al. (eds.) Wörterbücher. Dictionaries. Dictionnaires. An
International Encyclopedia of Lexicography. Berlin: De Gruyter: 328-360.

The macrostructure is the collection of lemmata included as part of the central list. Although the
macrostructure usually contains a list of words, it may not be defined as a collection of words. The
lexicon of the language contains all the lexical items of that language. Although the majority of these
lexical items are words, the lexicon also has elements larger than words as well as elements smaller
than words. They remain full-fledged members of the lexicon: the so-called multiword and subword
lexical items.

A variety of multiword lexical items can be identified. It includes word combinations borrowed from
other languages, especially the classical languages, e.g. ad hoc and sine qua non. Particle verbs, e.g.
jump in, get out as well as idioms and fixed expressions, e.g. beggars can’t be choosers, short and
sweet and make a mountain out of a molehill are typical multiword lexical items. Subword lexical items
are items that are smaller than words in the sense that they do not occur independently but are always
used as part of another word. This category of lexical item includes two types, i.e. stems and affixes.
In words like rephrase, reshuffle; presently and quickly the affixes re- and -ly (respectively a prefix and
a suffix) are lexical items, although they cannot function as independent words but only as part of a
complex word. In Sepedi the stem -golo (big/important) is a lexical item but it is never used on its own.
It always has to take a nominal prefix: mogolo, bagolo, etc. This lexical item only functions as a stem.
Some lexical items can function both as a stem and as a word and in their occurrence as stem they
have a sense which they never have when functioning as a word. Compare the Afrikaans lexical item
grond- in words like grondbeginsel (basic principle) and grondbestanddeel (fundamental part). Here
the meaning of grond- is something like “first/basic/important” The word grond (ground/soil) is never
used in this sense.

In the past lexicography had often been dominated by a word-bias, cf. Gouws (1991). This lead to a
situation where dictionaries focused on the presentation and treatment of words in stead of on lexical
items. The development in the metalexicography has changed this situation and today the
macrostructure of dictionaries endeavour to reflect the lexicon and not only the words of a given
language.

Different types of lexical items are included as different types of lemmata. Words are included as
lexical lemmata, subword lexical items as sublexical lemmata and multiword lexical items as
multilexical lemmata.

2 Different types of lemmata

2.1 Lemmata with a limited lexicographic treatment
Variant and synonym lemmata
The inclusion of a specific lexical item as a lemma is not motivated arbitrarily but has to be seen as the
application of fixed lexicographic criteria. The typological nature of a dictionary also determines the
selection of lexical items to be included as part of the macrostructure. Other considerations like usage
frequency, the register of a lexical item and its morphological nature, e.g. whether it is a simplex or a
complex word and whether a complex word is self-explanatory or not, also play a role.

Inclusion does not imply an equal treatment of all lemmata. All lemmata do not get a full lexicographic
treatment. The extent of the treatment is determined by the system used in the dictionary - a system
which has to be explained in the front matter. Some lemmata receive a very limited treatment. Where
two variants of a lexical item exist and both forms have to be included in the dictionary, the full
treatment will only be given in the article of one of these lemmata. The other lemma will have a
treatment consisting mainly of a cross-reference to the lemma where the full treatment is given. In the
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary the lemma inclose gets no definition. The limited treatment
allows a cross-reference to the variant forms enclose and enclosure:
inclose ...“var of ENCLOSE, ENCLOSURE”

In the treatment of synonyms the definition may not be repeated in each article. Therefore the
synonym with the highest usage frequency will receive a comprehensive treatment whereas the
synonym with the lesser frequency will get a cross-reference to the treated lemma. In
metalexicography the system of cross-referencing is known as the mediostructure of a dictionary.

Macrostructural status is not determined by the extent of the microstructural treatment but by the
inclusion of a lexical item as a lemma in a dictionary. Lemmata with a limited lexicographic treatment
are not inferior to other macrostructural elements. By including a lexical item as lemma, the dictionary
gives proof of its status as an element of the lexicon of the given language. When compiling a
dictionary lexicographers have to be well aware of the possibility of giving certain lemmata only a
limited treatment.

