Improving the representation of school vocabulary: The case of partial gaps in reference dictionaries

Abstract

This study is part of the research project "VEB. Basic Specialized Vocabulary in Compulsory Education: A Corpus-Based Extraction and Analysis", which aims to identify technical or scientific terms that, due to their social dissemination and educational significance, should be included in general lexical repertoires. The study specifically examines the so-called partial gaps – terms found in compulsory education textbooks that are not listed as entries or subentries in either the Catalan normative dictionary (DIEC2) or the school dictionary (DIDAC), but that do appear as examples or within the definitions of related terms. With the goal of contributing to the development of lexicographical criteria for including such terms, the study applies a mixed quantitative and qualitative methodology based on data from the VEB-WEB platform. First, it presents a quantitative analysis of partial gaps according to the dictionary and educational level of origin, and it describes their syntactic structure. Next, it develops a qualitative analysis focused on syntagmatic series, highlighting inconsistencies in inclusion criteria and proposing ways to improve lexicographical coherence and accessibility, especially for school users. Lastly, it identifies the most frequently used terms across all school years, in order to determine highly dictionary-worthy lexical units. The findings reveal an uneven coverage of VEB’s vocabulary in the dictionaries studied, as well as a lack of systematicity in the inclusion of terms with high educational importance. The study concludes with several proposals to expand and improve general lexical repertoires, with particular attention to the needs of learners in educational contexts.