Video: BNV Interview With Dr Rosemary Hall
Bermudian Dr Rosemary Hall — who worked with the Oxford English Dictionary on the addition of new Bermudian words – joined Bernews today for the latest episode in the Bernews News & Views series.
Dr Hall is a sociolinguist specialising in accents and dialects of English. She completed her PhD at the University of Oxford in 2018, and currently works as Research Assistant for the Dialect and Heritage Project based at the University of Leeds.
She worked with the Oxford English Dictionary to add the words — aceboy, acegirl, chingas, chopse, chopsing, go long, Gombey, greeze, gribble, mice, mug, Onion, well and wrinch — making what they called ‘Bermudian English’ the smallest national variety to be represented in the dictionary.
Speaking with Bernews today, she explained a bit about the process, and also confirmed that there is the possibility of having more ‘Bermudian English’ added, with Dr Hall saying that the OED is always interested in adding new words.
“It feels great that we are seeing the work of Bermudian authors, Bermudian writers, and Bermudian speakers in the Oxford English Dictionary,” she said, explaining that a historical dictionary uses quotations from written sources.
