## Danie J. Prinsloo *

## Electronic Dictionaries viewed from South Africa

## Abstract

The aim of this article is to evaluate currently available electronic dictionaries from a South African perspective for the eleven offi  cial languages of South Africa namely English,  Afrikaans  and  the  nine  Bantu  languages  Zulu,  Xhosa,  Swazi,  Ndebele, North  ern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Tswana, Tsonga and Venda. A brief discussion of the needs and status quo for English and Afrikaans will be followed by a more detailed discussion of the unique nature and consequent electronic dictionary requirements of the Bantu languages. In the latter category the focus will be on problematic aspects of lem  matisation which can only be solved in the electronic dictionary dimension.

## 1. Introduction

Lexicographers  increasingly  acknowledge  the  enormous  potential  of electronic dictionaries (EDs) and the piling up of such virtues dominated articles on this subject in the past decade. In a state-of-the-art article, De Schryver (2003: 163-187) lists no less than 118 advantages of EDs in terms of space and speed, graphics, audio, text corpora, multimedia corpora, accessibility, user-friendliness, etc. and many of these issues are discussed in detail by Prinsloo (2001), Bolinger (1990), Nesi (1999), Atkins  (1996),  Geeraerts  (2000),  Dodd  (1989)  and  Harley  (2000)  to name but a few. The great capacity and speed characteristic of electronic products, combined with enhanced query and data retrieval technology, indeed pave the way to a new generation of dictionaries unimagined in the paper-dictionary era. It will not be attempted to discuss the advantages of electronic dictionaries over paper dictionaries in detail but rather to single out the typical innovative features listed in (1) which are relevant from a South African perspective.

* D.J. Prinsloo Department of African Languages University of Pretoria Pretoria 0002 South Africa danie.prinsloo@up.ac.za

Hermes, Journal of Linguistics no 34-2005

11

- (1) a. Pop-up access
- b. Bringing together of related items
- c. New routes to the data
- d. Less dependency on alphabetical order
- e. Fuzzy spelling
- f. Intelligent extrapolation of characters keyed in
- g. Audible pronunciation

Such typical innovative features will simply be referred to as 'true' or 'real' electronic features.

## 2. Electronic dictionaries for English

As far as EDs for English is concerned the dictionary user in South Africa can benefi  t from the full range of electronic dictionaries internation  ally available such as Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learn  ers (MED), Oxford English Dictionary, Second Ed ition (OED on CD-ROM), Oxford English Dictionary (OED Online), Cambridge Advanced  Learner's  Dictionary  Online (CALD), Collins  COBUILD  on  CDROM , Merriam-Webster OnLine , etc. These dictionaries can be utilised to their full capacity in terms of true electronic features such as those given in (1). Whether online or on CD-ROM, such dictionaries present a new world of exciting electronic features. The discussion will be limited to a few outstanding features in a single online dictionary, the CALD and an ED on CD-ROM, the MED.

When MED is launched it immediately opens up on a random lemma which is automatically pronounced in British English and clickable options for both British and American English are provided. Audible pronun  ciation is an excellent example of how the ED has superseded the paper dictionary. No phonetic transcription comes close to actually hearing , especially problematic phonemes, such as the click sounds in Bantu languages being pronounced. Furthermore the average dictionary user in South Africa is not familiar with phonetic symbols and the IPA orthography. Adding a feature such as the self-record function that can be selected from the menu bar, MED offers the ultimate guidance in terms of pronunciation that a dictionary can give to especially learners of the language. The user's pronunciation can be recorded, played back and compared to the master recordings for British and American Eng  lish.

When the  user  starts  to  type  the  fi  rst  character(s)  of  the  required lem  ma  in  MED,  continuous  intelligent  extrapolation  of  characters  is wing WordSearch Go TextSearch

***

wing' noun

wing2 verb

wing chair

wing collar

wing commander

winged

winger

wing mirror

wing nut

wingspan

wingtip

wink' verb

Search Result (18)

wing' noun Edit wing' noun ***

wing' / B 4» win / A 4) noun [count] * * *

1 part of bird/insect/bat

· 2 part of plane

· 3 part of building|

4 part of organization

5 in sports

6 wheel cover on car

7 in a theatre

· + PHRASES

one of the parts on a bird, insect, or BAt that

move up and down and allow it to fly. Birds have

two wings, but insects have either two or four

wings:

· Collocations

Words frequently

used with wing

verbs (sense 1)

beat, flap, flutter

fold, open, spread

stretch, unfold

attempt  ed by the software. Say, for example, the user wants to look up the meaning of intoxication . Typing i ,  brings up the clickable lemma range i - Iberian , in triggers the range in - inaction while int returns int. - integrity and fi  nally for into , the range into - intoxication is produced and the desired lemma can be clicked upon. Thus typing only 25% of the characters was required.

All words in the defi  nitions and examples of usage are clickable and pop-up  boxes  appear  with  a  defi  nition,  examples  of  usage  and  even illustrations and collocations.

Figure 1: Results of query for wing in MED

<!-- image -->

So-called Smart searches and Sound searches can also be performed from the menu bar, and represent excellent examples of what is referred to in (1) as 'new routes to the data' and 'bringing together of related items. See Figures 2 to 4.

1

Search Result

cornet

SmartSearch

Search for

cymba

I musical instrument

didgericho

double bass

drum' noun

· AND OR · NOT

dulcimer

In specified order

/ More search options

Search in

Headwords

Phrases

Phrasal verbs

V Definitions

· Examples

- Editorial notes

Any kind of text

Edit cymbal

X

* Illustration

abbreviation

adjective

a simple musical instrument consisting of a thin

circular piece of metal that you play by hitting it

with a stick or by hitting two of them against adverb conjunction

each other. A cymbal is a percussion instrument.

function word

determiner

interjection

modal verb

linking verb

noun

number

Any of

Any of

Any of

Any of

Any of

Yes

Yes

Any of

Yes

Yes

Yes

Any of DEEDEDE

/ Part of speech

Grammar

Region

Style

Frequency

Defining vocabulary

Irregular inflection

Number of senses

Illustration

Menu

Summary

Editorial notes prefix phrasal verb preposition pronoun short form quantifier suffix verb In Figure 3 the software response to the user's search for the unspecifi  ed item musical instrument is a list of musical instuments answering the user selected specifi  ed criteria including defi  nitions and illustrations.

