International Journal of Lexicography Advance Access originally published online on January 21, 2009
International Journal of Lexicography 2009 22(1):1-22; doi:10.1093/ijl/ecn048
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Forensic Dictionary Analysis: Principles and Practice
University of Leicester, UK (jmc21@leicester.ac.uk) and
University of Oxford, UK (sarah.ogilvie@trinity.ox.ac.uk)
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Lexicographers often provide an account of their working practices and policies, and reviewers and researchers generally take this on trust. Forensic dictionary analysis uses evidence-based methodologies to interrogate the dictionaries themselves about decision-making processes involved in their compilation. The version of events that this reveals is sometimes quite different from compilers accounts. This paper builds on a variety of approaches in historical dictionary research—statistical, textual, contextual, and qualitative—to present forensic dictionary analysis as a technique that allows researchers to examine and understand the complex relationships between editorial policy and lexicographic practice.