Lost and found: the value of a little known bilingual dictionary towards the intellectualization of Ndau
- Sithole, Emmanuel, Nkomo, Dion
- Authors: Sithole, Emmanuel , Nkomo, Dion
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67537 , vital:29109 , http://dx.doi.org/10.5788/27-1-1411
- Description: Publisher version , This article critically evaluates the ChiNdau–English and English–ChiNdau Vocabulary: With Grammatical Notes, a bilingual dictionary published in 1915 by the American Board Mission (Rhodesian Branch), with a view of determining its suitability for use as a point of departure for modern Ndau lexicography. More than a century after its publication, it remains the only dictionary in the language. The language has been treated as a dialect of Shona for close to a century, until its emergence as one of the country's sixteen officially-recognized languages in the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe. This landmark development requires practical work that can transform Ndau into a fully-fledged and intellectualized language. Lexicography is one of the key intellectual enterprises that can contribute in this regard. It is therefore the contention of this article that the existing dictionary be considered as a vital point of reference for future lexicographic work in Ndau. An analysis of various aspects of the dictionary indicate that, notwithstanding some limitations, this dictionary indeed managed to set some standards that may be incorporated in current and future lexicographic works in this less documented language.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Sithole, Emmanuel , Nkomo, Dion
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67537 , vital:29109 , http://dx.doi.org/10.5788/27-1-1411
- Description: Publisher version , This article critically evaluates the ChiNdau–English and English–ChiNdau Vocabulary: With Grammatical Notes, a bilingual dictionary published in 1915 by the American Board Mission (Rhodesian Branch), with a view of determining its suitability for use as a point of departure for modern Ndau lexicography. More than a century after its publication, it remains the only dictionary in the language. The language has been treated as a dialect of Shona for close to a century, until its emergence as one of the country's sixteen officially-recognized languages in the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe. This landmark development requires practical work that can transform Ndau into a fully-fledged and intellectualized language. Lexicography is one of the key intellectual enterprises that can contribute in this regard. It is therefore the contention of this article that the existing dictionary be considered as a vital point of reference for future lexicographic work in Ndau. An analysis of various aspects of the dictionary indicate that, notwithstanding some limitations, this dictionary indeed managed to set some standards that may be incorporated in current and future lexicographic works in this less documented language.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
The dictionary in examinations at a South African university: a linguistic or a pedagogic intervention?
- Authors: Nkomo, Dion
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67559 , vital:29111 , http://dx.doi.org/10.5788/27-1-1406
- Description: Publisher version , This paper interrogates students' use of dictionaries for examination purposes at Rhodes University in South Africa. The practice, which is provided for by the university's language policy, is widely seen as a linguistic intervention particularly aimed at assisting English additional language students, the majority of whom speak African languages, with purely linguistic information. Such a view is misconceived as it ignores the fact that the practice predates the present institutional language policy which was adopted in 2006. Although it was difficult to establish the real motivation prior to the language policy, this study indicates that both English mother-tongue and English additional language students use the dictionary in examinations for assistance that may be considered to be broadly pedagogic rather than purely linguistic. This then invites academics to reconsider the manner in which they teach and assess, cognisant of the pedagogic value of the dictionary which transcends linguistic assistance.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Nkomo, Dion
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67559 , vital:29111 , http://dx.doi.org/10.5788/27-1-1406
- Description: Publisher version , This paper interrogates students' use of dictionaries for examination purposes at Rhodes University in South Africa. The practice, which is provided for by the university's language policy, is widely seen as a linguistic intervention particularly aimed at assisting English additional language students, the majority of whom speak African languages, with purely linguistic information. Such a view is misconceived as it ignores the fact that the practice predates the present institutional language policy which was adopted in 2006. Although it was difficult to establish the real motivation prior to the language policy, this study indicates that both English mother-tongue and English additional language students use the dictionary in examinations for assistance that may be considered to be broadly pedagogic rather than purely linguistic. This then invites academics to reconsider the manner in which they teach and assess, cognisant of the pedagogic value of the dictionary which transcends linguistic assistance.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
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