Axiological dictionary of the Serbian language - a proposal for its compilation

Abstract

This paper presents a proposed compilation of a dictionary of values in the Serbian language, which is to be based on the existing findings of the Lublin branch of Polish cognitive ethnolinguistics, of Russian ideography and conceptology, as well as of Serbian traditional reconstructivist ethnolinguistics and more recent ethnolinguistics of cognitive orientation. It contains a critical overview of the aforementioned findings and indicates the unresolved issues, which in the event of the realization of the proposed dictionary would be resolved in the course of project proposal and during all the stages of the preparation and compilation of the dictionary, ranging from building the corpus, defining the list of entries - axiological concepts, their typology, their categorization, the list of entries in the dictionary, their cross-referencing and procedures in their lexicographic treatment. It is pointed out that the compilation of a Serbian axiological dictionary would not only fill a void in contemporary Serbian lexicography, but also make it part and parcel of the current trends in Slavic conceptology and conceptography. Broader impact of the compilation of a dictionary of this type could be seen in the area of interdisciplinary and cognitive treatment and investigations of Serbian linguistic resources, which, through their written and electronic sources related to all spheres of human existence, notably in the fields of ethnography, ethnology and culture, offer invaluable evidence for reconstructing axiological concepts and uncovering a value system, both universal and nationalspecific, which distinguishes Serbian language and culture from the other ones. Thus, at the general linguistic and culturological plane, a dictionary of this type would enable us to compare the specificities of Serbian values with those pertaining to other languages and cultures, both at the level of closely-related Slavic languages and other, non-Slavic ones.