This article proposes ways of improving dictionary skills amongst the Ndebele. One way of accomplishing this is incorporating the teaching of dictionary skills into teacher training syllabi. Teachers can impart their knowledge to students and a dictionary culture can develop for enhancing effective use of current dictionaries and helping in the compilation of future ones. In general lexicographers are aiming at producing dictionaries that are 'user-friendly', that is, accessible to their users. Current and future Ndebele dictionaries are likely to remain underutilised unless users develop requisite skills for dictionary use. This article outlines some aspects of dictionary studies that could be incorporated in the training syllabi for potential Ndebele language teachers. Anticipated problems of implementation and possible solutions to these problems are also discussed.
Abstract:The master plan of the ALLEX Project includes a Ndebele-Shona dictionary in its proposed dictionary projects.Bilingual dictionaries are common in Zimbabwe, especially earlier ones with the language pairs English-Ndebele/Shona and vice versa. The proposed Ndebele-Shona dictionary, however, raises some interesting challenges. It will be a different kind of bilingual dictionary in which English is not one of the languages, but two African languages, Ndebele and Shona form the language pair. In this article, it will be shown how different dictionary types for both Ndebele and Shona reflect the intentions of Zimbabwean language planners from different periods. A Ndebele-Shona dictionary, unimaginable to many, raises several questions, among others: Who needs such a dictionary? Who are the target users of such a dictionary? In addressing some of these questions, it will be attempted to show how the proposed Ndebele-Shona dictionary reflects the language planning needs of present-day Zimbabwe.Keywords: BILINGUAL DICTIONARY, MONOLINGUAL DICTIONARY, NDEBELE, SHONA, NDEBELE-SHONA DICTIONARY, LANGUAGE PLANNING, LANGUAGE POLICY, LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, SOCIOLINGUISTICS, ATTITUDES, REFERENCE NEEDS, USER NEEDSOpsomming: Gedagtes oor die voorgestelde Ndebele-Sjonawoordeboek. Die totaalplan van die ALLEXprojek sluit 'n Ndebele-Sjonawoordeboek by sy voorgestelde woor-deboekprojekte in. Tweetalige woordeboeke is algemeen in Zimbabwe, veral vroeëres met die taal-pare Engels-Ndebele/Sjona en andersom. Die voorgestelde Ndebele-Sjonawoordeboek stel egter 'n aantal interessante uitdagings. Dit is 'n andersoortige tweetalige woordeboek waarin Engels nie een van die tale is nie, maar twee Afrikatale, Ndebele en Sjona, die taalpaar uitmaak. In hierdie artikel sal aangetoon word hoe verskillende woordeboeksoorte vir sowel Ndebele as Sjona die bedoelings van Zimbabwiese taalbeplanners van verskillende periodes weerspieël. 'n NdebeleSjonawoordeboek, ondenkbaar vir baie, stel verskeie vrae, onder andere: Wie benodig so 'n woor-deboek? Wie is die teikengebruikers van so 'n woordeboek? By die beskouing van sommige van hierdie vrae sal probeer word om aan te toon hoe die voorgestelde Ndebele-Sjonawoordeboek die taalbeplanningsbehoeftes van die huidige Zimbabwe weerspieël.Sleutelwoorde:
The first monolingual Ndebele dictionary, Isichazamazwi SesiNdebele, had a number of effects on Ndebele, some of which with implications for language planning. One such language planning activity was the standardization of Ndebele. The article focuses on the standardization of vocabulary and spelling. Lexicographers and most of those interested in lexicographic issues are familiar with the challenges posed by what constitutes the standard vocabulary or the standard meaning of words. These questions were crucial for a general monolingual dictionary like Isicha-zamazwi SesiNdebele. General dictionaries are the standard dictionaries for particular languages, assumed to be reflective of the 'standard usage' of that given language in terms not only of spelling but also of meaning. The Ndebele dictionary is based on a corpus which means that words perceived by some as foreign or as 'bad' language are considered for lemmatization. Problems were also encountered with the spelling of these loanwords. By making decisions on which words to lemmatize and how to spell loanwords, lexicographers become involved in language planning matters. The article draws from the Ndebele dictionary-making experience to discuss the role of monolingual African language dictionaries in language planning in general. Opsomming: Taalbeplanning en eentalige woordeboeke: Met spesiale ver-wysing na Ndebele. Die eerste eentalige Ndebelewoordeboek, Isichazamazwi SesiNdebele, het 'n aantal gevolge vir Ndebele gehad, sommige waarvan met implikasies vir taalbeplanning. Een so 'n taalbeplanningsaktiwiteit was die standaardisering van Ndebele. Die artikel fokus op die stan-daardisering van woordeskat en spelling. Leksikograwe en meeste van diegene wat hulle in leksi-kografiese kwessies interesseer, is bekend met die uitdagings gestel deur wat die standaardwoor-deskat of die standaardbetekenis van woorde behels. Hierdie vrae is beslissend vir 'n algemene eentalige woordeboek soos Isichazamazwi SesiNdebele. Algemene woordeboeke is standaardwoor-deboeke vir bepaalde tale, wat aanvaar word om die "standaardgebruik" van daardie taal te weer-spieël, nie net wat die spelling nie, maar ook wat die betekenis betref.
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