Editorial and research principles
Readers should be able to see where every word came from, who recorded it and what remains uncertain. These principles apply to the three dictionaries and to everything else published on Ethnolects.
Evidence and interpretation
Every entry names its sources. Research is cited by author, year and page. A word sent in by a reader is marked as a community report and credited to the person who sent it. Where a spelling is ours rather than the source's, the entry says so and shows the form as it was printed. An entry whose source page has not been checked says so, and an entry that rests on one thin source is marked as needing confirmation.
Methods readers can examine
The method sets out where words come from, how they are checked, how spellings are settled and how disputes are recorded. The research page lists the published scholarship behind each dictionary, with the state of verification for every item.
People who contribute
Contributors are credited by name on every word they send, and editors and advisers are credited by name on the dictionary they work on. Nobody is identified beyond the name they give. Community meetings and recordings will follow a written consent form.
Funding and responsibility
Just Gold funds and publishes Ethnolects through its public impact program. The dictionaries are free to read, free to contribute to and free to cite. Words contributed by readers may be reused with attribution to the contributor and the dictionary. Just Gold remains accountable for what is published.
The Italglish and Spanglish dictionaries are open research consultations. Their names and their editors will come from the communities they record, and the editorial decisions in those dictionaries will pass to them as they come forward.
Responses and corrections
Errors are corrected on the entry, and a word withdrawn during the beta is withdrawn with a reason. A visible disputed mark and a public record of changes are planned. Minor spelling and formatting corrections may be made without a separate notice. Report an error.
Attribution
When we draw on someone else's research, we name the source and link to it where we can. We do not pass another scholar's work off as our own.