1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:12,720 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum here. Oxford University Press is the publisher that 3 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:17,319 Speaker 1: compiles the Oxford English Dictionary. This reference work not only 4 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: updates is new words and meanings and to our lexicon. 5 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: For example, their word of the Year for twenty twenty 6 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: two was goblin mode, but it's also a historical guide 7 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,320 Speaker 1: to how our language has developed over the past millennia 8 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 1: or so. And now they are teaming up with the 9 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 1: Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard 10 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: University for a new project creating the Oxford Dictionary of 11 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: African American English. It's being spearheaded by the Hutchins Center's director, 12 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: Henry Lewis Gates Junior. He's known for lots of stuff 13 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: helping people explore their ancestry, writing books, and hosting documentaries, 14 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: among other things, and he's already served as the co 15 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: editor of the Dictionary of African Biography. But this current 16 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,960 Speaker 1: project is a scholarly initiative meant to be, to quote 17 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: Oxford's website, the definitive reference for information about the meaning, pronunciation, spelling, usage, 18 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: and history of African American English words entries in the work. 19 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: In addition to the words, their definitions and pronunciations will 20 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,480 Speaker 1: include usage examples, serving to quote acknowledge the contributions of 21 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: African American writers, thinkers, and artists, as well as everyday 22 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: African Americans to the evolution of the US English lexicon 23 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:39,960 Speaker 1: and the English lexicon as a whole. Perhaps the most 24 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: exciting part of the project is that the editors are 25 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,119 Speaker 1: asking the public to submit words and ideas. It's planned 26 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: to be a three year project. It got off the 27 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: ground in twenty twenty two and is slated for publication 28 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. Gates actually approached the Oxford University 29 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: Press about creating the dictionary after he proposed the idea. 30 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 1: The project received grant funding from the Melon and Wagner 31 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: Foundations for the article. This episode is based on hosta 32 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: Fork spoke with Jennifer K. Nhin Miller, the executive editor 33 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 1: of the Oxford Dictionary of African American English at Oxford 34 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: University Press. As she said, the pieces have fallen into 35 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: place nicely. Our advisory board is made up of some 36 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: of the top scholars in the fields of linguistics, African 37 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: American studies, and African American History studies. The team of 38 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: editors at Oxford University Press is working in collaboration with 39 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: Gates and the Advisory Board to provide a portrait of 40 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,079 Speaker 1: how language is and was used by the various communities, 41 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: emphasizing celebrating and documenting Black history and giving credit where 42 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: credit is due. Gates explained in a press release, every 43 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: speaker of American English borrows heavily from words invented by 44 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: African Americans, whether they know it or not. A words 45 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,679 Speaker 1: with African origins such as gouber, gumbo, and okra survived 46 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: the passage along with our African ancestors, and words that 47 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: we take for granted today such as cool and crib, 48 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,920 Speaker 1: pocum and dis hip and hep bad meaning good, and 49 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,919 Speaker 1: dig meaning to understand. These are just a tiny fraction 50 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: of the words that have come into American English from 51 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:21,360 Speaker 1: African American speakers, neologisms that emerge out of the Black 52 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: experience in this country over the last few hundred years. 53 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,679 Speaker 1: This new work will join other dictionaries of varieties of English, 54 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: but like Oxford's own Australian Oxford Dictionary or the Dictionary 55 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: of Southern Appalachian English from the University of North Carolina Press, 56 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: for which hine Miller was a co editor. Oxford also 57 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: has a division of World Englishes, which they define as 58 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: a localized or indigenized varieties of English spoken throughout the 59 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: world by people of diverse cultural backgrounds in a wide 60 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: range of sociolinguistic contexts. Including words from various world englishes 61 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: has been an Oxford practice eighteen eighty four, when the 62 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: first Oeed included the Tagalog word abaca, a banana plant 63 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: or its fiber gets native to the Philippines. Today, there 64 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: are resources for words from Australian to Ugandan English, with 65 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: many in between, and several others coming soon. But the 66 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: Oxford Dictionary of African American English will be even broader 67 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:25,359 Speaker 1: in scope. Each inclusion will have the typical format of 68 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 1: a dictionary entry and include real life examples from various 69 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: types of sources to give as complete a picture as possible. 70 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 1: There will be pronunciation guides which may include different regional 71 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: pronunciations as well as audiophiles, and the online version. Oh 72 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: when possible. The entries will have etymological notes too. Heine 73 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 1: Miller said, in the instances where we can trace that history, 74 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: I think it's important. We want to give a well 75 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 1: rounded sketch of the language variety, both in historic and 76 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: contemporary usage. From a descriptive perspective. There will also be 77 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 1: crossover with other dictionaries, so if a word makes it 78 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: into the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, it could 79 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: likely appear in the regular OEED as well, either as 80 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,919 Speaker 1: a dedicated entry or a new sense of an existing entry. 81 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: While the dictionary is intended as a scholarly resource of 82 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: value to researchers and members of the speech community, the 83 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 1: editors want it to be equally usable by the general public. 84 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: To achieve the aims of accessibility and applicability, the editors 85 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: are looking to the public for suggestions. Anyone who has 86 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 1: an idea for a word or phrase to include can 87 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: submit it through a form on the OED's website. If 88 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: you google the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, it'll 89 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: pop right up. This sort of public input is a 90 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: tradition that goes back to the early days of the 91 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: OED in the eighteen hundreds. Hein Miller said it was 92 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: very much a community project. We really find that's one 93 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: of the best ways to get ideas of terms. How 94 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,360 Speaker 1: the terms are used in natural speech and their significance 95 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: within the communities. Everyone is so passionate about this project, 96 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: we can't wait to release it to the public. Today's 97 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article new Oxford Dictionary will 98 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: document African American English lexicon on houstaforks dot com, written 99 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: by Kerry Whitney. Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership 100 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: with houstaforks dot com and is produced by Tyler Klang. 101 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 102 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.