Nigeria : un siècle de dictionnaires igbo bilingues

Abstract

The ALLEX lexicography project, the fruit of an active collaboration between Universities in Zimbabwe, Sweden and Norway, has already led to the publication of two monolingual dictionaries, of Shona and Ndebele, showing that lexicography can be used sucessfully to promote the teaching and learning of African languages at all levels and the general use of these languages. After more than a century of lexicographic endeavours, Nigeria cannot boast of any such publications, as bilingual dictionaries still dominate. This study will consider some of the reasons for this situation, from the point of view of Igbo language, the third most widely language in the federation, and will assess the impact of published dictionaries on the development of the language, while highlighting the relationship between the educational sector, the Diaspora and dictionary production