Abstract
This paper highlights the challenges encountered by the African Languages Lexical (ALLEX) Project (at present the African Languages Research Institute (ALRI)) in Harare, Zimbabwe, which is in the process of compiling an advanced Shona dictionary (ASD). Its forerunner is the general Shona dictionary, Durarnazwi ReChishona (1996). The ASD is intended to be a comprehensive reference work, which will serve as a resource for more advanced users, especially those at higher secondary and tertiary education levels. The most important challenges have been in the areas of headword selection and the treatment of geographical/individual variation. The matters discussed here show the conflict between usage, i.e. popular acceptance, and (orthographic) norm, a problem often experienced in young literary languages subject to heavy foreign influence. This paper looks at: (a) the limitations of the current Shona orthography, the selection and codification of international vocabulary, and the presentation of variants and synonyms in the dictionary, and (b) the solutions suggested, and/or the ongOing debate on the topics.
Highlights
This paper looks at some aspects of the work of the African Languages Lexical (ALLEX) Project1 (at present the African Languages Research Institute (ALRI)) which is in the process of compiling an advanced Shona dictionary (ASD)
Working towards producing the ASD has shown that the absence of certain letters and/or digraphs, like l, th and rh in the standard Shona orthography, compared with what is found in the corpus and in everyday spoken Shona, points to a well-justified argument to include headwords containing such letters in the dictionary
From the scope of headwords selected, the ASD will be a different dictionary from Duramazwi ReChishona (DRC)
Summary
The ASD is to be a comprehensive reference work for more advanced users, especially those at higher secondary and tertiary education levels. Faced with this huge task, the ALLEX team has had to deal with areas that were either only slightly explored or not explored at all in the DRC. A number of challenges have come up which need to be addressed before the ASD is completed These have been the headword selection and the presentation of variants and synonyms in the dictionary. In this paper I present the practical problems that the team faced and the solutions that were suggested, without getting too deeply involved in theoretical issues and debates implied by the choices made. I do, refer to and draw parallels with the Scandinavian experience between the 16th and the 20th centuries
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