Abstract
The aim of the presentation is to introduce an ongoing project of a Latvian-Czech dictionary, the first bilingual lexicographical description for this combination of languages. My quite logical tendency to employ corpus methods faces, however, a significant problem - a limited data base.
Thus, I necessarily find myself straddling the boundaries between the traditional, "card-based", and "new", corpus-based, way of lexicographical work. However, this should not be seen as a disadvantage - the dictionary is being built on the solid foundations provided by traditional, time-proven lexicographical practise.
Nevertheless, whenever possible, I try to employ modern-age tools and methods (corpora, internet, software, etc.) which save a substantial amount of work and time. Several sample entries on the poster demonstrate the sought-after priorities of the dictionary.
These are - at least in the field of Czech-Baltic lexicography - innovative features: a modern, user-friendly approach; a rich description of collocations; descriptiveness rather than prescriptiveness; the "emancipation" of certain lemmas (often excluded from the main list of entries, taboo-words, or words traditionally nested - e.g. feminine derivates, etc.); usage notes. If the existing, albeit prevailing, lexicographical description is inconsistent with the language reality, it should be - contrary to the tradition - discarded and replaced with another description.