Abstract
The paper discusses the role of the dictionary in standardizing the spelling of Swahili. The discussion begins by defining key terms in this paper: spelling and standardization of spelling. It surveys lexicons written in Swahili between 1811–1990 and records the efforts made to establish spelling conventions for Swahili words in Roman characters, pointing out variant spellings of words written by different authors. The paper focuses on the role played by different lexicons in setting orthography for Swahili words, viz. Steere (1870), Krapf (1882), Nettelbladt (1891), Madan (1903), Sacleux (1939), etc. It observes how the lexicons established norms for words of a language which was hitherto not written in Roman characters. It also shows how lexicons helped to standardize the spelling of words to its current form especially after a standard dialect had been selected, pointing out lexicons which exclusively recorded words of the standard language with minimal variants. Finally the paper emphasizes the significance of the dictionary to adhere to the standard orthography. Keywords: standardization of spelling; spelling conventions; standard orthography; swahili alphabet; dialectical variations; catchwords; phonetic transcriptions; standard language; spelling system; nonstandard orthography; standardization process; word-list; lexicon and dictionary
Highlights
The observation by Krumm (1940: 3) that "the question of orthography of Swahili written in Roman characters is not yet definitely solved", is as valid today as it was more than half a century ago when it was made
In this paper we shall (1) examine efforts made to establish spelling conventions in Swahili from the time when Swahili was first written in Roman script, (2) discuss the role of dictionaries in standardizing spelling of Swahili words from 1870 to 1990, and (3) discuss why a dictionary should promote a standard orthography
In 1925 an education conference attended by members from Tanganyika and Zanzibar was held at Dar es Salaam and the Zanzibar dialect was selected as Standard Swahili for the two dependencies
Summary
The observation by Krumm (1940: 3) that "the question of orthography of Swahili written in Roman characters is not yet definitely solved", is as valid today as it was more than half a century ago when it was made. The objective of this paper is to discuss the role of dictionaries in standardizing orthography of written Swahili in Roman characters. In this paper we shall (1) examine efforts made to establish spelling conventions in Swahili from the time when Swahili was first written in Roman script, (2) discuss the role of dictionaries in standardizing spelling of Swahili words from 1870 to 1990, and (3) discuss why a dictionary should promote a standard orthography. Standard orthography is the chosen spelling of a word out of the competing variants. This is the spelling that will be put into use in schools, government offices, the press and other areas. Having put into perspective what standardization of spelling means, we shall examine how Swahili was introduced into writing systems
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