20th-century Soviet–Russian dictionary front matter: focus on the linguistic norm

Abstract

Two iconic twentieth-century print dictionaries provide a sampling of dictionary front matter in the Soviet–Russian lexicographic tradition; they demonstrate how front matter was used for overt and covert messaging about the linguistic norm. First is the one-volume bilingual English–Russian dictionary of Vladimir Karlovich Muller, and second is the one-volume monolingual Russian dictionary of Sergei Ivanovich Ozhegov; later it was published with Ozhegov and Nataliia Iul’evna Shvedova listed as co-authors. Both dictionaries were revised and reprinted over many decades. Only two editions of each dictionary are in focus, although there were more than sixty editions of Muller, 23 of Ozhegov, and several of Ozhegov and Shvedova.