David Jost | Dictionary Society of North America

DSNA Fall 2021

August 3, 2021August 31, 2021 by David Jost Comment Closed

Dictionary Society of North America President’s Report, 2019–21 In preparation for writing this, I have been struck again by what extraordinary changes the last two years have seen. I would like to use this report to review what seem to me to have been key points, as well as taking the opportunity to express my thanks for some of the skilled support so generously given. It does of course represent a personal view, and inevitably there will be other things I could have mentioned, but I hope you will be generous to any sins of omission committed in the interests of keeping extent within reasonable grounds (which any lexicographer feels bound to do). There are of course some things which have been a constant, above all the support and wisdom offered by DSNA colleagues. I have been reminded anew of just how much in the last two years I have relied on the skill and experience of Ed Finegan, our Vice-President and President...

DSNA Conference 23 Program

August 2, 2021August 31, 2021 by David Jost Comment Closed

DSNA 23: Fitness of Our Dictionaries and Lexicography to 21st-Century Realities Held virtually on June 4, 202110:00 am – 3:30pm North American Eastern Time(GMT 15:00 – 20:30) PROGRAM (UPDATED 6/1/21) Introduction: Michael Adams (former President, DSNA) Keynote: Dictionaries as Authorities: Can They Be and Should They? Kory Stamper and Bryan GarnerModerator: Lane Greene (The Economist) Panels 1. How global and national events affect modern lexicographyModerator: Ben Zimmer (Wall Street Journal)Online dictionaries are able to adapt speedily to rapid changes in vocabulary and usage. As an example, Covid-19 and the pandemic have spawned a range of new words and new applications for existing words, such as contact tracing, community spread, flatten the curve, PPE, social distancing, and Covid-19 itself. Who monitors these and similar developments for dictionaries? Who writes or revises the definitions? How do lexicographers keep up with global and national changes in vocabulary and word meanings? How does the proliferation of new vocabulary affect established lexicographical approaches? Stefan Fatsis: “34 Days: Inside Merriam-Webster’s Emergency Coronavirus Update”Wendalyn Nichols and Lewis C. Lawyer: “Identifying Emergent Meanings...

Table of Contents Fall 2021

August 1, 2021August 31, 2021 by David Jost Comment Closed

Conferences: the program of our 2021 remote conference and Lise Winer’s list of other meetings DSNA: Reports by Elizabeth Knowles, Kory Stamper, Lindsay Rose Lee, report on elections, and report on Globalex by Orin Hargraves Elizabeth Knowles: A Life in Lexicography In Memoriam Farewell: Retirement of the Editor Collection by David Vancil Dictionaries by Janet DeCesaris History by Michael Adams State of Lexicography by Orin Hargraves Quotations: Nest of Singing Birds by Elizabeth Knowles Publication Information ...

Lexicom

April 23, 2021April 23, 2021 by David Jost Comment Closed

<Lexicom/> A workshop in lexicography and lexical computingAfter last year’s unavoidable cancellation, we are happy to announce that the Lexicom Workshop will run again this year. Participant numbers will be limited to just 20 (to ensure social distancing) and we have a very flexible cancellation policy. Jesus College, Cambridge, UK20 – 24 September 2021 Your 5 days to get up-to-date with the latest developments incorpus-driven lexicography and to activate and enhance yourcorpus building and corpus query skills with some of the top experts in the field. Check the programme, lecturers and invited speakers on the website lexicom.courses ...

Call for papers: Children’s dictionaries

April 12, 2021April 12, 2021 by David Jost Comment Closed

Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America invites submissions for a special issue focused on the topic of Children’s Dictionaries, edited by Susan Rennie. Children’s dictionaries have a long history within the practice of lexicography, from Renaissance dictionaries compiled to aid the learning of Latin to the latest dictionary apps designed for use in schools. In content and style they are enormously varied, ranging from pedagogical dictionaries written for classroom use to whimsical glossaries of words in children’s fiction; and they span a wide age range from first word books and picture dictionaries to dictionaries aimed at high-school students. A children’s dictionary is very different to an adult dictionary of the same size and headword count; and decisions over which words are allowed into, or excluded from, children’s dictionaries can be emotive. More weight may be given to words used in fiction, and less to slang and current buzzwords. Definitions and usage examples will reflect the experience of children rather than grown-ups;...

DSNA Ballot

March 28, 2021 by David Jost Comment Closed

The Nominating Committee and Executive Board are pleased to present the 2021 DSNA ballot for electing new Board officers, new Fellows, and voting on new Amendments to our Code of Regulations. You can access the ballot at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DSNA21. Voting is limited to members of the DSNA in good standing. The ballot will remain open until April 17, 2021. This ballot features quite a number of items, so please click through each page of the ballot and vote in all three sections. The ballot is introduced and explained in a letter by President Elizabeth Knowles. We will announce the results of the ballot at our Biennial Business Meeting on May 21, 2021, at noon EDT (US). A link to the Business Meeting will be sent out to our members a week prior to the meeting. Thank you for your participation! ...

Extended deadline for Conference papers

March 7, 2021March 7, 2021 by David Jost Comment Closed

At the request of some DSNA members, the Conference Committee for DSNA 23 has extended the CFP deadline to March 12, 2021. You can submit your abstract (no papers, please) for the DSNA 23 virtual conference at https://easychair.org/cfp/dsna23. And if you have any questions, please contact the office. ...

Spring 2021 Newsletter is published

February 28, 2021February 28, 2021 by David Jost Comment Closed

The Spring 2021 Newsletter is now available under the tab Newsletters. ...

Publication Information Spring 2021

February 2, 2021February 28, 2021 by David Jost Comment Closed

The DSNA Newsletter is usually published twice a year, in the spring and fall. Editor is David Jost. Associate Editor is Peter Chipman. Member news items can be sent to dsna.membernews@gmail.com. Other Newsletter correspondence, such as articles for publication, should be directed to the editor at dajebj@gmail.com. Send correspondence re membership, etc. to Kory Stamper, Executive Secretary, DSNAPO Box 537Collingswood, NJ 08108-0537 This issue: Vol. 45 No. 1 (2021) Cumulative issue #91 ...

Quotations Elizabeth Knowles Spring 2021

February 2, 2021February 28, 2021 by David Jost Comment Closed

Ships that Pass in the Night Elizabeth Knowles It is a common experience for a researcher, pursuing a particular line, to come across a tempting side path; one of the pleasures of retirement is that it is purely a personal choice as to whether or not you break off to pursue it. This happened to me recently, when I was looking for earlier general references to dictionaries of quotations. One of those I found was an item in the “Queries” column of New York Times of January 28, 1905 which immediately piqued my interest. The question turned on the origin of a book title. As the correspondent (a George Ashby of Yonkers) put it: “When Miss Harraden’s ‘Ships that Pass in the Night’ was published, it was said of a certain dictionary of quotations at the time that it was the only one that gave this phrase and its author’s name.” He wanted the answer to two questions. “Who was the author,...