Figure 2: SmartSearch in MED

<!-- image -->

Figure 3: Result of query for musical instrument in MED

<!-- image -->

X

SoundSearch

Search for: snik

on on

a

nts

press

bag

time

card

can

dog

staff

vote

thin d3

that

Vowels and diphthongs

bit eI

bed

bad

hot

CUt

book

about

pretty

annual

bee

father

caught

boot

bird bay aI

buy

DI

boy

ou go

au now

poor

hair

IO

3

hear

cog au vin

élan

vingt-et-un

Figure 4 : SoundSearch in MED

<!-- image -->

In  Figure  4  the  search  is  conducted  on  a  'sounds  like'  basis.  As for  online  dictionaries  for  English,  a  simple  query  for bank in  the Cam  bridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary Online returned extensive infor  mation  neatly  organised  into  33  clickable  items  representing senses, homonyms, etc. related to bank.

Table 1: Information on bank in CALD

<!-- image -->

Each of these items display extensive information. Likewise, the MerriamWebster OnLine offers 29 clickable entries in a pull-down me  nu for the lemma bank .

ae

i =

3:

Sit

zebra

shine

measure

hot

loch

match, chair

jam more snow sing water ring small you Special symbols ignore stress and vowel length primary stress secondary stress

: vowel length

Wildcards

?

exactly one

symbol

zero or more

symbols Go What is additionally required, for English in the South African context, however, are EDs refl  ecting South African English and most like  ly in future what is called Black South African English.

Silva  (2004)  states  that  South  African  English  developed  into  a variety  of  English  by  assimilation  of  words  and  patterns  from  other South African languages. Dictionaries, and also EDs for English aimed at the South African market should refl  ect such borrowings and patterns. A dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles Silva (1996) represents a landmark in this regard and is a valuable source for the compilation of a true ED of South African English.

Wade (1998) lists a number of typical characteristics of Black South African English such as non-standard verb complementation, embedded questions and pronoun copying. He defi  nes pronoun copying as instances where a noun phrase is followed immediately by a pronoun with the same referent, e.g. the parents, they are supposed to pay ten rands. For non-standard verb complementation he cites examples where make is usually followed by a 'to' infi  nitive rather than a bare infi  nitive as is illustrated in (2).

- (2) Non-standard verb complementation (Wade 1998)
- a. What makes them to stop that product if there are people who do come to that shop and buy them.
- b. So what will we… made you to come and buy.
- c. That make the meaning to be different than other countries.
- d.  ELS  makes  the  second  language  students  to  be  able  to  adapt themselves to the university.

## 3. True electronic dictionaries versus paper dictionaries on computer that display some electronic features

Sharpe (1995: 48), and Atkins (1996: 515-516), caution against a situation where electronic dictionaries simply use the content of printed dictionaries as their database thus not utilizing the potential of the electronic dictionary to the full.

…  dictionaries  of  the  present  …  may  even  come  to  you  on  a CDROM rather than in book form, but underneath these superfi  cial modernizations lurks the same old dictionary. … Will the dictionary of the future simply blip its little electronic way off into the sunset dazzling its readers with the speed which it dishes up the same old facts on a technicolor screen? It is up to us to take up the real challenge of the computer age, by asking not how the computer can help us to produce old-style dictionaries better, but how it can help us to create something new… Atkins (1996: 515-516)

Thus, in principle a clear decision should be made between EDs which are merely 'paper dictionaries on computer' and 'true electronic dic  tionaries' which utilise advanced computer technology to offer functions such as those listed in (1) that is not possible in the paper dimension.

Electronic dictionaries, for Afrikaans and the Bantu languages unf  ortun  ately fall to a large extent in the former category and much development towards the latter is still required.

For Afrikaans  four  electronic  dictionaries, Elektroniese  WAT (Electronic version of the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal) and Pha  ros Woordeboeke Dictionaries 5-in-1 on CD-ROM and two online dic  tionaries Travlangs and DDP Freeware will briefl  y be evaluated in terms of true electronic features.

The Pharos Woordeboeke Dictionaries 5-in-1 offers  Pharos' Major Dictionary, Bilingual Phrase Dictionary, New Words, Verklarende Afrikaanse Woordeboek and the Groot Tesourus van Afrikaans on a single CD-ROM. The virtues are maximally highlighted by the publisher as follows:

'Whether you need guidance on spelling, meaning, synonyms, ab  brevia  tions,  English and Afrikaans usage or translations, these author  itative reference sources can provide the answers. … Searches which would be time-consuming or even impossible with the printed versions can be accomplished quickly and easily in the powerful Logos Library System. … Do global searches across all fi  ve books and view the results side by side on your screen. You can fi  nd any given word in a matter of seconds. You can cross-reference easily, add your own user notes and copy-and-paste sections into your word-processor documents. Use * and ? wildcards to extend the scope of your search, to fi  nd that word on the tip of your tongue or missing from a crossword puzzle, or when you are not sure how to spell a word.'

http://www.nb.co.za/Pharos/phCatalogueDisplay.asp

Even the fontsize is adjustable. All this is fi  ne and surely offers added value but still does not offer any signifi  cant electronic features. Even the  front  page,  title  page,  table  of  contents,  etc.  are  exact  images  of the paper version. The user might still prefer to rather use the paper ver  sions instead of 'starting-up' the computer simply to look up a few words 'on screen'.

Sentrale teks \ A \ afdaal

….onbelangrike of ondergeskikte: Tot inl besonderhede afdaal...

Sentrale teks \ A \ afrekening

2 Skriftelike opgawe met volle

opgawe met volle besonderhede omtrent alle debiet- en kredietposte….

Sentrale teks \ A 1 algemeen

breë trekke; wat nie op besonderhede ingaan nie; onbepaald, vaag: Algemene....

