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Igbo Technical Dictionary Compilation: A Stimulating Experience
Abstract
Scanning through bookshelves in university/college
libraries or bookstands in bookshops for written materials
on Igbo language and culture, one would easily discover
that Igbo dictionaries are the least available. In spite of
the indispensable pedagogical role, which dictionaries
generally play in the learning process at all levels, there is,
as of now, only a few published Igbo dictionaries, most
of which are rather substandard and scanty in terms of
form and content. By implication therefore, this area of
Igbo language development – lexicography - has strangely
been relegated to the background. This ugly situation poses great difficulty not only to Igbo students alone, but also especially to none Igbo speakers, who study Igbo as a second language. However, this is not the case with the other two major Nigerian languages: Hausa and Yoruba, where one has quite a good number of well developed monolingual, bilingual and multilingual dictionaries. Therefore, through practical examples of
monolingual, bilingual and multilingual dictionary compilations, this paper is intended to create awareness in this direction as well as prove to Igbo scholars that Igbo dictionary compilation could be a stimulating experience.
libraries or bookstands in bookshops for written materials
on Igbo language and culture, one would easily discover
that Igbo dictionaries are the least available. In spite of
the indispensable pedagogical role, which dictionaries
generally play in the learning process at all levels, there is,
as of now, only a few published Igbo dictionaries, most
of which are rather substandard and scanty in terms of
form and content. By implication therefore, this area of
Igbo language development – lexicography - has strangely
been relegated to the background. This ugly situation poses great difficulty not only to Igbo students alone, but also especially to none Igbo speakers, who study Igbo as a second language. However, this is not the case with the other two major Nigerian languages: Hausa and Yoruba, where one has quite a good number of well developed monolingual, bilingual and multilingual dictionaries. Therefore, through practical examples of
monolingual, bilingual and multilingual dictionary compilations, this paper is intended to create awareness in this direction as well as prove to Igbo scholars that Igbo dictionary compilation could be a stimulating experience.
