About DSNA Biennial Conferences
The Dictionary Society of North America has held biennial meetings since 1977. Bringing together scholars of lexicography and professional lexicographers, the conference is an important event for anyone interested in modern dictionary research and practices. Speakers must be DSNA members; nonmembers should apply for membership when they receive their acceptance to speak. Join here.
2027 DSNA Meeting
Mark your calendars for the 26th Biennial Meeting of the Dictionary Society of North America, which will be held at the University of California, Davis from June 16–19, 2027. It will begin with an optional workshop on practical lexicography and a welcome reception on Wednesday, June 16, and end with the biennial business meeting of the Society the afternoon of Saturday, June 19.
The theme of the meeting is: In the age of AI, who creates and owns meaning?
A dictionary is the quintessential collaborative enterprise: the speech community, the lexicographers, the editors, the publishers, the developers, the designers – dictionary projects are inherently the work of many hands. The era when dictionary-making was chiefly the realm of publishing houses is largely past, but the collaborative nature of the work is not. What’s shifting is the nature of how meaning is captured and communicated, with speech communities organizing language in ways that resist both traditional authority (the voice of the expert) and the entrenchment of past meanings that AI reinforces.
We are excited to be hosted by the Native American Language Center in the UC Davis Department of Native American Studies, a hub for Indigenous language work at the confluence of the academy and the community. It’s an ideal venue for thought leadership and practical collaboration, building on the foundations laid by DSNA24 (the lexicography of Indigenous languages) and DSNA25 (AI and the future of lexicography).
Be on the lookout for a call for papers on topics such as:
- The lexicography of North American languages
- The use of AI in dictionary making
- The relevance of historical lexicography in the current context
- Arbitration of meaning in speech communities
- Tools for collaborative lexical projects
As always, presentations on any aspect of dictionaries, lexicography, and lexicology, historical to contemporary are welcome.