Revisiting the Origins of EFL Lexicography: the Pioneering Efforts of Early English-Japanese Pedagogical Dictionaries

The dominant narrative on the origins of English monolingual learners’ dictionaries (MLDs) attributes their development to the EFL teaching and research by West, Palmer and Hornby in the early twentieth century. To date, the pedagogical features of bilingual dictionaries and their value as precursors to learners’ dictionaries have been largely overlooked. In this study, we revisit the genesis of English MLDs by tracing some of their key design features in early pedagogical English-Japanese dictionaries. A historical overview reveals that Japanese bilingual lexicographers in the early twentieth century were already aware of learners’ needs in English production. Further evidential comparison is made between two archetypal examples of early pedagogical English-Japanese dictionaries and English MLDs: namely, Saito’s Jukugo-Hon’i Eiwa-Chu-Jiten (“Saito’s Idiomological English-Japanese Dictionary”) (1915) and Hornby’s Idiomatic and Syntactic English Dictionary (1942), respectively. The findings clearly demonstrate that the former has manifested in its entries information category (syntactical and phraseological) and manner of information presentation similar to those found in contemporary English MLDs. We argue that an embryonic form of English MLDs can be observed in those highly innovative early pedagogical English-Japanese dictionaries, and that the historical study of the origins of English MLDs should not ignore their pioneering efforts. This study can shed new light on the historical research on EFL dictionaries. These early Japanese lexicographical practices also offer plenty materials for reflection on contemporary bilingual learners’ dictionaries.