Abstract
The genealogy of lexicography represents an ideal standpoint to reveal how sign-making practices may shape cultural objects. In this paper I discuss the revolution that lexicography undertook during the nineteenth century, showing why this process required the availability of a specific set of concepts, and then how it led up to the emergence of new social techniques, to the coming into being of a new kind of people, and to the introduction of new practices of sign-manipulation. Finally, I confront the historical development of lexicography with the project of the dictionary of Newspeak that Orwell envisioned in 1984.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 261-269 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Semiotica |
Volume | 198 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Keywords
- 1984
- cultural objects
- lexicography
- linguistic authority
- meaning
- semiotics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language
- Literature and Literary Theory