Codifying Australian English

Vincent Ooi, Associate Professor, National University of Singapore will speak on "The 5-Concentric Circles Model & the Australian English Dictionary", in Canberra, 10 October 2008:

Seminar: The 5-Concentric Circles Model & the Australian English Dictionary

Australian English is a norm-prescribing variety which is codified in the dictionary by means of markers such as ‘taboo’, ‘colloquial’ and ‘slang’. In this seminar, Professor Ooi will re-examine the use of these markers with two primary suggestions: firstly, such markers should be based on a wider body of linguistic evidence and, secondly, there is a need to go beyond such markers for a more inclusive codification. A first means to do this is to view the language in terms of a ‘5-concentric circles’ model.

Vincent B Y Ooi, PhD, is Associate Professor at the Department of English Language and Literature, National University of Singapore. His teaching and research interests involve lexicology and lexicography, varieties of English, corpus linguistics, language and the Internet, and computer-mediated communication. He is, among others, the author of Computer Corpus Lexicography, the editor of Evolving Identities: The English Language in Singapore and Malaysia, and co-chief editor of The Times Chambers Essential English Dictionary (2nd edition). Ooi’s website is at http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellooiby.

Speaker/Host: Vincent B Y Ooi, The Australian National Dictionary Centre
Venue: CEDAM Seminar Room, Building #96
Date: Friday, 10 October 2008
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Website: http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/
Enquiries: Bruce Moore on 6125 2615

See also books:

• Evolving Identities: The English Language in Singapore and Malaysia
• Computer Corpus Lexicography