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In:Lexical Variation and Knowledge Construction across Historical, Methodological, and Cultural Ecologies
Edited by Rossella Latorraca, Rita Calabrese, Jacqueline Aiello and Dirk Geeraerts
[Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice 25] 2026
► pp. 220–241

Disciplinary moulds and epistemological clashes

The historical lexicography of Austrian German and Canadian English

 | University of British Columbia
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Historical Lexicographers, like other linguists, are accustomed to viewing their craft as an objective activity. There are limits to this goal, however. This contribution presents some challlenges at the examples of Standard Canadian English and Standard Austrian German. Standard Canadian English was into the 1960s an unusual concept, likewise Austrian German began to be codified on a grand scale only after World War II. As historical lexicography has played a key role for many European philologies, it seems advisable to probe possible disciplinary biases and, perhaps, inadvertent “language (un)making” (Krämer et al. 2022) by lexicographers and linguists. Historical dictionaries offer much “more than words” (conference theme), as they sociopolitically contribute to shaping languages, how “objective” can historical lexicography be? When spaces change, e.g. political borders, and times and cultures change, new standard varieties often emerge. Historical lexicographers ought to be aware of their inevitable role in the language making process.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Pluricentricity, anti-pluricentricity and codification
  • 2.Epistemological awareness and standard variety (un)making
  • 3.Conceptualizing standard varieties: Austrian German and Canadian English
  • 4.Decolonizing Canadian English and dehegemonizing Austrian German
  • 5.The “One Standard Axiom” for Austria and Canada:
    OSGA, OSEA and debunking “pluri-areality”
  • 6.Dehegemonizing and decolonizing lexicography: Three epistemological fail-safes
  • Note
  • References
References (84)
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