The dictionary and dictionaries in Andrés Bello’s work. Theory, criticism and lexicographic construction

Authors

  • Francisco Javier Pérez Universidad Católica Andrés Bello; Academia Venezolana de la Lengua

Abstract

This paper aims to approach the dictionary as an important element in all of Andres Bello's work as well as to bring forth some of The Humanist's ideas concerning his lexicographical conception, his critical method and his writing process unfolding language itself, by means of seizing the dictionary and its related discipline. Moreover, it intends to offer an overview of his approach to dictionaries and his affection for them. It seeks to stand as evidence of studious passions and predilections for productions committed to the field of reference, as well as aiming to speculate on the role the dictionary has always had as an instrument that reproduces a verbal picture of the world, and the explanation of those words that help us to found it, understand it and name it. All in all, this is an outline of Bello's approach to Linguistics, faithful to the scientific description of the language, yet considering at all instances what the knowledge of the language owes to the knowledge of historical, social, cultural, and aesthetic processes.

Keywords:

linguistics, lexicography, dictionaries, Andrés Bello