Leksikografi i et lille sprogsamfund – fordele og ulemper

Resumé

This article – which is based on the ongoing project with the first monolingual Faroese dictionary ever, expected to be published later this year (1997) – deals with some advantages and disadvantages in working in the fields of lexicography in a small society. Idealistically there are the same needs for dictionaries in a small society as in a big, but there seem to be more limitations in reaching these goals in a small society. On the one hand the smallness of the society makes it relatively easy to get a general view of e.g. the vocabulary, as the number of texts produced is fairly limited. On the other hand limits in both economic and human resources to some extent prevent dictionary makers from forming the ideal empirical basis of preparing comprehensive dictionaries. In recent years there has been a tendency toward establishing a kind of dictionary environment in the Faroes. It is however of vital importance strictly to make plans for the needs for different kinds of dictionaries, especially because of the limits in both economic and human resources to fulfil these tasks and to avoid the same tasks from being solved twice at the same time as other remain unsolved. Therefore it's of vital importance to gather all strength concerning lexicography to co-operate.