Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Language and languages – Etymology – Lexicography'

Dissertation (DLitt)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The dictionaries available in the Gabonese languages are all translation dictionaries biased towards French and compiled by missionaries and colonial administrators. No proper monolingual dictionaries exist in the Gabonese languages. There is therefore a need for monolingual dictionaries in the Gabonese languages, particularly in Yipunu, one of the Bantu languages (B 43) spoken in the South of Gabon. Yipunu is a regional vehicular language or a major or majority language. Yipunu is a domestic language i.e spoken inside Bapunu communities or a mother tongue or first language and Yipunu is also taught as subject in the national educational system. As a response to this need, this dissertation proposes metalexicographic criteria for the compilation of a standard descriptive monolingual dictionary with special reference to Yipunu. The proposed model focuses primarily on the inclusion and the treatment of the standard variety of Yipunu and to a lesser degree on the other varieties. Such a model is directed at a dictionary primarily dealing with the needs of the average, educated members of the Yipunu speech community, the mother-tongue speakers, and also designed for experienced and advanced learners of Yipunu and their teachers. This study aims to point out how important standard descriptive monolingual dictionaries are in general and specifically in the case of African Bantu languages. This study also aims to highlight the importance for Gabonese lexicographers to adopt modern lexicographical principles in dictionary compilation such as the user-driven dictionary and the corpus-based dictionary. This model, although devised for Yipunu, will eventually serve as model for the design of standard descriptive dictionaries in all Gabonese languages. This study provides information about the content and the structures of such a dictionary and is structured as follows: Chapter 1 focuses on introducing and contextualising the research. It presents the linguistic situation in Gabon with reference to the status of Yipunu. It also shows the importance and the relevance of the research and gives the theoretical basis, methodology, hypotheses and objectives underlying the study. Chapter 2 criticises the lexicographic works in Yipunu in order to improve the quality of future Yipunu dictionaries and examines the major needs of Yipunu lexicography. Chapter 3 envisages some aspects of the standardisation of Yipunu. It targets the discussion at the level of the language analysis namely the phonology, the grammar, the dictionary and the orthography of Yipunu. Chapter 4 discusses the user perspective, which guides the dictionary compilation. It focuses on the user profile, user typologies and dictionary functions. The intended dictionary has a multifunctional character. Special attention is given to a pioneering survey of dictionary use among Gabonese students and to the discussion of the teaching of dictionary use in Gabon. Chapter 5 deals with the dictionary plan. Different aspects such as the style guide, the genuine purpose, the dictionary basis, data collection, the data collection policy, data collection methods and the corpus of the proposed dictionary are discussed Chapter 6 elaborates on the macrostructure of the proposed dictionary. The dictionary gives priority to a strict alphabetical macrostructure. Macrostructural elements, lemmatisation strategies, and types of lemmas and articles to be included in the proposed dictionary are discussed. Chapter 7 focuses on the microstructure of the proposed dictionary. The model suggests an obligatory microstructure and an extended obligatory microstructure and discusses the variety of data to be included in the articles of the proposed dictionary. Chapter 8 deals with the outer text section and the guide structures of the proposed dictionary, which includes front and back matter texts. Polyaccessibility, a system of cross-referencing, and lemmatic and non-lemmatic addressings are characteristics of the proposed dictionary. Chapter 9 makes some concluding remarks by highlighting the focus point of each chapter of the dissertation. It gives also some recommendations for the research.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die woordeboeke beskikbaar in die Gaboenese tale is almal vertalende woordeboeke gerig op Frans en saamgestel deur sendelinge en koloniale administrateurs. Geen werklike eentalige woordeboeke bestaan in die Gaboenese tale nie. Daar is gevolglik 'n behoefte aan eentalige woordeboeke in die Gaboenese tale, veral in Jipoenoe, een van die Bantoetale (B 43) wat in die Suide van Gaboen gepraat word. Jipoenoe is 'n streeksvoertaal of 'n hoof- of meerderheidstaal. Jipoenoe is 'n huistaal d.w.s. wat binne Bapoenoegemeenskappe gepraat word of 'n moedertaal of eerste taal en Jipoenoe word ook as vak in die nasionale opvoedingstelsel onderrig. In reaksie op hierdie behoefte stel hierdie proefskrif metaleksikografiese kriteria voor vir die samestelling van 'n standaard beskrywende eentalige woordeboek met spesiale verwysing na Jipoenoe. Die voorgestelde model fokus primêr op die insluiting en behandeling van die standaardvariëteit van Jipoenoe en in 'n mindere mate op die ander variëteite. Die model is gerig op 'n woordeboek wat primêr aandag gee aan die behoeftes van die deursnee- opgevoede lede van die Jipoenoespraakgemeenskap, die moedertaalsprekers, en wat ook ontwerp is vir kundige en gevorderde leerders van Jipoenoe en hul onderwysers. Die doel van hierdie studie is om aan te toon hoe belangrik standaard beskrywende eentalige woordeboeke in die algemeen en spesifiek in die geval van die Bantoetale van Afrika is. Die doel van hierdie studie is ook om die belangrikheid vir Gaboenese leksikograwe te belig om moderne leksikografiese beginsels toe te pas in die samestelling van woordeboeke soos die gebruikersgedrewe woordeboek en die korpusgebaseerde woordeboek. Hierdie model, alhoewel ontwerp vir Jipoenoe, sal uiteindelik dien as model vir die opstel van standaard beskrywende woordeboeke vir al die Gaboenese tale. Die studie verskaf inligting oor die inhoud en strukture van so 'n woordeboek en is soos volg gestruktureer: Hoofstuk 1 fokus op 'n inleiding tot en 'n kontekstualisering van die navorsing. Dit beskryf die taalkundige toestand in Gaboen met betrekking tot die status van Jipoenoe. Dit toon ook die belangrikheid en relevansie van die navorsing en gee die teoretiese basis, metodologie, hipoteses en doelstellings onderliggend aan die studie. Hoofstuk 2 kritiseer die leksikografiese werk in Jipoenoe met die doel om die gehalte van die Jipoenoewoordeboeke te verbeter en die behoeftes van die Jipoenoeleksikografie te ondersoek. Hoofstuk 3 beskou 'n aantal aspekte van die standaardisering van Jipoenoe. Dit is gemik op 'n bespreking op die vlak van taalontleding, naamlik die fonologie, die grammatika, die woordeboek en die ortografie van Jipoenoe. Hoofstuk 4 bespreek die gebruikersperspektief wat die woordeboeksamestelling rig. Dit fokus op die gebruikersprofiel, gebruikerstipologieë en woordeboekfunksies. Die beplande woordeboek het 'n multifunksionele karakter. Spesiale aandag word gegee aan 'n baanbrekende ondersoek na woordeboekgebruik onder Gaboenese studente en aan 'n bespreking van die onderrig van woordeboekgebruik in Gaboen. Hoofstuk 5 handel oor die woordeboekplan. Verskillende aspekte soos die stylgids, die werklike doel, die woordeboekbasis, dataversameling, die dataversamelingsbeleid, dataversamelingsmetodes en die korpus van die voorgestelde woordeboek word bespreek. Hoofstuk 6 wei uit oor die makrostruktuur van die voorgestelde woordeboek. Die woordeboek gee voorkeur aan 'n streng alfabetiese makrostruktuur. Makrostrukturele elemente, lemmatiseringstrategieë, en soorte lemmas en artikels vir insluiting in die beplande woordeboek word bespreek. Hoofstuk 7 fokus op die mikrostruktuur van die voorgestelde woordeboek. Die model stel 'n verpligte mikrostruktuur en 'n uitgebreide verpligte mikrostruktuur voor en bespreek die verskeidenheid data wat in die artikels van die voorgestelde woordeboek ingesluit behoort te word. Hoofstuk 8 handel oor die buiteteksgedeelte en die gidsstrukture van die voorgestelde woordeboek wat voor- en agtervoor- en agtertekste insluit. Politoeganklikheid, 'n stelsel van kruisverwysings, en lemmatiese en nielemmatiese adresserings is kenmerke van die voorgestelde woordeboek. Hoofstuk 9 maak 'n aantal slotopmerkings deur die fokuspunt van elke hoofstuk van die proefskrif te belig. Dit verskaf ook 'n aantal aanbevelings vir navorsing.

