Comparative Analysis of the «Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian language» by V.I. Dahl and the Chinese «Kangxi Dictionary»

The subject of study in the presented work is a comparative analysis of explanatory dictionaries of Russian and Chinese languages based on the material of the «Explanatory Dictionary of the living Great Russian language» by V.I. Dahl and the Chinese «Kangxi Dictionary». The purpose of the analysis is to clarify the similarities and differences in the nature of the explanation of the meaning of words and to compile the structure of explanatory dictionaries in the Russian and Chinese lexicographic tradition. The study was conducted using a descriptive and comparative method, based on a comparative analysis of the structure and presentation of information in the dictionary entry of the dictionaries under study. The obtained conclusions allow us to note the similarities between the Russian and Chinese explanatory dictionary: 1) when explaining the meaning of a word, both dictionaries use the same (or similar) methods; 2) the structure of both dictionaries reflects the formal semantic connections between words; 3) both dictionaries in the process of interpreting words provide information of an ethnographic and linguocultural nature; 4) both Russian and Chinese explanatory dictionaries approach a dictionary of a combined type. The paper notes important differences in the structure of the alphabetic and hieroglyphic dictionary, in the nature of the dictionary information provided. The results of the research conducted in this article can be used in research and teaching activities related to the study of the lexicography of the Russian and Chinese languages.