[Ads-l] MetroLex (NYC): Lynne Murphy & Jez Burrows, Apr. 13

[Ben Zimmer]

Those of you in the NYC area may be interested in attending the next
MetroLex event on Apr. 13 at Columbia. Details below -- you can use the
Eventbrite link to register.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/metrolex-dictionary-stories-the-prodigal-tongue-tickets-44485521392

MetroLex: Dictionary Stories & The Prodigal Tongue

Fri, April 13, 2018, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM EDT
Hamilton Hall, Room 703
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027

The Dictionary Society of North America has partnered with local
organizations in the New York City area to establish a series of meetups
called MetroLex. MetroLex meetups bring together lexicographers, linguists,
technologists, educators, and other language professionals to share
research and projects relating to dictionary technology, dictionary use,
language documentation, semantic ontologies, and lexicography.

Once again MetroLex will be held at Columbia University, hosted by
associate professor of English and comparative literature John H.
McWhorter. We are pleased to present two speakers with newly published
books of particular interest to those who love dictionaries. Jez Burrows, a
British designer, illustrator and writer who lives in San Francisco, will
be talking about his book Dictionary Stories (Harper Perennial), in which
he repurposes example sentences from dictionaries to create inventive works
of short fiction. Lynne Murphy, an American linguist teaching at the
University of Sussex in England, will discuss her book The Prodigal Tongue
(Penguin), about the sibling rivalry between British and American English,
each with their own "dictionary culture."

The event is free and open to the public — you don't have to be a
lexicographer to attend! Both books will be available for purchase at the
event. More information on our speakers and their books follows below.

* Jez Burrows opened the New Oxford American Dictionary and sat, mystified.
Instead of the definition of “study” he was looking for, he found himself
drawn to the strangely conspicuous, curiously melodramatic sentence that
followed it: “He perched on the edge of the bed, a study in confusion and
misery.” It read like a tiny piece of fiction on the lam and hiding out in
the dictionary—and it wasn’t alone. Was it possible to reunite these
fugitive fictions? To combine and remix example sentences to form new
works? With this spark and a handful of stories shared online, Dictionary
Stories was born. This genre-bending and wildly inventive collection glows
with humor, emotion, and intellect. Effortlessly transcending sentence
level, Burrows lights between the profound and the absurd, transporting
readers into moments, worlds, and experiences of remarkable variety.
Featuring original illustrations by the author, Dictionary Stories is a
giddy celebration of the beauty and flexibility of language.

* Lynne Murphy explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship
between British and American English in her new book The Prodigal Tongue.
By examining the causes and symptoms of American Verbal Inferiority Complex
and its flipside, British Verbal Superiority Complex, Murphy unravels the
prejudices, stereotypes and insecurities that shape our attitudes to our
own language. With great humo(u)r and new insights, Lynne Murphy looks at
the social, political and linguistic forces that have driven American and
British English in different directions: how Americans got from centre to
center, why British accents are growing away from American ones, and what
different things we mean when we say estate, frown, or middle class. Is
anyone winning this war of the words? Will Yanks and Brits ever really
understand each other?

The presentations will be followed by discussion and light refreshments
provided by Cambridge University Press.

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org