Canadian English lexis and semantics
A historical-comparative resource in contrastive, real-time perspective, 1683–2016
This paper introduces the use of a historical dictionary as a linguistic resource. This dictionary, the
Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, Second Edition (Dollinger & Fee 2017) affords a new real-time perspective on the Canadian vocabulary. As it is based on an empirical, cross-variational perspective, it instills a comparative perspective into the data. The dictionary’s genesis, benchmarks and entry structure will be explained, before the vocabulary of Canadian English is sketched in four key components: typology, semantic donor domains, compounding as a key word-formation pattern and regionalisms within Canada. This study is intended as an introduction to this open access resource (
www.dchp.ca/dchp2) and a first step towards a more sophisticated analysis of lexis over time.
Article outline
- 1.Background
- 2.Introduction to the Dictionary of Canadianisms
- 3.Theory and postcolonial lexicography: Canadianisms and other ‑isms
- 4.Principles, structure and benchmarks of DCHP-2
- 4.1The entry structure of DCHP-2
- 4.2Six-tiered typology plus a “Non-Canadian” class
- 5.The structure of the Canadian English lexis
- 5.1Typological status
- Falsification not verification
- 5.2Semantic domains
- 5.3Compound formations in real-time
- 5.4Regionalisms in Canadian English lexis
- 6.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
References
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