A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles

The origins of the first Canadian Dictionary (DCHP-1) can be linked to American Lexicographer Charles Julien Lovell just after WW2 in 1946. Predating this, the American OED dictionary included the small number of Canadian words found in their research as was the practice during this time for larger varieties. Lovell, working at the time for the University of Chicago and the Dictionary of Americanisms, felt that there was a true distinction between American words and Canadian ones. and formally commenced at the University of British Columbia's Department of English in August 2006, after a year of preparatory work. Since 2009, DCHP-2 has had no association with Nelson Ltd. or any other publisher and had been a purely academic project. Completed in 2011 after automatic scanning and manual proofreading by a team at UBC, DCHP-1 was republished in open access as of 2013, thanks to Nelson Ltd. (Dollinger et al. 2013), and is available as a free website, DCHP-1 Online. The second edition was edited by Stefan Dollinger (editor-in-chief) and Margery Fee (associate editor) and includes features not part of the first edition: a six-way classification system for Canadianisms, the Dictionary Editing Tool, and the Bank of Canadian English (BCE), a quotation database. DCHP-2 was published in 2017 as an academic project by the University of British Columbia, and is only available as a free-access online dictionary. ==Creating DCHP-3==

The process of digitization started with the scanning and of the first edition of the dictionary (DCHP-1). The online version of DCHP-1 was made publicly accessible in 2013. The main data collection phase for the DCHP-2 lasted from 2007 to 2010 and included 36,000 new citations derived from the 7,000 new potential headwords found in The Canadian Oxford Dictionary and other sources. Potential headwords and citations were cross-checked with other varieties of English using web data and entered into the Bank of Canadian English, a quotation filing system, to be proofread and edited. The potential headwords and citations were then classified into one of the six categories of Canadianisms according to their distinctive histories in Canada, cultural significance, or usage frequency. DCHP-2 was released online on 17 March 2017. The launch coincided with the 57th anniversary of Charles J. Lovell's passing, the founding editor of DCHP-1. DCHP-1 was launched as a Centennial project; DCHP-2 was launched as a Sesquicentennial contribution with the goal of lifting the discussion about Canadianisms, and about Canadian English more generally, on an empirically sounder footing. The Third Edition was released on 15 May 2025. Its code base was rewritten to accommodate mobile phone use and includes an editorial update of 181 meanings for a total of 12,000 headwords and 14,500 meanings from 1500 to 2025. Work began in 2022 and lasted through May 2025. The third edition update focuses on underrepresented groups, e.g. First Nations (lahal, kokum, skoden), and vocabulary from informal origins, e.g. urban slang (freezie, ding, levidrome) and rural slang (klick, hang a larry, shit-kicking). ==Typology==

The DCHP-3 and DCHP-2 list six types of Canadianism with an additional "non-Canadian" category: • Type 1: Origin: terms or meanings are created in Canada. Examples would be loonie (one-dollar coin) and toonie (two-dollar coin). • Type 2: Preservation: A form or meaning that was once widespread across many English language variations but is now preserved in Canadian English. An example would be pencil crayon (colouring pencil), and Chesterfield (couch, sofa). • Type 3: Semantic Change: Terms that have undergone a semantic change in Canadian English. For instance, toque (beanie), which had earlier referred to other kinds of hats, not just the ones we now associate with the word toque, or Generation X "late '80s disoriented adults." • Type 4: Culturally Significant: Terms or meanings enshrined and important to the national identity and/or history of Canada. The discourse marker eh, hockey terms such as wrap around and the term French immersion are examples. • Type 5: Frequency: Terms or meanings that are used and heard more frequently in Canadian English than in other national identities. For instance, cube van (moving truck) or Chinook (strong wind). • Type 6: Memorial: These terms are the opposite of cultural salience, meaning terms deriving from adverse events or historical occurrences in Canada. An example would be residential schools or Inuit (Eskimo) • Non-Canadian: Terms or meanings labelled 'Canadian' in other sources or that are thought to be Canadian but are not. For instance, clawback or sunset clause. == Accessing DCHP-3 ==

The DCHP-3 and DCHP-2 are, like the current edition of the OED, online-only publications; there is no hardcopy available at this point. DCHP-3 is found in open access at www.dchp.ca/dchp3 == Reception ==

The Toronto Star referred to it as a great "birthday gift for the nation" of Canada, The Globe and Mail lauded its detail (e.g. the entry on eh, which is almost 5000 words long) and the CBC The National Newscast featured DCHP-2 in April 2017 as the topic of its cultural news item of the day. ==See also==