This thesis is an attempt to address the major theoretical and practical problems in compiling a monolingual Tongan dictionary. The first question that is asked is: what can be learned from the lexicographical experiences of Pacific languages to date? Since the Pacific islands share a common history with regard to European contact, and since many Pacific languages are characterised by the same basic principles, many languages being of the same language family, Austronesian, it is expected that important issues pertaining to lexicography in a language like Tongan would be similar to those in related Pacific languages, and much will be learned from the experiences and achievements in lexicography of other Pacific languages. For this reason, chapter 1 looks at a brief history of lexicography in the Pacific islands, and chapter 2 reviews selected Pacific dictionaries with a view to identifying their merits and demerits. Chapter 3 then identifies the main functions envisaged for the monolingual Tongan dictionary in developing the Tongan language. These functions are responses to language needs that arise out of the sociolinguistic situation. Chapters 4 - 7 examine various aspects of the language that are relevant to dictionary making and try to determine appropriate ways of describing the language in the dictionary. Chapter 4 gives a description of the main aspects of the Tongan phonological system and suggests ways of improving the present orthography for use in the dictionary. Chapter 5 looks at Tongan morphology and suggests, with reference to the sociolinguistic process of conventionalisation, an answer to the question: what is a lexical item in Tongan? The principles governing the selection of lexical items for inclusion in the dictionary are given here. Chapter 6 looks at major aspects of Tongan syntax, namely parts of speech, transitivity, and possession, with a view to determining how they are to be used in dictionary entries. Chapter 7 looks at the way meaning and usage are to be represented in the dictionary. Chapter 8 addresses the question of organization and presentation of material in the dictionary. Principles of ordering headwords, homonyms, the senses of headwords, and the elements of an entry are discussed. Chapter 9 consists of sample entries for different word categories in Tongan. The entries, which are translated into English for assessment purposes, show the recommended ways of presenting different word types in Tongan.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/277646 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Taumoefolau, Melenaite L. |
| Publisher | ResearchSpace@Auckland |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated., http://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm, Copyright: The author |
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