Wells Ronald A. Dictionaries and the Authoritarian Tradition: Study in English Usage and Lexicography

De Gruyter Mouton, 2011. — 134 pages. — (Janua Linguarum. Series Practica). — ISBN10: 9027924287.Almost since its beginning, the English dictionary has been linked culturally with attitudes which have been fundamentally opposed to linguistic change. Although authoritarian linguistic attitudes have not been particularly characteristic of lexicographers, especially in the last hundred years, many others have continued to view the dictionary as an instrument to retard or check natural change in language, whether phonological, morphological, semantic, or grammatical. This book examines the tradition which has associated conservative or authoritarian attitudes with dictionaries of English, and which has perpetuated the fiction that the dictionary establishes the standard of usage for the language.The Origins of English Lexicography
Early word lists
The first English dictionaries: the 'hard words' tradition...
The comprehensive English dictionary
Inductive method
The historical principle
The Authoritarian Tradition in Language: England
Toward an academy of the English language
The need for an English dictionary
The dictionary as authority: Samuel Johnson
The reception of Johnson's Dictionary
The Authoritarian Tradition in Language: America
Proposals for an American academy
Authoritarian attitudes and Anglophilia
Noah Webster's linguistic patriotism
Spelling reform
Webster's influence on American spelling
Webster's American Dictionary
The 'war of the dictionaries'
Linguistic conservatism: renewed efforts for an American academy
The Second Dictionary War: Webster's Third New International Dictionary
The new authoritarianism
Three reviews
Rebuttal
Lexicography and English Usage
Usage information in the early dictionaries
The authority of the dictionary
Usage orientation in modern dictionaries
The situational dimension
The situational and modal dimensions confused: the colloquial label
The usage note
The verbal illustration
The synonymy
Conclusions