PREFACE

Ilan Kernerman

This book is one of the fruits of the Dictionaries in Asia Conference, held in Hong Kong on 26-29 March 1997. The prime aim of that international event was to discuss relevant research and pedagogic implications, and inaugurate the Asian Association for Lexicography (ASIALEX). The First ASIALEX Regional Symposium (Guangzhou, China, January 1999) coincides with the publication by Longman Asia of another set of papers from the initial conference, focusing on the theme of bilingualised dictionaries. In addition, one paper was published in the International Journal of Lexicography (Keisuke Nakao, The state of bilingual lexicography in Japan: learners' English-Japanese/Japanese-English dictionaries. March 1998, 11.1:35-50), and another paper by P.R. Subramanian is pending.

Early this year I received from the conveners, Amy Chi Man-lai and Gregory James, twelve of the papers read at the Hong Kong conference, most of which comprise the core of this volume. They are complemented by two papers presented at the Fifth International Symposium of the National Language Research Institute in Tokyo, held on 29 August 1997, another paper from Japan originally written for Kernerman Dictionary News (No. 6, July 1998), Tom McArthur's Introduction expanding on the subject matter, and Reinhard Hartmann's Postscript which rounds the collection off.

The title Lexicography in Asia might seem more valid as promotional jargon than as an accurate definition of the book's contents. Obviously, the present selection is far from encompassing the vast potential implied by its name, and a great many related linguistic, geographical and historical aspects are not represented. Any such idealistic assertion would, however, ignore the novelty and uniqueness of this first effort to publish a body of work on Asian lexicography that may hopefully serve to provide a glimpse of the richness still to be uncovered, and to whet the appetite for more.

While noting the lack of lexicographic themes from many parts of Asia, a symbolic feature of this book is its publication of all places in Israel, in a part of western Asia which has historically formed a center for the Old World, a crossroads of cultures and bridge uniting Asia, Europe and Africa. Nowadays Israel is sometimes regarded as an alien Western extension into an Eastern area, its natural bonds and origin in the region being overlooked. Yet, the native Hebrew language, perhaps the newest-oldest living tongue on earth, has always turned eastwards (kedma, as in the Bible, Genesis 13.14, derived from kedem [see below], Genesis 2.8) for either roots or future.

This can be exemplified by the multifaceted inflections of the k-d-m triconsonantal-root, which refer (among many others) to: kedem (east; ancient times; front*; eternity*; day*), kdam (pre-), kadam (precede), kadim (east*; progressive*), kadima (ahead; onwards; forwards; eastwards*), kdima (priority, precedence), kidma (advance, progress; eastern*), kadmon (ancient, early; first*; "beginningless"*; eastern*), kadmut (be restored), and hakdama (preface, introduction, preamble) [selected translations from Oxford English-Hebrew Hebrew-English Dictionary, (ed.), Ya'acov Levy. 1994, Tel Aviv: Kernerman and Kahn; translations marked (*) are mine, based on definitions from Otzar ha'Lashon ha'Ivrit ('Treasure of the Hebrew Tongue'), XVI (ed.), Ya'acov Kna'ani. 1980, Givatayim: Massada].

My personal subtitle for this book has been 'Bringing papers to light: from Exeter to Hong Kong and Tokyo, and from Cambridge to Tel Aviv'. The first part is literally translating lehotzi la'or, the Hebrew term for 'to publish'; the second indicates the main Asian locations that played a part in our work, while paying tribute to the University of Exeter's significant role in this lexicographic scene, and to the dedicated collaboration of Tom McArthur in Cambridge, which for me often felt like a private master class. I am grateful to Tom for his editing and generosity, and wish to thank also all the contributors who entrusted their words in our hands so as to realize this dream. May Lexicography in Asia blossom worldwide.

Tel Aviv, August 1998 – Elul 5758

Ilan Kernerman, born in Tel Aviv in 1958, manages K Dictionaries, which is involved in non-native English learner's dictionaries. His recent projects were coordinating the development of the interactive-multimedia Pass-Q-Word dictionary on CD-ROM and the revision of a new edition of the intermediate-level dictionary. He edits Kernerman Dictionary News.