Ethnolects

Open research · Public consultation

Research done in public

Ethnolects is run as open research. The sources, the method, the gaps and the decisions are published as they happen, so the people whose languages these are can check the work, correct it and decide what happens to it. This page is the public record.

The record so far

1,516entries published across the three dictionaries
136sources cited, each listed with the entries it supports
·words sent in to the Italian and Spanish dictionaries since the consultation opened in October 2026
·names proposed for the two unnamed dictionaries
·people who have offered to edit, advise, host or contribute

Dictionary counts come from the dictionaries' own data, last updated on 2026-10-21. Everything people send is counted live from the database as it arrives. Names and email addresses are never published.

Open now

Name the Italian dictionaryVote on the shortlist or propose your own. The person who proposes the chosen name is credited on the dictionary. Name the Spanish dictionaryThe same process, with Australia given the same standing as the United States. Join as an editor or adviserCommunity editors and academic advisers for Italian and Spanish, credited by name. Correct an entryTell us what is wrong and where it came from. Corrections are made on the entry.

The shops and their monthly vote are run separately from the research. Votes and requests made there are not counted here and do not decide anything about the dictionaries.

Send a word to any of the three dictionaries: Greek, Italian or Spanish.

What is published

  • Every entry, with the source for every citation. Sources
  • Whether each source's pages have been checked, entry by entry. Unchecked citations say so on the entry.
  • How words are found, checked, spelled and disputed. Method
  • The scholarship behind each dictionary, read and still to be read. Research
  • The standards the editors work to, and how corrections are handled. Editorial principles
  • The shortlists for naming the Italian and Spanish dictionaries, on each dictionary.

A visible disputed mark on entries and a public record of changes are planned, and this page will say when they are built.

How a decision is made

  1. Proposed in public. Words, names, corrections and sayings come in through open forms on these sites, from anyone.
  2. Weighed against the evidence. Each is checked against the published sources and the other reports, and the entry shows what it rests on.
  3. Decided by named people. The editor of To Booko for Greek; for Italian and Spanish, community editors and academic advisers from those communities as they come forward.
  4. Kept on the record. Nothing is deleted during the beta without a reason given, and a word that is withdrawn is withdrawn with its reason.

Who runs it

Ethnolects is published by Just Gold, a certified social enterprise, through its public impact program, and edited by Kyriakos Gold. It is a working example of how Just Gold approaches research and consultation with communities: put the evidence in public, publish the method, ask the people the work is about, and name who made each decision. Organisations that want to work this way can write to hello@justgold.net.