Label Incorrectly in the Dictionary of Standard Slovenian

Abstract

The paper provides an overview of the treatment of normative labelled linguistic phenomena in a monolingual general explanatory dictionary with an informative and normative character, particularly in the first and second editions of the Dictionary of Standard Slovenian (SSKJ and SSKJ2). It focuses on the linguistic phenomena that are labelled in the first edition of the Dictionary of Standard Slovenian with an explicit normative usage note “incorrectly”. It compares the normative evaluation of these linguistic phenomena in the first edition with their normative evaluation in the second edition (2014). The purpose of the comparison is to find out how the normative evaluation of linguistic phenomena changed over time. By observing the lexicographical marking of linguistic phenomena, we can trace changes in linguistic norms and in the different views on labelling in dictionaries. A comparative review of the linguistic phenomena in SSKJ and SSKJ2 labelled with the normative usage label “incorrectly” shows that the normative evaluation of linguistic phenomena over time has become less stringent or, put differently, that linguistic phenomena in standard language have become more normatively acceptable. It also shows that the Slovenian monolingual general explanatory dictionary is moving away from explicit normative labelling of linguistic phenomena.