Australian National Dictionary Centre

The building that houses the Australian National Dictionary Centre

The Australian National Dictionary Centre at the Australian National University in Canberra is a major centre for lexicographical research in Australia. It is jointly funded by the Australian National University and Oxford University Press Australia.

Mission

The Centre conducts research into Australian English and provides Oxford University Press with editorial expertise for its Australian dictionaries.^[1]

History

The founding director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre, W.S. (Bill) Ramson (1933–2011), was one of several researchers and academics in the 1970s who saw the need for a general Australian dictionary.^[2] In the late 1970s, based at the Australian National University in Canberra, he began research on a dictionary of Australianisms based on historical principles.^[3] The dictionary would be an Australian version of the Oxford English Dictionary. After several years of data collection a publishing contract was signed with Oxford University Press (Australia) in 1983, and Ramson and his team began work on the editing process. The trials and tribulations of this process are outlined in Ramson’s book Lexical Images (OUP, 2005).

The Australian National Dictionary Project became the Australian National Dictionary Centre with the signing of a contract between Oxford University Press and the Australian National University in 1988.^[4] The Centre hosted the Australex conference in November 2011.^[5]

Contribution to scholarship on Australian English

The Australian National Dictionary Centre publishes a number of monographs resulting from data collection from regional sources: glossaries covering Tasmanian, Western Australian, Queensland, and South Australian words, along with monographs about specific subgenres of Australian English such as Aboriginal English, military slang, and the language of early Australian gold-miners.^[6]

Australian Oxford Dictionaries

The Australian National Dictionary Centre produces the general Australian Oxford Dictionaries such as the Australian Oxford Dictionary, the Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary, the Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary. It also produces the fleet of major Australian dictionaries for primary schools such as the First Australian Dictionary and the Australian Middle Primary Dictionary, and secondary schools such as the Australian School Dictionary and the Australian Student’s Colour Dictionary.

Directors

W.S. Ramson was Director from 1988 to 1994. Bruce Moore was Director from 1994 to 2011. Sarah Ogilvie was Director from January to June 2012. The current Director is Amanda Laugesen.

Ozwords

The Australian National Dictionary Centre publishes a biannual newsletter^[7] and active blog^[8] Ozwords, which contains articles on Australian English and answers to queries on the subject.

Oxford Word and Language Service

The Oxford Word and Language Service (OWLS) is a service offered by the Australian National Dictionary Centre in which members of the public can ask questions about Australian words and their usage, including spelling, grammar, meaning, or origin.^[9]

Publications

Source:^[10]

• The Australian National Dictionary. W.S. Ramson. Oxford University Press, 1988.
• W.H. Downing's Digger Dialects. Ed. J.M. Arthur and W.S. Ramson. Oxford University Press, 1990.
• A Lexicon of Cadet Language: Royal Military College, Duntroon, in the period 1983 to 1985. Bruce Moore. Australian National Dictionary Centre, 1993.
• Words from the West: A Glossary of Western Australian Terms. Maureen Brooks and Joan Ritchie. Oxford University Press, 1994.
• Tassie Terms: A Glossary of Tasmanian Terms. Maureen Brooks and Joan Ritchie. Oxford University Press, 1995.
• Aboriginal English. J.M. Arthur. Oxford University Press, 1996
• Gold! Gold! Gold! The Language of the Nineteenth-Century Australian Goldfield. Bruce Moore. Oxford University Press, 2000.
• Who's Centric Now? The Present State of Post-Colonial Englishes. Bruce Moore ed. Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Voices of Queensland: Words from the Sunshine State. Julia Robinson. Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Lexical Images: The Story of the Australian National Dictionary. W.S. Ramson. Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Convict Words: Language in Early Colonial Australia. Amanda Laugesen Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Australian Aboriginal Words in English: Their Origin and Meaning. Second Edition. R.M.W. Dixon, W.S. Ramson, Bruce Moore, Mandy Thomas. Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Bardi Grubs and Frog Cakes: South Australian Words. Dorothy Jauncey. Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Diggerspeak: The Language of Australians at War. Amanda Laugesen. Oxford University Press, 2005.
• Speaking Our Language: The Story of Australian English. Bruce Moore. Oxford University Press, 2008.
• What's Their Story? A History of Australian Words. Bruce Moore. Oxford University Press, 2010.

The Centre also began to create general dictionaries for an Australian audience, published by OUP.

References

External links

• The Australian National Dictionary Centre

Coordinates: 35°16′42″S 149°07′20″E / 35.2782°S 149.1223°E / -35.2782; 149.1223