Korean high school textbooks use many words that are not found even in the standard enlarged Korean language dictionaries, and there is no Korean language dictionary (KLD) specifically designed for secondary scholars, either. The goal of this study is...
Korean high school textbooks use many words that are not found even in the standard enlarged Korean language dictionaries, and there is no Korean language dictionary (KLD) specifically designed for secondary scholars, either. The goal of this study is to find an applicable guideline for the compilation of a KLD for high-schoolers. Utilizing a word-corpus extracted from several dozens textbooks of Korean high-schools, this study offers practical illustrations of both macro- and micro-structural descriptions for each study level of high school curriculum.
To get the compilation guideline this study proceeded as follows:
Firstly, Chapter One, Introduction described the goal, the limitation and the research method of the study with a survey of precedent studies. While some basic principles for compilation of a Korean language dictionary were found from the survey, it was also evident that the interest for the compilation of a dictionary for specific users was very low.
In Chapter Two, editorial features of three present KLDs that claim their goal of compilation is to "help the learning process of its readers" either in Preface or in Using the Dictionary, was analyzed according to the user groups and years of publication. The present KLDs that have a similar compilation purpose to that of this study are Modern Student Korean Language Dictionary [현대학생우리말사전(1950)], Yonsei Korean Language Dictionary [연세한국어사전(1998)], and Yonsei Elementary Korean Language Dictionary [연세초등국어사전(2002)]. The goal of compilation, the entry selection criteria, and the positioning method of the KLDs were compared and analyzed in this chapter. In addition, the information including spelling system, pronunciation system, word-definition, grammar, and examples were also analyzed to discover problems that need improvements in order to construct a practical, tentative guideline of KLD compilation.
In Chapter Three, word-data were collected and sorted out from 78 high school textbooks to form the word-corpus for this study. According to the acquired corpus, the data from each textbook were digitally keyed in and were properly converted to fit for compilation softwares. While Geuljabee II [글잡이 II], the compiling software indexed all entries showing their usages, SynKDP Kamjaksae [깜짝새] program formed a word-unit (어절) index which shows all different usages, too. A stepwise explanation for the usage of the programs and some predictable problems and their solutions were also presented.
Furthermore, the acquired word-corpus of the "7th High School Textbook" vocabulary was sorted out according to both its alphabetical order and frequency; especially for 1,000 words of high frequency words were all listed up with its auxiliaries 조사 and endings 어미, resulted in a full entry list for a KDL for high schoolers.
In Chapter Four, a guideline of KDL compilation was devised in reference to The Guideline for the Compilation of a Grand Standard Korean Language Dictionary [표준국어대사전 편찬지침(2000)]. The features of the guideline for the KDL are:
First, the entry list covers all vocabulary written in the textbooks with auxiliaries and endings.
Second, the pronunciation information shows each pronunciation of word-entry when the alphabet itself differs from its pronunciation, even for the cases that the attached auxiliary (조사) alters the pronunciation of its substantive (체언) and the ending of its verb (용언).
Third, the definition information renders an accurate and easy meaning only for the entry words that are recorded in the existent KLDs.
Fourth, the grammar information uses grammar terminologies and meta-languages of who, where, and what show both possible declensions and compound-word information.
Fifth, the usage information principally offers textbook usages for each entry with bibliographical information, such as, abbreviated names of the book and its page number, so that it can be easily applied to the reader's learning process.
At the end of Chapter Four, a sample of a tentative KDL for high-schoolers was illustrated revealing its features and abbreviation codes.
The compilation of a KDL for high schoolers should consider both the felt-needs of the scholars and the convenience of both usage and handling.
This study is significant as it is the first attempt to design a guideline for KDL for high schoolers when there is no such KDL at all. Furthermore, it is also the first attempt to enlist the full word-entry of the "7th High School Textbook" applying the word-corpus apparatus to the all kinds of high school textbooks in Korea.