Since the publication of Dr. Johnson’s first English dictionary in 1755, there have been rapid changes in the development of dictionaries in other parts of the world. However, the advances are perceived more in other languages of the world such as the European languages while in Africa, the changes have been very slow. The majority of dictionaries utilised by most Africans are bilingual and were produced by the missionaries. These dictionaries were aimed at serving the needs of the missionaries, but more recently African scholars have been trying to create dictionaries that are intended to meet the needs of the native speakers particularly because the existing dictionaries contain many words which are archaic or going out of use. This means that the currently produced dictionaries should reflect the changes that have occurred in languages and society. The two dictionaries under scrutiny, Sesuto-English Dictionary and Sethantšo sa Sesotho, share similar content as if they were both targeting the same generation even though the former was written by missionaries in the 19th century while the latter was created by a Sesotho native speaker in the 21st century. This study aimed to establish whether the two dictionaries are the same or not, or whether Sethantšo sa Sesotho had been derived from Sesuto-English Dictionary as well as whether the two dictionaries meet the needs of the contemporary users. The study employed adaptation theory in order to discover the originality of Sethantšo sa Sesotho. User-perspective approach and communication-oriented function were utilised to judge the effectiveness of the two dictionaries in reading and writing and to analyse users’ views. The study established that Sethantšo sa Sesotho has adapted 69% lexical items from Sesuto-English Dictionary; words are arranged in a similar order in both dictionaries with slight differences here and there; most definitions and illustrative phrases/sentences are the same even though the author of Sethantšo sa Sesotho did not acknowledge using any written source of information, thus violating the principles of adaptation; use of these dictionaries during reading and writing was found to be beneficial to users; and both dictionaries lack current words which users encounter daily. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil.(African Languages)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The number of Chinese-learners in South Africa has increased rapidly in recent years, but the quality of the dictionaries that are available for their use has not improved much. The more students study Chinese, the more it becomes necessary to create suitable dictionaries to facilitate their studies. In the hope of meeting this need, this study selects two written dictionaries commonly used by students at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, namely the Oxford Beginner's Chinese Dictionary and the Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary, to analyze, comment on and compare in terms of structure and equivalence. Using the results of this analysis, this study offers suggestions for improving the quality of future Mandarin learner’s dictionaries. This study takes into consideration the situation faced by students when learning Chinese abroad, especially in South Africa, the development of pedagogical lexicography in Chinese-learner’s dictionaries in China and abroad, the relationship between online dictionaries and written dictionaries, and some special characteristics of the Chinese language, all of which factors greatly influence the making of a dictionary. Theoretically and methodically, this study is based on Function Theory as presented by Sven Tarp. According to Function Theory, before writing a dictionary, lexicographers must analyze specific types of users in specific types of situations. This study attempts to follow Tarp’s suggestion by analyzing a small group of dictionary users with the help of a survey conducted by the author in an attempt to get a general idea of how Mandarin learners at Stellenbosch University use dictionaries. The main focus of this study is the frame structure, microstructure, macrostructure and dictionary equivalence in two dictionaries--Concise and Beginner’s. After carefully analyzing these aspects of the dictionaries, the author identifies the sections of these dictionaries which successfully present information in a way that will be most beneficial for their intended audiences. The study goes on to pinpoint less-successful sections of the two dictionaries and provides suggestions for improvement. In sum, this study focuses on using the principle of Function Theory to determine what features should be included in Mandarin learner’s dictionaries to make them more suitable for elementary and intermediate learners of Mandarin at Stellenbosch University, in South Africa, and, by extension, in other parts of the world. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die afgelope paar jaar het die aantal studente van Sjinees in Suid-Afrika aansienlik toegeneem, maar die standaard van beskikbare woordeboeke het nie veel verbeter nie. Hoe meer studente Sjinees bestudeer hoe noodsaakliker is dit om gepaste woordeboeke te ontwikkel om hulle in hulle studie te help. Om aan hierdie behoefte te voldoen, kies hierdie studie twee woordeboeke wat gereeld deur studente aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch benut word, naamlik die Oxford Beginner’s Chinese Dictionary en die Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary, om hulle te ontleed, kommentaar te lewer en hulle met mekaar in terme van struktuur en ekwivalensie te vergelyk. Met behulp van gevolgtrekkings uit hierdie ontleding word voorstelle gemaak oor hoe om die standaard van toekomstige woordeboeke te verbeter. Die studie neem die situasie in ag waarmee studente wat in die buiteland Sjinees studeer, veral in Suid Afrika, te doen kry, die ontwikkeling van pedagogiese leksikografie in woordeboeke in Sjina sowel as die buiteland, die verhouding tussen aanlynwoordeboeke en gedrukte woordeboeke en sekere spesiale eienskappe van die Sjinese taal - alles faktore wat die opstel van woordeboeke beïnvloed. Teoreties en metodologies is hierdie studie op die funksieteorie, soos aangebied deur Sven Tarp, gebaseer. Volgens die funksieteorie moet leksikograwe voor die opstel van 'n woordeboek spesifieke tipes gebruikers in spesifieke situasies analiseer. Hierdie studie poog om Tarp se voorstelle te volg deur 'n klein groep woordeboekgebruikers, met behulp van 'n ondersoek, uitgevoer deur die outeur, te analiseer om sodoende 'n algemene idee te formuleer van hoe Mandarynse studente aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch woordeboeke benut. Die hooffokus van hierdie studie is die raamwerk, mikrostruktuur, makrostruktuur en ekwivalensie in die twee gekose woordeboeke – Concise en Beginner’s. Nadat hierdie aspekte van die woordeboeke noukeurig ontleed is, identifiseer die outeur die dele wat inligting op die voordeligste manier vir die bestemde gebruiker aanbied. Ook identifiseer hierdie studie die minder suksesvolle dele en stel moontlike verbeteringe voor. Samevattend fokus hierdie studie daarop om die beginsel van die funksieteorie te benut deur vas te stel watter eienskappe in woordeboeke ingesluit moet word om hulle meer geskik te maak vir elementêre en intermediêre Mandarynse studente aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch in Suid-Afrika, sowel as in ander dele van die wêreld.

