Caribbean’s ‘first all-purpose’ dictionary aims to close classroom linguistic gaps

Two Caribbean lexicographers have embarked on a mission to compile the region’s first general-purpose English dictionary and bridge linguistic gaps in education— 30 years after Richard Allsopp’s pioneering but more specialised Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage.

The dictionary project is being described as a landmark effort to validate Caribbean language and ensure school children are not disadvantaged.

Dr Joseph T Farquharson, senior lecturer in linguistics and coordinator of the Jamaican Language Unit at the University of the West Indies at Mona, and Dr Jason F Siegel, research fellow in lexicography at UWI Cave Hill, are leading the project.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY on Thursday, Dr Siegel explained the significance of the initiative, particularly in light of last month’s announcement that the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) had added 12 Caribbean words to the world’s authoritative dictionary of the English language.

Dr Siegel, who also heads the Richard and Jeannette Allsopp Centre for Caribbean Lexicography – named for the pioneering linguists who produced the first full dictionaries of Caribbean English – noted that while the OED’s additions generated headlines, “these words have been in our dictionaries of the Caribbean for decades at this point.”

Dr Siegel could not confirm a publication date but suggested the project was vital both symbolically and practically: “When you have your own dictionary, it validates [your dialect] in the eyes of the public. Not in any sort of scientific way, because scientifically, the language is already valid… There’s some kind of racist discourse that tries to suggest that there’s something wrong with the way Caribbean people speak, but if you don’t buy into the racism, it all kind of falls apart.”

The development follows the 1995 Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage — compiled by Guyanese-born, Barbados-based linguist Richard Allsopp and published by Oxford University Press — which remains an authoritative reference capturing unique Caribbean terms and idioms. It was followed by his wife and fellow lexicographer, Jeannette Allsopp, who published The Caribbean Multilingual Dictionary of Flora, Fauna, and Foods in English, French, French Creole, and Spanish in 2003.

She also co-edited a school edition of the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, which was published in 2022 by UWI Press.

The current project sets out to create a comprehensive, all-purpose dictionary tailored to daily Caribbean English, including regional vocabulary and the standard English used alongside it. This new endeavour seeks to serve as a single trusted reference for both local colour and international communication. Siegel and Farquharson said their dictionary represents a broader approach than Allsopp’s pioneering, usage-focused work.

Dr Siegel argued that the OED was only now catching up with the latest additions from the Caribbean. “At this point, the OED is really trying to make a historical correction where they didn’t have contributions from as many parts of the English-speaking world as they should have,” he said. “They’re really just trying to get their world English contributions up to snuff to match what they have from the large majority white countries.”

Unlike specialised glossaries, a
general-purpose dictionary seeks to capture a broad range of everyday words in a language. For the Caribbean, that means recording regional words such as “cou cou” or “walk with” alongside the everyday English used worldwide.

Dr Siegel said this would have immediate benefits for education: “It’s important because kids shouldn’t have to go looking everywhere to find what their words mean… They should be able to count on one, maybe two sources that can help them find what a word means, in an easy-to-access kind of way. And Google isn’t going to do that. Google isn’t going to tell you what “cou cou” means in any sort of reliable way… Google isn’t going to tell you what “walk with” means in any sort of reliable way, because Caribbean people use “walk with” to mean bring, to mean carry, to mean take.”

He also drew on his personal experience to highlight the inequity faced by Caribbean students: “I was taught in my dialect of English, nobody tried to teach me in some other country’s dialect of English. I learned American English… Caribbean kids have to look up their own words in a separate dictionary.”

The general–purpose Caribbean dictionary is still in its early stages, with funding and planning yet to be secured, but Dr Siegel insisted that it is a high priority for the Allsopp Centre. (SZB)