A single-field dictionary is a

specialized dictionary A specialized dictionary is a dictionary that covers a relatively restricted set of phenomena. The definitive book on the subject (Cowie 2009) includes chapters on some of the dictionaries included below: *synonyms *pronunciations *names (place na ...

that has been designed and compiled to cover the terms of one particular subject field. Single-field dictionaries should be contrasted with multi-field dictionaries and sub-field dictionaries. The typology consisting of these three dictionaries is important for a number of reasons. First of all a single-field dictionary is an example of a very specialized dictionary in that it covers only one single subject field. Examples of single-field dictionaries are a dictionary of law, a dictionary of economics and a dictionary of welding. The main advantage of single-field dictionaries is that they can easily be maximizing dictionaries, i.e. attempt to cover as many terms of the subject field as possible without being a dictionary in several volumes. Consequently, single-fields dictionaries are ideal for extensive coverage of the linguistic and extra-linguistic aspects within a particular subject field. Secondly, if the lexicographers intend to make a bilingual, maximizing single-field dictionary they will not run into the same problems with the space available for presenting the large amount of data that has to be included in the dictionary, cf. a

multi-field dictionary A multi-field dictionary is a specialized dictionary that has been designed and compiled to cover the terms within two or more subject fields. Multi-field dictionaries should be contrasted with single-field dictionaries and sub-field dictionarie ...

. Consequently, the best coverage of linguistic and extra-linguistic aspects within the subject field covered by a dictionary will be found in a single-field dictionary. However, even more extensive coverage is possible in a

sub-field dictionary A sub-field dictionary is a specialized dictionary that has been designed and compiled to cover the terms of one (or possibly more) sub-fields of a particular subject field. It is therefore a sub-division of the class of dictionary called a single- ...

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