The seventh International Symposium on the History of English Lexicography and Lexicology (HEL-LEX 7), under the theme “Contact and English Lexis and Dictionaries”, took place virtually on June 7-8, 2023, and was hosted by The University of the West Indies (The UWI).

The conference was organised by the Jamaican Language Unit, the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy at The UWI, Mona (Jamaica), and the Richard and Jeannette Allsopp Centre for Caribbean Lexicography based at The UWI, Cave Hill (Barbados), in association with the Helsinki Society for Historical Lexicography.

This annual conference seeks to bring together professional lexicographers, researchers, and others interested in language and to discuss the history of English dictionaries dictionaries of all types, and as well as historical semantics (change in meaning over time) and lexicology (the study of words, their meaning and usage).

At the symposium, plenary addresses were delivered by Dr Jeannette Allsopp, former Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Allsopp Centre and author of several specialised dictionaries, and Prof. Stefan Dollinger, Professor of English Language and Literatures at the University of British Columbia, and Chief Editor of the second edition of the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles.

There were also a number of scholars who presented from across the globe including Finland, Japan, Canada, United Kingdom, Jamaica and Barbados, including the current Director of the Richard & Jeannette Allsopp Centre, Dr Jason F. Siegel.