Extract

Who does a dictionary belong to? Such was the central question to be answered when embarking on the project to write a dictionary of Camfranglais. To this question, the answer was simple: it must be the property of everybody. It is the property of all the speakers or users of the language or language variety whose words and usage it illustrates, as well as that of non-speakers or users of the language variety. These speakers may only consider a dictionary as an object of study or a mere curiosity, as the case might be. A dictionary can thus not be said to have one single author, or even many!

Representativity was the buzzword in the selection of items to be ­considered as Camfranglais or Francanglais. But, more importantly, what is Camfranglais, and what lexical elements would qualify as Camfranglais or not? In 2014 for ­example, where does one go for vocabulary items that would also reflect the usage 30 years ago? The main difficulty in obtaining words, phrases and ­idiomatic ­expressions to be included in this dictionary relates to diachrony as well as to defining the boundaries of Camfranglais. Camfranglais is not a ­recent ­phenomenon, and ­linguistic descriptions of it date as far back as 1985. The ­sources for obtaining lexical elements are fewer and less diverse the further back we go. For the 1980s and 90s for example, scientific articles describing this language phenomenon are the major sources available. To this can be added a few recordings...