The Study of the Place of Example and Illustration in the Bilingual Persian-French Dictionaries

Abstract

Nowadays, it is necessary to use semantic examples in lexicography: example, quotation and semantic evidence of the work of contemporary and classic poets and writers and of the current literary texts and articles and newspapers accompany definitions of the words, and consequently support the use of words. This is not limited only to monolingual dictionaries but is also true for the bilingual dictionaries, especially those provided for the academic and specialized level: quotations and examples are used to help understand the meanings and definitions of words; on the other hand, the facilitative role of using the illustrations cannot be ignored in the bilingual dictionaries. This article discusses the place of example and illustration in bilingual Persian-French dictionaries.  Study of the common bilingual Persian-French dictionaries (Lazar, Moallem) and even dictionaries that have been recently published ( Parsayar, Lesani, Tahami, and Soltani) would show that lexicographers have not used the illustration and example in compiling these dictionaries whereas example and illustration play an important and undeniable role in better and more accurate explanation of the entry meanings. On the other hand, the determinant role of bilingual dictionaries in education and learning (French) verifies the need to use illustration and example in these dictionaries. Therefore, it would be no exaggeration to say that the use of example and illustration in bilingual Persian-French dictionaries is a forgotten necessity and it is hoped that lexicographers consider this necessity and we see the compilation of bilingual Persian-French dictionaries with such a feature in the near future.