Home > LSP dictionaries
An LSP dictionary is a reference work that intends to descibe a variety of one or more languages used by experts in a particular subject field.
LSP dictionaries are often aids for the users who are already specialists within a subject field (experts), but may also be aids for users that are semi-experts within a subject field and users that may be described as laypersons relative to a particular subject field.
LSP dictionaries may cover one language (molingual LSP dictionaries) or two languages (bilingual LSP dictionaries), and occasionally more languages. LSP dictionaries may attempt to cover as much of the vocabulary with a subject field as possible (a maximizing LSP dictionary), or attempt to cover a limited set of terms within a particular subject field (a minimizing LSP dictionary).
An LSP dictionary that covers more than one subject field is called a multi-field dictionary, an LSP dictionary that covers one subject field (e.g. a dictionary of law) is called a single-field dictionary, and an LSP dictionary that covers a limited part of a subject field (e.g. a dictionary of contract law) is called a sub-field dictionary.
Relevant literature
- Sandro Nielsen: The Bilingual LSP Dictionary. Gunter Narr Verlag 1994.
- Henning Bergenholtz/Sven Tarp (eds.): Manual of Specialised Lexicography. Benjamins 1995.
