The making of the Kiriwina to English dictionary

Abstract

This thesis describes the making of the Kiriwina to English dictionary and its structure and content. The dictionary, which presently exists as a computer file containing some 20,000 entries, was compiled over several decades and is the most comprehensive for Kiriwina yet written. There are seven chapters. In the first chapter, after introducing the people's land, language and culture, I give an account of past research into their language. Chapter 2 sketches Kiriwina phonology, and sets out the orthography. Chapter 3 provides a fairly detailed grammar sketch, including an account of the various grammatical categories which appear in dictionary entries and which are integral to the organisation of entries and subentries. The balance of the thesis treats theoretical and especially practical problems encountered in the making of the dictionary. Chapter 4 outlines the history of the project, including my personal history and place in the Kiriwina community in the work of Bible translation. Particular attention is paid to the selection of the Kavataria dialect of Kiriwina as the language documented in the dictionary, and to the level of indigenous participation in this dialect choice. Expected main users of the dictionary are identified. The methods of fieldwork and data collection employed in compilation are detailed, together with the reasons for excluding certain classes of words, such as most proper nouns. Various technical problems encountered in making the dictionary are noted; many of these are elaborated on in later chapters. The remaining three chapters deal with the actual content and organisation of the dictionary. Chapter 5 describes the various types of entries and the ordering of data within entries. The concept of a family of lexemes, related by virtue of sharing one particular lexeme as a primary constituent, is an important feature of the organisation of this dictionary. Chapter 6 defines the key notion of 'lexical unit' or 'sense unit' as opposed to 'lexeme' (a headword which may consist of many sense units) and outlines the criteria used to identify lexicalised multi-morphemic words and multiword expressions. Finally, chapter 7 treats semantic relations between lexical units such as synonymy, antonymy, and inclusion, and the ways these relations are recorded in dictionary entries.