Conversations on Dictionaries by Ilan Stavans
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.
Ilan Stavans is the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, the publisher of Restless Books, and an advisor to the Oxford English Dictionary. His recent publications include How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish (2020), and The People's Tongue (2023).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781009392396 |
| ISBN 10 | 1009392395 |
| Title | Conversations on Dictionaries |
| Author | Ilan Stavans |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2025-09-30 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |