Twenty-five years ago, when the idea for this dictionary was first conceived, researchers of linguistics had virtually no terminological reference works that could provide them with an introduction to this fast-growing international science or with source material for conducting their own linguistic research. This situation has changed greatly over the years, especially in the English-speaking world, where David Crystal’s Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language and Frederick ’s Cambridge Survey of Linguistics were published in 1987. They were followed, in 1992 and 1994 respectively, by two impressive encyclopedic works, namely ’s four-volume International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (Oxford University Press) and.
