Gabonese French Dictionaries: Survey and Perspectives

Abstract

Abstract:This article is a survey study of lexicographic activities with regards to the French language as it is spoken in Gabon, a French-speaking country in central Africa. The French language as it is spoken in Gabon does not only refer to Gabonisms (mostly items derived from native Gabonese languages), but also to standard French, official French (acrolectal level), common French (mesolectal level) and popular French (basilectal level). All four levels are present in French as it is used in Gabon. In other words, the Gabonese have named the realities of their own environment with lexical items coined on their own soil or borrowed from other languages. This has strengthened and enriched French as it is spoken in Gabon. The modern era of Gabonese lexicography has witnessed the production of various dictionaries focusing on this African variety of French. Before 1999, in Gabon and due to the status of French as the sole official language of the country, French dictionaries used in Gabon were mostly French products. Monolingual French dictionaries produced in Gabon by Gabonese scholars include a very limited number of authors, namely: Dodo Bounguendza (2008), Ditougou (2009) andMoussounda Ibouanga (2011).Despite the fact that these dictionaries were compiled for use by Gabonese, they are differential as they tend to include references of the Parisian standard French. Indeed, a differential dictionary is a dictionary focusing on differences between two language varieties or two similar languages, and current Gabonese French dictionaries are by all means differential. It is this situation, and the ways it can be corrected that this article will focus on. The idea is to produce a complete dictionary of variant B, namely Gabonese French. Such a dictionary will reflect certain emancipation from the French language spoken in France (i.e. Parisian standard French), herein referred to as variant A. Keywords: GABONESE FRENCH, DIFFERENTIAL DICTIONARIES, EMANCIPATION, STANDARD FRENCH, GABONRésumé: Les dictionnaires du français du Gabon: État des lieux et perspectives. Cet article fait le point sur les activités lexicographiques en ce qui concerne la langue française telle qu'elle est parlée au Gabon, un pays francophone de l'Afrique centrale. La langue française telle qu'elle est parlée au Gabon ne fait pas seulement référence aux gabonismes (majoritairement des termes dérivés des langues gabonaises locales), mais également au français standard, au français official (niveau acrolectal), au français commun (niveau mésolectal) et au français populaire (niveau basilectal). Tous les quatre niveaux sont présents dans le français qu'il est utilisé au *

What French for Gabonese French Lexicography?

“…The third major problem of available Gabonese French dictionaries and that leads to the present article in response to Mavoungou (2013a) is what it is understood as "Gabonese French". Gabonese French has actually been the topic of many linguistic studies.…”

“…van den Avenne 2004: 45). Subsequently, the distinction made by Mavoungou (2013a) between variant A and variant B, where variant A is supposedly the variety of France and variant B the Gabonese French, does not apply in the actual context of Gabon.…”

“…Although this article is set to respond to Mavoungou (2013a), it however aims at contributing to the theoretical foundations for the inception of Gabonese French lexicography. It comes within the framework of the strategic planning of Gabonese lexicography as developed by Emejulu (2000Emejulu ( , 2002Emejulu ( and 2003, Mavoungou (2001 and and Ndinga-Koumba-Binza (2005b).…”

Lexikos 32(2): Huldeblyk aan/Tribute to D.J. Prinsloo

“…The article by Nyangone Assam et al (2016), in response to Mavoungou (2013) on the definition of the concept of Gabonese French, laid out theoretical grounds for the inception of Gabonese lexicography.…”

“…Responding to Mavoungou's (2013) definition of Gabonese French and discussion of Gabonese French lexicography, Nyangone Assam et al ( 2016) lay out among other issues the position of Gabonese French within the emerging Gabonese lexicography, "especially in terms of metalexicographical research" (Nyangone Assam et al 2016: 184). As a response to the "strategic focus on Gabonese French lexicography" (Nyangone Assam et al 2016: 182-183), the project for the planning of a monolingual Dictionnaire Général du Français Gabonais (henceforth DGFG), i.e., a monolingual comprehensive dictionary of Gabonese French, was launched by the Centre de Recherche en Etudes Germaniques et Interculturelles (CREGI) at Omar Bongo University in Libreville, Gabon.…”