Disciplinary moulds and epistemological clashes
Year: 2026
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Historical Lexicographers, like other linguists, are accustomed to viewing their craft as an objective activity. There are limits to this goal, however. This contribution presents some challlenges at the examples of Standard Canadian English and Standard Austrian German. Standard Canadian English was into the 1960s an unusual concept, likewise Austrian German began to be codified on a grand scale only after World War II. As historical lexicography has played a key role for many European philologies, it seems advisable to probe possible disciplinary biases and, perhaps, inadvertent “language (un)making” ( Krämer et al. 2022 ) by lexicographers and linguists. Historical dictionaries offer much “more than words” (conference theme), as they sociopolitically contribute to shaping languages, how “objective” can historical lexicography be? When spaces change, e.g. political borders, and times and cultures change, new standard varieties often emerge. Historical lexicographers ought to be aware of their inevitable role in the language making process.
Author: Stefan Dollinger
Institution: University of British Columbia
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7160158464