Tony Crowley is Professor of English at the University of Leeds. Born and bred in Liverpool, he has taught at Oxford, Southampton and Manchester Universities. He was the Hartley Burr Alexander Chair of the Humanities at Scripps College, California (2005–13), and is a Fellow of the English Association. His previous books include Scouse: A Social and Cultural History (Liverpool University Press, 2012), Wars of Words: The Politics of Language in Ireland 1537–2005 (Oxford University Press, 2005) and The Politics of Language: The Standard Language Question in Cultural Debates (Palgrave, 2003).
Reviews 'A serious and quietly affecting work of language study and
social history. Tony Crowley has produced a fitting companion to
his superb study Scouse. His research into and adventures with the
Liverpool lexicon open up windows on to old and new worlds. A
Liverpool of sectarian tribes, docks, alehouses, bizzies, jiggers,
humour, family, sex, fights and insults gusts through these pages
like wind off the river.'
Professor Michael O’Neill, Department of English Studies, Durham
University
'The language of Liverpool has long been recognised as being rather
special. Now it has received special recognition in its own very
special dictionary. This superb achievement is the result of
decades of research by Tony Crowley, who has done a brilliant job
of marrying scholarly linguistic erudition with a deep personal
knowledge of the dialect. His affection for Scouse and the
community which speaks it is obvious on every page; this dictionary
on historical principles is not only fascinating and immensely
informative but also highly enjoyable.'
Peter Trudgill, Université de Fribourg/ University of East
Anglia
'A model of dialect lexicography. Scouse has never been more
thoroughly explored. A fascinating introduction to Liverpool's
colourful speech. Liverpudlians will be dead chuffed to read
it.'
David Crystal, Honorary Professor of Linguistics, University of
Bangor, and author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English
Language (Cambridge University Press, 1995, 2003) and The
Disappearing Dictionary: A Treasury of Lost English Language
Dialect Words (Macmillan, 2015).
'Scouse was in many respects a truly groundbreaking work, and now
he’s written another, the first scholarly dictionary of the
language that has been used in Liverpool over the past century and
a half. There have of course been collections of Liverpool words
and phrases before, such as Fritz Spiegl’s Lern Yerself
Scouse books. But Crowley’s is the first attempt at a truly
comprehensive glossary, using the same methodology as the Oxford
English Dictionary. For each entry the book offers a definition, an
account of the origin and history of the word or expression, and
examples of its use from carefully cited sources. Time and again,
he notes, his dictionary offers up evidence of creativity, humour,
irreverence towards authority and a carnivalesque sense of the
absurd.'
Alan Gardiner, Merseysider Magazine
'No one has done more than Tony Crowley to put the study of
Liverpool’s language on an academic and noncondescending footing.
[…] The Liverpool English Dictionary is exhaustively researched and
sumptuously documented, every entry a fascinating historical and
lexicographical essay in itself.'
Times Literary Supplement
'It is not only an informative read, but also fun and entertaining.
To borrow a phrase from the dictionary itself: it was boss la.'Dr
Paul Cooper, University of Liverpool
'This text will not only appeal to Liverpool speakers, but anyone
interested in Liverpool English or regional variation in England
more generally. It is an exceptionally useful text which
extensively documents the lexical and grammatical features of a
variety of English that has been somewhat under-researched in
recent years, and where the existing research predominantly tends
to focus on aspects of pronunciation. It is not only an informative
read, but also fun and entertaining. To borrow a phrase from the
dictionary itself: it was boss la.'
Dr Paul Cooper, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire
& Cheshire
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