Professor Charlotte Brewer
Professor of English Language and Literature; Fellow of Hertford College
About
Professor Brewer researches the history of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), from its beginnings in the late 1850s up to and including the major online revision currently under way at Oxford University Press. She is particularly interested in OED’s coverage of individual authors and periods in the language (Shakespeare, Austen, the 18th century), its influence on literary and linguistic history, and its treatment of areas of language relating to culture and society (e.g. politics, sex and gender, usage and correctness).
Expertise
- English language and lexicography (dictionary making)
- Use of words and correctness
- Middle English textual criticism
Selected publications
- 'That reliance on the ordinary': Jane Austen and the Oxford English Dictionary (2015)
- The Society's Dictionary: Articles and Excerpts on the OED (2014)
- Treasure-House of the Language The Living OED (2008)
Media experience
Professor Brewer has experience of both print and broadcast media.