Dictionaries of Critically Endangered Languages: Focus on Users

Abstract

Abstract The article describes specific features of dictionaries of endangered languages from the perspective of their user. Dictionaries of the Saami language – the language of the indigenous minority of the North – are used to describe the anthropocentric, cognitive and pragmatic approach to lexicographical description of culture. The article shows that the focus on the dictionary user becomes especially critical for the endangered languages. It proves that the purpose of such dictionaries is not only to preserve the knowledge that the speakers of the endangered language and bearers of the culture still keep, but also to revitalize this knowledge. The article states that contemporary lexicography must consider several factors for making an endangered language dictionary: the present state of the language in the language community and the scope of background knowledge of a language speaker that represents everyday level of the world cognition by indigenous minority. The article shows that the most relevant type of dictionary for the endangered languages is both a learner’s dictionary and a linguoculturological dictionary (active type). We emphasize that on the one hand the Saami dictionaries describe a culture that is often unknown even to most Saami culture bearers and on the other hand, the dictionaries are also intended for Saami who have no command of the native language. The peculiarities of the relevant dictionary comprise the fact that alongside the translation in the basic part of the dictionary there is a culturological commentary that as fully as possible reflects the knowledge of language speakers.