The Compilation of Bilingual Dictionaries between African Languages in South Africa: The Case of Northern Sotho and Tshivenda*

Abstract

Abstract: Bilingual dictionaries between South African languages have existed for more than three centuries (Smit 1996: 232). These dictionaries have English or Afrikaans as the source language and an African language as the target language. There has never been a case of the opposite except for bi-directional bilingual dictionaries. Still more, there seems to be no record of an attempt ever made to date to compile bilingual dictionaries between African languages. This scenario illustrates the trend and history of lexicographic practice in South Africa. It is evident from most lexicographic research and products such as the existing kinds of dictionaries that Africans were never considered to be the first target group of users or prospective beneficiaries of such lexicographic products. The absence of bilingual dictionaries between African languages again provides evidence of who the lexicographers were and which population groups they represented. To fill this void, a model called the hub-and-spoke is proposed in this paper for the compilation of such kind of dictionaries. The model has been chosen for its purported economy of use. Northern Sotho and Tshivenda are the African languages that will be used as examples in the application of the model. A purposive sampling technique will be used to select lexemes that will constitute the entry words which form the central list of the proposed dictionary.Keywords: BI-DIRECTIONAL, CENTRAL LIST, CONCEPTUAL EQUIVALENCE, ENTRY WORDS, HUB-AND-SPOKE MODEL, LEXEMES, LEXICAL ITEM, LEXICAL UNIT, LEXICALISATION STATUS, PRAGMATIC CONTRAST, PURPOSIVE SAMPLING TECHNIQUE, SOURCE LANGUAGE, TARGET LANGUAGE, VARIANT STATUSOpsomming: Die samestelling van tweetalige woordeboeke tussen Afrikatalein Suid-Afrika: Die geval van Noord-Sotho en Tshivenda. Tweetaligewoordeboeke tussen Suid-Afrikaanse tale bestaan vir meer as drie eeue (Smit 1996: 232). Hierdiewoordeboeke het Engels of Afrikaans as brontaal en 'n Afrikataal as doeltaal. Daar was nooit 'n skyn geen rekord te wees van 'n poging tot op hede om tweetalige woordeboeke tussen Afrikatalesaam te stel nie.Hierdie scenario illustreer die verloop en geskiedenis van leksikografiese praktyk in Suid-Afrika. Dit is duidelik uit die meeste leksikografiese navorsing en produkte soos die bestaandewoordeboeksoorte dat Afrikane nooit beskou is as die eerste doelgroep gebruikers of waarskynlikevoordeeltrekkers uit sulke leksikografiese produkte nie. Die afwesigheid van tweetalige woordeboeketussen Afrikatale gee ook 'n aanduiding van wie die leksikograwe was en aan watter bevolkingsgroepehulle behoort het.Om hierdie leemte te vul, word 'n naaf-en-speek-model vir die samestelling van hierdie soortwoordeboeke in dié artikel voorgestel. Die model is gekies vir sy beweerde ekonomiese aard.Noord-Sotho en Tshivenda is die Afrikatale wat as voorbeelde gebruik sal word in die toepassingvan hierdie model.'n Doelgerigte toetsingstegniek sal gebruik word om lekseme uit te soek wat die inskrywingsin die sentrale lys van die voorgestelde woordeboek sal vorm.Sleutelwoorde: TWEERIGTING SENTRALE LYS, KONSEPTUELE EKWIVALENSIE, INSKRYWINGS,NAAF-EN-SPEEK-MODEL, LEKSEME, LEKSIKALE ITEM, LEKSIKALE EENHEID,LEKSIKALISASIESTATUS, PRAGMATIESE KONTRAS, DOELGERIGTE TOETSINGSTEGNIEK,BRONTAAL, DOELTAAL, VARIANTSTATUS