What is a Dictionary? A View from Chomskyan Linguistics

If lexicography is to be considered a scientific activity, the relationship between dictionaries and language has to be clarified. Here Chomskyan linguistics is taken as a background for doing so. Chomskyan linguistics is a research programme that determines a framework for the study of language in which language as a mental concept is the central notion. Chomskyan linguistics also introduces two other concepts of language, but none of them can be taken as what is described by a dictionary. Instead, dictionaries can be taken as tools for solving problems. Users consult them to answer questions they have about vocabulary. Such a view of dictionaries is compatible with most definitions of dictionaries in theoretical discussions of lexicography. The solution of problems is not in the dictionary, but constructed by the user on the basis of information found in the dictionary. Therefore, in comparison to earlier work which emphasizes completeness and accuracy as evaluation criteria for dictionaries, this view of the dictionary tends to emphasize the optimal presentation of information as a central criterion of quality.