Chapter published in:
Late Modern English: Novel encountersEdited by Merja Kytö and Erik Smitterberg
[Studies in Language Companion Series 214] 2020
► pp. 186–202
“Divided by a common language”?
The treatment of Americanism(s) in Late Modern English dictionaries and usage guides on both sides of the Atlantic
Ulrich Busse | Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg
The present study investigates the treatment of
the term Americanism and its plural form in their
generic sense in selected British and American reference works of
the 19th and early 20th centuries. It concentrates on two special
types of reference books, namely dictionaries of Americanisms and
usage guides from both sides of the Atlantic. By analyzing whether
the paraphrase or the labelling conveys a positive, a neutral, or a
negative stance, the terms Americanism(s) serve as
keywords for Anglo-American linguistic attitudes towards the “other”
variety. Methodologically, the study combines socio-lexicography and
meta-pragmatics; the results show a change in the relationship of
the two varieties and also substantive differences in how the two
types of reference book deal with the topic.
Published online: 18 March 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.214.08bus
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.214.08bus
References
References
1.Primary sources
1.1Dictionaries
Bartlett, John
Russell
Beattie, James
DA = Matthews, Mitford
M.
DAE = Craigie, W. A. & Hulbert, James
Root
DOST = Craigie, William
A., Aitken, Adam
J. & Stevenson, James
A. C.
Farmer, John
S.
Jamieson, John
Oxford English
Dictionary
Third
edn. online www.oed.com
Pickering, John
SND = Grant, William & Murison, David
D.
1.2Usage guides
Alford, Henry
Gowers, Sir
Ernest
Moon, George
Washington
2.Secondary sources
Aitken, Adam
Jack
1990 The
lexicography of
Scots. In Wörterbücher,
Dictionaries, Dictionnaires. An International
Encyclopedia of
Lexicography, Vol. 2 [Handbücher
zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
5.2], Franz
Josef Hausmann, Oskar Reichmann, Herbert
Ernst Wiegand & Ladislav Zgusta (eds), 1983–1987. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Algeo, John
1990 American
lexicography. In Wörterbücher,
Dictionaries, Dictionnaires. An International
Encyclopedia of
Lexicography, Vol. 2 [Handbücher
zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
5.2], Franz
Josef Hausmann, Oskar Reichmann, Herbert
Ernst Wiegand & Ladislav Zgusta (eds), 1987–2009. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Baron, Dennis
E.
Baugh, Albert
C. & Cable, Thomas
Busse, Ulrich & Schröder, Anne
Busse, Ulrich
Crystal, David
Finegan, Edward
Gilman, E.
Ward
Görlach, Manfred
1990 The
dictionary of transplanted varieties of language:
English. In Wörterbücher,
Dictionaries, Dictionnaires. An International
Encyclopedia of
Lexicography, Vol. 2 [Handbücher
zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
5.2], Franz
Josef Hausmann, Oskar Reichmann, Herbert
Ernst Wiegand & Ladislav Zgusta (eds), 1475–1499. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Gowers, Rebecca
Graddol, David
Hübler, Axel & Busse, Ulrich
Kretzschmar Jr., William
A. & Meyer, Charles
F.
Milroy, Lesley
Ruano-García, Javier, García-Bermejo
Giner, María
F. & Sánchez-García, Pilar
Straaijer, Robin
Sundby, Bertil, Bjørge, Anne
Kari & Haugland, Kari
E.