Text in English / Abstracts in English, isiXhosa and Afrikaans / The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, mandates the state to take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and the use of indigenous languages. The implementation of this pronouncement resulted in a growing demand for specialised translations in fields like technology, science, commerce, law and finance. The lack of terminology and resources such as specialised bilingual dictionaries in indigenous languages, particularly isiXhosa remains a growing concern that hinders the translation and the intellectualisation of isiXhosa. A growing number of African scholars affirm the importance of specialised dictionaries in the African languages as tools for language and terminology development so that African languages can be used in the areas of science and technology. In the light of the background above, this study explored how parallel corpora can be interrogated using a bilingual concordancer, ParaConc to extract bilingual terminology that can be used to create specialised bilingual dictionaries. A corpus-based approach was selected due to its speed, efficiency and accuracy in extracting bilingual terms in their immediate contexts. In enhancing the research outcomes, Descriptive Translations Studies (DTS) and Corpus-based translation studies (CTS) were used in a complementary manner. Because the study is interdisciplinary, the function theories of lexicography that emphasise the function and needs of users were also applied. The analysis and extraction of bilingual terminology for dictionary making was successful through the use of the following ParaConc features, namely frequencies, hot word lists, hot words, search facility and concordances (Key Word in Context), among others. The findings revealed that English-isiXhosa Parallel Corpus is a repository of translation equivalents and other information categories that can make specialised dictionaries more user-friendly and multifunctional. The frequency lists were revealed as an effective method of selecting headwords for inclusion in a dictionary. The results also unraveled the complex functions of bilingual concordances where information on collocations and multiword units, sense distinction and usage examples could be easily identifiable proving that this approach is more efficient than the traditional method. The study contributes to the knowledge on corpus-based lexicography, standardisation of finance terminology resource development and making of user-friendly dictionaries that are tailor-made for different needs of users. / Umgaqo-siseko weli loMzantsi Afrika ukhululele uRhulumente ukuba athabathe amanyathelo abonakalayo ekuphuhliseni nasekuphuculeni iilwimi zesiNtu. Esi sindululo sibangele ukwanda kokuguqulelwa kwamaxwebhu angezobuchwepheshe, inzululwazi, umthetho, ezemali noqoqosho angesiNgesi eguqulelwa kwiilwimi ebezifudula zingasiwe-so ezinjengesiXhosa. Ukunqongophala kwesigama kunye nezichazi-magama kube yingxaki enkulu ekuguquleleni ngakumbi izichazi-magama ezilwimi-mbini eziqulethe isigama esikhethekileyo. Iingcali ezininzi ziyangqinelana ukuba olu hlobo lwezi zichazi-magama luyimfuneko kuba ludlala iindima enkulu ekuphuhlisweni kweelwimi zesiNtu, ekuyileni isigama, nasekusetyenzisweni kwazo kumabakala obunzululwazi nobuchwepheshe. Olu phando ke luvavanya ukusetyenziswa kwekhophasi equlethe amaxwebhu esiNgesi neenguqulelo zawo zesiXhosa njengovimba wokudimbaza isigama sezemali esinokunceda ekuqulunqweni kwesichazi-magama esilwimi-mbini. Isizathu esibangele ukukhetha le ndlela yophando esebenzisa ikhompyutha kukuba iyakhawuleza, ulwazi oluthathwe kwikhophasi luchanekile, yaye isigama kwikhophasi singqamana ngqo nomxholo wamaxwebhu nto leyo eyenza kube lula ukufumana iintsingiselo nemizekelo ephilayo. Ukutyebisa olu phando indlela yekhophasi iye yaxhaswa zezinye iindlela zophando ezityunjiweyo: ufundo lwenguguqulelo oluchazayo (DTS) kunye neendlela zokuguqulela ezijoliswe kumsebenzi nakuhlobo lwabasebenzisi zinguqulelo ezo. Kanti ke ziqwalaselwe neenkqubo zophando lobhalo-zichazi-magama eziinjongo zokuqulunqa izichazi-magama ezesebenzisekayo neziluncedo kuninzi lwabasebenzisi