Thesis (DLitt (Modern Foreign Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 1996.
Objective: This study presents a conception for compiling a monolingual German learner's dictionary. It is a theoretical blueprint which formulates guidelines regarding the choice and treatment ofinformation types suited for inclusion in such a dictionary. The conception is ''user oriented". In other words, its main focus is on the target users: nonnative speakers ofGerman who have reached an intermediate level of proficiency in their active and passive usage ofthe language. The deciding factor when suggestions are made regarding the selection, arrangement and typographical appearance of all lexicographical information is its relevance for this target group. In order for it to be an aid to foreign language learners while reading, writing and translating texts, information is presented in a simple and an easily retrievable way. The conception also aspires to help learners overcome their communicative problems and needs as well as to improve their linguistic competence. However, the ultimate aim ofthis dissertation is not only to provide a theoretical blueprint for a German learner's dictionary, but to have some practical significance as well. It is hoped that these recommendations will go some way towards stimulating the presently underdeveloped German pedagogical lexicographical practice. Contents: The study is structured to include all the vital aspects that are ofsignificance for the compilation of a learner's dictionary. It begins with a discussion of a number of pedagogical-lexicographical issues, such as the role of a learner's dictionary as a means of improving communicative proficiency in language teaching. The focus then moves on to the main objective, namely concrete proposals for the dictionary blueprint. While these proposals are based on up-to-date metalexicographical and linguistic theoretical conclusions, the deciding factor is that they must be practically applicable. First, the draft dictionary is typologically characterised by means of a precise and detailed description of the target user profile and potential usage situation~. Secondly, a discussion of general criteria, mainly aimed at improving the quick and easy retrieval of linguistic information, follows. Then, the contents and form ofthose texts that are not within the central alphabetical wordlist, such as the user's guide and grammar, as well as the internal reference structure ofthe dictionary (mediostructure) are highlighted. Subsequently, the selection of information in the draft dictionary is examined. This includes both the choice oflemmas (macrostructural selection) and the collection of linguistic information types suited for inclusion (microstructural selection). Not only does the conception recommend a relatively small number oflemmas (15 000), exclusively retrieved from the most common and frequently used standardised High German, but the number of information types is also restricted. This results is a low information density which in tum allows for a low text density and a high degree of accessiblity. Although decisions regarding the presentation ofvarious lexicographical information categories are linguistically motivated, linguistic comprehensiveness must occasionally bow the knee before pragmatic considerations. These improve the reception and retrievablitiy of data and enhance the user's chances of a sound understanding. A favourable visual presentation, including a low information density and transparent typographical layout, are also emphasised throughout. Finally, suggestions for the organisation and presentation oflemmas on the one hand and individual information types within the dictionary article on the other are presented. Sample entries provide a clear demonstration of all suggestions. In conclusion, the wider aspects ofhow the dictionary conceptualised in this thesis can be adapted to compile specialist pedagogical dictionaries, such as a production dictionary and a bilingual learner's dictionary which incorporates mother-tongue elements, are presented.

