Contemporary Ukrainian Lexicography: Status, Typology, and Development Trends

Abstract

The paper notes that at the turn of the 21st century, the lexicographic process is intensified worldwide due to the unique and advanced capabilities of dictionaries, namely: versatility, applied character, functional representation of the material, logic, harmony and simplicity of description, schematic, comprehensive presentation of the material, as well as scientists’ efforts to meet the requirements and challenges of today that are manifested in the improvement and development of innovative components, the involvement of modern computer technology, and so on. The drastic progress in a field of the dictionary-making is predetermined by dynamic scientific and technological developments, and hence by the demands of modern users that finds its reflection in the expansion of the object of research, the wealth of studies and its variety, etc. All this, in turn, is supported by many extralinguistic factors, such as: computerization, deepening and expanding the acquired knowledge, international collaboration, and the like. A lexical model allowing for lexicographic construction according to the given parameters proved to be the best one for presenting the results of research concerning not only all levels of the language structure, but also phenomena or facts of the surrounding reality. Currently, dictionaries continue to perform their traditional informative and normative function, and are seen as a systematic, comprehensive collection of various information presented in an adequate way, a means of recording human achievements, and a tool for their study, analyses, systematization, etc. Since recent decades in the modern Ukrainian lexicographical scope there have appeared a lot of encyclopedic, reference publications from various fields of knowledge, for general and special purposes, linguistic works like those of essential, borrowed words, neologisms; terminological, translated dictionaries; works of mixed type, educational works, etc.