Date:  Wed, 10 Dec 1997 10:23:38 -0500
From:  Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Posts and Getting Along

On Wed, 10 Dec 1997, Timothy C. Frazer wrote:

> Maybe what we need is a not a new ADS-L list, but one that addresses the
> needs of many of the non-professionals--something lke "words and phrase
> queries." I would like to see such queries elsewhere, and ADS-L confined
> to a discussion of reserach issues in dialectology and soicolinguistics.

Speaking as someone who is not a professional linguist, but who has a
strong interest in certain aspects of linguistics, I would like to make
the following observation: Historically, the American Dialect Society and
the journal American Speech have included lexicology and lexicography
among their areas of interest. Today, the interests of ADS members are
predominantly dialectology and sociolinguistics, but, to me at least, it
would be a shame if lexicology and lexicography were excluded altogether
from the American Dialect Society, American Speech, and ADS-L.

It is worth noting that, if the American Dialect Society wishes to
maintain its links to sources of publicity and funding such as the popular
press, excluding lexicology and lexicography would be shooting itself in
the foot, since these areas are of greater interest to the public than
are dialectology and sociolinguistics.

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 Fred R. Shapiro               Coeditor (with Jane Garry)
 Associate Librarian for Public Services   TRIAL AND ERROR: AN OXFORD
  and Lecturer in Legal Research      ANTHOLOGY OF LEGAL STORIES
 Yale Law School               Oxford University Press, 1997
 e-mail: fred.shapiro[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]yale.edu        ISBN 0-19-509547-2
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