ABSTRACT
The hypothesis of this chapter is that lexicographical description, particularly in monolingual dictionaries, should aim to reflect the structure of the lexicon. If we relate this hypothesis to the current systems of organisation and management of lexicographic work, we can assume that the dictionary must be conceived as a data structure that goes beyond the different presentation formats (paper, online, electronic dictionaries, etc.). Thus, the most important part of the task of planning a dictionary consists in determining and making this structure explicit, defining and limiting the properties of its elements and the links between them. The organization and format that these elements will take in a specific lexicographical product are, in a way, contingent.
According to the classic distinction between macrostructure and microstructure, we start from the assumption that the lexicographic entry articulates the two fundamental axes (macros-tructural and microstrutural) of organization in the monolingual dictionary. Therefore, we briefly address the question of the delimitation of the units of analysis, which are known by different denominations in Spanish (lemas, voces, entradas léxicas, etc.), and make up the macrostructure of the dictionary.
In the presentation of the microstructure (which is more complex), we address the criteria from which the different “meanings” can be distinguished and sorted. We examine the different structural elements of the meaning: both paradigmatic and syntagmatic, as well as the role that these elements play in terms of the active and passive functions (or in other words, encoding and decoding functions) of the monolingual dictionary. We focus on issues related to the structure, properties and typology of the lexicographic definition, and address the problems of descriptive inadequacy, circularity and redundancy that are associated with the use of natural language as a metalanguage of description of the lexicon.