El nostre treball, que està inserit dins del projecte del Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (GMLC), compartit per la Universitat de Barcelona i el Consell Superior d'Investigacions Científiques, ha consistit a elaborar un estudi etimològic del lèxic d'origen germànic que apareix en el llatí medieval de Catalunya. Concretament, s'han estudiat els termes d'origen germànic (gòtic i fràncic) que van penetrar com a substrat en el llatí altmedieval de Catalunya, des de l'antiguitat tardana fins al tombant del segle XII. Els termes germànics suara esmentats, que es troben inclosos en textos diplomàtics, han estat identificats i extrets del corpus documental del GMLC i, després, han estat fixats i distribuïts per lemes, als quals se'ls ha assignat un significat. Al seu torn, els lemes han estat agrupats per famílies lèxiques, en articles encapçalats, per raons metodològiques, per una arrel comuna protogermànica. Els articles que constitueixen el nostre treball presenten l'estructura següent: en primer lloc, s'ofereixen els testimonis documentals (l'exemple més antic de cada forma i variant) de cada lema, tot adjudicant-li un significat; en segon lloc, es consignen les formes romàniques més properes, amb les quals es troben emparentats el lema o lemes llatins estudiats; en tercer lloc, es fa l'estudi etimològic del lema o lemes en qüestió, analitzant fonamentalment els canvis fonètics i morfològics que els ètims germànics patiren per convertir-se en les formes que trobem documentades (llatines o ja directament romàniques); així mateix, es fa una referència succinta a l'ètim germànic en el seu context protogermànic i, al seu torn, a l'ètim protogermànic en el seu context indoeuropeu. Finalment, es recullen, d'una banda, les referències bibliogràfiques generals i, d'una altra banda, les referències bibliogràfiques concretes, corresponents a les notes alfabètiques. Així mateix, l'estudi lingüístic d'aquest lèxic d'origen germànic, que, a més a més, mostra sovint la primera aparició dels mots del romanç preliterari ja parlat en el territori de la Catalunya actual, també ens permet conèixer i comprendre les característiques socials i culturals de l'època.
Our work forming part of the Project Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (GMLC), shared by the University of Barcelona and the Higher Council for Scientific Research, consists in carrying out an etymological study on the lexicon of Germanic origin that appears in Medieval Latin of Catalonia. In particular, we have studied the terms of Germanic origin (Gothic and Franconian) that penetrated as a substrate into the early Medieval Latin of Catalonia from Late Antiquity till the end of the twelfth century. The above mentioned German terms which are included in diplomatic texts have been identified and extracted from the documentary corpus of GMLC, then fixed and distributed into lemmata, each of which has been assigned a meaning. In turn, the lemmata have been grouped in lexical families and in articles headed due to methodological reasons by a common Proto-Germanic root. The articles presented in our work have the following structure: first, we offer the documentary evidence (the oldest example of every form and variety) of each lemma, while attributing it a specific meaning; second, we indicate the closest Romanic forms related with the studied Latin lemma or lemmata; third, we carry out an etymological study of the respective lemma or lemmata analysing primarily phonetic and morphological changes suffered by Germanic etymons before becoming the forms encountered in the documentation (Latin or directly Romanic); moreover, we make a brief reference to the Germanic Etymon in Proto-Germanic context and, in turn, to the Proto-Germanic Etymon in Indo-European context; finally, we include, on one hand, general bibliographical references and, on the other hand, precise bibliographical references in regard to the alphabetical notes. Likewise, the linguistic study on the lexicon of Germanic origin in addition to revealing the first appearance of some words of the preliterate Romance, which was already spoken throughout the current territory of Catalonia, also enables us to learn and understand social and cultural characteristics of that period.

Thesis (Ph.D.) --University of Limpopo, 2016.
Lack of properly translated Tshivenḓa-English dictionaries is a great challenge to dictionary users. In an attempt to address this challenge or problem, linguistic approach has been employed in this study, which was conducted in Vhembe District in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. This study critically analyses the role of translation in lexicography with special reference to selected Tshivenḓa-/English bilingual dictionaries. The selected dictionaries are: Tshikota’s (2006) Tshivenḓa/English Ṱhalusamaipfi Dictionary and Van Warmelo’s (1989) Venḓa Dictionary. The aim of this study was to examine the role of translation in lexicography with special reference to Tshivenḓa-English dictionaries. This study utilised a qualitative technique to collect the data and interviews were conducted with lexicographers, university lecturers, language practitioners, Tshivenḓa grade 12 educators and court interpreters. Data were analysed based on different answers from different questions posed to different respondents. The study showed that people who compile dictionaries and do translation, do not have proper background in translation. In addition, some of the people are not fluent in both the source and the target languages. It is recommended that in order to produce user-friendly dictionaries, compilers and translators should get a proper training in translation. In addition, translators should be fluent in both the source and target languages. Finally, school books (including prescribed and content books), should be translated in order to provide effective teaching and learning.

