An Open-Access Toolkit for Collaborative, Community-Informed Dictionaries

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this article, we discuss the development of a relational lexicography framework and an open-access toolkit for collaborative, community-informed dictionaries. We explain how the relational lexicography toolkit supports envisioning, developing, and publishing dictionaries that meet the cultural, linguistic, and educational goals of Indigenous communities who, despite ongoing language shift, are working to strengthen their languages. This framework recognizes the many relationships that are present in community-based language projects, including relationships between speakers, dialects, academics, communities, and the dictionary itself. The toolkit, which comprises two online Knowledgebase of Indigenous language dictionaries and lexicography technologies, documents how these relationships have been represented in existing work and provides a centralized platform to refer to and compare resources. Overall, this article provides background context on our methodology, project development, aspects of the resulting resources, and the anticipated benefit of creating such an open-access framework in support of community-based lexicography.