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Regional Labels in DARE Luanne von Schneidemesser Labels are given to help the reader to a clearer sense of the geographic or social status of a word or phrase: they cannot be expected to be exhaustive or absolute . They are valid as far as DARE evidence goes — no farther. Frederic G. Cassidy, DARE, vol. 1 , p. xx. DARE is a dictionary that deals with regional and folk usage. Standard terms used by people all over the United States, by people from all social groups, are not included in DARE. We label entries or senses according to the evidence we have at hand, not only with regional labels but also with usage labels, describing sociolinguistic information about the users, and the frequency, currency, and manner of use of the term.1 And indeed, DARE is unique in the amount of information it conveys by means oflabels, both within its citations and in the head sections of its entries.2 The assignment of a regional label to an entry should be as straightforward and simple as the name of the Dictionary implies: if a word or phrase appearing in DARE is geographically regional, it should be labeled as such. Unfortunately, we at DARE have not found this simple dictum to be as clear as it first sounds. This article looks at 1On the subject of social labels in DARE, see the article by George Goebel in this issue. 2An Index by Region, Usage, and Etymology to the Dictionary ofAmerican Regional English , Volumes 1 and 2, published in 1993 as Publication ofthe American Dialect Society 77, lists these social and regional labels used in volumes 1 and 2, each label followed by an enumeration of the entries or senses containing the label in their head sections. Regional Labels in DARE167 the regional labels DARE uses and our editorial policies in assigning these labels. It also touches on why many entries do not contain a label of any kind. In the introduction to DARE, volume 1, Cassidy writes: Areas within the United States are popularly understood in different ways; there is not general agreement on what such terms as North, South, Middle West include or exclude. In the interest of uniformity, the editors of DARE devised a list of geographical divisions for use in the entries, (xx) These regions are listed below, as well as on p. xxxii of volume 1 , with maps illustrating them on pp. xxxiii-xxxv, and a short summary of usage on pp. xxx and xxxii. These are, of course, used in addition to names of individual states or parts of states (e.g., "sePA," " nMI"), or rarely cities. Appalachians: neAL, nGA, eKY, wMD, wNC, cPA, wSC, eTN, wVA, WV Atlantic. CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, SC, VA, VT C AtI (Central Atlantic): DC, DE, eMD, sNJ, ePA, eVA Cent (Central): AR, KS, MO, NE, OK Delmarva: DE, eMD, eVA Desert SW (Desert Southwest): AZ, seCA, NM Gt Lakes (Great Lakes): nIL, nIN, MI, MN, nwNY, nOH, nwPA, WI Gulf States: AL, FL, LA, MS, eTX Inland Nth (Inland North): Nth except NEng Inland Sth (Inland South): AL, KY, MS, TN Lower Missip Valley (Lower Mississippi Valley): AR, sIL, wKY, LA, MS, sMO, wTN Mid AtI (Middle Atlantic): DC, MD, NC, SC, VA Midi (Midland): N Midi, S Midi Missip-Ohio Valleys: IA, IL, IN, KY, MN, MO, OH, WI Missip Valley (Mississippi Valley) : AR, IA, IL, wKY, LA, MN, MO, MS, wTN, WI N AtI (North Atlantic): NEng, nNJ, seNY N Cent (North Central): IL, IN, KY, MI, OH, WI NEast (Northeast): NEng, NJ, NY, nPA NEng (New England): CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT (eNEng: east of Connecticut River; wNEng: west of Connecticut River) 168Luanne von Schneidemesser N Midi (North Midland): nDE, c,sIA, cIL, cIN, nMD, NE, sNJ, cOH, c.sPA, sSD, nWV Nth (North): nlA, nID, nIL, nIN, MI, MN, MT, ND, NEng, nNJ, NY, nOH, OR, nPA, nSD, WA, WI, nWY NW (Northwest): ID, OR, WA, (MT, WY) Ozarks: nwAR, swMO, neOK Pacific: CA, OR, WA Pacific NW (Pacific Northwest): nCA, OR, WA Plains States: eCO, KS, NE Rocky Mts (Rocky Mountains): wCO, ID, MT, NV...

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