Lakhasly

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.

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). We received initial headword-lists from several
contributors, some of which already contained several thousand items.
It was evident that, even within a few years of independence, people
were conscious of an emerging regional lexical identity. 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. There are many
cultural domains likely to motivate new words, as speakers find
themselves adapting the language to meet fresh communicative
needs. 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.
Therewillbewordsforfoodstuffs,drinks,medicines,drugs,and
thepracticesassociatedwitheating,health-care,diseaseanddeath.
Thecountry’smythologyandreligion,andpracticesinastronomy
andastrology,willbringforthnewnamesforpersonalities,beliefs
andrituals.Thecountry’soralandperhapsalsowrittenliterature
will give rise to distinctive names in sagas, poems, oratory and
folktales. There will be a body of local laws and customs, with
theirown terminology. Theculturewillhave itstechnology with
its own terms – such as for vehicles, house-building, weapons,
clothing, ornaments and musical instruments. 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). 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. 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. The project was cancelled
afterayear,leavingonlytheheadword-lists(nowlongsincesupersededby
otherpublicationsfromtheregionaleditors,suchasAvis,et al.(1967)),
areporttothepublishers,andapapertotheOxfordLinguisticCircleas
its epitaph.
15 Some studies are beginning to provide semantically based classifications
of new lexicon, such as Dako(2001).