Open AccessUsers, User-Friendliness and Projected Uses of Isichazamazwi SesiNdebele: An Analysis
Author(s) -
Langa Khumalo
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
lexikos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.28
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 2224-0039
pISSN - 1684-4904
DOI - 10.5788/19-0-176
Subject(s) - scope (computer science) , computer science , lexicography , context (archaeology) , lexicographical order , first language , population , linguistics , natural language processing , sociology , history , programming language , mathematics , archaeology , philosophy , demography , combinatorics
This article discusses the first-ever monolingual general Ndebele dictionary, Isichazamazwi SesiNdebele (henceforth the ISN) within the context of the history of lexicography and the compilation of dic-tionaries in Ndebele. It further assesses the scope of the dictionary with regard to its structure. It also dis-cusses decisions taken by the editors during the writing of the ISN in an attempt to compile a user-friendly dictionary primarily aimed at secondary schools and the general Ndebele population. The assumptions of the editors, coming from a non-existing lexicographic tradition, were mainly based on their experiences and intuitions as Ndebele mother-tongue speakers, educators and language practitioners. The article also ac-counts for four major uses of the dictionary