Sentrale teks \ A l allegorie 1

.n abstrakte begrip; uitgebreide, in besonderhede uitgewerkte, volgehoue metafoor, waarin 'n

The Elektroniese WAT also offers certain advanced search functions and a number of cross-references, such as oëbank in (3) which is con  venient  ly hyperlinked to the reference address oogbank that is clickable in the article of oëbank :

```
(3) Elektroniese WAT a. oë s.nw. Selde ook, geselstaal, oge. Mv. van oog. b. oëbank s.nw ( ongewoon ) Sien OOGBANK: Die oëbank het 'n lys van …
```

It is good that WAT, unlike some other Afrikaanse dictionaries, did lemma  tise oë 'eyes' which is an irregular plural for oog 'eye' and give a cross-reference to oog , where sound and elaborate treatment is offered. How  ever, the reference address oog in the article of oë ,  even though it is an implicit reference, should be clickable. Since it is not, the user has to manually scroll to oog in  some way which is not much better than paging around in the paper version. In a true electronic dictionary impli  cit references, in fact, all words, as in the case of MED mentioned above, should be hyperlinked to the relevant lemma.

An excellent feature in the Elektroniese WAT is the 'hitlist' function which generates concordance lines indicating the applicable lemma in each case.

Figure 5: Concordance lines for besonderhede 'particulars' in Elektroniese WAT

In Figure 5, besonderhede 'particulars' is given in context with 5 words of co-text on either side and it indicates that besonderhede occurs in the articles of lemmas such as algemeen 'general', afdaal 'descend', etc.

Elektroniese WAT overdid protection against copying by not allowing the user to copy and paste even a single word. This is nullifying one of the advantages of the electronic dictionary i.e. that users can copy and paste small sections of, or even an entire article for academic writing pur  poses. Here MED is a textbook example of how it should be done namely allowing the user not only to copy an entire article but also to automatically add the source reference.

- (4) electronic ... adjective *** using electricity and extremely small electrical parts such as MICROCHIPS and TRANSISTORS: … © Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 2002

Elektroniese WAT also contains numerous untreated lemmas such as the examples given in Figure 6 reminiscent of a paper dictionary on computer. In an electronic dictionary treatment should be offered or at least clickable rerouting to the relevant lemma that is treated.

Figure 6: Untreated lemmas in Elektroniese WAT

The fact that WAT is currently in either paper or electronic format only completed up to the alphabetical stretch O in itself makes it less attractive  than  a  full  A-Z  version  would  have  been.  Notwithstanding  the short  comings expressed above in terms of real electronic features, Elektroniese WAT remains a valuable source of information for Afrikaans.

Online dictionaries for Afrikaans generally leaves much to be desired since only a limited number of lemmas are offered and treatment is very limited. Consider (5) and (6) as typical examples.

- (5) Travlang's Afrikaans-English On-line Dictionary bank 1.bank bankrekening 1. bank account, banking account
- (6) DDP Freeware Afrikaans/English Dictionary online English African bank oewer, bank

Compared to CALD (Table 1) and Merriam-Webster online's extensive treatment (5) and (6) contains very limited information, not to mention that in the latter example the name of the target language is consistently misspelt as African instead of Afrikaans .

apea

1. cook, bake, brew

(2000-03-06)

budusa

1. cause to ripen

2. cause to cook

(2000-03-06)

moapei

1. cook

(2000-03-06)

tlokoma

1. froth up, bubble, cook

2. walk moving the body up and down all the time

3. (of saliva and before vomiting) run copiously

(2000-03-06)

sepela «*

1. walk, roam, travel

sepela(-)

1. go(l)

sepelago

1. who walks/roams/travels

sepelang(-)

1. go(l)

(2000-03-06)

## 4. Electronic dictionaries for Bantu languages essentials or 'nice-to-haves'?

The fact that compilers of dictionaries for Bantu languages increasingly experiment with electronic and especially online dictionaries is encourag  ing. Unfortunately with a few exceptions, these dictionaries still offer little more than their paper counterparts or source dictionaries. Compare the following extract from the online Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) - English Dictionary .

Figure 7: Online Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) English Diction  ary

<!-- image -->

For the lemmas apea , buduša , moapei and tlokoma the dictionary offers only a number of translation equivalent paradigms. Thus no true elec  tronic features such as those listed in (1) or added value to the paper  dictionary  it  is  based  upon.  However,  since  the  paper  version  is mono-directional Northern Sotho Æ English, English words cannot be look  ed up. In its electronic version, English lemmas can be looked up since the software then merely collates, say, all entries containing the trans  lation equivalent cook in (8). Thus a rather peculiar way of adding  value,  but  signifi  cant  for  the  following  reasons.  Firstly,  the  on  ly other Northern Sotho dictionary that contains more lemmas, the Groot Noord-Sotho Woordeboek (Ziervogel and Mokgokong 1975) is monodirectional  Northern  Sotho Æ English/Afrikaans.  Secondly,  this  diction  ary as well as the New English Northern Sotho dictionary .  (Kriel: 1985) is out of print for more than 10 years. Thus the online Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) - English Dictionary can be regarded as the big- Click on a word to obtain the sound file of that word. [ound Help Page]

(English = Sesotho)

·

Yes = Ee (5334 bytes)

No = Tihee (6126 bytes)

Thank you = Ke a leboha (11928 bytes)

Thank you very much = Ke a leboha haholo (22375 bytes)

You're welcome = O amohelehile (19719 bytes)

Please = Ako...hle (12133 bytes)

gest available dictionary in the direction English Æ Northern Sotho, although it is a simulated direction.

For a number of words like sepela , in the second column of Figure 7, audible pronunciation is clickable. Ideally this option should be extended to all lemmas.

The Travlang Worldwide Travel Guides contain useful translation equiv  alents and phrases and are clickable for pronunciation.

Figure 8: Travlang's Worldwide Travel Guides

Consider also examples (7) and (8) for Tswana and Zulu respectively.

