Have Your Say: Public Voting Opens for the Oxford Word of the Year 2024
Will it be Demure, Romantasy, or Brain Rot? Choose the Word That Defines 2024!
During a recent online seminar hosted by Susie Dent, this year’s shortlisted words for the 2024 Oxford Word of the Year were revealed. People now have two weeks left to cast their votes.
Image source: https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/
Defining 2024: Celebrating 20 Years of Words of the Year
It’s that time of year again! Experts from Oxford University Press have analyzed their 25-billion-word corpus to identify the shortlisted words that reflect the social trends, mood, and key topics of the past 12 months around the world.
This year marks a special milestone—the 20th anniversary of the Oxford Word of the Year. This tradition will surely continue, as it not only explores language but also shows how it changes with the world.
Inside the Seminar: The Story Behind the Words and This Year’s Reveal
The online seminar was opened by host Susie Dent, who remarked: “The Oxford Word of the Year never fails to ignite passion and interest. That passion is proof that we care enormously about our language and have very strong views about the directions we are choosing to take it.”
Following her introduction, the other three experts introduced themselves: Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages; Fiona McPherson, Senior Editor at the Oxford English Dictionary; and Katherine Martin, Product Director for Oxford Languages. All of them bring extensive expertise in language and experience in language and dictionary making.
Following this, Fiona McPherson shared her thoughts on the longevity of Words of the Year, citing examples such as Selfie (2013). She noted that with the advancement of smartphone cameras, the word has become a part of everyday life.
Image source: Online seminar
However, she added, “Staying power is not an integral part of what makes a good Word of the Year at all. A Word of the Year can burn really brightly and then disappear as quickly as it came onto the stage, and that’s OK. In some ways, that makes it an even better candidate—you could argue for Word of the Year because it’s something about that year, that time.”
Image source: Online seminar
Under the guidance of the host, Casper Grathwohl introduced the concept of a corpus. He explained, “One way we maintain our lexical or language resources is through corpus-based analysis. It captures how we use language, with billions of words from social media, news, papers, etc. It's a balanced corpus, representing various languages from different regions. A powerful tool, it enables us to study the language and its trends. The corpus is updated continually, so it’s very current, and we can see trends in terms of usage.”
Following this introduction, he unveiled this year’s shortlisted words. The four experts discussed their meaning and how they are used today.
Image source: Online seminar
In the final segment of the seminar, the four experts answered audience questions about the Oxford Word of the Year. These questions touched on topics such as the influence of social media and artificial intelligence on language.
Your Voice in Language: The Power of Public Participation
The way the Oxford Word of the Year is chosen has changed a lot in recent years, becoming more democratic and closer to the public’s voice. From its start in 2004, when experts made the decision alone, to 2022, when global public voting was introduced, these changes highlight the importance of public participation. As Casper Grathwohl emphasized during the seminar, everyone is a language expert.
Host Susie Dent also pointed out that “that ‘we’ is important because there is no committee presiding over our language. It is a democracy, and much as some would like a linguistic government, we all are it.”
Image source: https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/
Make sure to take this chance to vote for the Word of the Year. Cast your vote and choose your 2024 Word of the Year!
The voting for Oxford Word of the Year 2024 will last for two weeks until Thursday, November 28, 2024.
Click the voting link here: Vote for the 2024 Word of the Year here