Oxford Companion to the English Language (Oxford Quick Reference) 2nd Edition by Tom McArthur (Editor), Jacqueline Lam-McArthur (Editor), Lise Fontaine (Editor) (Oxford University Press)

This work is a collection of essays of varying lengths on a wide variety of English-related projects. As such, it often makes for fascinating reading. As a reference work it falls a bit short, as the amount of attention given a particular topic seems to bear no relation to the topic's significance, nor does there seem to be any attempt at a comprehensive or well-rounded treatment of the book's subject.

Also, some of the articles have a tongue-in-cheek tone that seems a bit more casual than one would expect from a reference work; at the same time, this informality is an essential contributor to the unique character of this book. Similarly, the fact that the entire collection of esssays were written by a relatively small number of people allow for unique connections between topics -- I often found myself following paths of cross-references from one article to the next, as particular authors wrote articles on related or similar topics. (The entries on "Golden Bull Award", "Doublespeak", and related topics are truly memorable.)


Somewhat surprisingly for Oxford, there are actually several articles to which some might take offense, most notably the fairly extensive discussion of Black English Vernacular (BEV) wherein the definitions and the 'example' sentences and phrases seem -- astoundingly -- deliberately chosen from stock racial cliches. In mentioning the word 'crib', for instance, we read: "...once used to refer only to an infant's bed, comes to mean any place of residence, including a public housing project." Or, "As in Appalachian vernacular, the particle 'a' is oft used to express intention: "I'm a shoot you!"" These seem so blatently lacking in political correctness (and expediency) that one must assume they're intended to be humorous.The Oxford Companion to the English Language provides an authoritative single-volume source of information about the English language. It is intended both for reference and for browsing. The first edition of this landmark Companion, published in 1998, adopted a strong international perspective, covering topics from Cockney to Creole, Aboriginal English to Caribbean English and a historical range from Chaucer to Chomsky, Latin to the World Wide Web. It succinctly described and discussed the English language at the end of the twentieth century, including its distribution and varieties, its cultural, political, and educational impact worldwide, its nature, origins, and prospects, and its pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, word-formation, and usage.

This new edition notably focuses on World Englishes, English language teaching, English as an international language, and the effect of technological advances on the English language. More than 130 new entries include African American English, British Sign Language, China English, digital literacy, multimodality, social networking, superdiversity, and text messaging, among many others. It also includes new biographical entries on key individuals who have had an impact on the English language in recent decades, including Beryl (Sue) Atkins, Adam Kilgariff, and John Sinclair.

These caveats notwithstanding, the book is a pleasure to read, and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the English language.