Black Americans have long contributed to the ways in which the English language is used, and now a new research project aims to compile the first Oxford Dictionary of African American English.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but if you don’t know what the locals call it, you may accidentally order a daisy. The Dictionary of American ...

If you’ve ever been confused by British English, you’re not alone. One big reason is vocabulary. Many everyday words are completely different from what American English speakers use. For example, ...

The new lexicon, with Henry Louis Gates Jr. as editor in chief, will collect definitions and histories of words. “The bottom line of the African American people,” Gates said, is “these are people who ...

Earlier in the year Joshua Katz, an intern with the New York Times' graphics team and a statistician at North Carolina State University, started an online survey looking at Americans' regional ...

A comprehensive dictionary is being compiled to showcase the impact Black Americans have had on the development of the English language. The Oxford Dictionary of African American English (ODAAE) is a ...

It’s finally finished. Since 1965, linguists, lexicographers, and wordsmiths have been waiting for the editors of the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), charting under-the-radar regional ...

Oxford University Press and Harvard University are collaborating to create the Oxford Dictionary of African American English (ODAAE). Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Director of Harvard University’s Hutchins ...

THE MAIN STREAM AND THE BRANCHES The language English is one. But it may sound very different depending on the region of the United States Joan Houston Hall, a lexicographer, is concerned about the ...

Pants comes from the French word 'pantaloon' - a type of tight-fitting garment that was briefly at the height of French fashion. To talk about clothing that covers a person's legs you would say pants ...