WEBVTT - How Will the Oxford Dictionary of African American English Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum here. Oxford University Press is the publisher that

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<v Speaker 1>compiles the Oxford English Dictionary. This reference work not only

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<v Speaker 1>updates is new words and meanings and to our lexicon.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, their word of the Year for twenty twenty

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<v Speaker 1>two was goblin mode, but it's also a historical guide

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<v Speaker 1>to how our language has developed over the past millennia

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<v Speaker 1>or so. And now they are teaming up with the

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<v Speaker 1>Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard

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<v Speaker 1>University for a new project creating the Oxford Dictionary of

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<v Speaker 1>African American English. It's being spearheaded by the Hutchins Center's director,

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<v Speaker 1>Henry Lewis Gates Junior. He's known for lots of stuff

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<v Speaker 1>helping people explore their ancestry, writing books, and hosting documentaries,

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<v Speaker 1>among other things, and he's already served as the co

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<v Speaker 1>editor of the Dictionary of African Biography. But this current

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<v Speaker 1>project is a scholarly initiative meant to be, to quote

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<v Speaker 1>Oxford's website, the definitive reference for information about the meaning, pronunciation, spelling, usage,

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<v Speaker 1>and history of African American English words entries in the work.

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<v Speaker 1>In addition to the words, their definitions and pronunciations will

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<v Speaker 1>include usage examples, serving to quote acknowledge the contributions of

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<v Speaker 1>African American writers, thinkers, and artists, as well as everyday

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<v Speaker 1>African Americans to the evolution of the US English lexicon

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<v Speaker 1>and the English lexicon as a whole. Perhaps the most

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<v Speaker 1>exciting part of the project is that the editors are

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<v Speaker 1>asking the public to submit words and ideas. It's planned

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<v Speaker 1>to be a three year project. It got off the

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<v Speaker 1>ground in twenty twenty two and is slated for publication

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<v Speaker 1>in twenty twenty five. Gates actually approached the Oxford University

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<v Speaker 1>Press about creating the dictionary after he proposed the idea.

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<v Speaker 1>The project received grant funding from the Melon and Wagner

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<v Speaker 1>Foundations for the article. This episode is based on hosta

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<v Speaker 1>Fork spoke with Jennifer K. Nhin Miller, the executive editor

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<v Speaker 1>of the Oxford Dictionary of African American English at Oxford

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<v Speaker 1>University Press. As she said, the pieces have fallen into

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<v Speaker 1>place nicely. Our advisory board is made up of some

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<v Speaker 1>of the top scholars in the fields of linguistics, African

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<v Speaker 1>American studies, and African American History studies. The team of

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<v Speaker 1>editors at Oxford University Press is working in collaboration with

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<v Speaker 1>Gates and the Advisory Board to provide a portrait of

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<v Speaker 1>how language is and was used by the various communities,

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<v Speaker 1>emphasizing celebrating and documenting Black history and giving credit where

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<v Speaker 1>credit is due. Gates explained in a press release, every

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<v Speaker 1>speaker of American English borrows heavily from words invented by

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<v Speaker 1>African Americans, whether they know it or not. A words

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<v Speaker 1>with African origins such as gouber, gumbo, and okra survived

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<v Speaker 1>the passage along with our African ancestors, and words that

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<v Speaker 1>we take for granted today such as cool and crib,

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<v Speaker 1>pocum and dis hip and hep bad meaning good, and

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<v Speaker 1>dig meaning to understand. These are just a tiny fraction

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<v Speaker 1>of the words that have come into American English from

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<v Speaker 1>African American speakers, neologisms that emerge out of the Black

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<v Speaker 1>experience in this country over the last few hundred years.

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<v Speaker 1>This new work will join other dictionaries of varieties of English,

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<v Speaker 1>but like Oxford's own Australian Oxford Dictionary or the Dictionary

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<v Speaker 1>of Southern Appalachian English from the University of North Carolina Press,

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<v Speaker 1>for which hine Miller was a co editor. Oxford also

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<v Speaker 1>has a division of World Englishes, which they define as

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<v Speaker 1>a localized or indigenized varieties of English spoken throughout the

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<v Speaker 1>world by people of diverse cultural backgrounds in a wide

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<v Speaker 1>range of sociolinguistic contexts. Including words from various world englishes

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<v Speaker 1>has been an Oxford practice eighteen eighty four, when the

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<v Speaker 1>first Oeed included the Tagalog word abaca, a banana plant

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<v Speaker 1>or its fiber gets native to the Philippines. Today, there

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<v Speaker 1>are resources for words from Australian to Ugandan English, with

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<v Speaker 1>many in between, and several others coming soon. But the

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<v Speaker 1>Oxford Dictionary of African American English will be even broader

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<v Speaker 1>in scope. Each inclusion will have the typical format of

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<v Speaker 1>a dictionary entry and include real life examples from various

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<v Speaker 1>types of sources to give as complete a picture as possible.

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<v Speaker 1>There will be pronunciation guides which may include different regional

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<v Speaker 1>pronunciations as well as audiophiles, and the online version. Oh

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<v Speaker 1>when possible. The entries will have etymological notes too. Heine

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<v Speaker 1>Miller said, in the instances where we can trace that history,

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's important. We want to give a well

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<v Speaker 1>rounded sketch of the language variety, both in historic and

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<v Speaker 1>contemporary usage. From a descriptive perspective. There will also be

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<v Speaker 1>crossover with other dictionaries, so if a word makes it

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<v Speaker 1>into the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, it could

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<v Speaker 1>likely appear in the regular OEED as well, either as

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<v Speaker 1>a dedicated entry or a new sense of an existing entry.

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<v Speaker 1>While the dictionary is intended as a scholarly resource of

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<v Speaker 1>value to researchers and members of the speech community, the

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<v Speaker 1>editors want it to be equally usable by the general public.

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<v Speaker 1>To achieve the aims of accessibility and applicability, the editors

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<v Speaker 1>are looking to the public for suggestions. Anyone who has

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<v Speaker 1>an idea for a word or phrase to include can

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<v Speaker 1>submit it through a form on the OED's website. If

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<v Speaker 1>you google the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, it'll

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<v Speaker 1>pop right up. This sort of public input is a

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<v Speaker 1>tradition that goes back to the early days of the

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<v Speaker 1>OED in the eighteen hundreds. Hein Miller said it was

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<v Speaker 1>very much a community project. We really find that's one

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<v Speaker 1>of the best ways to get ideas of terms. How

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<v Speaker 1>the terms are used in natural speech and their significance

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<v Speaker 1>within the communities. Everyone is so passionate about this project,

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<v Speaker 1>we can't wait to release it to the public. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article new Oxford Dictionary will

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<v Speaker 1>document African American English lexicon on houstaforks dot com, written

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<v Speaker 1>by Kerry Whitney. Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with houstaforks dot com and is produced by Tyler Klang.

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<v Speaker 1>Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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