The American Dialect Society (ADS), founded in 1889, is a

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an discipline (academia), academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and s ...

"dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

s, or

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

s of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society publishes the academic journal ''

American Speech ''American Speech'' is a quarterly academic journal of the American Dialect Society, established in 1925 and currently published by Duke University Press. It focuses primarily on the English language used in the Western Hemisphere, but also publis ...

''. 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 has 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).

History

The organization was founded as part of an effort to create a comprehensive American dialect dictionary, a near century-long undertaking that culminated in the publication of the ''

Dictionary of American Regional English The ''Dictionary of American Regional English'' (''DARE'') is a record of American English as spoken in the United States, from its beginnings to the present. It differs from other dictionaries in that it does not document the standard language u ...

''. In 1889, when

Joseph Wright Joseph Wright may refer to: *Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), English painter *Joseph Wright (American painter) (1756–1793), American portraitist *Joseph Wright (fl. 1837/1845), whose company, Messrs. Joseph Wright and Sons, became the Metro ...

began editing the ''

English Dialect Dictionary English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

'', a group of American philologists founded the American Dialect Society with the ultimate purpose of producing a similar work for the United States. Members of the Society began to collect material, much of which was published in the Society's journal ''Dialect Notes'', but little was done toward compiling a dictionary recording nationwide usage until

Frederic G. Cassidy Frederic Gomes Cassidy (October 10, 1907 – June 14, 2000) was a Jamaican-born Linguistics, linguist and lexicographer. He was a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and founder of the ''Dictionary of American Regional Engl ...

was appointed Chief Editor in 1963. The first volume of the ''Dictionary of American Regional English'', covering the letters A-C, was published in 1985. The other major project of the Society is the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada.

Membership

The Society has never had more than a few hundred active members. With so few scholars advancing the enterprise, the developments in the field came slowly. Members of the organization include "linguists, lexicographers, etymologists, grammarians, historians, researchers, writers, authors, editors, professors, university students, and independent scholars." Its activities include a mailing list, which deals chiefly with

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...

but also carries some discussion of other issues of linguistic interest.

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 word(s) of the year, sometimes capitalized as "Word(s) of the Year" and abbreviated "WOTY" (or "WotY"), refers to any of various assessments as to the most important word(s) or expression(s) in the public sphere during a specific year. The Ge ...

''. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' stated that the American Dialect Society "probably started" the "word-of-the-year ritual". However, the "Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache" (GfdS) has announced a word of the year since 1977. Special votes that they've made: * Word of the 1990s: ''

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

'' * Word of the 20th Century: ''

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

'' * Word of the Past Millennium: ''

she She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

'' * Word of the Decade (2000-2009): ''

google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

'' (as a verb)2009 Word of the Year is “tweet”; Word of the Decade is “google”
– American Dialect Society. Published 8 January 2010. Retrieved 31 Mar 2019. * Word of the Decade (2010-2019): ''

they In Modern English, ''they'' is a third-person pronoun relating to a grammatical subject. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''they'' has five distinct word forms: * ''they'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''them'': the accusat ...

''2019 Word of the Year is “(My) Pronouns,” Word of the Decade is Singular “They”
– American Dialect Society. Published 3 January 2020. Retrieved 28 Mar 2019. The society also selects words in other categories that vary from year to year, such as "most original" or "most unnecessary" (or "most outrageous") and "most likely to succeed" (see:

Word of the year The word(s) of the year, sometimes capitalized as "Word(s) of the Year" and abbreviated "WOTY" (or "WotY"), refers to any of various assessments as to the most important word(s) or expression(s) in the public sphere during a specific year. The Ge ...

). A number of words chosen by the ADS are also on the

lists of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year The lists of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year (for each year) are ten-word lists published annually by the American dictionary-publishing company Merriam-Webster, Inc., which feature the ten words of the year from the English language. These wo ...

List of Words of the Year

References

External links

* *
American Dialect Society
information page at

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 Du ...

Publication of the American Dialect Society
archive articles at

American Dialect Society
information page at

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

(ACLS)
American Dialect Society
news page at

Dictionary Society of North America The Dictionary Society of North America (DSNA) was founded in 1975 to encourage scholarly and professional activities that have to do with dictionaries and lexicography. Since 1994, DSNA has been a member of the American Council of Learned Societie ...

American Dialect Society Collection
at

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

American Dialect Society
publications listed with timeline at

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, from participation in the

Online Computer Library Center OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

Creator: American Dialect Society
at website of

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{{Authority control Linguistic societies 1889 establishments in the United States Lexicology American English History of education in the United States Learned societies of the United States