The Oxford English Dictionary - Essay Example

full THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY When an individual wants to know the meaning of word, the person makes use of a reference material called dictionary. This book normally offers several information on a word; namely, the definition, the proper way to pronounce it, its grammatical function, its etymology, and, sometimes, a sample sentence. There exists a variety of dictionaries to cater to the different needs of readers. Dictionaries are helpful tools in understanding a language. For the English language, one of these helpful books is the Oxford English Dictionary or OED. What is the Oxford English Dictionary? There are several dictionaries even for a language as common as English, both in book and electronic forms. However, the Oxford English Dictionary is regarded as the most comprehensive source of English words. (Kite) It contained about 400,000 words by the time it was first published. As a project, it was initially called A New English Dictionary or Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society (Winchester). When and how was it first published? The development of the OED was a long process. People started working on the material in 1857 (Winchester). However, the first time it was published was in 1884 (Kite), three decades after initial work began. The group who worked on the OED decided it was more efficient to publish the book in fascicles or instalments. The first edition of the book had ten instalments and was completed in 1928. (Kite) The OED is a result of an idea from an association in Great Britain which studies language. The Philological Society of London decided to collect and consolidate all the definitions of every English word in existence. (Gray) Some members grew dissatisfied with the existing dictionaries because there were words not included or defined in these reference materials. Richard Chevenix Trench, Herbert Coleridge, and Frederick Furnivall and the committee they formed initially searched for unlisted and undefined words in the dictionaries of the 19th century. (Winchester) Eventually, their task evolved into that of creating a truly all-inclusive dictionary and because the task was too big for a few people volunteers were asked to help out. (Winchester) Another task to complete was that of managing the entire compilation process altogether. Furnivall approached lexicographer James Murry for the editor position and the society tied up with Oxford University for the publication of the new dictionary. (Gray) The process of creating the content for this new comprehensive dictionary was not an easy job. To be as far-reaching as possible, volunteers were told to note down word usage from books onto slips of paper or “quotation slips” which were then sent to back to Murray. (Kite) Thousands upon thousands of slips were collated and only the words that had been in use for several years when the dictionary team received the slips were included in the project. Even now with computers and the Internet to help them, the employees of the dictionary offices at the Oxford University Press still use “slips” which catalogued in the “quotation room.” (Kite) A word entry in the Oxford English Dictionary will yield a number of information. Readers will know what part of speech the word is, what the word means and how the word, with such definition, will be used in a sample sentence. For example, the word “set” appears a couple of times in the dictionary as it can be a noun or a verb. For the verb entry, the various ways “set” is used as a verb are enumerated with a sample sentence after each definition. In this sense, it is quite dissimilar with other dictionaries and offers a lot more to the user. Why was it published, and what is its important in terms of the use of the English language and a record of its development? The creation of the Oxford English Dictionary is helpful in terms of the use of the English language simply because it presents a vast number of English words that are utilized in speech and writing by almost everyone. Not only does it list these commonly-used words, but as explained about the OED included pertinent information about each word, going so far as to make sample sentences for the reader’s better understanding. For non-native English speakers, the material found in the OED is almost like a short lesson in vocabulary. In addition, the vernacular is not limited to just words used in general English topics but also jargon that is particular to various industries. For example, words like “graphics” and “aneurism” which are topical for computer and medicine, respectively, are in the dictionary. Because of this kind of presentation, the OED empowers the readers to gain knowledge on the proper way to use a word. The OED is also beneficial in terms of the record of the English language development because it shows how the vernacular has progressed in time. Only five years after the OED was first published, there were a lot of new words again collected by Murray’s team. The first supplement was then developed. Twenty years after the first supplement, a second supplement had to be prepared and released. (Kaufman) The supplements are proof of how the OED tries to keep up with the fast-growing English word bank. The times were changing and so was the English language. To match the current culture of the times, latest editions of the dictionary include expressions that are used by Generation X. For example, the word “tweet,” which refers to the action performed by Twitter users, is now in the OED even if it does not meet the “10 years’ use” requirement. (Kite) The growth in the English language is so much and OED is trying to help the public absorb this new knowledge by including these relevant words in the reference book. Aside from slang, technical terms and scientific words, the OED has already accumulated over 250,000 words. (Vista) Aside from including words such as “tweet” in its publication, the developers of OED has even been made the reference available online with the creation of the www.oxforddictionaries.com in 2014. With the OED considered the “Bible of dictionaries” (Kaufman), this online version of the dictionary will be even more accessible to everyone who needs to look up a word. They will not need to lug around the heavy book, but just use their gadgets. English is considered the global lingua franca (Seidlhofer), used by even non-native English speakers in conversing with the rest of the world. English language expert David Crystal and linguist John McWhorter believe that English is the most dominant language in the 20th century. (Mydans) As the countries become more competitive in this highly technologically-influenced period, there is even more need for people everywhere to converse in a language recognized around the world. Reference books like the Oxford English Dictionary are tools that enable people to achieve this level of vocabulary competence. References: Gray, Paul. “Books: A Scholarly Everest Gets Bigger”. TIME Magazine. TIME Inc., 27 March 1989. Web. 23 February 2014. Kaufman, Leslie. “Dictionary Dust-Up (Danchi Is Involved).” The New York Times Books. The New York Times Company, 28 November 2012. Web. 23 February 2014. Kite, Lorien. “The evolving role of the Oxford English Dictionary”. Financial Times-Life & Arts. The Financial Times LTD, 15 November 2013. Web. 21 February 2014. Mydans, Seth. “Across cultures, English is the word.” The New York Times Asia Pacific. The New York Times Company, 9 April 2007. Web. 21 February 2014. Seidlhofer, Barbara. “Key concepts in ELT: English as a lingua franca.” ELT Journal Volume 59. (4 October 2005). Winchester, Simon. “The Professor and the Madman.” New York: Harper Perennial, 2005 July. Print. 21 February 2014. Vista Worldwide Language Statistics. Vistawide.com, n.d. Web. 21 February 2014. Read More