Slovenian Exonyms

A corpus of the most frequently used Slovenian exonyms was systematically processed as part of this project. The resulting exonym collection adds to other national collections and it can be continuously expanded and used to access information on the current use of Slovenian exonyms. If certain exonyms die out, this collection will preserve the attested forms of their former usage. In this regard, this project is extremely important for preserving and evaluating the rich Slovenian linguistic heritage. The exonym collection created includes 36 fields and over 5,000 names, and it forms a basis for their greatly needed standardization. Standardizing the use of exonyms by the public, professionals, and researchers will make it possible to completely unambiguously identify the names of individual features and structures. The prepared material will fill in gaps in the dictionary section of the Slovenian Normative Guide. Systematically studied Slovenian exonyms will contribute to higher-quality geography instruction in primary and secondary schools and universities, as well as to higher-quality university instruction in other spatial disciplines. The published list of exonyms will become an important reference source, and will also enrich the international body of these types of names, thus becoming part of global linguistic heritage. In addition, several research articles were prepared as part of this project, dealing with historical aspects of exonymization, familiarity with Slovenian exonyms among the professional community, and the semantic distinction between exonyms and endonyms. The project team was actively involved in the international study of exonyms, as part of which it also headed the Working Group on Exonyms within the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN).