Dictionary and Culture: Theory and Practice of the Kola Saami Dictionary Making

Abstract

This paper reports theoretical results obtained in the process of making dictionaries of the spiritual and material culture lexis of an indigenous small-numbered people of the North -the Saami. The article shows that such dictionaries are of a new type for Saami lexicography, as they bring to the forefront the epistemological function of a dictionary, which is due to the specificity of its user, who is the bearer of the Saami culture but has no command of the Saami language. It discusses the specific character of the word list and definitions of the Kola Saami language dictionary, and the principles of making such dictionaries (word selection, thematic belonging, specificity). It is shown that the word list of such dictionaries reflects the linguistic world image of indigenous small-numbered people and that its definitions include a culturological commentary commensurate with people's understanding of the world around them, their living practices and their everyday life experiences. It is also shown that the dictionaries of the Kola Saami language do not fit the exact traditional classification of dictionaries: in this case the distinctions between linguistic/encyclopaedic and linguo culturological/linguistic country-related is blurred.