36.3186, Books: Conversations on Dictionaries: Stavans (ed.) (2025)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3186. Tue Oct 21 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.3186, Books: Conversations on Dictionaries: Stavans (ed.) (2025)

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Date: 21-Oct-2025
From: Ellena Moriarty [rfsupport at cambridge.org]
Subject: Conversations on Dictionaries: Stavans (ed.) (2025)


Title: Conversations on Dictionaries
Subtitle: The Universe in a Book
Publication Year: 2025

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
           http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics
Book URL:
https://www.cambridge.org/ch/universitypress/subjects/languages-linguistics/history-english-language/conversations-dictionaries-universe-book?format=PB&isbn=9781009392396

Editor(s): Ilan Stavans

Paperback ISBN:  9781009392396 Pages:  322 Price: U.K. £ 25.00
Paperback ISBN:  9781009392396 Pages:  322 Price: Europe EURO 29.18
Paperback ISBN:  9781009392396 Pages:  322 Price: U.S. $ 33.00

Abstract:

How did dictionaries come to be? When and how did they originate in a
specific language? Who was involved in that origin story? How have
they evolved over time? What is the tension between scholarly and
commercial, and between prescriptive and descriptive, dictionaries?
What is the politics behind each dictionary? And what is the
connection between dictionaries and nation-building? This fascinating
book has the answers. It brings together a collection of conversations
with leading lexicographers from around the world to explore the role
dictionaries have played in history, comparing the parallel histories
of lexicography in twenty different languages. The conversations
explore the way dictionaries, which preserve language while
contributing to their standardization, are always political in nature,
prescribing some words while cancelling others. Covering major world
languages, indigenous languages, and hybrid languages, this is
essential reading for academic researchers and students of
lexicography, and professional and trainee professional
lexicographers.

Written In: English (eng)



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