Culture in the OED online Phrases and Quotations

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of the word culture in selected co-texts and contexts with negative connotations in the OED online The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) online (from now on OED, unless when it is necessary to specify “online”) “is a work in progress. Hundreds of new entries are added every year […] with the aim of producing a completely updated third edition”. https://www.oed.com/page/245; see also https://public.oed.com/how-words-enter-the-oed/. Last access: June 7, 2023. 21st-century definitions, phrases, compounds, and quotations. The study was prompted by the use of the words oriental and especially culture in a few comments following the August 2022 announcement of the Oxford Faculty of Oriental Studies name change to the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies: this new name was selected because “many [staff and students] considered the word Oriental to be inappropriate”. (https://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/article/announcing-a-change-of-name-to-the-faculty-of-asian-and-middle-eastern-studies). Last access: September 23, 2022. Alongside the word oriental, the word culture, significantly absent in the announcement, is used in various comments carrying a negative connotation. Research findings indicate that in several OED Phrases and Quotations the word culture is used in the same co-text as words that have a negative connotation. These words give (or “pass on”) their negative connotation (and/or “inappropriateness”, according to the context) to the word culture itself.