American Dialect Society Totally Explained

Everything about The American Dialect Society totally explained

The American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society publishes the academic journal, American Speech. Since its foundation, dialectologists in English-speaking North America have affiliated themselves with the American Dialect Society, an association which in its first constitution defined its objective as "the investigation of the spoken English of the United States and Canada" (Constitution, 1890). Over the years its objective remained essentially the same, only expanded to encompass "the English language in North America, together with other languages or dialects of other languages influencing it or influenced by it" (Fundamentals, 1991). The organization was founded as part of a near century-long effort to create the Dictionary of American Regional English. The first volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English, covering the letters A-C, was published in 1985.

Word of the Year

Since 1991, the American Dialect Society has designated one or more words or terms to be the word of the year. The New York Times credits the American Dialect Society with starting the phenomenon.

1996: mom (as in "soccer mom").

1997: millennium bug.

1998: e- (as in "e-mail").

1999: Y2K.

2000: chad (from the 2000 Presidential Election controversy in Florida).

2001: 9-11.

2002: weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

2003: metrosexual.

2004: red state, blue state, purple state (from the 2004 presidential election).

2005: truthiness, popularized on The Colbert Report.

2006: plutoed (demoted or devalued, as happened to the former planet Pluto).

2007: subprime (an adjective used to describe a risky or less than ideal loan, mortgage, or investment).Further Information

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