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Presentation
Collaborators

Department of the History of the Slovenian Language




Head: Andreja Legan Ravnikar
+386 1 200 60 01
andreja.legan-ravnikar@zrc-sazu.si

Location: Wolfova 8, 2. nadstropje

Department Purpose and Activity

The department currently employs six researchers, who deal with dictionary entries and research on Slovenian in the past, especially written Slovenian of the sixteenth century. Language content is prepared for specialized users in linguistics and in literary and cultural history, and popular content is produced to inform general users. Members conduct research on historical lexicology and lexicography, historical morphology and word formation, historical terminology and phraseology, historical sociolinguistics, contact linguistics, the history of linguistics, and the history of written Slovenian from the sixteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. Some members teach at the ZRC SAZU Graduate School, and they also frequently appear as guest lecturers in Slovenia and abroad.

Within the department, work is underway on a historical dictionary, Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika 16. stoletja (Dictionary of Sixteenth-Century Slovenian, 2021–; editors-in-chief of the first volume: Kozma Ahačič, Metod Čepar, Alenka Jelovšek, Andreja Legan Ravnikar, Majda Merše (retired), Jožica Narat (retired), France Novak (retired); abbreviated SSKJ16). In 2022, its first volume was adapted for online publication, thus becoming the foundation of the new, continuously growing dictionary eSSKJ16 (2022–). Since 2023, it has been expanded with new entries as part of the annual updates of the Fran web portal. From 2024 onward, the individual annual additions have also been available as e-books (Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika 16. stoletja 2024, 2025, etc.).

A member of the department is the editor-in-chief of the Fran and Franček language portals, and some members are involved in creating and improving the Fran portal and are in charge of visualization of historical language information. Members serve as editors and are on the editorial boards of Slovenian and international linguistics journals, and the institute’s book collection, and they are (co)editors of research volumes and scientific critical editions, selected works, and unpublished material from the estates of Slovenian linguists. They also compose the answers and serve on the editorial board for the Language Advisory Service, which operates under the auspices of the Department of Language Standardisation. One of the members writes grammars and textbooks for primary and secondary schools.

Within the department, some seminal works for Slovenian have been and are being created, including:

Current Projects

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

Media Presence

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

They also help create the Beseda tedna (Word of the Week) column in the print and online editions of the newspaper Delo.