Overview
ISO 1951:2026 - Presentation of lexicographic entries in general language dictionaries - Fundamentals and recommendations - is an international standard developed by ISO for the structured and consistent presentation of entries in general language dictionaries. This document provides essential guidelines for both printed and digital dictionaries-be they monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual-using a lemma-oriented lexicographic approach. The standard aims to address the heterogeneous structures common in dictionary data presentation, ensuring clarity and usability for human end-users, while promoting interoperability and data consistency across language resources.
The document also aligns with the ISO 24613 series, which covers the modelling of underlying lexical data, ensuring a harmonized approach to the representation, retrieval, and reuse of dictionary content in diverse formats.
Key Topics
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Lexicographic Entry Structure:
- Recommendations for organizing dictionary entries, including headwords, definitions, sense components, grammatical information, etymology, usage notes, examples, and cross-references.
- Systematic use of delimiters, markers, and labels (such as grammatical, geographic, or domain labels) to clearly represent different types of information.
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Typographical Conventions:
- Guidance on the use of typographic elements such as boldface, italics, abbreviations, superscripts, highlighting, and colour coding to distinguish between components in printed and digital dictionaries.
- Suggestions for enhancing clarity with features like charts, hyperlinks, tooltips, icons, illustrations, and interactive elements, especially in digital environments.
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Core Concepts and Terminology:
- Standardization of key terms such as lemma, lexical unit, macrostructure, microstructure, sense component, and usage label to ensure consistency across dictionary projects.
- Development of a uniform metaterminology beneficial for data exchange and long-term resource management.
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Handling Heterogeneous Data:
- Strategies to cope with the diversity in dictionary-making practices, accommodating both retro-digitized and born-digital resources while focusing on entries meant for human interpretation.
- Recommendations for integrating lexicographic symbols and notations for better end-user navigation and understanding.
Applications
Related Standards
- ISO 24613 Series (Lexical Markup Framework - LMF):
The definitive standard for modelling and representing lexical data, ensuring compatibility with ISO 1951 recommendations on dictionary structure and presentation.
- ISO 1087:2019:
Furnishes terms and definitions for language and terminology work, underpinning the conceptual framework of ISO 1951.
- ISO 21636-1:2024:
Addresses variation in linguistic resources, relevant for usage labels and sociolinguistic annotation.
- TEI (Text Encoding Initiative):
Referenced for XML-based encoding practices and serialization mechanisms within lexicographic entries, particularly in digital applications.
ISO 1951:2026 provides foundational guidance to lexicographers, linguists, dictionary publishers, and language resource managers seeking to produce or modernize general language dictionaries that are user-friendly, structurally coherent, and compatible with evolving digital standards. By adopting the recommendations in this standard, organizations can ensure clarity, consistency, and future-proof interoperability in lexicographic publishing and language data management.