Introduction Lexicography is the making of dictionaries. The object of lexicography is the dictionary; its task is to make dictionaries.

Lexicography is, thus, part of applied linguistics. Lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:

Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. Theoretical lexicography is the scholarly discipline of analyzing and describing the semantic, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships within the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language, developing theories of dictionary components and structures linking the data in dictionaries, the needs for information by users in specific types of situation, and how users may best access the data incorporated in printed and electronic dictionaries. This is sometimes referred to as 'metalexicography' (Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, 2012).

A person devoted to lexicography is called a lexicographer. General lexicography focuses on the design, compilation, use and evaluation of general dictionaries, i.e. dictionaries that provide a description of the language in general use. Such a dictionary is usually called a general dictionary or LGP dictionary (Language for General Purpose). Specialized lexicography focuses on the design, compilation, use and evaluation of specialized dictionaries, i.e. dictionaries that are devoted to a (relatively restricted) set of linguistic and factual elements of one or more specialist subject fields, e.g. legal lexicography. Such a dictionary is usually called a specialised dictionaries or LSP dictionary and following Nielsen (1994), specialized dictionaries are either multi-field, single-field or sub-field dictionaries (McCarthy, ?). Lexicography is the science and art of compiling dictionary. The word 'dictionary' was first used as Dictionarius in this sense in the 13th century by an English man John Garland. The first book published under the English title Dictionary was Latin-English Dictionary by Sir Thomas Elyot (1538). For a medieval scholar a dictionary was a collection of diction or phrases put together for the use of pupils studying Latin. One of the purposes of dictionary in medieval times was glossing texts and employing synonyms for them.

Dictionaries are prepared to serve different practical needs of the people. A reader looks at the dictionary mainly from the following points of view: -

(1) as a reference book for different types of information on words e.g. pronunciation, etymology, usage etc. This may be called the store house function of the dictionary; (2) as a reference point for distinguishing the good or proper usage from the bad or wrong usage. This is the legislative or the court house function of the dictionary. Johnson (1755) described the lexicographer as "a writer of dictionaries. ...a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the signification of word". Little did he realize at that time that his dictionary would, for almost a century, serve as the 'Bible' of the English language, the second function noted above. Besides these, a dictionary also serves as a clearing house of information. In order that these functions be performed adequately, the information in the dictionaries should be collected from as many sources as possible, and should be authentic and easily retrievable. Lexicography in this way is an applied science (Singh, 1982). Lexicology and Lexicography Both lexicology and lexicography are derived from the Greek work lexiko (adjective from lexis meaning 'speech', or 'way of speaking' or 'word'). The common concern of both of them is 'word' or the lexical unit of a language. Lexicology is derived from lexico 'word' plus logos 'learning or science' i.e. the science of words. Lexicography is lexico 'word' plus graph 'writing' i.e. the writing of words. The etymological meaning of these words speaks for itself the scope of these branches of linguistics. Lexicology is the science of the study of word whereas lexicography is the writing of the word in some concrete form i.e. in the form of dictionary.

Lexicology and lexicography are very closely related; rather the latter is directly dependent on the former and may be called applied lexicology. There is some disagreement on the definition of lexicology, as distinct from lexicography. Some use "lexicology" as a synonym for theoretical lexicography; others use it to mean a branch of linguistics pertaining to the inventory of words in a particular language. It is now widely accepted that lexicography is a scholarly discipline in its own right and not a sub-branch of applied linguistics, as the chief object of study in lexicography is the dictionary (see e.g. Bergenholtz/Nielsen/Tarp 2009). Lexicography also studies the lexicon as lexicology does but "whereas lexicology concentrates more on general properties and features that can be viewed as systematic, lexicography typically has the so to say individuality of each lexical unit in the focus of its interest". (Zgusta 1973, p. 14). Whereas lexicology is more theory oriented, lexicography is more concerned with concrete application (i.e. results) of these theories. So "in a certain sense lexicography may be considered a superior discipline to lexicology, for results are more important than intentions and the value of theoretical principles must be estimated according to results". (Doroszewski 1973, p. 36). Like other disciplines of applied science, lexicography could also be called a practical enterprise if it be understood that it is not purely practical (like, e.g., the writing of newspaper articles), but theoretically based, viz. based on lexicology.

