“But why??” Evaluation of user-suggested synonyms in the Thesaurus of Modern Slovene

Abstract Various language resources employ user participation in creating a dictionary or evaluating data. An example is Thesaurus of Modern Slovene, which incorporates user participation by allowing users to suggest new synonyms and evaluate existing ones. This paper aims to establish what users of the Thesaurus consider relevant synonyms and capture diverse perspectives in the perceptions of synonymy between various user groups. To investigate this, an evaluation of nearly 1000 user-suggested synonyms is conducted by 42 evaluators representing seven user groups. The focus lies on cross-group analysis of the evaluation. The differences are evident in the evaluators’ comments, giving insight into user needs. We discuss the findings, e.g. the uneven distribution of reported issues, the need to include evaluators from different regions and age groups, or the similarities between Lexicographers and Students groups. We also address possible limitations and present potential applications of the results. In conclusion, the results demonstrate both the success of the responsive model and user participation and the continuing need for user studies to better understand how users interact with responsive dictionaries, and their expectations.