- (7) Webster's Online Dictionary bua speak rata enjoy, like robonngwe nine

```
(8) Zulu-English/English-Zulu online dictionary. -thenga v. buy; purchase njengaprefi  x foll. by noun   like; just as eThekwini loc. of iTheku in/at/to/from Durban…
```

There is no doubt that the Bantu languages will benefi  t from all the inno  vative true electronic dictionary features such as those mentioned in (1) and illustrated by means of English electronic dictionaries such as MED. The real challenge for Bantu-language EDs, however, lies in a number of problematic lexicographic aspects characteristic of these languages mainly revolving around lemmatisation problems and very complicated grammatical systems. The core of the lemmatisation problem lies in a complicated derivational system in Bantu and such diffi  culties are multiplied if the language has a conjunctive orthography. Verbs in Bantu languages combine with numerous affi  xes. Van Wyk (1985: 87) cal  culates that a single verb in Zulu for example can have up to 18 x

19 x 6 x 2 = 4,104 combinations. Compare the following extract from a set of derivations for the verb sebenza (verbal root = -sebenz) 'work' in Table 2 generated from the Pretoria Zulu-Corpus (PZC) and a typical example of concordance lines for Zulu verbs occurring with the prefi  xal cluster wayesezo'he/she would have' in Table 3.

Table 2: Derivations for the verb sebenza in PZC in the alphabetical sub-category a-aba

| ababe sebenz a     | aba sebenz ayo     | abawu sebenz elayo   |
|--------------------|--------------------|----------------------|
| ababe sebenz isa   | aba sebenz ela     | abawu sebenz isayo   |
| ababewa sebenz isa | aba sebenz elayo   | abayi sebenz ayo     |
| ababezi sebenz isa | aba sebenz i       | abayi sebenz e       |
| abaku sebenz ayo   | aba sebenz isa     | abayi sebenz elayo   |
| abali sebenz isa   | aba sebenz isi     | abayi sebenz isa     |
| abali sebenz ise   | abasem sebenz ini  | abayi sebenz isayo   |
| abalu sebenz isayo | abasi sebenz isayo | abayi sebenz elayo   |
| abanga sebenz i    | abawa sebenz isayo | abayi sebenz isa     |
| aba sebenz a       | abawu sebenz ayo   | abayi sebenz isayo   |

Table 2 lists the fi  rst 30 occurences of the alphabetically sorted derivations of the verbal root -sebenz- in PZC. Note that this list does not even go beyond the fi  rst section, Aba , in the alphabetical stretch A .

Table 3: Concordance lines for Zulu verbs occurring with the prefi  xal cluster wayesezo-

| Lachamusela isu likaMjike-Joe Umona usuka esweni Mjike-Joe's plan hatched. Jealousy lies in the eye of the beholder   | wayesezofi ka He would have arrived          | ekhaya Bambuyisela eGoli Leyonsebe at home but they let him go back to Johannesburg   |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| khona ePrince of Wales Training College. UJabulani there at Prince of Wales Training College. Jabulani                | wayesezo thola Would have received           | izincwadi zokufundisa ekupheleni his study material at the end of                     |
| Sathi sehlukana noDolly wayengitshela ukuthi Just when we said goodbye to Dolly she told me that                      | wayesezo qala she now began                  | ukumemezela ukuthi uphethwe yisisu to proclaim that she was pregnant                  |
| UDlaba akafundanga okutheni, wayeka phakathi He did not learn much and gave up in the middle                          | wayesezo sebenza He would by now have worked | kwaVukusebenze. Ufike exova udaga at Vukusebenze. He then started mixing mortar       |

| nje ukuthi okwakuyikhona kumphethe kabi yikuthi in this manner, that which existed made him bad, it is because.   | wayesezo lahl ekelw a He would have lost   | ngabantu labo ababeza kuye those people who had come to him             |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| umuntu wayephumelele yini eLuhlolweni njengoba someone was successful or not in the adjudication since            | wayesezo qala He would have begun          | nje uNhlolanja. Ngazo lezozinsuku ng in January. In those specific days |

Verb stems in Zulu for example almost always occur with one or more affi  xes.  Traditionally  Zulu  dictionaries  follow  a  stem  lemmatisation stra  tegy. This means that the lemmasign for all words in Table 2 for example will be -sebenza and the stems indicated in boldface in Table 3 i.e. fi ka , thola , qala , sebenza and lahla . The target users of a Zulu diction  ary, especially learners of the language, are confronted with such long orthographic words and cannot look them up in Zulu dictionaries un  less they know what the stem is. Isolating the stem often requires advanced knowledge of the morphological system of the language and the prob  lem becomes critical in cases where neither the lexicographer nor the user is able to identify the stem! See Van Wyk (1985) for a detailed dis  cussion.

Lexicographers have struggled for many decades to solve this problem by means of a variety of lemmatisation strategies. Ziervogel and Mokgokong (1975) took an approach which can be labelled an enterthem-all-strategy according to which they physically tried to enter all derivations of verbs. Consider the following example of the deri  va  tions actually lemmatised by them for the Northern Sotho verb aga 'build' which refl  ects 16 of the more than 30 possible suffi  xal clusters/deriv  ation modules.

Table 4: Derivations of the Northern Sotho verb aga

|   1 | VR           | aga     |    | VRRevtCauRecPer    | agollišane   |
|-----|--------------|---------|----|--------------------|--------------|
|     | VRPer        | agile   |    | VRRevtCauRecPas    | agollišanwa  |
|     | VRPas        | agwa    |    | VRRevtCauRecPerPas | agollišanwe  |
|     | VRPerPas     | agilwe  | 19 | VRAppApp           | agelela      |
|   5 | VRNeu-Pas    | agega   |    | VRAppAppPer        | ageletše     |
|     | VRNeu-PasPer | agegile |    | VRAppAppPas        | agelelwa     |
|   6 | VRApp        | agela   |    | VRAppAppPerPas     | ageletšwe    |
|     | VRAppPer     | agetše  | 20 | VRAppAppRec        | agelelana    |
|     | VRAppPas     | agelwa  |    | VRAppAppRecPer     | agelelane    |

