Implementing a dictionary culture in South Africa: an attempt at a general framework for the African languages

Abstract

The development of a dictionary culture consists of three main phases: (a) the infor-mation phase, (b) the learning phase and (c) the consolidation phase. The first step towards a new dictionary culture is to inform mother-tongue speakers of available dictionaries and their benefits for individual speakers. This information should mainly be distributed through dictionary aware-ness campaigns conducted in the relevant African languages and by influential mother-tongue speakers. The main difficulty of the learning phase consists in the teaching of different groups, for example lexicographers, teachers and students, as well as adults who want to consult a dictionary effectively. Although a basic knowledge of lexicography is useful for teachers, a natural association with dictionaries as well as an intimate knowledge of dictionaries is more important. An intimate knowledge of dictionaries includes, among others: the different dictionary types, the contents of dictionaries and the know-how to find the sought-for word. The last phase is the consolidation phase in which the association with dictionaries will change from an uncommon to a normal activ-ity.

Keywords: dictionary culture, information, national lexicographic units, dictionaries, african languages, dictionary awareness campaigns, empowerment, teaching phase, user, media, consolidation phase, inclusive model