Self-explanatory lemmata
In a descriptive dictionary simplex lexical items have to be included and their treatment has to include
an explanation of the meaning or a cross-reference to another lemma where the meaning is defined.
Complex lexical items are also included in dictionaries but all complex items do not get a similar
semantic treatment. In linguistics a distinction is made between transparent and intransparent complex
items. The meaning of a transparent complex item can be deduced from the meaning of its
components but the meaning of an intransparent complex cannot be deduced from the meaning of its
components. This distinction has implications for the lexicographic treatment of complex items.
Besides giving an explanation of some of the complex lexical items, descriptive dictionaries often
include complex lexical items as so-called unexplained or self-explanatory lemmata. This implies that
the dictionary user should be able to retrieve the meaning of the lemma by looking at the meaning of
its components.
Self-explanatory lemmata are included in the article of the lexical lemma sign representing one of the
stems of the complex item. Their inclusion often impedes the straight alphabetical ordering of the
macrostructure. The Afrikaans descriptive dictionary Nasionale woordeboek has a number of self-
explanatory lemmata in the article of the lemma hart (“heart”). All these lemmata begin with the stem
hart-. The article of the lemma hart ends with a listing of self-explanatory lemmata like hartaandoening
(“cardiac affection”), hartgebrek (“heart ailment”), hartklep (“cardiac valve”), hartkwaal (“heart
disease”), etc. This is followed by the articles of the explained lemmata with hart- as first stem, e.g.
hartaanval (“heart attack”), hartaar (“aorta”), etc. By grouping the self-explanatory lemmata in one
article with an internal alphabetical ordering in this grouping, users get an quick and easy access to a
variety of complex words with transparent meanings. This is an economical way to include a larger
number of lexical items in a dictionary.

Although they are presented in the article of another lemma, self-explanatory lemmata are full-fledged
macrostructural items. A further discussion of self-explanatory lemmata follows in the section on
niched and nested lemmata.

2.2 Lemmata with a complete lexicographic treatment

The occurrence of self-explanatory lemmata is restraighted to descriptive dictionaries because
translation dictionaries have no untranslated lemmata. However, translation dictionaries do also have
lemmata with a limited lexicographic treatment. This will not be discussed right here. Likewise the
notion “complete lexicographic treatment” applies to both descriptive and translation dictionaries. The
discussion in this section also applies to both descriptive and translation dictionaries.

Dictionaries have to be compiled in such a way that their macrostructure can accommodate all the
different types of lexical items of the given language. The lemmatisation process has to ensure that
words can be included as lexical lemmas, subword lexical items as sublexical lemmata and multiword
lexical items as multilexical lemmata.

Lexical lemmata
Because words constitute the largest section of the lexicon of many languages it is quite natural that
the majority of macrostructural items should also be words, included as lexical lemmata. The extent of
the selection of lexical items to be included in any given dictionary is determined by the typological
criteria. A substantial number of both simplex and complex lexical items will always be part of the
collection of lexical lemmata.

Sublexical lemmata

Sublexical lemmata represent the lexicographic embodiment of a certain type of lexical item. Although
dictionaries do include this type of lemma, it is still done in a haphazard and arbitrary way. Too often
too many subword lexical items with a productive occurrence in a given language are not included in a
dictionary. In Afrikaans, for example, descriptive dictionaries seem to give a reasonable reflection of
this kind of lexical item. Translation dictionaries, on the contrary, neglect their duty in this regard.

Dictionaries can be analysed to investigate the occurrence of stems and affixes as the two types of
sublexical lemmata. Stems can be subdivided into two groups, i.e. neutral stems and extended stems.
An extended stem has some other morpheme attached to it. The Afrikaans stem grond- is a neutral
stem whereas kinder- is an extended stem, consisting of the neutral stem kind- and the morpheme -er-
Lexicographers have to be well aware of their responsibility to accommodate this type of lexical item.

Multilexical lemmata

The application of a word-based approach played a dominant role in earlier dictionaries. However, this
approach did make provision for the inclusion of stems and affixes as lemmata, albeit in a limited way.
Unfortunately this approach did not make provision for the inclusion of multiword lexical items as
independent macrostructural elements. Even today many dictionaries still contain noticeably more
sublexical items than multilexical items.

When dealing with the lexicographic embodiment of multiword lexical items, the lemmatisation of
multiword lexical items which contain words which are recognisable due to their occurrence as
independent lexical items, offers the most serious problems. Lexicographers and dictionary users
have little trouble with the lemmatisation of borrowings like ad hoc because they experience them as
single lexical items on account of the fact that the individual words have no independent occurrence
outside the multiword unit. Contrary to this it is more difficult to include an item like short and sweet as
a lemma because lexicographers and dictionary users recognise the individual words in this multiword
lexical item on account of their active occurrence in present-day English.

