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A Small Dictionary of Life under Communist Totalitarian Rule (Czechoslovakia 1948-1989)

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2014

Abstract

The intention is to preserve the vocabulary of the period for the younger generation; also to remind the older generation of vocabulary that they used to encounter, but are gradually forgetting. The dictionary is specific in that it is made up of two types of vocabulary - the language of communist propaganda and the spoken language emerging from how people reacted to the pressure of propaganda, often including popular humour.

The first type of vocabulary has been collated through Corpus of Totalitarianism, for the second type a corpus-based source does not exist (it is the language as spoken, which it was possible to collate through quotes from fiction, journalistic writings and from the author's own observations. This language has been is checked in contemporary written corpuses, on some occasions it is to be found in the Corpus of Totalitarianism or on the internet).