KIU (Kiswahili–Italiano-UniOr): The UniOr online Dictionary for Italian L1 Swahili Learners

Abstract

KIU is an online bilingual Swahili–Italian dictionary with about 6000 entries aimed primarily at Italian L1 Swahili learners and which has been developed at the University of Naples 'L'Orientale'. The project was started in 2003 by M. Toscano and developed with the collaboration of lan­guage experts and young researchers until 2009 with the aim of offering online lexical resources from Swahili to Italian for learners of the language. After a long interruption, the work was resumed in 2019 by the authors of this article in cooperation with M. Toscano and a team of expert IT technicians. The current work consists of the development ex novo of the dictionary software, which had become obsolete, along with a redesign of some lexicographic features. In this report we will show how the upgraded version of the dictionary software has been implemented, with relevant learner-oriented features, by taking into consideration the standard lexicographic characteristics of Swahili–Italian bilingual dictionaries. This dictionary represents a valuable support for L2 learners and is the only on-line Swahili–Italian dictionary expressly built for university students and Italian users at large. Keywords: Swahili, Italian, online dictionary, learners, lexicography