The Vocabula Review

"The Vocabula Review" is an electronic journal about the state of the English language.

Publication

The journal is published online by the Vocabula Communications Company, on or about the third Sunday of each month. Robert Hartwell Fiske is the editor and publisher of Vocabula. He is also the author of several books about language, including "The Dictionary of Disagreeable English," "The Dimwit's Dictionary," "The Dictionary of Concise Writing," and three "Vocabula 101" Series Books. He is the editor of two collections of essays and poems that were previously published in The Vocabula Review: "Vocabula Bound 1: Outbursts, Insights, Explanations, and Oddities" and "Vocabula Bound 2: Our Wresting, Writhing Tongue." A subscription fee is required to access the online Vocabula Review. All previous issues (more than 100 of them) are accessible online. The Vocabula Review is a nonacademic journal, so its contents are not peer-reviewed nor are detailed citations provided.

The main idea behind the journal is to militate against a perceived devolution of the English language [http://www.vocabula.com/VRabout.asp] . Articles in The Vocabula Review tend to take an anti-linguist, prescriptive view on language, decrying perceived offenses against the English language, and taking a hard line against linguistic innovations and other usages that offend the sensibilities of its writers. Articles are also frequently presented from the viewpoint of being embattled by overly permissive members of the academic field of linguistics, which tends to reject the kinds of ideas frequently found in The Vocabula Review. That said, Fiske also welcomes articles about any aspect of the English language: prescriptivist or descriptivist. As he writes:

The Vocabula Review — not meant to be solely a forum for our prejudices — invites readers to submit articles about issues related to the English language, culture, and society. In the spirit of thoughtful inquiry and personal essays, we wish to encourage writers to submit articles about what they themselves think. Well-written, insightful, creative articles are far more appealing to us than overreferenced, overannotated articles. What's important to us is not what everyone else has ever thought but a clear presentation of one's own thoughts. Today, there are few opportunities for people to enjoy the freedom that comes with writing for oneself and others in a nonacademic way. The Vocabula Review offers one such opportunity.

History

"The Vocabula Review" was first published in September 1999. From January 2005, articles also appeared in a print version, the "Vocabula Bound Quarterly".

References

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External links

* [http://www.vocabula.com/ The Vocabula Review] , the website of the journal