ABSTRACT
While the dictionary can be valorised for the codification and legitimacy of World Englishes (henceforth ‘WE’), central lexicographic issues concerning the linguistic treatment of WE lexicons remain: the exclusiveness of a variety label, definitional adequacy, and register labels illustrate some of these concerns. In this chapter, the discussion of such issues is grounded in an examination of lexical items that index their respective variety of English in well-known dictionaries of English. While these items are not deemed to be representative of the entire WE lexicographic enterprise, their examination invites an explanation for the inclusion/exclusion of potential lexical items in the WE dictionary and lexical principles are then suggested for improved codification of WE items in the future.
