Department of Language Standardisation

Head: Helena Dobrovoljc
+386 1 4706 432
helena.dobrovoljc@zrc-sazu.si

Location: Novi Trg 4, fifth floor

Department Purpose and Activity

The department employs seven researchers engaged in lexicographic and research activities, especially in connection with standard Slovenian and its expressive forms. The main task of the department is to coordinate preparation of new normative rules (Pravopis 8.0), which are being created in cooperation with the SAZU and ZRC SAZU Normative Committee, and the associated normative dictionary (ePravopis). In their desire to make the manual as useful as possible, they pay special attention to the language issues of language users, and they answer language questions via the up-to-date online Language Consulting Service, while at the same time gathering information for a collection of language issues. Members conduct research on standard language theory, word formation, geographical names, dialectology, lexicology, phraseology, and paremiology.

Some members teach at the ZRC SAZU Graduate School, the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Social Sciences, and the University of Nova Gorica’s Faulty of Humanities, and they also frequently appear as guest lecturers in Slovenia and abroad.

The members of the department are involved in creating, editing, and improving the language portals Fran, Franček, and Language Consulting Service.

The department regularly publishes scholarly volumes with articles on issues that researchers encounter in their normative work:

• Sodobni pravopisni priročnik med normo in predpisom (The Modern Normative Guide between Norm and Regulation; Helena Dobrovoljc & Nataša Jakop, 2011, 2012)
• Pravopisna stikanja (Normative Encounters, ed. Nataša Jakop & Helena Dobrovoljc, 2012)
• Pravopisna razpotja (Normative Crossroads, ed. Helena Dobrovoljc & Tina Lengar Verovnik, 2015)
• Pravopis na zrnu graha (The Normative Guide and the Pea, ed. Tina Lengar Verovnik & Urška Vranjek Ošlak, 2022)
• Živim v Bukovem vrhu pod Bukovim vrhom (I Live in the Village of Bukov Vrh below the Hill Bukov vrh, ed. Helena Dobrovoljc & Manca Černivec, 2020)
• Normativnost v slovarjih slovenskega knjižnega jezika (Normativity in the Dictionaries of the Slovenian Standard Language, Manca Černivec, 2024)
• Slovensko kolesarsko izrazje. Leksikalni vidik (Slovenian cycling terminology: the lexical aspect, Urška Vranjek Ošlak, 2024)

Based on the questions from the Language Consulting Service page and in cooperation with two members of the Department of Lexicology, the volume Kje pa vas jezik žuli? Prva pomoč iz Jezikovne svetovalnice (Tell Me Where Your Tongue Hurts: First Aid from the Language Consulting Service; Helena Dobrovoljc, Nataša Gliha Komac, Mija Michelizza, Urška Vranjek Ošlak, Tina Lengar Verovnik, & Peter Weiss, 2020) was produced. It received the Excellence in Science Award.

The department also prepares electronic publications presenting the annual additions of lexicographic works on the Fran portal:

• ePravopis (e-Normative Guide, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023)
• Pravopisne kategorije ePravopisa (Normative Categories in the e-Normative Guide, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023)

Volumes in the series Pravopis 8.0 (Normative Guide 8.0)

• Komentarji poglavij I–IV Pravopisa 8.0 (Comments on Chapters 1–4 of Normative Guide 8.0)
• Pravopis 8.0 – Pravila novega slovenskega pravopisa za javno razpravo. I Pisna znamenja, II Krajšave, Pripombe javne razprave (Normative Guide 8.0: Rules of the New Slovenian Normative Guide for Public Discussion. 1. Written Symbols; 2. Abbreviations; Public Discussion Comments)
• Pravopis 8.0 – Pravila novega slovenskega pravopisa za javno razpravo. III Velika in mala začetnica, IV Prevzete besede in besedne zveze, Pripombe javne razprave (Normative Guide 8.0: Rules of the New Slovenian Normative Guide for Public Discussion. 3. Capitalization; 4. Loanwords and Loan Phrases; Public Discussion Comments)

Press conferences 

• From the Press Conference (December 4th, 2019; ZRC Atrium)
• Roundtable: Roundtable Marking the Start of the Public Discussion on the New Chapters of the Normative Guide (March 18th, 2021; online event on YouTube)
• Press conference: New Chapters of Normative Guide 8.0 for Public Discussion (January 24th, 2023; ZRC Atrium, recording posted on YouTube)
• Press conference: Fourth Public Discussion on Normative Guide 8.0 (April 22nd, 2024; ZRC Atrium, recording posted on YouTube)

