The microstructure of online linguistic dictionaries: obligatory and facultative elements

The planning of a dictionary should consider both theoretical and empiric aspects, either for its macro- and microstructure: this is true also for Online Specialized Dictionaries of Linguistics. In particular the microstructure should be standardized and structured so as to fit with the primary and secondary functions of a dictionary. Unfortunately, empirical studies that investigate Online Specialized Dictionaries of Linguistics are rare, making it unclear which microstructural elements are obligatory and which are facultative. This article will present and comment upon the results of an investigation into a corpus of Online Specialized Dictionaries of Linguistics, focusing attention on these aspects and also the most important theoretical issues. An example taken from DIL, a German-Italian Online Dictionary of Linguistics, will end the article.