Abstract
Swahili is a second language to many East and Central Africans, and a foreign language to its learners from Europe, America, Asia and other parts of Africa as well. Yet it lacks a monolingual Swahili learners' dictionary specifically designed for them. The paper discusses the need for a monolingual Swahili pedagogical dictionary which helps the foreigner learn the language. A pedagogical dictionary is oriented towards encoding Swahili, hence it is logical that some Swahili grammatical aspects are incorporated into the dictionary: noun class system, concordial agreements, the morphology of the language, etc. The paper is based on the premise that dictionary writing should be based on the users' needs which can be found out by consulting them through research. A research conducted in language schools where Swahili is taught as a foreign language covered eight items which the subjects were asked to respond to. These included: dictionaries they use, selection of a word list for a Swahili dictionary, treatment of verb derivatives, information categories to be entered in a dictionary and description of meaning. The research revealed the information categories that Swahili dictionary users would like to see included in a dictionary designed for them. It also showed that dictionary users know their needs and that they are very resourceful and useful to the lexicographer. They can help the dictionary maker to compile a dictionary tailored to their needs and wishes.
Highlights
The aim of this paper is to present and discuss research findings of a lexicographic survey conducted at language schools teaching Swahili to foreigners resident in Tanzania
Sociolects and dialects). e) Grammatical information that learners would like to be included in a dictionary article. f) Presentation of verb derivatives: how they should be entered in the dictionary. g) Hierarchy of preference of information categories in a Swahili dictionary. h) Description of meaning
The respondents who preferred only the standard orthography of a lexeme to be entered in the dictionary gave the following reasons: a) This is the spelling that users will encounter in writings. b) Different spellings for a headword will confuse the learners. c) Slang is shortlived, it is better to get the preferred spellings. d) Avoid alternative spellings because some of them are influenced by ethnic languages. e) The objective of a Swahili dictionary is to teach the standard Swahili
Summary
A theoretical framework "Dictionaries should be designed with a special set of users in mind and for their specific needs." This statement is valid today as it was in 1962 at the Bloomington Lexicography Conference. Barnhart's paper, which influenced the above quoted conclusion, was based on research he conducted (1955) and in which he tried to establish the usefulness of various information categories. In this research he found that students looked for specific information whenever they consulted a dictionary. Hatheral1984: 183), research on the dictionary user by the dictionary writer is very important because it is the best method to establish what the user needs It is with this understanding that this research was conducted. Lexicographic information, dictionaries for encoding a language have additional and sometimes detailed information that helps the user to use the language more productively
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