Overview
Survey of English Usage is a peer‑reviewed academic journal that publishes research on the English language, with particular emphasis on lexical semantics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics, and lexicography. The journal provides a scholarly forum for the analysis of how English is used in both spoken and written forms, addressing issues such as meaning, usage variation, and changes over time.
History
The journal was established in 1959 as part of the Survey of English Usage research project at the University of Cambridge. The project was initiated under the influence of the British linguist J. R. Firth and later developed by scholars associated with the Cambridge School of linguistics, including Michael Halliday. Since its inception, the journal has served as a venue for disseminating findings from the Survey’s extensive corpus work and related linguistic investigations.
Scope and Content
Articles in Survey of English Usage typically present:
- Empirical studies based on corpora of contemporary and historical English.
- Analyses of lexical meaning, collocation, and semantic change.
- Investigations of pragmatic factors influencing word choice and discourse.
- Research on dictionary compilation, lexicographic methodology, and usage guidelines.
- Interdisciplinary work that connects linguistic theory with applications in language teaching, translation, and natural language processing.
Publication Details
Survey of English Usage is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Survey of English Usage project. The journal is issued regularly (currently on a quarterly schedule) and is available in both print and electronic formats. Submissions undergo a double‑blind peer‑review process.
Indexing and Access
The journal is indexed in major bibliographic databases, including the Linguistic Bibliography, Scopus, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Individual articles are accessible through Cambridge Core and other academic library platforms.
Related Initiatives
The Survey of English Usage project maintains a large, annotated corpus of spoken and written English, which underpins many of the journal’s articles. The corpus has been employed in numerous studies of language change, dialect variation, and usage patterns.
References
- Cambridge University Press. Survey of English Usage – journal information page.
- The Survey of English Usage Project – University of Cambridge website.
- Halliday, M. A. K. (1975). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold. (Contextual reference to the Survey’s influence on functional linguistics.)
Note: All information presented is based on publicly available academic and publishing sources.