VR=verbal root; Per=perfect; Pas=passive; Neu-Pas=neutro-passive; App=applicative; Rec=reciprocal;  Cau=causative;  Revt=reversive  transitive;  Revit=reversive  intransitive;  AltCau=alternative causative

|    | VRAppPerPas     | agetšwe      |    | VRAppAppRecPas            | agelelanwa    |
|----|-----------------|--------------|----|---------------------------|---------------|
|  7 | VRAppRec        | agelana      |    | VRAppAppRecPerPas         | agelelanwe    |
|    | VRAppRecPer     | agelane      | 21 | VRRevit                   | agologa       |
|    | VRAppRecPas     | agelanwa     |    | VRRevitPer                | agologile     |
|    | VRAppRecPerPas  | agelanwe     |    | VRRevitPer                | agologwa      |
|  8 | VRCau           | agiša        |    | VRRevitPer                | agologilwe    |
|    | VRCauPer        | agišitše     | 28 | VRAppAppCau               | agelediša     |
|    | VRCauPas        | agišwa       |    | VRAppAppCauPer            | ageledišitše  |
|    | VRCauPerPas     | agišitšwe    |    | VRAppAppCauPas            | ageledišwa    |
|  9 | VRCauRec        | agišana      |    | VRAppAppCauPerPas         | ageledišitšwe |
|    | VRCauRecPer     | agišane      | 29 | VRAppAppCauRec            | ageledišana   |
|    | VRCauRecPas     | agišanwa     |    | VRAppAppCauRecPer         | ageledišane   |
|    | VRCauRecPerPas  | agišanwe     |    | VRAppAppCauRecPas         | ageledišanwa  |
| 13 | VRRevt          | agolla       |    | VRAppAppCauRecPerPas      | ageledišanwe  |
|    | VRRevtPer       | agolotše     | 30 | VRAppAppAlt-Cau           | ageletša      |
|    | VRRevtPas       | agollwa      |    | VRAppAppAlt-CauPer        | ageleditše    |
|    | VRRevtPerPas    | agolotšwe    |    | VRAppAppAlt-CauPas        | ageletšwa     |
| 17 | VRRevtCau       | agolliša     |    | VRAppAppAlt-CauPerPas     | ageleditšwe   |
|    | VRRevtCauPer    | agollišitše  | 31 | VRAppAppAlt-CaurRec       | ageletšana    |
|    | VRRevtCauPas    | agollišwa    |    | VRAppAppAlt-CauRecPer     | ageletšane    |
|    | VRRevtCauPerPas | agollišitšwe |    | VRAppAppAlt-CauRecPas     | ageletšanwa   |
| 18 | VRRevtCauRec    | agollišana   |    | VRAppAppAlt- CauRecPerPas | ageletšanwe   |

Although successful in terms of entering 'all' the derivations, fi  nding the meaning of the word remains a problem for the user as is illustrated by means of dikagollišano in Table 5. Here the user fi  rstly has to strip the suffi  xes in order to fi  nd the verb stem and its meaning and then to 'add' the semantic connotations in a cumulative way in order to fi  nd the mean  ing - thus up to 12 steps in total:

Table 5: Information  retrieval  process  for dikagollišano in Groot Noord-Sotho Woordeboek

|   1 | dikagollišano                                     | ↓   | plural deverbative consisting of root + reversive transitive + causative + reciprocal + ending   |
|-----|---------------------------------------------------|-----|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   2 | kagollišano                                       | ↓   | singular deverbative consisting of root + reversive transitive + causative + reciprocal + ending |
|   3 | agollišana                                        | ↓   | verb root + reversive transitive + causative + reciprocal + ending                               |
|   4 | agolliša                                          | ↓   | verb root + reversive transitive + causative + ending                                            |
|   5 | agolla                                            | ↓   | verb root + reversive transitive + ending                                                        |
|   6 | aga                                               | ↓   | verb (stem)                                                                                      |
|   7 | build                                             | ↓   | meaning of the verb                                                                              |
|   8 | break down                                        | ↓   | reverse or opposite meaning 'un-build'                                                           |
|   9 | cause to break down                               | ↓   | add causative sense of 'let/force'                                                               |
|  10 | cause each other to break down                    | ↓   | add reciprocal sense of 'each other'                                                             |
|  11 | the process of causing each other to break down   | ↓   | nominalise: 'the process of …'(singular)                                                         |
|  12 | the processes of causing each other to break down |     | change 'the process of …'to the plural                                                           |

In step 12 the user concudes that dikagollišano means ' the processes of causing each other to break down ' -but it is an artifi  cially constructed meaning and (s)he is still not sure that it is the right conclusion.

A second strategy employed by Kriel and Van Wyk (1989) can be labelled the regulate-them-in approach. Following this approach only verb stems are lemmatised and a complicated set of rules is designed and given in the users' guide to the dictionary. In theory it means that all deriv  ations are catered for but in practice it boils down to exactly the same process as illustrated for dikagollišano in Table 5. Other efforts include  so-called  left-expanded  article  structures,  where  an  article displaying a left-expanded structure can still maintain an undisturbed alignment of the lemma sign in the vertical macrostructural ordering, as in Table 6.

## Table 6:

nginga hamb a

I may go to go/walk

uku hamb a ngangili hamb a ayengasa hamb eli eku hamb eni

I was traveling it

they no longer visited

during their journey/traveling

The Zulu words in Table 6 are thus still lemmatised according to the stem principle, i.e. the root -hambin this example, but the full orthographic forms are given with vertical alignment on h-, within the alphabetical stretch H in the dictionary. Although this approach has certain advantages over strict stem lemmatisation, it does not exempt the user from the obligation to identify the stem.

Similar  problematic  circumstances  exist  for  the  lemmatisation  of nouns. As in the case of verbs, nouns occur with affi  xes.

