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The Review of English Studies Advance Access originally published online on April 5, 2009
The Review of English Studies 2009 60(246):620-638; doi:10.1093/res/hgp021
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press 2009; all rights reserved

Literary Classics in OED Quotation Evidence

John Considine

University of Alberta


  Abstract

This article discusses the use of quotation evidence from canonical literary texts in the Oxford English Dictionary. The proportionately high representation of quotations from authors such as Shakespeare and Scott in OED quotations has been discussed since the 1980s, and has been emphasised in some of the most important adverse criticism of the dictionary. After commenting on the historical background to the dictionary's treatment of literary quotation evidence, the article examines two kinds of claim which have been made about it: first, that the record of the English language is avoidably distorted by OED's past and continuing preference for quotations from canonical (and preponderantly male) authors, and second, that some choices made in the selection of quotation evidence appear to reflect the personal prejudices of OED editors. In evaluating these claims, it discusses the practicalities of gathering and replacing quotation evidence and the relationship of readers to different kinds of evidence, and analyses a number of OED entries with regard to the quotation material which they use or might have used.


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