Abstract
The promotion and development of a language involves a wide usage of dictionaries and reference works. The native languages of Gabon are no exception. Although lexicography is still a young discipline in the Gabonese domain, remarkable works have been produced by nonlexicographers. They have therefore left a considerable amount of data available for the development of modern lexicography in Gabon. The different lexicons and dictionaries compiled during this time offer an important treatment of the Gabonese languages. Or, seen from another angle, everything should be done, considering the state of these works, to revise them. For some of the Gabonese languages like Yipunu, Fan and Myene, lexicons, dictionaries, grammars and even encyclopedias already exist. However, several questions remain pending: Why are these dictionaries not used? Is it possible for the non-native speaker to learn the language by means of a dictionary? Is it possible for the native speaker to have quick and easy access to the wanted information? This article therefore have as main aim to give tentative answers to these questions by examining the Dictionnaire français yipounou/yipounou–français of the CMA. Keywords: access structure, back matter, bilingual dictionary, central list, corpus, dictionary, front matter, homonyms, homographs, inclusion policy, lexicographic treatment, lexicography, macrostructure, microstructure, polysemous senses, target users, reversibility, revision, sources, translation dictionary, translation equivalent
Highlights
In his survey of the lexicographic work in the Gabonese languages, Mihindou (2001: 7-37) critically discusses some of the existing dictionaries and encyclopedias
The access structure of a dictionary is the search route a user follows in an attempt to retrieve the needed information
To be able to fulfil the needs of its intended target users the macrostructure of any synchronic dictionary should reflect the treated language(s) as they are spoken at the time of its compilation
Summary
In his survey of the lexicographic work in the Gabonese languages, Mihindou (2001: 7-37) critically discusses some of the existing dictionaries and encyclopedias. The Dictionnaire français–yipounou/yipounou–français ( DFY/YF) is a translation dictionary, strictly presenting translation equivalents with no further lexicographic treatment. With this dictionary, the compilers wanted to assist the Bapunu people in studying the Bible. Young, and every Mupunu person whose desire it is to understand the Bible is meant to use the dictionary This specification made by the compilers narrowed the data distribution process to the vocabulary concerning the Christian faith and everything dealing with the church. The F–Y section contains almost 74% of the entries while the Y–F section contains only 26%
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