Language History Research in the Digital Era

Hrvatska ima dugu tradiciju priređivanja djela u području povijesnoga jezikoslovlja i raspolaže mnogim vrijednim izdanjima te je veoma važno da se ta tradicija nastavi i prilagodi današnjemu digitalnom dobu. U ovome radu ponudit će se model retrodigitalizacije starih hrvatskih gramatika jer postojeći retrodigitalizirani resursi ne uključuju gramatike.Croatian philology has a long tradition of publishing reference books in the field of historical linguistics; it is very important to continue and foster this tradition in the future, as well as to adapt it to the modern digital era. Recent large-scale digitization initiatives have focused heavily on historical texts. Many reasons have led to the increasing digitization of archival documents, library and museum material, and collections of old books and manuscripts stored in monasteries. One of the main reasons for the digitization of old texts is to protect the original document from possible damage resulting from inappropriate handling. The use of digital copies instead of original documents is necessary to protect and preserve old written texts, as they are the most reliable way to back up original documents. Another very important reason for digitizing old texts is to make them more accessible to scholars, experts, and the public. In this way, young people who prefer using digital media will become more easily acquainted with cultural heritage that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. The digitization model of old Croatian grammar books will be discussed, as the existing resources do not include grammar books from the pre-standard period of the Croatian language