Table 7: Concordance lines for Zulu nominal cluster nanjengomuntu

| 3. (a) USean. (b) UAda. (c) UWaite njengobaba, 3. (a) Sean. (b) Ada. (c) Waite as the father                                | nanjengomuntu and also as a mere person   | nje. (d) UGarrick. Sebenzisa igama Garrick. Use the name                                     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| obusezandleni zamaphoyisa. Kodwa njengeNkosazane which was in the hands of the police. But as the Princess                  | nanjengomuntu and also as somebody        | engimethembayo ngithe angikuvezele ka who I must trust. I thought that I should disclose it. |
| kubafundi lokho akucabangile. Sekumfikele wakuloba; to the students that he had in mind. It occurred to him to wite it down | nanjengomuntu and as somebody             | othuka inhlamba emkhandlwini. k who uses obscene language in the assembly.                   |
| be nguGumede onokuchaza loko njengenhloko yomuzi. It is Gumede who is able to explain that as the head of the village       | nanjengomuntu and even as a person        | obona omahlalela efika who sees people who don't want to work                                |

Here the Zulu noun umuntu 'a human being' is preceded by na'and' plus ngenga 'as, like' and a sound change a+u Æ o has occurred. The user has to know that the na , and njenga should be stripped, the sound change reversed and to remove the class prefi  x (u)muof the noun, in order to look it up under -ntu and add the semantic connotations back on similar to the process in Table 5 for dikagollišano .

Furthermore, apart from the problem of stem identifi  cation, singularity and plurality in Bantu is indicated by prefi  xes. This complicates lemma  tisation in alphabetically ordered dictionaries since it is extremely redundant to lemmatise each noun twice, on singular and on plural in the dictionary.

A variety of lemmatisation strategies have been attempted for nouns such as stem lemmatisation, lemmatising singular forms supplemented by rules given in the front matter of how to convert plural to singular, lemmatising both singular and plural forms, lemmatising on the third letter of the word in an attempt to avoid the noun prefi  x, etc. All these strategies have major disadvantages and are discussed in great detail in Prinsloo and De Schryver (1999) and De Schryver and Prinsloo (2000a and 2000b).

As a fi  nal example of a major lexicographic problem, this time on the level of complicated grammatical structures, the lemmatisation of copulatives in Northern Sotho can be cited. The English words is , am , are and be literally  have  hundreds of equivalents in Northern Sotho. Consider (9) as a tiny extract from the rules determining the formation of  copulatives  (Poulos  and  Louwrens  1994:  320-326)  and  Table  8  as an example driven table of real examples formed on the basis of such rules.

- (9) The indicative serie s  The present tense  Principal  Identifying pos lst and 2nd persons: SC - CB Classes: CP - CB neg.  1st and 2nd persons: ga - SC - CB Classes: ga - se - CB Participial pos.  1 st and 2nd person: SC - le - CB Classes: CP - le - CB neg.  lst and 2nd person: SC - se CB Classes: CP - se - CB The future tense Principal pos.  1st and 2nd person: SC - tlô/tla - ba + CB Classes: CP - tlô/tla - ba + CB neg.  1st and 2nd  person: SC - ka - se  -bê + CB  SC Classes: CP - ka - se -bê + CB Participial pos  1 st and 2 nd person: SC - tlô/tla - ba + CB Classes: CP - tlo/tla - ba + CB neg 1 st and 2 nd person: SC - ka - se-bê + CB Classes: CP - ka se - be + CB The past tense  Principal pos  1 st and 2 nd person: SC - bilê + CB Classes: CP - bilê + CB neg  1 st and 2 nd person: ga - se - SC - be + CB  ga - se - SC2 - a - ba + CB  ga - SC2 - a - ba + CB Classes: ga - se - CP - be + CB  ga - se - SC2 - a - ba + CB1  ga - SC2 -a - ba CB Participial pos  lst and 2nd person: SC - bilê + CB Classes: CP - bilê + CB neg.  lst and 2nd person: SC - sa - ba + CB Classes: CP - sa - ba + CB

## Table 8: Dynamic Copulatives

Column 1: MD. = MOOD, IND. = INDICATIVE, SIT. = SITUATIVE, REL. = RELATIVE, SUB. = SUBJUNCTIVE, CON. = CONSECUTIVE, INF. = INFINITIVE, IMP. = IMPERATIVE, HAB. = HABITUAL

Column 2: PRES. = PRESENT, FUT. = FUTURE, PAS. = PAST +Pot. = containing the Potential Column3:  ACT. = ACTUALITY (p. = positive, n. = negative)

| MD.   | TENSE   | ACT.   | Common verb                     | Identifying           | Descriptive          | Associative          |
|-------|---------|--------|---------------------------------|-----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|
| IND.  | PRES.   | p.     | mosadi o reka dipuku            | e ba morutiši         | o ba bohlale         | o ba le mpša         |
|       |         | n.     | mosadi ga a reke dipuku         | ga e be morutiši      | ga a be bohlale      | ga a be le mpša      |
|       | +Pot.   | p.     | mosadi a ka reka dipuku         | e ka ba morutiši      | a ka ba bohlale      | a ka ba le mpša      |
|       |         | n.     | mosadi a ka se reke dipuku      | e ka se be morutiši   | a ka se be bohlale   | a ka se be le mpša   |
|       | FUT.    | p.     | mosadi o tlo/tla reka dipuku    | e tlo/tla ba morutiši | o tlo/tla ba bohlale | o tlo/tla ba le mpša |
|       |         | n.     | mosadi a ka se reke dipuku      | e ka se be morutiši   | a ka se be bohlale   | a ka se be le mpša   |
|       | PAS.    | p.     | mosadi o rekile dipuku          | e bile morutiši       | o bile bohlale       | o bile le mpša       |
|       |         | n.     | mosadi ga se a reka dipuku      | ga se ya ba morutiši  | ga se a ba bohlale   | ga se a ba le mpša   |
| SIT.  | PRES.   | p.     | ge mosadi a reka dipuku         | e eba morutiši        | a eba bohlale        | a eba le mpša        |
|       |         | n.     | ge mosadi a sa reke dipuku      | e sa be morutiši      | a sa be bohlale      | a sa be le mpša      |
|       | +Pot.   | p.     | ge mosadi a ka reka dipuku      | e ka ba morutiši      | a ka ba bohlale      | a ka ba le mpša      |
|       |         | n.     | ge mosadi a ka se reke dipuku   | e ka se be morutiši   | a ka se be bohlale   | a ka se be le mpša   |
|       | FUT.    | p.     | ge mosadi a tlo/tla reka dipuku | e tlo/tla ba morutiši | a tlo/tla ba bohlale | a tlo/tla ba le mpša |
|       |         | n.     | ge mosadi a ka se reke dipuku   | e ka se be morutiši   | a ka se be bohlale   | a ka se be le mpša   |
|       | PAS.    | p.     | ge mosadi a rekile dipuku       | e bile morutiši       | a bile bohlale       | a bile le mpša       |
|       |         | n.     | ge mosadi a sa reka dipuku      | e sa ba morutiši      | a sa ba bohlale      | a sa ba le mpša      |
| REL.  | PRES.   | p.     | mosadi yo a rekago dipuku       | e bago morutiši       | a bago bohlale       | a bago le mpša       |
|       |         | n.     | mosadi yo a sa rekego dipuku    | e sa bego morutiši    | a sa bego bohlale    | a sa bego le mpša    |
|       | +Pot.   | p.     | mosadi yo a ka rekago dipuku    | e ka bago morutiši    | a ka bago bohlale    | a ka bago le mpša    |