There is also a discipline of linguistics called metalexicography (or theory of lexicography). Its object is lexicography. While lexicography makes dictionaries, metalexicography describes and prescribes how lexicography proceeds. It includes the history of lexicography. General lexicology deals with the universal features of the words of languages. In this sense lexicology is not language specific, whereas lexicography is more or less language specific in spite of its universal theoretical background. Its theories have no other validation except for practical applicability in the compilation of a dictionary (Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, 2012). Lexicology and Applied Linguistics As already noted, the basic concern of lexicography is 'word' which is studied in different branches of linguistics, viz., phonetics, grammar, stylistics etc. Lexicography is not only related to linguistics but is an applied discipline under it. The practical problems of lexicography are solved by the application of the researches of linguistic works. More so, in the entire work from the selection of entries, fixation of head words, the definition of words to the arrangement of meanings and entries, the lexicographer is helped by the work of different branches of linguistics. One of the most widely accepted criteria for selection of entries in many dictionaries is usually frequency count. The frequency of head words the lexicographer usually chooses the canonical or the most frequently occurring form of a word. This is found out from the grammatical study of the language. For written languages and languages with established grammatical traditions the problem of selection of the head word is not so difficult as in the case of unwritten languages. Here the lexicographer has to be his own linguist and have recourse to the linguistic analysis of the language. For data collection he takes the help of field linguistics and for

analysis, of descriptive linguistics. For giving definitions of flora and fauna as also of artifacts and other cultural items the lexicographer gives encyclopaedic information. For this the principle of the hierarchical structure of the vocabulary in terms of folk taxonomy is utilized by a lexicographer. Thus he enters the domain of ethnolinguistics. For giving spellings and pronunciation of words in his dictionary the lexicographer is helped by the phonetic study of the language. For grammatical information he has to depend on the morphological analysis of the language. In the determination of the central meaning of a polysemous word the lexicographer is helped by historical linguistics. Etymology gives him the clue to decide the basic meaning. In the fixation of the number of meanings and their interrelationship the lexicographer has to take recourse to the linguistic methods of set collocations, valency and selective restrictions etc. Historical linguistics helps in tracing the origin and development of the form and meaning of the words in historical dictionaries. In descriptive dictionaries such labels as archaic, obsolete etc., denoting the temporal status of words, are decided with the help of historical linguistics. Historical linguistics, especially etymological study, helps in distinguishing between homonymy and polysemy. But where etymological consideration is not applicable for want of such studies it is the native speaker's intuition which is taken as the determining factor. In this the lexicographer is helped by psycholinguistics. Psycholinguistics also helps in providing material for vocabulary development which might be used for the preparation of the graded dictionaries (Singh, 1982). Dictionaries give status labels like slang, jargon, taboo, figurative, formal, etc. These labels are decided with the help of sociolinguistic and stylistic studies. For dialect, dictionaries dialectology is a necessary helpmate.

A basic prerequisite of bilingual dictionaries is a contrastive analysis of the linguistic systems of the two languages. This is provided by contrastive linguistics. All these show that in his work the lexicographer has, to a large extent, always to depend on the findings of different branches of linguistics. But this is not so in actual life. Lexicographical works had preceded grammatical works in many languages. It is not only the findings of linguistics which help in the solution of lexicographical problems, the lexicographical findings are equally utilized by the linguists for different purposes of authenticating their hypothesis, in helping standardization of the languages, especially in the fields of technical terminologies. The problems of a lexicographer are practical and need based requiring at-the-moment solution. The lexicographer cannot wait for certain findings in the field of linguistics or other disciplines for the solution of his problems. It is here that linguistics might fail to meet the needs of a lexicographer. There are different schools of linguistics vying with each other in theoretical researches. The findings of one school are contradicted by the other. There are different studies on the same aspect of a language. Nothing is final. The lexicographer might not afford to wait for the final word to come. Moreover, many languages still remain uninvestigated. So the lexicographer has to find his own way. In his entire work, the lexicographer is guided by the practical considerations of a dictionary user. The linguistic theories are quite important for the lexicographer but practical utility is more basic for him.

