Abstract
The lexicographic work of the African Languages Research Institute (ALRI) has played a significant role in attempting to avoid some of the dilemmas associated with using African languages as media of instruction in the Zimbabwean education system. Monolingual Shona and Ndebele dictionaries, biomedical reference works, dictionaries of musical, literary and linguis-tic terms as well as children's dictionaries constitute part of ALRI's contribution towards the goal of mainstreaming African languages in the education system. This article is an evaluation of the research activities taking place at ALRI. The aim of the article is to demonstrate that if they receive adequate attention through corpus planning, African languages possess the capacity to play an important role as media of instruction across the entire spectrum of the education curricula in Zim-babwe and elsewhere. The article concludes by observing that, if the efforts of ALRI are to succeed, there is need for the co-operation of all stakeholders in language practice. Keywords: dictionaries, lexicography, lexicographer, lexicographic research, indigenous african languages, african languages research institute (alri), education, curriculum, medium of instruction, Shona, Ndebele, Zimbabwe
Highlights
The question of developing indigenous African languages for literacy and education has remained a continuing challenge for most postcolonial African nations
This section reviews the lexicographic research projects undertaken by the African Languages Research Institute, discusses their impact on language terminologies, and provides suggestions on how education systems in Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa could take as example its approaches to addressing the problem of language of instruction
While major research activities have been in the two national languages, Shona and Ndebele, research has been extended to minority languages like Kalanga, Nambya and Shangani
Summary
The question of developing indigenous African languages for literacy and education has remained a continuing challenge for most postcolonial African nations. With specific reference to Shona, Ngara emphasizes that the use of indigenous languages as media of wider communication is not merely a process of creating appropriate equivalents These terms should be uniform and be approved by the majority of the users. That most lexicographic activities in Africa and elsewhere in the world, consist of research carried out by professionals and academics connected to university research units is not a mere coincidence, but an indicator of the strong relationship existing between the disciplines of lexicography and education In further emphasizing this connection the mission statement of ALRI (Chimhundu 2003: 4) reads as follows: To research, document and develop Zimbabwean indigenous languages in order to promote and expand their use in all spheres of life. This section reviews the lexicographic research projects undertaken by the African Languages Research Institute, discusses their impact on language terminologies, and provides suggestions on how education systems in Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa could take as example its approaches to addressing the problem of language of instruction
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