The Development of the Open Dictionary of Contemporary Serbian Language Using Crowdsourcing Techniques

Abstract

The paper introduces the idea of developing an Open Dictionary of Contemporary Serbian Language using the crowdsourcing method with a clear vision of the necessity of modernizing the work in the field of Serbian lexicography. The crowdsourcing procedure is expected to obtain the latest, present-day vocabulary, i.e. new words which have not yet been presented and described in existing dictionaries of the Serbian language. The crowdsourcing task requires participants to suggest new words, along with the description of their meaning and examples which they find most appropriate. There are two primary goals: (1) solving the problem of timely and comprehensively recording and presenting new vocabulary in real time and (2) creating a user-oriented dictionary of new words and expressions. The main idea is to create a dictionary which would offer simple explanations of the semantic, grammatical and pragmatic features of new words and expressions in the Serbian language. The practical, lexicographic objective is to show the need for the development of such a dictionary which would fill the gap that exists in Serbian descriptive lexicography and neography.