Thesis (DLitt (Afrikaans and Dutch))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The compilation of dictionaries is a laborious activity and it takes time, money and staff to achieve the objectives of any dictionary project. Many dictionaries have been compiled using the lexicographers’ personal intuition and guessing rather than being corpus based. That resulted in some dictionaries often being criticised by users because of the lack of representation of some important lexical items. This can probably be explained by the fact that most of these dictionaries were compiled in an era when theoretical lexicography was lacking or not well established. The last decades have witnessed the emergence of metalexicography as a theory directed also at dictionary planning in order to enhance the quality of lexicographic practice and the way in which the management and the compilation of dictionaries are dealt with. The planning of dictionaries takes into account not only the gathering of language material to be used but also the way in which this material will be treated and presented on both the macrostructural and the microstructural level as well as in the front matter texts and the back matter texts. In order to enhance the quality of the presentation in dictionaries, this dissertation pleads in favour of the formulation of a data collection policy that takes into consideration all the different sources of material, written and spoken, used in the different phases of the compilation of a dictionary. The three phases that form the main focus of this study are the material acquisition phase, the material preparation phase and the material processing phase. The involvement of the speech community in the compilation of a lexicographic corpus ensures the collection of representative and balanced data, and the different needs of that community are central to the dictionary project. The different language materials can be organised into different corpus types. The efficiency of a corpus resides in its capacity to provide different data types that can be included in the comment on semantics and the comment on form of each article in the central list of each dictionary. Some dictionaries lack a good representation of data in both these comments in the different articles. However, languages such as the Gabonese languages are in a privileged situation because they can still avoid the mistakes of other dictionary compilers by investing in corpus-based dictionaries at this early stage. Therefore, the establishment of lexicographic units with multifunctional tasks can play an important role. In a multilingual environment such as Gabon the issue of language status needs to be dealt with carefully because it is realistic to choose a certain number of languages to function as official languages. Different alphabets are presented in this study and realistic choices are made. The way in which the language material is organised will impact on the quality of the macrostructure and microstructure; this is essential because dictionaries are consulted most of the time for the spelling of a given lexical item, for a translation equivalent or for the explanation of the meaning of a lemma sign. The computerisation of a corpus is a focal point and needs to be done in a satisfactory manner that presents a clean and helpful corpus in order to provide the lexicographer with useful statistics, frequency word lists and the different concordance lines that are very important for the wording of definitions and the extraction of example sentences. This is why a corpus is seen as an indispensable tool in the improvement of the macro- and the microstructure of any type of dictionary.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die saamstel van woordeboeke is ’n moeisame aktiwiteit, en dit verg tyd, geld en personeel om die doelstellings van ’n woordeboekprojek te bereik. Talle woordeboeke is op grond van die navorsers se persoonlike intuïsie en raaiwerk saamgestel, in stede daarvan dat dit korpusgebaseerd is. Die gevolg is dat baie woordeboeke dikwels deur gebruikers gekritiseer word weens die gebrek aan verteenwoordiging van enkele belangrike leksikale items. Dít kan moontlik verklaar word deur die feit dat die meeste van hierdie woordeboeke saamgestel is in ’n era waartydens teoretiese leksikografie gebrekkig en nie goed gevestig was nie. In die afgelope dekades het metaleksikografie na vore getree as a teorie wat op woordeboekbeplanning gerig is ten einde die gehalte van die leksikografie-praktyk en die manier waarop die bestuur en samestelling van woordeboeke hanteer word, te verbeter. By die beplanning van woordeboeke word nie net die versameling taalmateriaal wat gebruik kan word in berekening gebring nie, maar ook die manier waarop hierdie materiaal op sowel makro- as mikrostrukturele vlakke, asook in die voorwerk en die agterwerk, hanteer en aangebied gaan word. Ten einde die gehalte van die aanbieding in woordeboeke te verbeter, lewer hierdie proefskrif ’n pleidooi vir die formulering van ’n dataversamelingsbeleid wat al die verskillende materiaalbronne, hetsy skriftelik of mondelings, wat in die verskillende stadia van die samestelling van ’n woordeboek gebruik word, in ag neem. Die drie stadia wat die hooffokus van hierdie studie is, is die stadia waarin die materiaal aangeskaf, voorberei en verwerk word. Die spraakgemeenskap se betrokkenheid by die saamstel van ’n leksikografiese korpus verseker die versameling van verteenwoordigende en gebalanseerde data, en die verskillende behoeftes van sodanige gemeenskap is die kern van die woordeboekprojek. Die verskillende taalmateriale kan in verskillende korpussoorte georden word. Die doeltreffendheid van ’n korpus berus op die vermoë daarvan om verskillende datasoorte te verskaf wat in die kommentaar op semantiek en die kommentaar op vorm van elke item in die sentrale lys van elke woordeboek ingesluit kan word. Sommige woordeboeke toon ’n gebrek aan goeie verteenwoordiging van data in albei hierdie soorte kommentaar in die verskillende items. Tale soos die Gaboenese tale is egter in ’n bevoorregte posisie, aangesien hulle nog die foute van ander woordeboeksamestellers kan vermy deur op hierdie vroeë stadium in korpusgebaseerde woordeboeke te belê. Die stigting van leksikografiese eenhede met multifunksionele take kan dus ’n belangrike rol speel. In ’n veeltalige omgewing soos Gaboen moet die kwessie van taalstatus versigtig hanteer word, aangesien dit realisties is om ’n sekere hoeveelheid tale as amptelike tale te kies. Verskillende alfabette word in hierdie studie aangebied en realistiese keuses word gemaak. Die manier waarop die taalmateriaal georden is, sal ’n uitwerking op die makro- en mikrostruktuur hê; dit is van belang omdat woordeboeke meestal vir die spelling van ’n gegewe leksikale item, vir ’n vertaalekwivalent of vir die verklaring van die betekenis van ’n lemmateken geraadpleeg word. Die rekenarisering van ’n korpus is ’n belangrike aspek en moet op ’n bevredigende wyse uitgevoer word wat ’n skoon en nuttige korpus lewer ten einde die leksikograaf van goeie statistieke, frekwensiewoordlyste en die verskillende konkordansielyne te voorsien, wat baie belangrik is vir die skryf van definisies en die onttrekking van voorbeeldsinne. Om hierdie rede word ’n korpus as ’n onmisbare instrument in die verbetering van die makro- en mikrostruktuur van enige soort woordeboek beskou.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2001.
Full text to be digitised and attached to bibliographic record.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Bilingual dictionaries often do not satisfy the requirements of the dictionary users because they contain a relatively small percentage of articles displaying absolute equivalence between the source and the target language. This impedes the users from retrieving the required information. Communicative equivalence is a relation holding between source and target language entries in translation dictionaries. A translation equivalent should not be seen as a statement about the meaning of the lemma, but it should be regarded as an item that represents the target language and can be used to translate a specific occurrence of the source language item. If semantic and communicative equivalence do not hold between the source and the target language dictionary users will not be able to use the target language successfully. Instead of achieving communicative equivalence, the dictionary user is confused and ends up using language in an unacceptable way. Relying on translation dictionaries to improve their language skills and to learn more about the target language, dictionary users often come across haphazardly arranged articles in dictionaries that do not lead to communicative equivalence. In this case, the dictionary users are confused and end up using language in an unacceptable way. This thesis explores and investigates different ways to achieve communicative equivalence in translation dictionaries. The research formulates some of the needed guidelines for the lexicographers of translation dictionaries. It intends to assist lexicographers to compile useroriented translation dictionaries that can foster multilingualism amongst the dictionary users. As a result of this research, lexicographers will be able to compile translation dictionaries that will assist dictionary users to achieve communicative success. These dictionaries will establish semantic and communicative resemblance between the source and the target language forms. As a lexicographic problem, communicative equivalence is being addressed in the thesis and the researcher aims to make lexicographers aware of the mistakes in translation dictionaries. The objective of the thesis is to help lexicographers with the compilation of dictionaries where the users can achieve an optimal retrieval of information. The research focuses on metalexicographic issues in order to enhance the quality of practical lexicography. By doing so both the practical and theoretical lexicography can benefit from this research.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tweetalige woordeboeke voldoen dikwels nie aan die behoeftes van hulle gebruikers nie omdat hulle Onbeperkte aantal artikels bevat met absolute ekwivalensie tussen bron- en doeltaal. Dit weerhou die gebruikers daarvan om die verlangde inligting te onttrek. Kommunikatiewe ekwivalensie is onverhouding tussen die bron- en doeltaalinskrywings in vertalende woordeboeke. OnVertaalekwivalent moet nie beskou word as Onuitspraak oor die betekenis van die lemma nie maar dit moet gesien word as Onitem wat die doeltaal verteenwoordig en wat gebruik kan word om onbepaalde optrede van die brontaalvorm te vertaal. As semantiese en kommunikatiewe ekwivalensie nie tussen bron- en doeltaal bestaan nie sal woordeboekgebruikers nie daartoe in staat wees om die doeltaal suksesvol te gebruik nie. In stede daarvan om kommunikatiewe ekwivalensie te behaal, is die gebruiker verward en gebruik hy taal op Ononaanvaarbare manier. Wanneer woordeboekgebruikers op vertalende woordeboeke staatmaak om hulle taalgebruik te verbeter en meer oor die doeltaal te leer, vind hulle dikwels arbitrêr geordende artikels in woordeboeke wat nie tot kommunikatiewe ekwivalendie lei nie. Dit verwar gebruikers en lei tot foutiewe taalgebruik. Hierdie tesis ondersoek verskillende maniere waarop kommunikatiewe ekwivalensie in vertalende woordeboeke bereik kan word. Die navorsing lei tot die formulering van sommige riglyne wat nodig is vir die opstellers van vertalende woordeboeke. Dit poog om leksikograwe te help om gebruikersgerigte woordeboeke saam te stel wat veeltaligheid tussen die gebruikers kan bevorder. As gevolg van hierdie navorsing sal leksikograwe daartoe in staat wees om vertalende woordeboeke saam te stel wat gebruikers kan help om kommunikatiewe ekwivalensie te bereik. Hierdie woordeboeke salon semantiese en kommunikatiewe ooreenkoms tussen bron- en doeltaalvorme vestig. In hierdie tesis word kommunikatiewe ekwivalensie as Onleksikografiese probleem behandel en die navorser poog om leksikograwe bewus te maak van foute in vertalende woordeboeke. Die mikpunt van hierdie tesis is om leksikograwe te help met die samestelling van woordeboeke waar gebruikers onoptimale inligtingsherwinning kan behaal. Die navorsing fokus op metaleksikografiese aangeleenthede ter wille van Onverhoging in die gehalte van die praktiese leksikografie. Sodoende kan sowel die teoretiese as die praktiese leksikografie by hierdie navorsing baat vind.

