Terminology development in isiNdebele : challenges and solutions

Abstract

Terminology development plays a significant role in the development of a language. IsiNdebele, as a South African language in its developmental stages, has been the focus of a great deal of attention since the dawning of South Africa’s new democracy. Consequently, the process of creating new terms for isiNdebele in a variety of fields, such as economics, science, health, law and information technology is currently underway. Successful terminology development is dependent on the stakeholders identified and on their knowledge of term-formation strategies. Among the stakeholders contributing to the expansion of isiNdebele terminology are lexicographers and language practitioners, as well as representatives of government departments such as the Department of Arts and Culture and the Department of Basic Education and Training. It must be taken into consideration that most of those who have been involved so far are not well equipped as regards term formation strategies. A small case study indicates that term formation strategies such as paraphrasing, transliteration, neologism, the compounding of words and semantic transfer were used. Paraphrasing was a frequently used strategy, followed by transliteration. From the outcomes, it was concluded that more workshops on term formation strategies should be held so as to equip isiNdebele collaborators with the knowledge necessary for the formation of terms. In future, a larger sample in should be considered in order to understand why other strategies were not that productively used in the formation of the terms considered, as well as investigating possible alternative strategies that could be utilized