The Dictionary of American Regional English, official dictionary of the American Dialect Society, treats both regional and social variation among speakers of American English. Based on an extensive program of contemporary (1965-70) fieldwork in 1,002 communities across the U. S., and an equally extensive collection of written sources from the seventeenth century through the present, DARE includes words, phrases, and pronunciations that vary from one part of the country to another or from one social group to another. The Dictionary provides full historical treatment, with pronunciations, variant forms, etymologies, regional labels, social and usage labels, definitions, dated quotations, and cross-references, as appropriate. A unique feature of DARE is the inclusion (within the text) of maps showing the regional distribution of words, phrases, and forms. Volume I, containing introductory matter and the letters A-C, was published in 1985 to the acclaim of scholars, reviewers, and the public as well. Volume II (D-H) was published in 1991, and Volume III (I-O) in 1996. Two more volumes will complete the dictionary itself, and a final volume will contain a supplement, a complete list of all responses to the Questionnaire, a bibliography of all sources quoted, a section of maps showing regional contrasts and social distributions, and a cumulative index of the regional, social, and etymological labels used in the text. DARE will not only provide a full record of regional American English, but will also furnish, both in the Dictionary text and in the raw materials, the resources to stimulate much further linguistic research.
