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This paper traces the historical development of lexicography in Gabon. Gabon, like most African countries, is multilingual. The recent inventories of languages spoken in Gabon are those established by Jacquot (1978) and Kwenzi-Mikala (1998). According to Kwenzi-Mikala (1997), there are 62 speech forms divided into 10 language groups or language-units in Gabon. These speech forms co-exist with French, the official language. In fact, in article 2 of paragraph 8 of the revised Constitution of 1994 the following can be read: "The Gabonese Republic adopts French as the official language. Furthermore, she endeavours to protect and promote the national languages." This constitutional arrangement naturally makes French the language used in education, administration and the media. The survey of lexicography in Gabon that is presented here includes the linguistic situation in and the language policy of Gabon, the lexicographic survey itself, as well as the lexicographic needs of the different speech forms (including languages and dialects). Initially, the pioneers of Gabonese lexicography were missionaries or colonial administrators. Very little was done in this field by the Gabonese themselves. Although credit is to be given to these early works, there are a number of shortcomings regarding the linguistic as well as the metalexicographic contents of dictionaries and lexicons produced during this period. In fact, the main weak point of those studies was the lack of tones in the written transcription of oral productions and orthographic problems. Furthermore, in those contributions, the theory of lexicography is largely unknown and lexico-graphic works are hardly ever based on authentic data corpora of the languages being described.
All the works in Mazuna lexicography have a common denominator: they are translation dictionaries biased towards French and were compiled by Catholic and Protestant missionaries or colonial administrators. These dictionaries have both strong and weak points. The macrostructure although it does not display features of sophistication, i.e. the use of niching and nesting procedures, tends to survey the full lexicon of the language which make these dictionaries real reservoirs of knowledge. The microstructure contains a lot of useful entries. However, no metalexicographic discussion is provided in the user's guide to make it accessible to the target reader. There are also some shortcomings especially in the areas of suprasegmental phonology (absence of tonal indications) and orthography.
A distinction is often drawn between single articles and synopsis articles. A single article is the so-called default article. It does not deviate from the traditional microstructural approach of the dictionary because it presents the minimum data for each lemma sign treated, while a synopsis article gives additional data for each treated lemma. The classical conception of the synopsis article originates with Bergenholtz, Tarp and Wiegand (1999). In their view, synopsis articles which were devised for language for special purposes (LSP) dictionaries have to make provision for the treatment of lemma signs functioning as superordinate terms (general lemmata or topics) as well as their hyponyms. The aim of this article is to present a new lexicographic approach to the study of synopsis articles against the background of a planned trilingual dictionary. It will be shown that synopsis articles have a more general use than its restricted application in LSP dictionaries. In fact, the focus will not be on the treatment of technical or scientific vocabulary but rather on cultural terms. This article also raises among other things, questions about the purpose of the planned dictionary, its target users, different types of microstructures as well as different data categories to be included in synopsis articles.
The reproduction of culture in dictionaries constitutes one of the fundamental prob-lems of lexicographers today. What is the nature of cultural data in dictionaries? To what extent should cultural aspects be transferred from one language to another? How should this transfer take place? This article attempts to discuss the relevance of the reproduction of Gabonese cultural aspects in dictionaries in French and the Gabonese languages. One of the main problems the compilers of these dictionaries encountered was the transfer and the translation of some cultural aspects. In order to discuss the nature and extent of cultural information in Gabonese dictionaries, this article will restrict itself to the following points: — The translation of different realities — The role of culture in the change of meaning — Dictionaries and cultural activities — Dictionaries and cultural ethics — Dictionaries and language registers — Dictionaries and culture maintenance — Dictionaries and the standardization of culture Prior to a discussion of the above-mentioned points, a brief description of the dictionaries investi-gated will be given. After a description of the influence of cultural contexts on lexicographers in the choice of macrostructural elements and their treatment, cultural differences between source and target languages in the dictionaries of Gabonese languages are discussed. The article concludes with the observation that the majority of existing lexicographic works tend to survey the full vocabulary of the language. The lexicographic treatment of some words is satisfactory because an account of the underlying worldview of the people is given. For example, in this article, the fol-lowing themes are considered: dietary practices, sexuality, mythology, traditional pharmacopoeia, the kinship system, hospitality, and respect for traditional authority and elders. However, to be used in the most efficient way, these lexicographic publications need to be revised.
