James Lambert
I am an assistant professor at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. My academic interests focus on lexicography and World Englishes. Prior to my doctorate I worked as a professional lexicographer for over 15 years with Macquarie Dictionary Publishers, Sydney, Australia, and then as a English teacher in Japan, Turkey, and Hong Kong. I have edited numerous dictionaries and other reference works including a number of dictionaries of Australian slang.
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Papers by James Lambert
Abstract:
Since Yule and Burnell's first edition of their glossary of Anglo-Indian English in 1886, the term 'Hobson-Jobson' has been part of the English language. It was already an established Anglo-Indian English word, but was given a new life, and new meanings, by Yule and Burnell. Accounts of the word in both lexicography and popular works are still almost entirely based on an uncritical replication of the information provided by Yule and Burnell. That information was incomplete and involved some inaccuracies that warrant elucidation. This paper is based on a collection of citations of the term 'Hobson-Jobson' and related terms, and a detailed review of how the word has been recorded in dictionaries. This new evidence allows a detailed delineation of the meanings the term has had over time, and also reveals a more precise rendering of the etymology, one which illuminates a less positive side to this popular term.
Abstract:
Indian English is one of the most important and widely-spoken varieties of English, and yet at present the pinnacle of lexicographical treatment of the variety remains the well-renowned and much feted Hobson-Jobson, originally published in 1886, with a second edition in 1903. British English has the Oxford, American English the Webster's, Australian English the Macquarie, but Indian English must do with a dictionary over a century out of date. More recent lexicographical works that focus on Indian English suffer from a number of deficiencies that do not do the variety due justice. This paper analyses a selection of the currently available dictionaries on Indian English in order to identify these deficiencies. Finally, suggestions are made as to possible dictionary projects that may move Indian English lexicography, and the lexicography of other new Englishes, beyond Hobson-Jobson and towards the twenty-first century.
Abstract:
In the late 1930s two British commentators, A.F. Kindersley and R.C. Goffin, published articles on various linguistic features (semantic, grammatical, orthographical, and phonological) of the English language as used in India. These two glossaries offer a valuable insight into late-Raj Indian English. In order to assess the extent of change over the intervening 70-plus years, a comparison of the content of those glossaries to present-day Indian English has been made. The overall picture is one of surprising stability, especially given the strong resistance by educationalists and others who have long stigmatised local variations as 'errors'. This stability over time suggests a long-standing endonormativity that has hitherto not been recognised. Many of the features discussed have even longer stable histories, suggesting an even lengthier endonormativity. This type of diachronic investigation may have similar implications for many other varieties of English.
Abstract:
Central to the concept of Student Voice is the communication of student feedback to educators. Feedback can assume a great variety of forms, and effectiveness and appropriacy of different feedback methods may vary. The present research investigates student perceptions of two traditional feedback methods – pen-and-paper questionnaires and oral question-and-answer reports – compared against feedback obtained through the use of three digital technology tools (Socrative, TodaysMeet and Google Drive). The findings suggest that the use of digital technologies in Student Voice contexts is likely to be highly effective due to the overwhelming positive attitude of students towards these tools.
PREVIEW only available here, for whole article see http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/studies_in_philology/v108/108.1.spedding.html.
Books by James Lambert
Abstract:
Since Yule and Burnell's first edition of their glossary of Anglo-Indian English in 1886, the term 'Hobson-Jobson' has been part of the English language. It was already an established Anglo-Indian English word, but was given a new life, and new meanings, by Yule and Burnell. Accounts of the word in both lexicography and popular works are still almost entirely based on an uncritical replication of the information provided by Yule and Burnell. That information was incomplete and involved some inaccuracies that warrant elucidation. This paper is based on a collection of citations of the term 'Hobson-Jobson' and related terms, and a detailed review of how the word has been recorded in dictionaries. This new evidence allows a detailed delineation of the meanings the term has had over time, and also reveals a more precise rendering of the etymology, one which illuminates a less positive side to this popular term.
Abstract:
Indian English is one of the most important and widely-spoken varieties of English, and yet at present the pinnacle of lexicographical treatment of the variety remains the well-renowned and much feted Hobson-Jobson, originally published in 1886, with a second edition in 1903. British English has the Oxford, American English the Webster's, Australian English the Macquarie, but Indian English must do with a dictionary over a century out of date. More recent lexicographical works that focus on Indian English suffer from a number of deficiencies that do not do the variety due justice. This paper analyses a selection of the currently available dictionaries on Indian English in order to identify these deficiencies. Finally, suggestions are made as to possible dictionary projects that may move Indian English lexicography, and the lexicography of other new Englishes, beyond Hobson-Jobson and towards the twenty-first century.
Abstract:
In the late 1930s two British commentators, A.F. Kindersley and R.C. Goffin, published articles on various linguistic features (semantic, grammatical, orthographical, and phonological) of the English language as used in India. These two glossaries offer a valuable insight into late-Raj Indian English. In order to assess the extent of change over the intervening 70-plus years, a comparison of the content of those glossaries to present-day Indian English has been made. The overall picture is one of surprising stability, especially given the strong resistance by educationalists and others who have long stigmatised local variations as 'errors'. This stability over time suggests a long-standing endonormativity that has hitherto not been recognised. Many of the features discussed have even longer stable histories, suggesting an even lengthier endonormativity. This type of diachronic investigation may have similar implications for many other varieties of English.
Abstract:
Central to the concept of Student Voice is the communication of student feedback to educators. Feedback can assume a great variety of forms, and effectiveness and appropriacy of different feedback methods may vary. The present research investigates student perceptions of two traditional feedback methods – pen-and-paper questionnaires and oral question-and-answer reports – compared against feedback obtained through the use of three digital technology tools (Socrative, TodaysMeet and Google Drive). The findings suggest that the use of digital technologies in Student Voice contexts is likely to be highly effective due to the overwhelming positive attitude of students towards these tools.
PREVIEW only available here, for whole article see http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/studies_in_philology/v108/108.1.spedding.html.