Living Words

In this unique and entertaining collection of articles, a noted scholar and compiler of key works of reference reflects on the nature of language, the art of lexicography and the breath-taking developments in communication, the media and information technology in the late twentieth century.

Contents: Living words: "bagaba" and "carcari" - or the paradox at the heart of language; rhythm, rhyme, and reason - the power of the patterned sound; the power of words - pressure, prejudice, and politics in our vocabularies and dictionaries; the word "word"; the vocabulary-control movement in the English language, 1844-1953. Language: wee Jimmy and the dugs - or, where do YOU stand in the classroom?; the usage industry; problems of purism and usage in editing "English Today"; the pedigree of plain English; the printed word in the English-speaking world. Lexicography: the background and nature of ELT learners' dictionaries; thematic lexicography; reference materials and their formats; a mutually defining circle of words - some reflections on the making of the "Longmand Lexicon of Contemporary English"; culture-bound and trapped by technology - centuries of bias in the making of wordbooks; guides to tomorrow's English - dictionaries for a universal language. The knowledge revolution: what then is reference science?; the scholarly guild; knowledge, knowledge everywhere - the global library; themes and dreams - the romance of the database; representing knowledge for human consumption. Appendix: the unabridged "Devil's Dictionary of Language Teaching".