Gordana Đerić’s Rečnik suvišnih reči (Dictionary of redundant words) has been published in cooperation with the Zlatno Runo publishing company from Belgrade and the Institute of European Studies, Belgrade.
Rečnik suvišnih reči is formally a work of encyclopedic lexicography, a collection of examples of words and expressions that have deviated 1) in meaning and sense, 2) from the times and context where they are used, or 3) from the linguistic standard, style and good taste. The understanding that language is the direct indicator and main means of societal organization and its change represents the basis of the applied approach, which through the disfigurement of what is incorrect, inappropriate, devoid of meaning, or suspicious in contemporary language, fittingly illustrates the “state of affairs” in culture and society. This is why Rečnik suvišnih reči, both by content and idea, is not only the normative corrective and encouragement for responsible language use, precise and clear expression, but also a type of cipher for understanding wide-ranging aspects of social life during the period of so-called “wild capitalism” and/or “transition” in Serbia.
Like a roadmap for the actuality of words – from what they no longer mean in conversational use to what they mean (or should mean) – Rečnik suvišnih reči raises the issue of the distance between the designation and the designated, and bridges the gap between words and the reality of the life to which these words apply. In its intention, the Rečnik suvišnih reči is an original lexicographic defiance of the rule of simulacrum and post-truth, in addition to being a devastating document on the extent of the relativization and neutralization of standards in contemporary Serbian language.
Gordana Đerić, 2019. Rečnik suvišnih reči (Dictionary of redundant words). Belgrade, Zlatno runo / IES.
ISBN 978-86-89717-24-2
COBISS.SR-ID 276845324