|      |      | n.   | mosadi yo a ka se rekego dipuku   | e ka se bego morutiši   | a ka se bego bohlale   | a ka se bego le mpša   |
|------|------|------|-----------------------------------|-------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
|      | FUT. | p.   | mosadi yo a tlo/tla rekago dipuku | e tlo/tla bago morutiši | a tlo/tla bago bohlale | a tlo/tla bago le mpša |
|      |      | n.   | mosadi yo a ka se rekego dipuku   | e ka se bego morutiši   | a ka se bego bohlale   | a ka se bego le mpša   |
|      | PAS. | p.   | mosadi yo a rekilego dipuku       | e bilego morutiši       | a bilego bohlale       | a bilego le mpša       |
|      |      | n.   | mosadi yo a sa rekago dipuku      | e sa bago morutiši      | a sa bago bohlale      | a sa bago le mpša      |
| SUB. |      | p.   | (gore) mosadi a reke dipuku       | e be morutiši           | a be bohlale           | a be le mpša           |
|      |      | n.   | (gore) mosadi a se reke dipuku    | e se be morutiši        | a se be bohlale        | a se be le mpša        |
| CON. |      | p.   | mosadi a reka dipuku              | ya ba morutiši          | a ba bohlale           | a ba le mpša           |
|      |      | n.   | mosadi a se reke dipuku           | ya se be morutiši       | a se be bohlale        | a se be le mpša        |
| INF. |      | p.   | go reka dipuku                    | go ba morutiši          | go ba bohlale          | go ba le mpša          |
|      |      | n.   | go se reke dipuku                 | go se be morutiši       | go se be bohlale       | go se be le mpša       |
| IMP. |      | p.   | reka dipiku!                      | eba morutiši!           | eba bohlale!           | eba le mpša!           |
|      |      | n.   | se reke dipuku!                   | se be morutiši!         | se be bohlale!         | se be le mpša!         |
| HAB. |      | p.   | mosadi a reke dipuku              | e be morutiši           | a be bohlale           | a be le mpša           |
|      |      | n.   | mosadi a se reke dipuku           | e se be morutiši        | a se be bohlale        | a se be le mpša        |

In Table 8 not less than 34 copulative forms for 3 different copulative rela  tions were given, covering only class 1. Multiplied by the roughly 20 dif  ferent sets of concords for persons and classes in Table 1, this means rough  ly 34 x 3 x 20 = 2,040 possible candidates for lemmatisation of the dy  namic copulative.

In a good Northern Sotho dictionary the lexicographer tries to maximal  ly utilise all available strategies and structures such as sound treatment in dictionary articles, cross-references to the back matter and even cross-references to outside sources such as grammar books in order to assist the user to understand this complicated issue in Northern Sotho.

One  cannot  but  conclude  that  lemmatisation  of  especially  nouns, verbs and copulatives cannot be solved for Bantu languages in the paper dimension especially if an accessible, user-friendly dictionary for inexperienced learners of the language is the objective. The question is how can these lemmatisation problems in respect of e.g. verbs, nouns and complicated linguistic systems like the copulative be solved? The solution lies in the electronic dictionary dimension. Utilising a combination  of,  especially  the  electronic  features  listed  in  (1),  i.e.    popup access, bringing together of related items, new routes to the data, less  dependency  on  alphabetical  order,  intelligent  extrapolation,  etc. can be the answer. In practical terms, detailed morphological analysis and  parsing  of  nouns  and  verbs,  annotated  corpora,  huge  frequency lists, etc. will be the required building blocks. Hundreds of thousands of words will have to be hyperlinked to their lemma signs in order to allow intelligent extrapolation as has been illustrated above for intoxication in  MED.  Stratifi  ed/layered  pop-up  boxes  in  the  case  of  complicated grammatical systems will have to be built as well as a compli  cated network of cross-referencing. Consider Figures 9 - 11 for typical  suggested  solutions  for  the  lemmatisation  of  nouns,  verbs  and copulatives respectively.

Figure 9: The noun serurubele in an ED for Northern Sotho

<!-- image -->

In the case of nouns, the noun class system could be presented in an innovative but simplistic way. In Figure 9 the user looks up the word serurubele and  fi  nds  the  translation  equivalents  'butterfl  y,  moth'.  If (s)he now puts the cursor on structure in the information bar, a text box opens, not only refl  ecting the total scope of the noun class system , but also putting the word itself within its appropriate position in the noun class system , namely class seven.

Figure 10: The verb reka in an ED for Northern Sotho

<!-- image -->

In the fi  rst pop-up box the user can fi  nd useful information regarding the verbal derivations of the lemma. In the left bottom box, (s)he can fi  nd all nominalizations arranged according to their nominal classifi  cation. In  the  right  bottom  box,  typical  occurrences  of  the  lemma  and  its derivations in idioms and proverbs can be studied.

Keep in mind that all this is achieved by simply moving the mouse over different sections of the navigation bar. Thus, information boxes only appear if the user wants to see them.

Figure 11: The copulative ga se in an ED for Northern Sotho

<!-- image -->

For the copulative, layered, clickable options should be provided, thus presenting the user digestible sections while outlining the full scope of the complicated system.