Thesis (MA (Modern Foreign Languages))--University of Stellenbosch,
This study presents conceptions for a German learner's dictionary ("Lemworterbuch"), aimed at the needs of the foreign language learner as recipient. The requirements set and proposals made for such a dictionary are aimed at improving the linguistic competence of the learner when he/she uses the language as recipient, in other words when he/she reads a German text or hears the spoken language (e.g. in conversation, on the radio, television, film etc.). III The target users are persons whose mother tongue is not German, but whose mastery of the language is at a fairly advanced level. Such users, who have mastered the basic grammatical rules of the German language and already have a good basic vocabulary, will nevertheless experience difficulties in using existing German explanatory dictionaries such as DUDEN and WAHRIG. These dictionaries present information in such a complicated way that it remains inaccessible to the average foreign language speaker. The propositions made in this thesis are directed at creating a dictionary that could overcome the existing gap between the bilingual translating dictionary with German as target language and the monolingual explanatory German dictionary. This study proceeds on the assumption that it is impossible to compile a dictionary without the consistent application of theoretically expounded principles (regarding linguistics, typography etc.). The subtlest detail regarding typographical layout is also emphasized, since the presentation of information determines how easily information can be retrieved from the dictionary. Proposals are made for a user friendly arrangement of material, which will enable the user to retrieve desired information easily and immediately. Two language aspects that are of the utmost importance to the recipient, flexion and definition, are examined. The way in which these two aspects are currently dealt with in monolingual dictionaries is investigated. From this investigation it is evident that flexion and defmition are inadequately dealt with for the specific needs of the foreign language learner. Suggestions are made to improve weaknesses and inconsistencies in order to make the dictionary more suitable for the language learner. Finally, the principles required by a German learner's dictionary for recipients are demonstrated by means of various entries. This serves as an example of how the dictionary could finally look. ;The entries are presented in both the printed and the electronic medium. The potential of both these media is utilized to show how the presentation of information can improve the user friendliness and accessibility of the dictionary.

