TREATMENT OF POLYSEMY OF THE VERB <em>GLEDATI</em> (LOOK) IN SIX-VOLUME AND ONE-VOLUME DICTIONARY OF MATICA SRPSKA

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the system applied in the treatment of polysemous lexemes in the six-volume and one-volume Dictionary of Matica srpska taking into account three aspects of lexicographical practice: sense discrimination, structure and organization of a dictionary entry and illustration of the context in which the given sense of a lexeme typically occurs. The analysis has included the rich polysemous structure of the verb gledati (look) that is characterized not only by a considerable number of senses and subsenses, but also by various mechanisms employed in the derivation of this semantic network. In addition to identifying the characteristics of the system applied in the treatment of polysemy in each of the examined dictionaries in order to determine its advantages and disadvantages, the analysis has also included the comparison of the two systems with the aim of gaining an insight into the direction in the development of Serbian lexicography from the older six-volume to the more modern one-volume edition of the dictionary. The analysis results have shown that the sense discrimination strategy has been improved in the one-volume dictionary in comparison to the six-volume dictionary due to its greater reliance on lexicological prototype theory in the sense of identifying the prototypical, i.e. primary sense as well as due to its greater reliance on the contemporary language use. As for the structure and organization of the dictionary entry, both dictionaries display only a tendency towards grouping of senses and their hierarchical structuring, but these principles have not been completely realized because of a lack of a clearly highlighted superordinate sense within a sense group, a lack of clearly defined criteria for sense grouping and the deviation from the sense ordering principle “from the center to the periphery” of the given sense network. The illustration of the typical context has been improved in the one-volume dictionary due to the use of a sentential context taken from the corpus of the contemporary language use and phrases with highlighted typical referents that contribute to the more precise differentiation of a particular sense in relation to the other senses in the examined semantic structure. The noticed advantages and disadvantages have indicated the direction to­wards forming a dictionary entry in accordance with the achievements in lexicological theory and requirements of lexicographical practice in the sense of neat, clear and precise presentation of polysemous lexemes.