Introducing a New Lexicographical Model: AlphaConceptual+ (and How it Could Be Applied to Dictionaries for Luganda)
Abstract
In this article we explore the possibility of amalgamating the semasiological (i.e. alphabetical), onomasiological (i.e. conceptual) and visual approaches to dictionary compilation, here termed an alphaconceptual+ (i.e. alphaconceptual 'plus') dictionary, using Luganda as a brief case study. Such a dictionary would combine the strong points of alphabetical and conceptual lexicography, with all entries also linked to relevant picture plates. In Section 1 we expound on the history of Luganda lexicography, highlighting the different types of dictionaries in the language since the early 1900s. Section 2 is an exposition of semasiological and onomasiological lexicography. In Sections 3 and 4 we study the actual dictionary market and scholarly lexicographic literature, in Africa and the rest of the world respectively. In Section 5 a case for language-independent alphaconceptual+ lexicography is argued, and its proposed compilation approach is sketched out in Section 6, followed by the conclusion in Section 7.Copyright of all material published in Lexikos will be vested in the Board of Directors of the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal. Authors are free, however, to use their material elsewhere provided that Lexikos (AFRILEX Series) is acknowledged as the original publication source.
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