The aim of this Magister Degree Project has been to investigate if can corpora be used to investigate patterns of lexical distribution and/or borrowing from one variety to another. Another aim has been to investigate how well classification of lexical items as either “British” or “American” supported by evidence from corpora of English.

In order to accomplish these aims sets of lexical items have been examined in two ways: first through dictionary research and “dictionary dating”, and second through the use of such English corpora as the British National Corpus (BNC), the United Kingdom Web Archiving Consortium (ukWaC), and the TIME Corpus of American English. The results of this research suggest that the simplistic labelling of certain items as “American” versus “British” is sometimes misleading, and that corpus investigations on their own, though useful, may not be entirely sufficient in this context.

In Old West Norse there is mention of an Arctic skin and osier boat, which was paddled with Old West Norse (húð)keipr, diminutive keipull, formed on Germanic *kaip- ’bend, unfold’ according to the construction method. In East Norse there was a corresponding wooden boat, e.g. Swedish själ-myndrick, formed on mynda verb ‘paddle’ (< Primitive Norse *mundian ‘aim at a certain goal, take aim’). In the provinces south of this verb’s area of distribution there occurs instead svepa verb ’paddle’ (< Primitive Germanic *swaipōn ‘swing’). The earliest instances of Nordic rowing navigation are found in Norway and Denmark. Instances of rowing in the Baltic area are found on some picture stones from about the 6th century. But oarlocks with a grommet were probably used already for the steering oar in the paddled boats of the Bronze Age. An early oarlock (with a grommet) is that made of a goose-necked piece of wood, Old Swedish hār, Old West Norse hár (< *hanhu-, *hanha- ‘branching, fork of a branch’) and Old West Norse keipr (< *kaip- ‘something with a crooked or bent (-back) shape’. The word hár exists as a first element in Old Swedish hā-band ‘oar-loop’, Old West Norse há-bora ‘oar-port’ etc. Old West Norse keipr ‘oarlock’ has no ancient compounds. East Nordic hamna (> Finnish hamina), Old Danish hafnæ (Old Frisian hevene) and West Nordic hamla (Faroese homla, Old English hamele, hamule) ‘oar-loop’ occurred early on the oarlock with a grommet; hamna may be a derivation of the stem in Primitive Norse *haƀan verb ‘hold (fast)’, alternatively *hafna- ‘clasp something’; hamla derives from a Germanic *hamilōn with the meaning ‘bridling band’. Centrally in the Nordic area hamna (Danish havne) and hamla ‘oar-loop’ were also used denominatively with the meaning ‘row pushing in a hamna/hamla (oar-loop)’. In addition there is the Swedish dialectal sväva (~ sveva, svävja) ‘row (back, break etc.) with pushing rowing’ and in the group of older verbs for rowing there is East Swedish hopa < Primitive Norse *hōƀian ‘fix one’s eyes upon a certain goal (in the distance)’. With word formations on Germanic *þulna- ‘wooden plug’ there arose from the Middle Ages and in the North Sea countries a new terminology for the oarlock: Norse tull, toll ‘oarlock with a thole pin’. Even younger concepts are tullgång ‘oarlock with two thole pins’, årklyka, årgaffel ‘oar crutch’. A distinctive trait of Old Swedish hār and hamna, Old West Norse hár and hamla and keipr and other common words for the oarlock is in these words the shift of meaning ‘oarlock of a specific kind’ > ‘almost any kind of oarlock’. Finally, the question arises whether or not the word svear of a tribe by Lake Mälaren could be tied to the paddling through a connection to the stem of the verbs svepa and sväva.

Ingår även i serie: Studier till en svensk dialektgeografisk atlas, 8

La question des emprunts lexicaux dans le Coran est l’une des premières questions linguistiques posées au commencement de la pensée linguistique arabe. Pourtant, cette question n’a pas connu le même développement qu’ont connu les autres questions linguistiques. C’est qu’elle était toujours un objet de désaccord entre les savants et les chercheurs ; certains ont nié la présence d’emprunts lexicaux dans le Coran, d’autres l’ont admise. Dans les études anciennes et contemporaines, nous avons pu distinguer deux approches: la première est d’ordre linguistique. Elle considère le Coran comme un texte langagier. En effet, les linguistes ont étudié les emprunts coraniques dans leurs caractères phonologiques, morphologiques, syntaxiques et sémantiques. Alors que la seconde est plutôt idéologique. Elle prend une position non objective, en niant complètement la présence d’emprunts lexicaux dans le Coran, ou en glorifiant une langue mère par des motivations nationalistes, religieuses, sociales et culturelles. Après avoir étudié le développement, l’interférence et l’interaction entre ces approches, nous avons proposé notre position sociolinguistique pour élaborer des critères d’identification de nature linguistique, référentielle et culturelle. Ces critères nous ont aidé à dégager deux corpus : le premier contient les emprunts coraniques et leurs langues sources, le deuxième comprend les unités lexicales que nous considérons comme des unités arabes. Ce travail nous a permis de mettre en lumière les motivations idéologiques qui peuvent influencer l’étude linguistique. De même il est un outil pour prendre conscience de la nécessité d’une révision critique des approches qui ont traité les emprunts lexicaux en général et les emprunts coraniques en particulier
The issue of “lexical borrowings in The Quran” is one of the first issues that had emerged since the beginning of the Arabic linguistic thought. Unfortunately, this issue was fruitless compared to other linguistic researches, because it has always been a subject of a great polemic among ancient and modern Arabic and non Arabic scholars. Some denied the fact that The Quran contains lexical borrowings, others admitted it. Many scholars were pushed by ideological motivations such as religious, nationalist, social, cultural motivations, especially those who denied the phenomenon.In this work, we tried first to evoke main linguistic and extra- linguistic problems concerning lexical borrowing in general, and the study of this phenomenon in the Quran especially. Then, we studied the two main approaches: (1) ideological approach which denies the existence of lexical borrowings in the Quran, or which admits it and tries meanwhile to glorify some languages and dishonour some others, (linguistic approach and its phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic analyses. After studying different approaches and their development, interference and interaction, we have elaborated a socio-linguistic perspective associated with some linguistic, referential and cultural criteria which allowed us to distinguish between two types of quranic words: words that we consider as real lexical borrowings, and genuine Arabic words. This study does not only shed the light on some ideological motivations which have affected linguistic research, but it also provides a crucial critical review of borrowing studies