This paper by the Coordinator of the Kamanakao Association reflects upon the Association’s campaign against tribally discriminatory laws, against the social stigma of past serfdom, and for human rights and democracy in Botswana. The campaign made Wayeyi from the North West District highly visible on the national scene. Through litigation up to the High Court, the Kamanakao Association broke new ground for judicial review in the broad public interest. The advance was for the cultural rights of ‘minorities’ in general, and not only in the interest of the Wayeyi. The most favourable High Court ruling recognised Yei cultural distinctness, allowed them to secede from the tribe of their past overlords, the Tawana, and concluded a landmark case in the wider fight against state-backed tribal discrimination and denial of language rights. As an insider’s account mainly about recent events, but seen in a perspective extending to precolonial times, the paper focuses on strategies for and against change. These are the strategies effecting the power relations, in turn, between the Yeyi and the Tawana, former serfs and overlords, the Yeyi and the Government, and the Government and the Tswana speaking tribes unfairly privileged by the tribally discriminatory laws.
The limits of Cushitic
(1980)
Gegenstände der Untersuchung sind genetische Gliederung und historische Rekonstruktion im Kuschitischen. Nach dem Kriterium gemeinsamer sprachlicher Innovationen sind folgende Schlüsse möglich: (1) Ik ist keine kuschitische, nicht einmal eine afroasiatische Sprache. (2) Es ist durchaus nicht sicher, daß die Burji-Sidamo-Gruppe (Rift-Valley-Kuschitisch) mit dem Tieflandkuschitischen einen genetischen Zweig - das Ostkuschitische - bildet. Die Burji-Sidamo-Gruppe kannte am engsten mit dem Agaw verwandt sein und mit ihm einen anderen genetischen Zweig - das Hochlandkuschitische - bilden. (3) Die Iraqw-Gruppe - und mit ihr vermutlich das gesamte Südkuschitische - gehört zum Tieflandkuschitischen und bildet keinen selbständigen Zweig des Kuschitischen. (4) Obwohl das Beja zweifellos eine afroasiatische Sprache ist, ist jedoch nicht zuverlässig bewiesen, daß es zum Kuschitischen gehört. Seine genaue Stellung zum Kuschitischen (dem Kuschitischen nächstverwandter Zweig oder nicht einmal dies?) bleibt noch zu klären. Die Erörterung und Beweisführung beruht auf Rekonstruktionen des Verbalsystems und der Kasus, auf einem Systemvergleich der Determinationselemente und der Genitivmorpheme sowie auf anderen syntaktischen und morphologischen Merkmalen. Auch einige Prinzipien der linguistischen Typologie wurden herangezogen. Es handelt sich um vorläufige Ergebnisse.
Le problème que nous abordons ici représente une entreprise bien téméraire à cause des multiples aspects qui le caractérisent et du manque de données concordantes le concernant. En effet, à notre grande surprise d'ailleurs, il n'a pas été facile de recueillir des informations "sûres" auprès des "sources" qu'on aurait pu juger dignes de foi. C'est la preuve que nos traditions tombent de plus en plus dans l'oubli du passé. A celui qui s'engage, à effectuer une démarche de ce genre devrait logiquement se poser un problème de méthodologie afin d'approcher le sujet d'une manière scientifique.
The objective of this paper is to combine the environmental conception of the Kanuri with detailed findings of pedological and botanical field investigations. Interpretation of multitemporal satellite data and aerial photographs should provide land cover and land use information for an extended area. The area of investigation was outlined within the transitional zone from the clay plains to the sandy areas by interpretation of satellite images. The presented subset of a SPOT-XS-satellite image shows part of the Marte Local Government Area with its capital Old Marte in the north-eastern part of the image. The darker colours represent the clay plains while the lighter parts are related to the sandy areas. Almost half of the research area is covered by clay but all settlements are located on the slightly elevated sandy areas. Within these sandy areas different gray shades demonstrate the pattern of the rainy season farming area. Differences in colour within the clay plains are mainly due to variances in soil, water content and vegetation cover. In the north-eastern part of the image irrigation channels of the South Chad Irrigation Project are visible. The main attention, especially of the pedological and botanical research, was directed towards the south-western part of the subset in the vicinity of the villages of Wulwa, Dura, Kajere and Ngubdori.
Les recherches ethnologiques effectuées jusqu'à ce jour se sont concentrées principalement sur deux grands axes. Elles ont d'une part dressé un inventaire détaillé des forges et de leurs techniques dans les différents groupes ethniques de cette région. D'autre part, elles ont examiné l'histoire des migrations et de la sédentarisation des forgerons. Il serait intéressant de savoir si les résultats des recherches linguistiques concordent avec ceux des travaux d'ethnologie. Jusqu'ici, les recherches ont montré la mobilité des forgerons professionnels. Ces "travailleurs transfrontaliers" de la culture jouent le rôle de médiateurs et favorisent les échanges culturels à l'intérieur de chaque ethnie et entre les différentes ethnies. En raison de cette mobilité, l'inventaire et les produits des forges présentent souvent des caractères identiques, même sur des espaces géographiques de plus grande taille. Par contre, le vocabulaire est souvent influencé par des mots empruntés à d'autres langues. Ce phénomène constituera précisément un des éléments centraux dans la suite de nos recherches sur le thème des artisans.