„Dictionary of a Language or the Language of a Dictionary?” Cover Image

„Słownik języka czy język słownika?”
„Dictionary of a Language or the Language of a Dictionary?”

Author(s): Jerzy Molas
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydział Polonistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: historia języka chorwackiego; leksykografia; history of the Croatian language; lexicography

Summary/Abstract: The first part of the article is a record of research and presents methodological assumptions for the Serbian-Croatian dictionary published in 1960’s by Matica srpska, Matica hrvatska ({Речник српскохрватскога књижевног језика} // Rječnik hrvatskosrpskoga književnog jezika). The understanding of the historical context (the pursuit to create a common, state language in former Yugoslavia) and the methodology of dealing with the lexical material which led to blurring the differences between the Serbian and Croatian languages is the key element which reveals why the whole project was doomed to failure. The second part of the article shows the aggravation of the conflict which concerned the dictionary and which led to withholding the cooperation between the Serbian and Croatian editorial teams and which in turn can be perceived as an anticipation of what was about to happen in the 1990’s i.e. the disintegration of the Serbo-Croatian Language.

  • Issue Year: 2007
  • Issue No: 53
  • Page Range: 397-408
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Polish