A sub-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 (or possibly more) sub-fields of a particular subject field. It is therefore a sub-division of the class of dictionary called a

single-field dictionary A single-field dictionary is a specialized dictionary 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 ...

. Sub-field dictionaries should be contrasted with multi-field dictionaries and single-field dictionaries. The typology consisting of these three dictionaries is important for a number of reasons. First of all a sub-field dictionary is an example of a very specialized dictionary in that it covers only a limited part of one single subject field. Examples of sub-field dictionaries are a dictionary of contract law (as opposed to the single-field dictionary of law) and a dictionary of fusion welding (as opposed to a dictionary of welding), or a dictionary of ethical philosophy (as opposed to a dictionary of philosophy). The main advantage of sub-field dictionaries is that they can easily be maximizing dictionaries, i.e. deep rather than broad, attempting to cover as many terms of the sub-field as possible without expanding into several volumes. Consequently, sub-field 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 sub-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 sub-field dictionary. The best coverage of a subject field will then be to compile a number of sub-field dictionaries that together cover the entire subject.

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