Tribute to Richard W. Bailey: Contours of English & English Language Studies

Michael Adams and Anne Curzan are pleased to announce publication of Contours of English and English Language Studies (University of Michigan Press, 2011; Pp. iv + 371), a collection designed to honor the late Richard W. Bailey, the founding editor of Dictionaries, President of DSNA, and a Fellow of DSNA.

The book is divided into four sections representing four of Richard’s particular interests: American Dialects, History of the English Language, English Lexicography, and English Language Studies and Education. Each section includes a brief introduction by the editors, three substantial essays, and a response essay. Here is the Table of Contents:

American Dialects

• Dennis R. Preston, “Michigander Talk: God’s Own English”
• Walt Wolfram, “The African American English Canon in Sociolinguistics”
• William A. Kretzschmar, Jr., “The Beholder’s Eye: Using Self-Organizing Maps to Understand American Dialects”
• Response by Sonja J. Lanehart, “To Continue Moving Forward in English Language and Linguistics in the Twenty-First Century”

History of the English Language

• Lynda Mugglestone, “Benjamin Smart and Michael Faraday: The Principles and Practices of ‘Talking Proper’ in Nineteenth-Century England”
• Anatoly Liberman, “The Etymology of the Word Wife”
• Edgar W. Schneider, “English into Asia: From Singaporean Ubiquity to Chinese Learners’ Features”
• Response by Colette Moore, “History of the English Language in the English Department: Past and Present”

English Lexicography

• Joan Houston Hall, “New Suckers from the Old Root”
• Jesse Sheidlower, “How Quotation Paragraphs in Historical Dictionaries Work: The Oxford English Dictionary”
• Michael B. Montgomery, “The Core or the Periphery?: The Lack of a Dictionary of Irish English on Historical Principles”
• Response by Marsha L. Dutton, “Embracing the Digital Siren: Collaborative Lexicography in the Twenty-First Century”

English Language Studies and Education

• Geneva Smitherman and Minnie Quartey-Annan, “African American Language and Education: How Far Have We Come?”
• Dennis Baron, “Language and Education: The More Things Change”
• Amy J. Devitt, “Written Language in Use: An Essay on Returning Language to Writing Studies”
• Response by Susanmarie Harrington, “Watch the Language: Scholarship, Teaching, and Change”

The general introduction includes an account of Richard’s career. We hope that members of the Society who knew Richard will consider buying the book as an act of memory, but the contents richly reward the purchase price of USD35.95 for anyone interested in any, some, or all of the book’s subjects. We hope that colleagues at colleges and universities will recommend purchase to their libraries. The book is available at the University of Michigan Press website