Subject Guides: Linguistics: Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Linguistics: Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Most of our reference resources are electronic. Below are some of the best:

Dictionary of American Regional English
Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) is a dictionary of regional dialects, documenting words, phrases, and pronunciations that vary from one place to another place across the United States. The entries in DARE include regional pronunciations, variant forms, some etymologies, and regional and social distributions of the words and phrases.
Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics
Comprehensive encyclopedia of languages and linguistics, including English, created and maintained by ScienceDirect. Available as an e-book and online.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Great for brainstorming topics! Access to hundreds of in-depth subject encyclopedias and handbooks covering every major subject, from Accounting to Art History and Shakespeare to Einstein.

Features:
• Topic Pages (collections of info on specific topics)
• Mind Maps (visually shows the connections between topics and keywords)
Gale Ebooks This link opens in a new window
Searchable full text of various subject encyclopedias from Gale eBooks. Great for multidisciplinary research!
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new window
The accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It includes the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words.
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
Two million digitized entries across Oxford’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias, spanning 25 different subject areas.

Dictionaries and encyclopedias are a great place to start looking for background information about your topic, including:

Subjects: English