Idioms and fixed expressions are also multiword lexical items. A number of practical objections can be
raised to their inclusion as independent lemmata. However, their treatment in dictionaries gives little
acknowledgement of the fact that idioms are full-fledged lexical items.

3. Different types of macrostructures

3.1 A straight alphabetical macrostructure

Suggested reading
Hausmann, F.J. & H.E. Wiegand (1989:336-337)

A thesaurus and other dictionaries with a thematic approach have a non-alphabetical ordering of the
macrostructure. However, the most dictionaries display an alphabetical ordering of their lemmata. This
includes standard, comprehensive and learner’s dictionaries. The principle of an alphabetical
macrostructural ordering does not, however, imply a uniform method of ordering with all lemmata
maintaining a straight alphabetical arrangement. Functional reasons sometimes motivate a calculated
deviation from a straight alphabetical ordering. Different types of macrostructural ordering can often be
found in one dictionary and this applies to both descriptive and translation dictionaries. In the front
matter of a dictionary the lexicographer has to give a clear explanation of the macrostructural ordering
of that specific dictionary.

A straight alphabetical ordering implies that the lemmata display a vertical macrostructural
arrangement and all these lemmata are positioned alphabetically. This is the major method of ordering
in general dictionaries. Compare the following list of lemmata from Groot woordeboek/Major
Dictionary:
 cupid
cupidity
cup-match
cupola
cupping

Besides a straight alphabetical ordering dictionaries often also display a sinuous lemma file which
represents a system of niched and nested lemmatisation.

3.2 A sinuous lemma file: niching and nesting

Besides the vertical and straight alphabetical ordering of lemmata, the macrostructure can also display
a horizontal arrangement. This kind of macrostructural ordering is usually motivated by space-saving
considerations. Compare the following examples from Groot woordeboek/Major Dictionary (henceforth
abbreviated as GW) and HAT respectively:
2
gif , poison, venom, toxin; ... aas, poison bait; appel, apple of Sodom; beker, poisoned cup;
bessie, poisonous berry; blaar, blom, poisonous shrub ... werking, toxic influence
klei ... 1 Klewerige, kneedbare grondsoort deur verwering van veldspaathoudende gesteentes
ontstaan, wat hard word wanneer dit gebak word. .... klei: afsetting, bevattend, blad,
bodem, gehalte, ... pot, steen, streek
2
In the articles of gif and klei the lexicographic treatment is supplemented by a lemmatisation where
the macrostructural elements are arranged horizontally by using a sinuous lemma file. In these
examples there exists a direct semantic relation between the lemmata in the sinuous file and the main
lemma in the vertical ordering. The sinuous lemma files in these examples still display an internal
2
alphabetical ordering. This arrangement can also maintain the vertical ordering. The lemma gif is
followed in the vertical ordering by the lemma gigant which is alphabetically preceded by all the
lemmata in the sinuous file. However, in the HAT example the next lemma in the vertical ordering is
kleiaarde which actually has to precede all the lemmata in the sinuous file.

The lemmata which are horizontally arranged in the sinuous file are components of either a lemma
niche or a lemma nest. They are known as niched or nested lemmata respectively. (The difference
between these two lemma types will be explained in a following paragraph.) Niche and nest lemmata
are often found in the article of another lemma which is part of the vertical ordering of the
macrostructure.

Although the lemmata arranged in a sinuous file usually have a semantic relation with the preceding
main lemma in the vertical ordering, it is not necessarily the case. Examples will be given in a
following paragraph.

There is a well-motivated distinction between niche and nest lemmata. Niched lemmatisation (also
known as niching), that is the ordering of niche lemmata, is a sinuous ordering of lemmata which
maintain a straight alphabetical arrangement and which does not necessarily display a semantic
relation between the lemmata in the niche. The alphabetical arrangement is not only maintained in the
sinuous file but also with regard to the preceding and following main lemmata in the vertical ordering.
Compare the following examples from HAT:
 aslas
asma .... asma: aanval, agtig, lyer
asmaties

The lemmata in the sinuous file maintain an internal alphabetical arrangement as well as an
alphabetical ordering within the vertical ordering. As a type of sinuous ordering, niched lemmatisation
is primarily characterised by a straight alphabetical arrangement. This allows for the inclusion of
sublemmata in a niche which displays no semantic relation with the relevant main lemma, cf. the
following example from GW:
1
date ... dadel (vrug)
2
date datum, dagtekening; afspraak; jaartal; tydperk; .... line, datumgrens; ... loaf,
dadelbrood; mark, jaarmerk, ... oil, dadelolie; ..
dative

The compounds date line and date loaf have no semantic relation. Their ordering in this sinuous file
merely follows from the application of a system of niched lemmatisation.

