Sanakirjoitus

Sanakirjoitus, commonly understood as the field of lexicography in Finnish, refers to the practice and study of compiling and organizing dictionaries. It covers the selection of headwords, the form and inflection, definitions, etymology, usage notes, example sentences, and cross-references. The aim is to describe vocabulary and its meanings for a target language or language pair, and to present information in a stable, navigable format for users.

Lexicographers rely on data sources such as corpora, existing dictionaries, historical texts, and expert consultation. They decide on sense distinctions, order of senses, pronunciation, and part of speech. They may create monolingual dictionaries (for a language) or bilingual/technical dictionaries. Dictionaries may be printed or digital; modern lexicography emphasizes user needs, speed of updating, and integration with natural language processing. Online dictionaries may include search by word form, morphological analysis, usage examples, and cross-references. Special dictionaries exist for terminology, slang, dialects, neologisms, and multiword expressions.

The field intersects with technology and language planning: lexical databases, spell checkers, and language learning tools rely on lexicographic data. It faces challenges such as keeping pace with language change, polysemy, slang, compounds, and neologisms, as well as ensuring consistency across editions. Open data initiatives and crowd-sourced updates raise questions of quality control and licensing.