Department staff publications on Normative Guide 8.0 

• Radio program Jezikovni pogovori (Language Conversations): "Jezikovne premene in prevzemanje" (Linguistic Shifts and Borrowing; Helena Dobrovoljc, 2024)
• "Usmerjanje kodifikacijskega postopka in javna razprava ob prenovi pravopisnih pravil" (Codification Guidelines and Public Discussion on the Normative Reform; Helena Dobrovoljc, Obdobja 2024)
• "Iz pravil v slovar: uresničevanje pravopisnih pravil v pravopisnem slovarju" (From Rules to a Dictionary: Applying Normative Rules in a Normative Dictionary; Manca Černivec, Obdobja 2024)
• "Jezikovno svetovanje v obdobju prenove pravopisnega priročnika" (Language Consulting Activities during the Revision of the Normative Guide; Urška Vranjek Ošlak, Obdobja 2024)
• Radio program Jezikovni pogovori (Language Conversations): "Od ljudi za ljudi − Pravopis 8.0?" (From People for People: Normative Guide 8.0?; Helena Dobrovoljc 2023)
• "Pravopis 8.0 – smernice in predlogi rešitev" (Normative Guide 8.0: Guidelines and Suggested Solutions; Helena Dobrovoljc, Slovenščina v šoli 2021)
• "Nasprotja in normativna izhodišča pri posodabljanju priročnikov knjižnega jezika" (Conflicts and Normative Bases in Updating Standard Language Reference Works; Helena Dobrovoljc, Jezik in slovstvo 2021)
• "Vejica v pravopisu" (Commas in Normative Rules; Tina Lengar Verovnik, Jezik in slovstvo 2018)

Members of the department also perform editorial work for:

• Lingua Slovenica (T. Lengar Verovnik)
• Lingua Slovenica Fontes (Helena Dobrovoljc)

Current Programs and Projects

Members of the department have been or are involved in the following programs and projects:

• Slovenian in Synchronic and Diachronic Development (January 1st, 2022 – December 31st, 2027)
• Development of Slovenian in the Digital Environment: Language Resources and Technologies (May 4th, 2020 – August 31st, 2022)
• Media Repertoires of Young People: Social, Political, and Cultural Aspects of Digitized Everyday Life (Tina Lengar Verovnik)
• Standardization of Hydronyms in the Register of Geographical Names (September 1st, 2021 – August 31st, 2024, Helena Dobrovoljc)
• The central specialized information center for the humanities (od 1. 3. 2023 do 31. 12. 2025, T. Završnik)

Media Presence

Achievements by members of the department also appear in the media, where they frequently present their work:

• "Namen posodobitve pravopisa je poenostavljanje tam, kjer je to mogoče" (The Purpose of Updating the Normative Guide is to Simplify Things Where Possible; article on RTV SLO)
• "Al’ prav se reče stə̀bər al’ stêber – al’ je prav oboje?" (What is the Correct Slovenian Pronunciation: stə̀bər or stêber, or Is Either Correct?; article in Delo)
• "Novo poglavje Pravopisa 8.0: zakaj pišemo ministrski in tabelni in zakaj helikopterski?" (A New Chapter of Normative Guide 8.0: Why Do We Write ministrski ‘Ministerial’ and tabelni ‘Tabular’, and Why helikopterski ‘of a Helicopter’?; article on RTV SLO)
• "Pravopis 8.0: odprta je javna razprava o predlogih za dve novi poglavji" (Normative Guide 8.0: The Public Discussion on Suggestions for Two New Chapters Is Now Open, article on RTV SLO)
• Roundtable upon completion of the project Grace RRI (Priložnosti ob vključevanju javnosti v jezikoslovni raziskovalni proces, November 16th, 2021)
• Roundtable at the start of the public discussion on the new normative chapters in Pravopis 8.0 (Normative Guide 8.0) (March 12th, 2021)
• Online discussion about the book Kje pa vas jezik žuli? (Tell Me Where Your Tongue Hurts) (May 28th, 2021)

They help create the Beseda tedna (Word of the Week) column in the print and online editions of the newspaper Delo, and they take part in broadcasts of RTV Kiks.