A way with words

Lexiographer advocates for many languages

In a world in which human communication increasingly takes the form of visual images, abstract logos and material bling bling, actual words would seem to need a champion.

And here, conveniently, is Leonard Zwilling, general editor and bibliographer of the Dictionary of American Regional English, a dictionary of words and phrases indigenous to various corners of the country. Begun almost 40 years ago at UW by the late Frederic Cassidy, the project has completed four volumes so far. The fifth volume begins with “SL.”

When that final volume of DARE comes out in five years or so, “Z” — in large part — will be for “Zwilling.”

As the project’s sole general editor, he is responsible for drafting about two-thirds of the entries. As if those duties were not enough to keep him frenetic, he is also DARE’s bibliographer, maintaining its file of more than 10,000 sources.

“I’m a word person. We all are,” Zwilling says, referring to his DARE colleagues.

These American dialect words, many of them vanishing forever, are not the only ones that have captured Zwilling’s interest. He dropped out of Fordham University in New York in the 1960s, opting instead to study Tibetan with a Buddhist lama in New Jersey. When one of his Tibetan teachers joined the UW–Madison faculty, Zwilling followed him to Madison a few years later. In 1976, he earned his Ph.D. in Buddhist studies and pursued an academic career. Landing a tenure-track position in his discipline proved daunting, though, and in 1986, he became one of the DARE staff.

His study of South and Inner Asian languages — including Sanskrit and Mongolian in addition to Tibetan — taught him a good deal about his professional gifts, however.

“I have a feeling for language,” he says. “If a person is “tone deaf’ to the kind of material DARE treats, that person is not going to be successful here.”

Closing in on 20 years at DARE, Zwilling clearly has been a success, as editor-in-chief Joan Houston Hall quickly attests.

“His broad linguistic background, encompassing South Asian languages, Yiddish and European languages, is very useful in a general way for our work in lexicography,” she says, adding that Zwilling’s contributions go well beyond words.

“What is especially useful is his omnium-gatherum of knowledge about American language and culture,” she says. “Whether it’s a question of sports, film history, comics or popular music, we go to Lenny first.”

This interest in popular culture found expression in 1993 when Zwilling published a book on the language of early 20th-century cartoonist Tad Dorgan. The work has since proved an important source for lexicographers interested in American vernacular. He also is an enthusiastic — “although not very good,” he says — piano player. In addition, he is a serious student of silent film. Concerning his personal favorite, director-actor Erich von Stroheim, he can and will wax rhapsodic.

“To me, he was the most imaginative, innovative American director working in the 1920s. His expressive use of the camera, his directorial style, his realistic and unsentimental handling of adult themes, and his obsessive attention to detail all mark him as a true original,” Zwilling says.

Although Zwilling disavows any relationship between his assorted interests, observers are swiftly able to note a common thread: Most if not all of them have to do with communication, the sharing, in one way or another, of meaning between people.

When confronted with this profound observation, Zwilling considers for a moment, then shrugs, saying, “You know, I don’t really know why they all interest me. I guess I’m just a curious kind of guy.”