At the session, a project of the Science Fund of Serbia was presented, implemented under the PROMIS 2023 program: the German-Serbian Collocation Dictionary for German Language Learning and Teaching (acronym DeSKoll).
The project was discussed by the project leader, Assoc. Prof. Nikola Vujčić (FILUM, Kragujevac), along with project collaborators—Assistant Professor Dr. Georgina Frei (FILUM, Kragujevac) and Dijana Stojić (Faculty of Technical Sciences in Čačak). The participants of the symposium were greeted by Prof. Dr. Boško Suvajdžić, President of the Assembly of the Vuk’s Foundation.
The research team consists of experts from the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac (the project holder), the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, and the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Čačak. The ultimate goal of the project is to create a German-Serbian Collocation Dictionary available in the form of a web and mobile application. The work is planned to unfold through eight phases: a technical-informatic phase where the online platform and mobile application are created, followed by the theoretical definition of the concept of collocation, defining collocation databases, determining collocations with appropriate examples based on a defined list of words, identifying suitable Serbian translation equivalents for the German collocations, inputting prepared data into the created web and mobile application system, generating tasks based on the acquired collocations and assigned examples, and finally, controlling and adapting the entered data. For the purposes of this project, collocations are defined as habitual lexical combinations, composed of an autonomous semantic base, any potential accompanying elements, and a preferred collocator, which is fixed in the mental lexicon and can be reproduced as a whole without the property of idiomaticity.
The planned collocation dictionary has the following macrostructure: accompanying parts of the dictionary (project information, user instructions, codes and abbreviations, imprint, and a list of relevant literature); the central part of the dictionary—entries and corresponding exercises. At the microstructure level, the material basis is explained: morphological characteristics, syntactic characteristics (stylistic features), and language level classification (A1‒C1+).
The main challenge in translating collocations mentioned was the absence of parallel corpora, while exploring existing translation literature would require significant effort with uncertain outcomes. Real possibilities include searching existing corpora of the Serbian language (such as the corpora from clarin.si and matf.bg.ac.rs) as well as existing collocation databases of the Croatian language with appropriate modifications. The collocation databases will be excerpted from existing word lists standardized by the Goethe Institute for levels A1, A2, and B1, while the project team members will create the corpus for higher levels.
The web application is built on the WordPress platform, optimized for viewing on all types of devices. Applications for Android and iOS operating systems are planned, tailored for viewing on all kinds of mobile devices (covering all screen sizes of tablets and smartphones). The apps will be available for download on the project’s website, and no internet access will be required to use the application. Administrators will populate the database through the web application, but changes to the database will require downloading new versions of the mobile apps. The first version of the project’s web presentation is available at: https://deskoll-dictionary.kg.ac.rs/
The discussion regarding the presented project included Dr. Olivera Durbaba (Faculty of Philology, Belgrade), Dr. Ljubica Đurić (Faculty of Philology, Belgrade), Dr. Dragana Radojević (Faculty of Philology, Belgrade), Dr. Natasha Stanković Šošo (Faculty of Philology, Belgrade), Kristina Ilić, a doctoral student and demonstrator in the German studies department (Faculty of Philology, Belgrade), Aleksandra Brajović, a doctoral student at the Institute of Slavic Studies at the University of Vienna, and master’s students from the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade.
Experiences in the field of glotodidactics gained through teaching Serbian language and literature were exchanged, and specific questions were raised about the functioning of the planned application, the potential for user interaction with teachers, the target group of the planned dictionary (including students and teachers of German as well as translators), the method for determining the language level of specific collocations, the creation of a corpus excerpted from German language textbooks (all of which are in digital format), the possibility of creating a reverse collocation dictionary for students of Serbian as a heritage language, and the sustainability of the database hosted on the FILUM server after the project concludes.
Biljana Sikimić
