South African English
The English language in South Africa (SAE) dates from the arrival of the British at the Cape of Good Hope in 1795. As was the case in most colonies, English…
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Canadian English
Until fairly recently, Canadian English was a severely understudied national variety of English. Reliable sociolinguistic data of a national scope has been especially hard to come by and, until the…
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North-east English dialects
The first citation in the OED entry for pitmatic—the language of the miners and pit villages of the north-east of England—is taken from The Times of 21 August 1885, in…
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East Anglian English
Linguistic East Anglia is a lot smaller than it was two hundred years ago, as the English of London and the Home Counties has encroached on the region; but East…
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Australian English in the twentieth century
Australian English differs from other Englishes primarily in its accent and vocabulary. The major features of the accent were established by the 1830s. In the period between colonial settlement (1788)…
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Cockney
Cockney’s not a language it is only a slang And was originated inna England The first place it was used was over East London… Smiley…
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English dialect study – an overview
What is a dialect? Dialect is one of those words that almost everybody thinks they understand, but which is in fact a bit more problematic than at first seems to…
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Men, women, and children in the Historical Thesaurus: a case study
Please note: the links in this article require subscriber access to the OED online. An interactive guide to the Historical Thesaurus is also available on open access. The Historical Thesaurus…
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Why the OED’s Word of the Day is special
The OED displays the richness of the English language in a way no other dictionary can, which makes the word of the day a wonderful opportunity for anyone who is…
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Through a glass: how the language of cocktails shapes English
People and places Biographical details of Colonel Joseph Kyle Rickey are sparse and difficult to track down, but those we have offer a fascinating sketch of an eclectically talented American….
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