As early as 1967 Whitney Bolton and I were compiling a 'Dictionary of
English-speakingpeoples'forCassells-aprojectwhichbeganbymaking
contacts with lexicographers (or, at least, lexicographically minded lin-
guists) working in each of the newly independent nations (as well as the
long-established ones).A country's biogeographical uniqueness will generate po-
tentially large numbers of words for animals, fish, birds, insects,
plants,trees,rocks,riversandsoon-aswellasalltheissuestodo
with land management and interpretation, which is an especially
important feature of the lifestyle of many indigenous peoples. The scale of the
145
ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE
Most adaptation in a New English relates to vocabulary, in
the form of new words (borrowings - from several hundred lan-
guagesources,insuchareasasNigeria),word-formations,word-
meanings, collocations and idiomatic phrases.Thecountry'smythologyandreligion,andpracticesinastronomy
andastrology,willbringforthnewnamesforpersonalities,beliefs
andrituals.Thecountry'soralandperhapsalsowrittenliterature
will give rise to distinctive names in sagas, poems, oratory and
folktales.Virtu-
ally any aspect of social structure can generate complex naming
systems - local government, family relationships, clubs and soci-
eties,andsoon.Nobodyhaseverworkedoutjusthowmuchofa
cultureiscommunity-specificinthisway;butitmustbeaverysig-
nificant amount.The project was cancelled
afterayear,leavingonlytheheadword-lists(nowlongsincesupersededby
otherpublicationsfromtheregionaleditors,suchasAvis,et al.(1967)),
areporttothepublishers,andapapertotheOxfordLinguisticCircleas
its epitaph.The whole world
of leisure and the arts will have a linguistic dimension - names
ofdances,musicalstyles,games,sports-aswilldistinctivenessin
body appearance (such as hair styles, tattoos, decoration).So, when a community adopts a new language,
andstartstouseitinrelationtoallareasoflife,thereisinevitably
goingtobeagreatdealoflexicalcreation.15
project soon became much greater than anyone had expected, and, as
costs mounted, publisher enthusiasm waned.We received initial headword-lists from several
contributors, some of which already contained several thousand items.There are many
cultural domains likely to motivate new words, as speakers find
themselves adapting the language to meet fresh communicative
needs.Theculturewillhave itstechnology with
its own terms - such as for vehicles, house-building, weapons,
clothing, ornaments and musical instruments.15 Some studies are beginning to provide semantically based classifications
of new lexicon, such as Dako(2001).It was evident that, even within a few years of independence, people
were conscious of an emerging regional lexical identity.Therewillbewordsforfoodstuffs,drinks,medicines,drugs,and
thepracticesassociatedwitheating,health-care,diseaseanddeath.There will be a body of local laws and customs, with
theirown terminology.