World English
English is spoken as a first language by more than 300 million people throughout the world, and used as a second language by many millions more. It is the language of international communication in business, diplomacy, sports, science, technology, and countless other fields.
The main regional standards are American, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand, South African, Indian, and West Indian. Within each of these regional varieties, a number of highly differentiated local dialects may be found. For example, within American English, Southern and Appalachian English have a long history and a number of distinctive features, which have in turn influenced other varieties.
The scope of a dictionary such as the New Oxford American Dictionary, given the breadth of material it aims to cover, must be limited for the most part to the vocabulary of the standard language of the United States rather than world English variation. Nevertheless, the New Oxford American Dictionary includes thousands of regionalisms encountered in standard contexts in the different
The underlying approach has been to get away from the traditional, parochial notion that “correct” English belongs to a chosen few in any one geographical area or social class. A network of consultants in all parts of the
The vast majority of words and senses in the New Oxford American Dictionary are common to all the major regional standard varieties of English, but where important local differences exist, the New Oxford American Dictionary records them. There are over 6,000 geographical labels on words and senses in this dictionary, but this contrasts with more than ten times that number that are not labeled at all.
The complexity of the overall picture has necessarily been simplified, principally for reasons of space and clarity of presentation. For example, a label such as “chiefly Brit.” implies, but does not state, that a term is not standard in American English, though it may nevertheless be found in some local varieties in the United States. The label “Brit.,” on the other hand, implies that the use is found typically in standard British English but is not found in standard American English, though it may be found elsewhere.
Spelling
It is often said that English spelling is both irregular and illogical, and it is certainly true that it is only indirectly related to contemporary pronunciation. English spelling reflects not modern pronunciation but the pronunciation of the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular through the influence of the works of Shakespeare and the Authorized Version of the Bible. However, in the two centuries between Chaucer and Shakespeare, English pronunciation had undergone huge changes, but spelling had failed to follow.
In the 18th century, standard spelling became almost completely fixed. The dictionaries written in this period, particularly Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755), helped establish this standard, which, with only minor change and variation, is the standard accepted in British English today. Just over fifty years after the American colonies became independent, in 1828, Noah Webster published a dictionary with many of the spellings that we recognize today as being distinctly American rather than British. The complex history of the English language, together with the absence of any ruling body imposing “spelling reform,” has ensured that many idiosyncrasies and anomalies in standard spelling have not only arisen but have also been preserved.
The New Oxford American Dictionary gives advice and information on spelling, particularly those cases that are irregular or that otherwise cause difficulty for native speakers. The main categories are summarized below.
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