Using the OED quotations database as a diachronic corpus
Günter Rohdenburg · Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2013
Introduction In essence, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a historical dictionary that aims at documenting, by means of illustrative quotations, the semantic and grammatical evolution of the entire vocabulary of English – in its standard varieties – over a period spanning a thousand years. The purpose of this chapter is to assess the reliability and usefulness of the quotations database as a tool – to be used on its own or in manifold probings – for research on grammatical change and variation. The first and complete electronic version of the OED corresponds to the second edition or OED 2 . Both OED 2 and the revised and additional material published so far as part of a third edition, OED 3 , can be accessed at OED online , subscribed to by many universities worldwide. However, as pointed out by Brewer (2009: 211), ‘OED 3 has covered the alphabet range from M to near the end of Q [sc. by spring 2008], and completion of the entire dictionary is some decades away.’ For this reason and since I am in possession of an electronic version that can be run from the hard drive of a PC (Version 1.10), this survey has been confined to OED 2 .