The future of metalexicography: A bibliometric study

Presentation by Gilles-Maurice de Schryver on 3 March 2023, for the Lexicography SIG of the Iwasaki Linguistic Circle, Tokyo.

In this presentation, a quantified look is taken at the metalexicographic endeavours of the past half century, starting in 1971. It is argued that the year 2021 represents a tipping point, and for that reason, wherever illustrations are needed those are taken from the work of Sue Atkins, who passed away in 2021. It analyses the formation of the various continental lexicography associations, as well as their conferences and linked proceedings, and ends with the current and future role of the global lexicographic alliance. In addition, a comparative bibliometric study is undertaken of the four main journals of our field. It is shown that the amount of metalexicographic studies and the impact these have continue to grow, to the point where dedicated tools and databases are currently needed for the efficient examination and use of the now many thousands of conference papers, journal articles, and other publications. A brief section also deals with modern dictionary user research, which is, according to current thinking, subsumed under metalexicography. With and from this vast amount of data, the future direction of metalexicography is extrapolated. The undertaken research is thus very much data-driven, and refrains from thought experiments to arrive at that future.

00:00 Introduction
00:26 (1) Metalexicography: From zero to the stratosphere in 50 years (1971-2021)
06:21 (2) Conferences of the continental associations for lexicography
18:18 (3) Publications of the continental associations for lexicography
22:46 Impact publications
24:42 Dictionaries: Jnl. of the DSNA
25:14 Intl. Jnl. for Lexicography (IJL)
25:25 Lexikos: Jnl. of Afrilex
25:36 Lexicography: Jnl. of Asialex
29:51 Basic citation metrics for the four main lexicographic journals
31:14 Percentage of articles never cited, or only once
34:59 Top 15 articles in each journal
37:31 Top Topics in each journal
38:22 Top Languages dealt with in each journal
38:56 Top Authors in each journal
40:40 (4) Research into dictionary use as metalexicography
44:10 (5) Elexifinder: A tool to browse all of the world’s metalexicographic publications
52:00 (6) Discussion and conclusion
01:05:46 Wrap-up by the chair
01:06:35 Q&A [Yukio Tono] Publications other than purely lexicographic ones
01:12:23 Q&A [Yukio Tono] Lexicon: Jnl. of the Iwasaki Linguistic Circle
01:16:42 Q&A [Sarah Takahashi] AI and metalexicography
01:20:12 Q&A [Robert Lew] Google Scholar vs. Scopus Reference
01:22:35 Q&A [Kaoru Akasu] Americalex vs. Latinlex
01:24:14 Q&A [Teresa Fuentes] "Thank you very much for the presentation and for the work. And for letting us attend from a distance."
01:25:16 Q&A [Robert Lew] "Great talk, big thanks to the speaker and to the organizers!"

To refer to this presentation:
de Schryver, Gilles-Maurice. 2023. The future of metalexicography: A bibliometric study. Paper presented at the Lexicography SIG of the Iwasaki Linguistic Circle, Tokyo, 3 March 2023.

This talk is based on a manuscript published as: