Online Dictionaries on the Internet: An Overview for the African Languages

Abstract

The main purpose of this research article is rather bold, in that an attempt is made at a comprehensive overview of all currently available African-language Internet dictionaries. Quite surprisingly, a substantial number of such dictionaries is already available, for a large number of languages, with a relatively large number of users. The key characteristics of these dictionaries and various cross-language distributions are expounded on. In a second section the first South African online dictionary interface is introduced. Although compiled by just a small number of scholars, this dictionary contains a world's first in that lexicographic customisation is implemented on various levels in real time on the Internet.

Keywords: lexicography, terminology, dictionaries, internet, online, look-up mode, browse mode, african languages, sesotho sa leboa, simultaneous feedback, fuzzy sf, customisation