American Dialect Society facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
American Dialect Society

Organization logo
Formation	March 13, 1889; 136 years ago (1889-03-13)
Type	Not for profit
Purpose	"Study of the English language in North America, together with other languages or dialects of other languages influencing it or influenced by it."
Location	United States
Region served	North America
Membership	550
Official language	English
President	Luanne Vonne Schneidemesser
Vice President for Communications and Technology	Grant Barrett
Executive Secretary	Allan Metcalf
Parent organization	American Council of Learned Societies (admitted 1962)
Website	http://www.americandialect.org/

The American Dialect Society (ADS) is a group of experts who study the English language in North America. They also look at how other languages or dialects affect English, or how English affects them. This society was started way back in 1889.

The ADS publishes a special magazine called American Speech. Since it began, many experts who study dialects (different ways of speaking a language) in North America have joined the American Dialect Society. Their main goal has always been to study spoken English in the United States and Canada. Over time, this goal grew to include all of North America and how different languages influence each other.

What is the American Dialect Society?

The American Dialect Society was created to help make a huge dictionary of American dialects. This big project took almost 100 years! It finally resulted in the Dictionary of American Regional English. In 1889, when a linguist named Joseph Wright started working on the English Dialect Dictionary, a group of American language experts decided to form the ADS. Their main aim was to create a similar dictionary for the United States.

Members of the Society started gathering information. Much of this was published in their magazine, Dialect Notes. But it wasn't until 1963, when Frederic G. Cassidy became the main editor, that real progress was made on the dictionary. The first part of the Dictionary of American Regional English, covering words starting with A-C, was published in 1985. Another important project of the Society is the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada. This project maps out how language is used across different regions.

Who are the Members of ADS?

The American Dialect Society has always been a smaller group, with only a few hundred active members. Because of this, new discoveries in the field of language study happened slowly. People who join the ADS include:

• Linguists (language scientists)
• Lexicographers (dictionary makers)
• Etymologists (people who study word origins)
• Grammarians (people who study grammar rules)
• Historians
• Researchers
• Writers and authors
• Editors
• Professors and university students
• Independent scholars

The Society also has an online mailing list. This list mainly discusses American English, but it also covers other interesting language topics.

What is the Word of the Year?

Since 1991, the American Dialect Society has chosen one or more words or phrases as the word of the year. The New York Times newspaper has said that the American Dialect Society "probably started" this tradition of picking a word of the year. However, a German language society, the "Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache" (GfdS), has been announcing a word of the year since 1977.

The ADS has also chosen special words for longer periods:

• Word of the 1990s: web
• Word of the 20th Century: jazz
• Word of the Past Millennium: she
• Word of the Decade (2000–2009): Google (as a verb, like "to Google something")
• Word of the Decade (2010–2019): they (used for one person)

The society also picks words in other fun categories. These categories change each year. Some examples include "most original," "most unnecessary," "most outrageous," or "most likely to succeed." Many words chosen by the ADS also appear on the lists of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year.

List of Words of the Year Chosen by ADS

See also

• American English
• Language planning
• Language Report from Oxford University Press
• Lists of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year
• Neologism (a newly made word or expression)
• Word formation