You Down with DDP?
Most lexicographers use the Dictionary Development Process (DDP) to compile entries. DDP is based on semantic theory; according to SIL International, a language-development organization, there is “substantial evidence” that the human brain organizes words through a giant network of relationships. These relationships, what linguists call lexical relations, are made up of word clusters called semantic domains.

DDP uses a list of 1,800 semantic domains to facilitate the dictionary-word-collection process. For each domain, a set of questions and sample words prompts speakers of a language to think of the words that belong to the domain. For example, under the domain for “sun” is the question “What words refer to the rising of the sun? ‘Rise,’ ‘sunrise,’ ‘dawn.’” Lexicographers often hold two-week workshops with fifteen to thirty participants who are trained in the DDP method; these groups review the questions and sample words, then brainstorm all the other words that belong to each domain, along with a simple definition of each term. Most of these workshops yield ten thousand to fifteen thousand words and idioms. Afterward, the lexicographers expand this classified word list into a simple dictionary.

How Does a Word Become a Word?
The Global Language Monitor reports that the number of words in the English language is about to reach one million, but this is a controversial claim. Word collecting with the DDP method isn’t enough; lexicographers also have to distinguish between slang words and proper usage, or decide that there should be no distinction between the two. Generally, if a word is “attested”—if speakers of a language list it as a term with a set meaning that they come across often—most dictionaries will include it, but every lexicon has its own criteria for inclusion.

There is no absolute rule in English for determining whether a particular spelling is correct or not. As long as a disputed spelling can be supported with references, a lexicographer will usually include it in a dictionary, either as its own entry or as a line item under “variant spellings” of a word. This is especially true if the spelling is proven to be a regional or historical variation.

Lexicographers Enter the Lists
“Standard” English is constantly evolving, which makes a lexicographer’s job both challenging and exciting. Dictionary researchers reach into the haze of word usage and attempt to clarify their findings so that we can all have a set of rules by which we can understand one another. They trace the history of long-used words to help speakers better apprehend their meaning, as well as decide at what point words like “xerox” and “Google” should enter the lexicon. That’s a tough job, one that every kid writing a school paper and every freelance writer submitting an article about lexicographers should appreciate.

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