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar o aporte de línguas africanas no português do Brasil através da análise dos africanismos lexicais encontrados em uma obra literária moderna. A obra que está sendo analisada é O sumiço da Santa de Jorge Amado (1988). Identificam-se as palavras de origem africana na obra e verifica-se se as mesmas palavras e expressões podem ser encontradas em duas edições do dicionário Aurélio. Uma das edições é de 1986, ou seja, dois anos antes da publicação do livro em questão, enquanto a outra é de 2008. Os resultados mostram que os dicionários citam obras de Jorge Amado para ilustrar o uso de algumas das palavras e que, em termos gerais, a edição mais recente inclui algumas palavras mais que a mais antiga, mas que incorpora informações mais específicas sobre o léxico de origem africana no que diz respeito à sua origem e âmbitos de uso ou campos semânticos.
The aim of this study is to analyze the contribution of African languages in Brazilian Portuguese by analyzing the lexical Africanisms found in a modern literary work. The book that is being analyzed is The War of the Saints by Jorge Amado (1988). The words of African origin are identified and then these words and expressions are searched for in two editions of the Aurélio, a common Brazilian dictionary. One of the issues of this dictionary is from 1986, i.e. two years before the publication of the book in question, while the other is from 2008. The results show that the dictionaries cite the works of Jorge Amado to illustrate the use of some of the words and, in general terms, the most recent edition includes a few words more than the oldest, but it incorporates more specific information about the lexicon of African origin with respect to its origin, scope of use and semantic domains.
Syftet med följande uppsats är att analysera ord med ursprung i afrikanska språk vilka går att återfinna i portugisiskan som talas i Brasilien, utifrån en analys av orden av afrikanskt ursprung återfunna i ett modernt litterärt verk. Det litterära verk som kommer att analyseras är O sumiço da Santa av Jorge Amado (1988). Orden med ursprung i afrikanska språk identifieras i verket, för att därefter sökas efter i två upplagor av den brasilianska ordboken Aurélio. Den ena upplagan är från 1986, det vill säga två år innan den vidare analyserade boken publicerades, och den andra upplagan är från 2008. Resultaten påvisar att ordböckerna citerar Jorge Amados litterära verk i beskrivingen av somliga ord med ursprung i afrikanska språk. Generellt påvisar resultaten även att den nyare upplagan av ordboken innehåller några fler ord med ursprung i afrikanska språk jämfört med den äldre upplagan, samt att den nyare upplagan redovisar tydligare information gällande lexikonet som härstammar från afrikanska språk gällande ordets ursprung, betydelse samt inom vilket användningsområde eller kontext ordet används.

The concept of equivalence has for many years attracted attention of researchers in variousdisciplines: from mathematics to philosophy to translation theory to terminology. This thesisintends to survey the concept of equivalence in three subject fields all of which focus onlanguages and communication, namely: translation theory, lexicography and terminology. Thepurpose of the paper is twofold: to investigate the theoretical grounds of equivalence in thesethree disciplines and to survey the methods and practices of establishing equivalence inmultilingual terminology work. The results of the theoretical investigation are summed up onthe basis of the terminological concept analysis. Four concepts systems are structured andpresented in the form of concept diagrams (two for translation theory, one for lexicography andone for terminology). The concept systems give an overview of the current understanding ofequivalence in the three subject fields and expose the relations between equivalence and anumber of related concepts. The central theoretical question of the thesis whether equivalencecould be considered the same concept in all three disciplines is answered on the basis of theresults of the terminological concept analysis. The empirical investigation is carried out in theform of case studies in the frame of multilingual terminology work. It focuses on the problemsof establishing equivalence, of determining the degree of equivalence as well as on the methodsand practices of presenting equivalents in various terminological resources.

This thesis deals with toponym of Tschechei, which has not been studied yet in detail. This topic is still relevant since even today the Czech Republic is also called Tschechei by natives and non-natives. In this work, three theories were formulated, which describe the etymology and usage of this term. These theories were then applied in diachronic and synchronic analyses to find out the meaning of the term Tschechei used by different users of a language. Furthermore, the corresponding theory was assigned to each use. This method proved that this term is present in diachronic as well as in synchronic language usage. This thesis presents a conclusion that the explanation and description of this toponym in the available dictionaries is not sufficient. Therefore, the term of Tschechei is defined as a separate dictionary entry for the prepared German-Czech dictionary.

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) -- University of Limpopo, 2014
The purpose of this study was to investigate the legislative and constitutional imperatives on the designation of language naming with special reference to Sepedi/Sesotho sa Leboa. The study was based upon the qualitative methodology and the data was analysed through qualitative and quantitative in the form of SPSS to explain numeric information. Data was collected using structured and semi-structured questionnaire and interview. Three groups of respondents took part in this study namely members of the community, administrators and professionals, and language practitioners. The findings of the study revealed that many people prefer the name Sepedi to be used to denote the language under research. It was again revealed that when the language was named proper procedure was not followed. Based on the information and findings of this research, it is recommended that the government make an effort to make sure that the language is re-standardised and the language correctly designated.