Conclusion True to some extent, however, as Crystal (1986: 72) notes: The problem facing lexicography as a branch of applied linguistics... [is] how to predict the performance limitations which constrain both parties to the enterprise -lexicographer and user - and to resolve them, so that we obtain an ideal product, which satisfies everyone's criteria at a minimal cost in effort, time and money.

The intractable theoretical problems facing the lexicographer will always be present, failing a major breakthrough in linguistic theories. The practical problems involved are becoming less thorny with the advent of modern computer technology (Crystal, 1986). We, as users of dictionaries, have notions about what a dictionary looks like, what it is for and, perhaps even why the particular information contained within one, is there. Each of the dictionaries discussed above is intended for pedagogical use - by students, or by teachers. The vocabulary, clearly, is very carefully chosen to suit the specific needs of language learners; this is possible now, as computers are widely used in many spheres of life. The powerful concordancing programmes used by the lexicographer allow him or her to see the frequency of use of particular lemmas across a whole corpus, or in particular parts of a corpus, such as natural informal spoken discourse in Ireland, North-American newspapers, golfing magazines or the complete works of William Shakespeare. This is most useful particularly in L.S.P. situations, where the particular field of discourse may be quite narrow in technical terms, but vast in supporting non-technical terms (Crystal, 1986). Most importantly, information becomes available on the differences between formal and informal language use, and those areas between the two extremes. Words are the common currency of our communication. We use them, exchange them, and discard them. We draw on a rich treasury of words, gathered up over the centuries and millennia of human experience; accumulated, adapted, applied and transformed in use. Too often we speak and write them without much regard for what they are, or how they should be used (O'Donnell 1990: ix ). However, as rightly put forward by Urdang "Lexicography, in practice is a form of applied linguistics and although more theoreticians would be a welcome addition to the field, they must remember that their theories should be interpretable above all in terms of practicality." (Urdang, 1913, p. 594) References

Bergenholtz, H., Nielsen, S. &Tarp, S. (2009) (Eds.), Lexicography at a Crossroads: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Today, Lexicographical Tools Tomorrow. Peter Lang: ISBN 978-3-03911-799-4. Crystal, D. (1986). The Ideal Dictionary Lexicographer and User. In Ilsen (Ed.) (1986). Doroszewski, W. (1973). Elements of Lexicology and Semiotics, The Hague: Mouton. Johnson, S. (1755). The Plan of a Dictionary of English Language. Menston: Scholar Press McCarthy, C. P. (?). The Ideal Dictionary- A Utopian Reality? Applied Linguistics Series. Retrieved March 20, 2012 from http://homepage.tinet.ie/~ciaanmac19/dictionary.htm Nielson, S. (1994). The Bilingual LSP Dictionary, ISBN 978-3823345336 ODonnell, J. (1990). Word Gloss: Institute of Public Administration Singh, R. A. (1982). An Introduction to Lexicography. (Central Institute of Indian Languages. Occasional Monographs Series 26). Retrieved March 18, 2012 from www.H/lexicography.htm Urdang, L. (1913). Review of Problems in Lexicography Language 39, 586-94. Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia (2012). Lexicography Retrieved march 21, 2012 from

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Zgusta, L. (1973). 'Lexicology, Generating words' in McDavid R.I. and Duckert A.R. 14-20.