Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Of English Language

TMA Cover Form
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE STUDIES
TMA COVER FORM: U214A Worlds of English I

Introduction
The Dictionary of English language (1755) was among the most famous dictionaries in history written by Samuel Johnson. He was the first English lexicographer who wrote a dictionary that clearly achieved the prescriptive goals of English language. He believed English language was a mess and required to be formed. He made the English language matter through developing the English dictionary where he provided witty definitions to various words making their meaning clear. Johnson’s dictionary provided definitions that covered over 114,000 quotations in all branches of learning. The dictionary was more extensive and complex and it facilitated great scholarly achievement. In addition, the English dictionary had a good influence on the style of dictionaries that are currently being used today and those that will be developed in future. Therefore, Johnson played a significant role in protecting and preserving the English language (Lane 1975).
This paper seeks to evaluate Mitchell’s (2005) claim that while grammarians were the guardians of the English language in the seventeenth century, lexicographers assumed that role in the eighteenth century.
Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755) setting standards for English lexicon and shifting authority from grammarians to lexicographers
The various components of the English