Die negende deel van die <i>Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal</i>

Abstract

<i>Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal</i> Volume IX.Volume nine of the <i>Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal</i> (<i>WAT</i>) is the first product of a completely new system used by the Bureau of the WAT: it is the first volume of the new chief editor, the editorial procedure was overhauled entirely, and <i>WAT</i> IX was the first volume to be produced fully by desktop publishing. This review article wants to investigate whether the new system really brought about lexicographical improvement as such. The general form and presentation of this dictionary are discussed, but the focal point of the article is the alphabetical part of the dictionary. The ways in which the latest lexicographic theory is embodied in <i>WAT</i> IX, as well as the extent to which <i>WAT</i> IX accommodates criticism on previous volumes are also discussed. Concerning form and presentation, <i>WAT</i> IX is improved to such an extent that it features as one of the most user-friendly Afrikaans descriptive dictionaries. Macrostructural gains in <i>WAT</i> IX are the extensive inclusion of sublexical and multilexical lemmas, and the ordering of abbreviation lemmas. Microstructurally the lemmas are dealt with more thoroughly and a larger spectrum of linguistic information is included. Unfortunately the improvements are not applied consistently in <i>WAT</i> IX. <b>Keywords:</b> abbreviations, affixes, citations, database, editorial usage examples, examples, homonomy, idioms, lexical lemma, lexical meaning, lexicography, macrostructure, microstructure, multilexical lemma, overall-descriptive dictionary, polysemy, pronunciation guidance, racism, review, sexism, sublexical lemma, typography