This is What a Dictionary Looks Like: The Lexicographical Contributions of Feminist Dictionaries

摘要

Feminist dictionaries published between 1970 and 2006 have received little attention in the world of lexicography. The aim of this article is to establish feminist dictionaries as ambitious revisions of lexicographical theory and practice worthy of historical documentation and contemporary consideration. Feminist dictionaries are shown to propose a form of lexicography that (1) foregrounds the material and personal circumstances of dictionary production, (2) fosters active, opinionated, and exploratory dictionary consumption, and (3) highlights meaning as contextual, contested, personal, and perspectival. This article suggests that remembering and reviving the lexicographical priorities of feminist dictionaries is valuable for telling the history and imagining the future of the dictionary genre.