A new research project is aiming to compile the first Oxford Dictionary of African American English.
The project is a collaboration between Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research and Oxford University Press.
Linguistics professor Sonja Lanehart explained, “Finally we will have a space that recognizes our language in a way that encompasses all the people within African American language communities. It will be much more expansive and inclusive of the language as opposed to [just] some words here and there. And instead of just defining or spelling the words, the project will also provide some historical context.”
Should this dictionary be studied in schools?