African language dictionaries for children - a neglected genre

Abstract

Children's dictionaries are instrumental in establishing a dictionary culture and are the gateway to sustained and informed dictionary use. It is therefore surprising that very little attention is paid to these dictionaries in scholarly research. In this article we reflect on the design of two series of dictionaries and one free-standing dictionary, all presumably aimed at first-time dictionary users, specifically looking at how selected design elements are aligned with the lexicographic needs of the target users. We argue that the conceptualization of children's dictionaries for African-language-speaking children should be a bottom-up process, and that an Afrocentric approach, taking the target user's Frame of Reference as the point of departure, is preferable to a Eurocentric approach, which often leads to a mismatch between conceptual relationships and linguistic form and function in African language dictionaries.

Kinderwoordeboeke speel 'n belangrike rol in die vestiging van 'n woordeboekkultuur en gee toegang tot volgehoue en kundige woordeboekgebruik. Dis is daarom vreemd dat daar min aandag gegee word aan hierdie tipe woordeboeke in akademiese navorsing. In hierdie artikel besin ons oor die ontwerp van twee woordeboekreekse en 'n vrystaande woordeboek, wat almal oënskynlik gemik is op beginnergebruikers van woordeboeke. Ons kyk spesifiek na die belyning van die ontwerpaspekte van die woordeboeke met die gebruikers se leksikografiese behoeftes. Ons dui aan dat die konseptualisering van kinderwoordeboeke vir sprekers van Afrikatale op grondvlak behoort te begin, en dat 'n Afrosentriese benadering verkieslik is bo 'n Eurosentriese benadering. Laasgenoemde benadering lei dikwels tot 'n mispassing tussen konseptuele verhoudings, en linguistiese vorm en funksie in Afrikataalwoordeboeke.