zichazi-magama ngakumbi kwisizwe esisebenzisa iilwimi ezininzi. Ukuhlalutya nokudimbaza isigama kwikhophasi kolu phando kusetyenziswe isixhobo sekhompyutha esilungiselelwe ikhophasi enelwiimi ezimbini nangaphezulu ebizwa ngokuba yiParaConc. Iziphumo zolu phando zibonise mhlophe ukuba ikhophasi eneenguqulelo nguvimba weendidi ngendidi zamagama nolwazi olunokuphucula izichazi-magama zeli xesha. Kaloku abaguquleli basebenzise amaqhinga ngamaqhinga ukunika iinguqulelo bekhokelwa yimigomo nemithetho yoguqulelo enxuse abasebenzisi bamaxwebhu aguqulelweyo. Ubuchule beParaConc bokukwazi ukuhlela amagama ngokwendlela afumaneka ngayo kunye neenkcukacha zamanani budandalazise indlela eyiyo yokukhetha imichazwa enokungena kwisichazi-magama. Iziphumo zikwabonakalise iintlaninge yolwazi olufumaneka kwiKWIC, lwazi olo olungelula ukulufumana xa usebenzisa undlela-ndala wokwakha isichazi-magama. Esi sifundo esihlanganyele uGuqulelo olusekelwe kwiKhophasi noQulunqo-zichazi-magama zobuchwepheshe luya kuba negalelo elingathethekiyo kwindlela yokwakha izichazi-magama kwilwiimi zeSintu ngokubanzi nancakasana kwisiXhosa, nto leyo eya kothula umthwalo kubaqulunqi-zichazi-magama. Ukwakha nokuqulunqa izichazi-magama ezilwimi-mbini zezemali kuya kwandisa imithombo yesigama esinqongopheleyo kananjalo sivelise izichazi-magama eziluncedo kwisininzi sabantu. / Die Grondwet van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika, Wet 108 van 1996, gee aan die staat die mandaat om praktiese en positiewe maatreëls te tref om die status en gebruik van inheemse tale te verhoog. Die implementering van hierdie uitspraak het gelei tot ’n toenemende vraag na gespesialiseerde vertalings in domeine soos tegnologie, wetenskap, handel, regte en finansies. Die gebrek aan terminologie en hulpbronne soos gespesialiseerde woordeboeke in inheemse tale, veral Xhosa, wek toenemende kommer wat die vertaling en die intellektualisering van Xhosa belemmer. ’n Toenemende aantal vakkundiges in Afrika beklemtoon die belangrikheid van gespesialiseerde woordeboeke in die Afrikatale as instrumente vir taal- en terminologie-ontwikkeling sodat Afrikatale gebruik kan word in die areas van wetenskap en tegnologie. In die lig van die voorafgaande agtergrond het hierdie studie ondersoek ingestel na hoe parallelle korpora deursoek kan word deur ’n tweetalige konkordanser (ParaConc) te gebruik om tweetalige terminologie te ontgin wat gebruik kan word in die onwikkeling van tweetalige gespesialiseerde woordeboeke. ’n Korpusgebaseerde benadering is gekies vir die spoed, doeltreffendheid en akkuraatheid waarmee dit tweetalige terme uit hulle onmiddellike kontekste kan onttrek. Beskrywende Vertaalstudies (DTS) en Korpusgebaseerde Vertaalstudies (CTS) is op ’n aanvullende wyse gebruik om die navorsingsuitkomste te verbeter. Aangesien die studie interdissiplinêr is, is die funksieteorieë van leksikografie wat die funksie en behoeftes van gebruikers beklemtoon, ook toegepas. Die analise en ontginning van tweetalige terminologie om woordeboeke te ontwikkel was suksesvol deur, onder andere, gebruik te maak van die volgende ParaConc-eienskappe, naamlik, frekwensies, hotword-lyste, hot words, die soekfunksie en konkordansies (Sleutelwoord-in-Konteks). Die bevindings toon dat ’n Engels-Xhosa Parallelle Korpus ’n bron van vertaalekwivalente en ander inligtingskategorieë is wat gespesialiseerde woordeboeke meer gebruikersvriendelik en multifunksioneel kan maak. Die frekwensielyste is geïdentifiseer as ’n doeltreffende metode om hoofwoorde te selekteer wat opgeneem kan word in ’n woordeboek. Die bevindings het ook die komplekse funksies van tweetalige konkordansers ontknoop waar inligting oor kollokasies en veelvuldigewoord-eenhede, betekenisonderskeiding en gebruiksvoorbeelde maklik identifiseer kon word wat aandui dat hierdie metode viii doeltreffender is as die tradisionele metode. Die studie dra by tot die kennisveld van korpusgebaseerde leksikografie, standaardisering van finansiële terminologie, hulpbronontwikkeling en die ontwikkeling van gebruikersvriendelike woordeboeke wat doelgemaak is vir verskillende behoeftes van gebruikers. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics (Translation Studies))