Skip Navigation



International Journal of Lexicography Advance Access published online on April 17, 2008
International Journal of Lexicography, doi:10.1093/ijl/ecn008
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
21/2/129    most recent
ecn008v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dixon, R. M. W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2008 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Australian Aboriginal Words in Dictionaries: A History

R. M. W. Dixon

Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University (nyamamayratakw{at}gmail.com)


  Abstract

Over 400 words have been borrowed from the Aboriginal languages of Australia into Australian English, some into other varieties of English and thence into other languages. A chronological account is provided of how English dictionaries have dealt with the commonest loans — kangaroo, boomerang, koala, dingo, wombat and a few more. There is comparison with the way in which loans from American and African languages were treated. Although there were ca 250 distinct indigenous languages in Australia, words taken from them were marked just as ‘Aboriginal’ or ‘native Australian’ until the publication of the second edition of the unabridged Random House Dictionary in 1987, of The Australian National Dictionary in 1988 and of Australian Words in English, their Origin and Meaning in 1990. The paper concludes with a survey of the ways in which other dictionaries have dealt with the newly-made-available etymologies.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.