The Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage - Hardcover

Allsopp, Jeannette

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198661525 ISBN 13: 9780198661528

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1996

Synopsis

This remarkable new dictionary represents the first attempt in some four centuries to record the state of development of English as used across the entire Caribbean region. Information has been drawn from speech recordings and from over 900 written sources of Caribbean literature, reference works, magazines, pamphlets, and newspapers. The derivation and usage of words, their social or grammatical register, pronunciation, area of occurrence and regional differences are all clearly recorded, with full cross-referencing and thousands of illustrative quotations from a broad range of sources. A short Supplement lists Caribbean French and Spanish equivalents to Caribbean English items selected from the main work. Includes: bobolist * feg * pla-pla * Tobago love * fungee * Jamaica-plum * naseberry * Phagwa * Conchy Joe * take up sb's fire-rage * jumbie * coskel * obsocky * Rastafarianism * play ole mas

About this title

Review

"Will help teachers and students understand better the literary texts they are examining, and can provide one approach to a wider examination of cultural differences....An essential supplement to any collections where Commonwealth or Caribbean literature form part of the curriculum, and useful for linguistic studies."--Choice "Will help teachers and students understand better the literary texts they are examining, and can provide one approach to a wider examination of cultural differences....An essential supplement to any collections where Commonwealth or Caribbean literature form part of the curriculum, and useful for linguistic studies."--Choice "Will help teachers and students understand better the literary texts they are examining, and can provide one approach to a wider examination of cultural differences....An essential supplement to any collections where Commonwealth or Caribbean literature form part of the curriculum, and useful for linguistic studies."--Choice "Will help teachers and students understand better the literary texts they are examining, and can provide one approach to a wider examination of cultural differences....An essential supplement to any collections where Commonwealth or Caribbean literature form part of the curriculum, and useful for linguistic studies."--Choice

From the Author

Contents of DICTIONARY OF CARIBBEAN ENGLISH USAGE
By its considerable attention to detailed origins of Caribbean words and phrases the book is of value to both African diaspora and Creole language studies. It has an endpaper map locating African language sources. It also carries much etymological information on items originating in the Indian sub-continent. Anthropological and sociolinguistic studies will find its entries of great interest. The book also backs up meanings and usage with citations from over 1000 sources of West Indian English literature: novels, magazines, journals, newspapers, calypsoes, etc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198661525
• ISBN 13: 9780198661528
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 776