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2005
Pictures play a role in dictionaries as they show what a particular object looks like. African languages do not always have readily available translation equivalents for some of the English words, and also, English does not always have translation equivalents for Tshivenda cultural bound words. The study has been undertaken to try to solve the problem of lack of equivalents when English and Tshivenda are used as the treated languages in a bilingual dictionary. The study discovered that lexicographers of Tshivenda-English and English-Tshivenda dictionaries do not always give direct and appropriate translation equivalents for English scientific and technological terms in Tshivenda and translation equivalents for Tshivenda cultural bound words. The study found that these lexicographers end up giving transliteration of scientific and technological terms and even a mere borrowing of Tshivenda cultural terms as translation equivalents. In this case the study recommends that Ostensive addressing be introduced in Tshivenda – English and English – Tshivenda bilingual dictionaries as a solution to the problem of lacking equivalents and that pictures not be used excessively but only where necessary and be given immediately after the lemma in the microstructure of a dictionary.

This diploma thesis deals with the integration of etymology as one of the possible motivational component in language learning at the second stage of primary schools with regard to German as a foreign language after English. The theoretical part of this thesis deals with etymology as one of the linguistic disciplines, genealogical relation of English and German language and the issue of motivation in learning a foreign language. The practical part concentrates on creation of the author´s own didactical materials and the application of the discovered relations within these two languages. The aim of these materials is to motivate the pupils at the primary schools to multilingualism.

This study focuses on the comparison of medical and health terms with special reference to Sesotho sa Leboa and Western languages. The study was conducted in the communities of Zebediela, Groblersdal and Marble Hall. From time immemorial, traditional medical and health terms were associated with certain types of diseases and health problems among Africans. With the introduction of Western civilisation, most of the medical and health terms which were used in the past by the Basotho ba Leboa, are no longer in use, as Western languages are regarded as prestige languages compared to the indigenous African languages. This perception led to a shortage of Sesotho sa Leboa documents that explain medical and health terms. The literature review revealed that traditional medicine is used for healing by many communities. Scholars further revealed that Western health terminology is more developed than traditional health terminology. The study uses the qualitative approach to explain concepts, and coding schemes were used to categorise medical and health terms. Ethnographic and historical theories were used to analyse data. The similarities and differences between the Sesotho sa Leboa terms and their Western counterparts were discussed and assessed. The study found that a relationship exists between diseases and the body parts in both Sesotho sa Leboa and Western terminology, and that the diseases were classified according to the affected body parts. The medical terms of both languages have similar and different semantic properties. Most of the differences were brought about by the cultural differences of the two communities. As the Sesotho sa Leboa medical terms are inimitable, the culture specific terms used in this study are discussed in Sesotho sa Leboa rather than in Western terminology. Conversely, as most of the recent outbreaks of diseases are named in Western terminology, they are translated into Sesotho sa Leboa.
African Languages
D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

Cette thèse constitue une étude systématique du lexique du déné sųłiné, une langue athabaskane du nord-ouest canadien. Elle présente les définitions et les patrons de combinatoire syntaxique et lexicale de plus de 200 unités lexicales, lexèmes et phrasèmes, qui représentent une partie importante du vocabulaire déné sųłiné dans sept domaines: les émotions, le caractère humain, la description physique des entités, le mouvement des êtres vivants, la position des entités, les conditions atmospheriques et les formations topologiques, en les comparant avec le vocubulaire équivalent de l'anglais. L’approche théorique choisie est la Théorie Sens-Texte (TST), une approche formelle qui met l’accent sur la description sémantique et lexicographique empiriques. La présente recherche relève d'importantes différences entre le lexique du déné sųłiné et celui de l'anglais à tous les niveaux: dans la correspondence entre la représentation conceptuelle, considérée (quasi-)extralinguistique, et la structure sémantique; dans les patrons de lexicalisation des unités lexicales, et dans les patrons de combinatoire syntaxique et lexicale, qui montrent parfois des traits propres au déné sųłiné intéressants.
This work constitutes a systematic lexical semantic study of Dene Sųłiné, an Athabaskan language from northwestern Canada. As such, it presents the lexicographic definitions, syntactic and lexical combinatorial patterns of over 200 lexical units (lexemes and idioms) representing part of the core Dene Sųłiné vocabulary for seven semantic fields: terms to describe emotions, human character, physical description, position of an object, atmospheric conditions and topographical features. The theoretical approach used is Meaning-Text Theory (MTT), a formal linguistic approach with a strong empirical focus on semantics and lexicography. This work finds significant differences between Dene Sųłiné and English at all levels: in the relationship between of (quasi-)extralinguistic concepts and linguistic meanings, in the lexicalization or conflation patterns one finds in meanings of lexical units, and finally in the syntactic and lexical combinatorial patterns, which also show interesting language-specific tendencies.

Este trabalho tem como temática central a Lexicografia Bilingue de Especialidade (Português-Kimbundu) no Domínio da Saúde. Esta investigação resulta das constatações e das pesquisas feitas por nós, no banco de urgência dos diversos hospitais de Luanda, onde nos deparamos com a falta de comunicação entre os pacientes que falam a língua Kimbundu e os médicos que falam a língua Portuguesa. A nossa investigação incide sobre a situação geolinguística de Angola, a caracterização sociolinguística do Bengo, as características gerais do Kimbundu, as metáforas terminológicas no domínio da saúde; subjacente ao trabalho, estão os princípios teóricos e metodológicos em lexicografia bilingue, em línguas de especialidades e no ensino da Terminologia; o trabalha termina com a proposta de um modelo de e-dicionário bilingue Português-Kimbundu em saúde.
This work has as its central theme the Lexicography Bilingual Specialization (Portuguese - Kimbundu) in the field of health. As a result of research and investigations made by us in the emergency ward of the various hospitals of Luanda, where we encountered a lack of communication between patients who speak the Kimbundu language and doctors who speak Portuguese. Our research focuses on the geolinguístic situation in Angola, the sociolinguistic characterization of Bengo, the generalities of the two languages in contact, theoretical and methodological foundations in lexicology, lexicigraphy, language specialties, terminology metaphors in health, and the model of our e-bilingual dictionary in question.