Nested lemmatisation (also known as nesting), that is the ordering of nest lemmata, also is a
horizontal ordering of lemmata in the article of one main lemma or in a article introduced by a lemma
component in lemma-external entry position. Nested lemmatisation shows two differences from niched
lemmatisation. One of these differences is obligatory, the other one is optional. The most noticeable
difference is the fact that nesting does not maintain such a straight alphabetical ordering. This applies
to both the internal ordering in the nest and the connection between the lemmata in the nest and the
preceding and following main lemmata in the vertical ordering. The second difference often flows from
the fact that nesting does not adhere to a straight alphabetical ordering, cf. HAT’s treatment of the
lemmata in the article of the lemma koeël:
koedoe
koëdukasie
koeël ... 1 Langwerpige, silindervormige projektiel met effens spits punt waarmee uit
skietwerktuie geskiet word: ... 2 ... Ronde balletjie soos in ’n koeëllaer. ... koeël: gat, tjie,
vormig, wond.
koeëlas
koeëlbaan
koeëlbottel
koeëlbui

Because the lexicographer regards these complex items as semantically transparent he has arranged
them in the article of the main lemma koeël with the implication that the users will be able to deduce
the meaning of these unexplained sublemmata from their constituents. In this nest the same sense of
the main lemma applies to all the sublemmata.

The internal alphabetical ordering is maintained in this nest and there is no attempt by the
lexicographer to assist the user in distinguishing between different types of complex lexical items, i.e.
derivations, e.g. koeëltjie, koeëlvormig) and compounds (koeëlgat, koeëlwond). The sinuous file
adheres to the dominant criterion for nested lemmatisation, i.e. the fact that the alphabetical ordering
is not maintained between the sinuous file and the following main lemma.

The following examples from Nasionale woordeboek illustrate a more complex type of nested
lemmatisation:
 broederskap
broei ... 1. op eiers sit en hulle warm hou om hulle te laat uitkom. 2. ...3. .... 4. .... 5. hitte
ontwikkel, warm word. ... 6. warm word deur gisting. ..7. deur spesiale verwarming vroeër laat
bloei of ryp word. ... 9. ... broeiery, broeiing; broei-eend, -eiers, -gans, hen, -hok, -kamer, -
kolonie, -paar, -proses, -sak, -tent (by 1); -mis (by 5); -aarde, -bed (by 6); -bak, -glas, -huise
(by 7).
broeiend
broeihitte

The sinuous ordering in the article of the main lemma broei does not fit into the alphabetical
arrangement of the vertical ordering. Neither does the nest-internal arrangement maintain a straight
alphabetical ordering. This already qualifies this clustering of lemmata as an example of a lemma nest.
A closer investigation reveals motivations other than the alphabetical for this nest-internal
arrangement. Morpho-semantic considerations play an important role in the arrangement within this
lemma cluster. In this nest the lexicographers make a distinction between derivations and compounds.
The derivations broeiery and broeiing are ordered before the compounds and separated from them
by means of a semi-colon. The two derivations are ordered alphabetically. The listing of compounds
has not been done at random but adheres to a definite semantic principle. The main lemma broei is a
polysemous lexical item and the sublemmata are subjected to different senses of broei. In the listing
of compounds the arrangement is determined by the sense of broei prevailing in the respective first
stems. Those compounds in which the stem broei- has the same sense are grouped together. Each
one of these groupings display an internal alphabetical ordering. The lexicographers assist the users
by clearly indicating which sense of broei applies to a specific grouping of sublemmata.

This kind of nested lemmatisation does not only have a space-saving function but it increases the
ability of the user to interpret the presented information correctly. This is typical of a user-driven
lexicography and illustrates an application of metalexicographic developments.

Different types of macrostructural ordering exist and it is the responsibility of a lexicographer to

present a consistent application of the type(s) opted for in a specific dictionary. It is also his
responsibility to keep the user informed of the nature of the macrostructure)s) in that dictionary. This
information has to be included in the guidelines for the user, presented as a text in the front matter.
Users have to be well aware of the implications of the different methods. This knowledge enhances
dictionary using skills and leads to an optimal retrieval of information and to linguistic and
communicative empowerment.