## 5. Conclusion

It has been attempted in this article to give a perspective on electronic dic  tionaries from a South African point of view. As far as English is con  cerned one could conclude that South African users have the advantage of the availability  of  sophisticated  internationally  developed Eds,  both  on  CD-ROM  and  online  and  that  future  developments should focus on extending the same level of sophistication to Eds cater  ing  for  South  African  English  and  also  for  Black  South  African English. For Afrikaans progress has been made towards the compil  ation of true electronic dictionaries and it is expected that a new gener  a  tion  of Afrikaans  Eds  would  include  more  advanced  true  elec  tronic dictionary features. For the Bantu languages interest in the compilation of electronic dictionaries is picking up and the fact that success  ful information retrieval is so heavily dependant on the elec  tronic dimension, provides extra motivation for the  compilation  of  Eds  for these languages. The rate of development of Eds will also be infl  uenced by  external  factors  both  internationally  and  locally.  It  re  mains  to  be seen  how  fast  the  presumed  gradual  swing  from  paper  dic  tionary  to elec  tronic dictionary often advocated in publications on Eds will take place. In an African context the development and use of Eds will also be infl  uenced by the rate of development of a dictionary cul  ture, compu  tational skills and access to computers and the internet. In the long run it is reasonable to expect that also in South Africa the elec  tronic dictionary will overshadow the paper dictionary in the same way as the com  puter has superseded the typewriter.

## References

## A. Electronic dictionaries

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary Online http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Collins COBUILD on CD-ROM . 1995. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

DDP Freeware Afrikaans/English Dictionary online . http://www.freedict.com/

- Elektroniese WAT . Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (A-O). CD-ROM. 2003. WAT, Van Schaik.
- Macmillan  English  Dictionary  for  Advanced  Learners .  2002.  Macmillan  Publishers Limited.
- Merriam-Webster OnLine http://www.m-w.com/
- Oxford English Dictionary http://www.oed.com/
- Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition on Compact Disk. 1989. Oxford University Press.
- Pharos  Woordeboeke  Dictionaries  5  in  1. 2000.  Johannesburg:  Pharos  &  Logos Information Systems.
- Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) - English Dictionary . http://africanlanguages.com/ sdp/

Travlang's Afrikaans-English On-line Dictionary . http://dictionaries.travlang.com/

Travlang's Worldwide Travel Guides. http://www.travlang.com/

Webster's Online Dictionary, The Rosetta Edition .

http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/

Zulu-English/English-Zulu online dictionary . http://www.isizulu.net/

## B. Other references

- Atkins, B.T. Sue. 1996. Bilingual Dictionaries: Past, Present and Future. Proceedings of the Seventh EURALEX International Congress on Lexicography . G ő teborg. 515546.
- Bolinger,  D.  1990.  Review  of  Oxford  Advanced  Learner's  Dictionary  of  Current English. International Journal of Lexicography 3/2: 133-45.
- De  Schryver,  Gilles-Maurice.  2003.  Lexicographers'  Dreams  in  the  ElectronicDictionary Age. International Journal of Lexicography 16/2 : 143-199.
- De Schryver, Gilles-Maurice & Daniel J. Prinsloo. 2000a Electronic corpora as a basis for the compilation of African-language dictionaries, Part 1: The macrostructure . South African Journal of African Languages 20/4 : 291-309.
- De Schryver, Gilles-Maurice & Daniel J. Prinsloo. 2000b. Electronic corpora as a basis for  the  compilation  of African-language  dictionaries,  Part  2: The microstructure . South African Journal of African Languages 20/4 : 310-330 .
- Dodd, W.S. 1989. Lexicomputing and the dictionary of the future. Lexicographers and their Works. James G. (Ed.) Exeter Linguistic Studies.
- Geeraerts, Dirk. Euralex 2000 p75 Proceedings of the Ninth EURALEX International Congress on Lexicography , Stuttgart, 8-12 August 2000. (pp 75-84)
- Harley,  Andrew.  2000.  Software  Demonstration:  Cambridge  Dictionaries  Online. Proceedings, The Ninth Euralex International Congress . Heid, Ulrich et al. (Eds.). Stuttgart. (pp 85-88).
- Kriel,  Theunis  J.  1985 New  English  Northern  Sotho  dictionary .  Johannesburg: Educum.
- Kriel, Theunis J. and Van Wyk, Egidius B. 1989. Pukuntšu woordeboek, Noord-SothoAfrikaans, Afrikaans-Noord-Sotho . Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik.
- Nesi, Hillary. 1999. A User's Guide to Electronic Dictionaries for Language Learners. International Journal of Lexicography 12/1: 55-66.
- Poulos, George and Louis J. Louwrens. 1994. A Linguistic Analysis of Northern Sotho . Pretoria: Via Afrika.
- Prinsloo, Daniel J. 2001. The Compilation of Electronic Dictionaries for the African Languages . Lexikos  11 .  Afrilex  Series.  J.C.M.D.  du  Plessis  (Ed.).  Stellenbosch. Bureau of the WAT. 139-159
- Prinsloo, Daniel J. & De Schryver, Gilles-Maurice. 1999. The lemmatization of nouns in African languages with special reference to Sepedi and Cilubà, South African Journal of African Languages , 19(4): 258-75.
- Sharpe,  P.  1995.  Electronic  dictionaries  with  particular  reference  to  the  design  of an  electronic  bilingual  dictionary  for  English-Speaking  learners  of  Japanese. International Journal of Lexicography 8/1: 39-54 .
- Silva, Penny M. 1996. A dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

- Silva,  Penny  M.  2004  South African  English:  Oppressor  or  Liberator? Accessed  at <www.ru.ac.za/affi  liates/dsae/MAVEN.HTML>
- Van Wyk, Egidius B. 1995. Linguistic Assumptions and Lexicographical Traditions in the African Languages. Lexikos 5 . Afrilex Series. J.C.M.D. du Plessis (Ed.). Stellenbosch. Bureau of the WAT. 82-96
- Wade, Rodrik. 1998. Black South African English as a distinct 'new' English . Accessed at <http://www.und.ac.za/und/ling/archive/wade-03.html>
- Ziervogel, Dirk. & Pothinus C. Mokogokong. 1975. Groot Noord-Sotho Woordeboek. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik.

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