Friday, March 29, 2024

Oxford Dictionary of African American English to Debut in 2025 | VIDEO

Oxford Dictionary - Getty
Oxford Dictionary – Getty

*With its forthcoming release, the first Oxford Dictionary of African American English will shed light on the influence of Black culture on the English language.⁠

The dictionary will focus on the contributions that Black Americans have made to the English language, including the way certain words are now used, including “woke,” “bad,” and “cool.”⁠

The research project is a collaborative effort led by #Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research and Oxford University Press, supported by grants from the Mellon and Wagner foundations.

University of #Arizona linguistics professor Sonja Lanehart is on the advising editor’s team and is proud of the work being done to shed light on Black Americans’ definitions of terms.⁠

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“Finally, we will have a space that recognizes our language in a way that encompasses all the people within African American language communities,” Lanehart stated.⁠

The project will also provide background information with particular words and phrases, making the collection a historical reference, much more than a traditional dictionary.⁠

“It will be much more expansive and inclusive of the language as opposed to [just] some words here and there,” Lanehart added.⁠

“This will serve to acknowledge the contributions of African-American writers, thinkers, and artists, as well as everyday African Americans, to the evolution of the English lexicon,” Oxford University Press said in a press release. “Evidence will be gathered from such diverse sources as novels, academic research papers, newspapers and magazines, song lyrics, recipes, social media and more.”

 

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Wait. There’s more … Researchers are using a variety of tools to compile the new dictionary, such as newspapers, books, and music. Social media will serve as one of the most valuable tools, with communities such as #BlackTwitter serving as an online assemblage for African-American issues, comedy, and cultural references.

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