Encyclopedias & Dictionaries - ELing 325 - Grammar of English - Subject Guides at Brigham Young University

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Specialized reference sources (encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc.) are great starting points for your research. Get background information about your topic and note what is being discussed and researched. Get a better idea of how you might want to narrow your topic. Take note of who the authorities are, terminology, important articles and books on the subject, etc.

Reference Online

The Blackwell Linguistics Reference Online offers you a number of handbooks & encyclopedias ranging from language acquisition to syntax, from phonetics to writing systems, from English to Japanese.

Encyclopedias

International Encyclopedia of Linguistics
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The International Encyclopedia of Linguistics encompasses the full range of topics in linguistics, including such areas as historical, comparative, formal, mathematical, functional, philosophical, and sociolinguistics with special attention given to interrelations within these branches of the field and to relations of linguistics with other disciplines.

Linguistics Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. This link opens in a new window
The second edition of this linguistic encyclopedia can be searched by keyword or browsed alphabetically for articles. An extensive bibliography is included. Viewing requires download of the ebrary reader.

Dictionaries

The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar
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Access to 1,000 grammatical terms and their meanings. All the currently accepted terms of grammar are included, as well as older, traditional names, controversial new coinages, and items from the study of other languages. Concise definitions of the wider subject of linguistics, including phonetics and transformational grammar, are accompanied by examples of language in use, and frequent quotations from existing works on grammar.
A Glossary of English Grammar / Geoffrey Leech (2006)
Humanities Reference PE 1112 .L44x 2006
Glossary of English Grammar Terms - On the Web
On UsingEnglish.com. A fully cross-referenced English glossary of linguistic and grammatical terms. Each grammar definition contains an explanation and cross-references to other relevant grammar terms.

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Online This link opens in a new window
The OED Online contains the complete searchable text of over half a million words from the 20 volume 2nd Edition. The dictionary traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations, offers etymological analysis, listings of variant spellings, and shows pronunciations. 1000 new and revised entries added quarterly. NOTE: The reference to the hard copy of the Oxford English Dictionary is HUM REF PE 1625 .O87