Living Lexicon of the Revolution and War in Syria. This project aims at documenting historical, social, and political developments that occured since the Syrian 2011 uprising through linguistic dynamics.
Slogans, songs, banners, graffiti, posters: the Syrian 2011 revolution was an unprecedented moment of expression and graphic conquest of the public space. Written and chanted words, sometimes shouted and sang, have somehow crystallized the suffering, hopes, disappointments and indignation of the Syrian people. The Living Lexicon of the Revolution and War in Syria aims at documenting these linguistic dynamics and their evolution since 2011. Our primary goal is thus to identify key words and trace their semantic evolution in order to make emerge concepts and categories accounting for an eminently complex socio-political reality. This will be done by carefully studying emic points of view and uses. These terms, often charged with social, political, religious and psychic connotations, have shifting meanings according to the speakers' positionality and the context of enunciation. These terms also constitute a ground for subversion and recuperation. It is this diversity of shapes and uses that the Living Lexicon of the Revolution and War in Syria wishes to grasp making it accessible through a particular attention to quotability as well as archiving digital sources.