eLexicography in the 21st century

The field of lexicography is undergoing a major revolution. The rapid replacement of the traditional paper dictionary by electronic dictionaries opens up exciting possibilities but also constitutes a major challenge to the field. The eLexicography in the 21st Century: New Challenges, New Applications conference organized by the Centre for English Corpus Linguistics of the Université catholique de Louvain in October 2009 aimed to bring together the many researchers around the world who are working in the fast developing field of electronic lexicography and to act as a showcase for the latest lexicographic developments and software solutions in the field. The conference attracted both academics and industrial partners from 30 different countries who presented electronic dictionary projects dealing with no less than 22 languages.

The resulting proceedings volume bears witness to the tremendous vitality and diversity of research in the field. The volume covers a wide range of topics, including:

• the use of language resources for lexicographic purposes, in the form of lexical databases like WordNet or corpora of different types
• innovative changes to the dictionary structure afforded by the electronic medium, in particular multiple access routes and efficient integration of phraseology
• specialised dictionaries (e.g. SMS dictionaries, sign language dictionaries)
• automated customisation of dictionaries in function of users' needs
• exploitation of Natural Language Processing tools
• integration of electronic dictionaries into language learning and teaching tools