Lexicography in Gabon : a survey

This paper traces the historical development of lexicography in Gabon. Gabon, like most African countries, is multilingual. The recent inventories of languages spoken in Gabon are those established by Jacquot (1978) and Kwenzi-Mikala (1998). According to Kwenzi-Mikala (1997), there are 62 speech forms divided into 10 language groups or language-units in Gabon. These speech forms co-exist with French, the official language. In fact, in article 2 of paragraph 8 of the revised Constitution of 1994 the following can be read: "The Gabonese Republic adopts French as the official language. Furthermore, she endeavours to protect and promote the national languages." This constitutional arrangement naturally makes French the language used in education, administration and the media. The survey of lexicography in Gabon that is presented here includes the linguistic situation in and the language policy of Gabon, the lexicographic survey itself, as well as the lexicographic needs of the different speech forms (including languages and dialects). Initially, the pioneers of Gabonese lexicography were missionaries or colonial administrators. Very little was done in this field by the Gabonese themselves. Although credit is to be given to these early works, there are a number of shortcomings regarding the linguistic as well as the metalexicographic contents of dictionaries and lexicons produced during this period. In fact, the main weak point of those studies was the lack of tones in the written transcription of oral productions and orthographic problems. Furthermore, in those contributions, the theory of lexicography is largely unknown and lexico-graphic works are hardly ever based on authentic data corpora of the languages being described.Le présent article retrace l'histoire de la discipline lexicographique au Gabon. Comme la plupart des pays africains, le Gabon est un état multilingue. Les classifications établient par Jacquot (1978) et Kwenzi-Mikala (1998) sont souvent citées comme les travaux d'inventaire les plus récents sur les parlers gabonais. Selon Kwenzi-Mikala (1997), le Gabon compte 62 parlers reparties en 10 unités-langues. Les dits parlers cohabitent avec le français qui faut-il le rappeler jouit d'un statut particulier. En effet, à l'article 2 du paragraphe 8 de la Loi fondamentale révisée de 1994, on peut lire ceci: «La République gabonaise adopte le français comme langue officielle. En outre, elle s'engage à protéger et à promovoir les langues nationales». Cette disposition constitutionnelle fait naturellement du français le véhicule et la matière de l'instruction, la langue de l'administration et celle des médias. L'état des lieux de la lexicographie au Gabon présenté ici prend en compte la situation et la politique linguistique au Gabon, l'état des connaissances lexicographiques à proprement parler ainsi que les besions lexicographiques des différents parlers au regard de ce qui existe déjà. Les premiers travaux à caractère lexicographique ont été réalisés essentiellement par les missionnaires et les administrateurs coloniaux. Très peu de gabonais étaient engagés dans la confection des dictionnaires et lexiques à cette époque pionnière. Enfin, il convient de souligner que le principal talon d'Achille de ces travaux de la première heure est à la fois linguistique et métalexicographi-que. En effet, la majorité de ces travaux ne prennent pas en compte le système tonal des parlers décrits et s'inscrivent rarement dans un cadre théorique défini. Enfin, ils souffrent de nombreuses insuffisances orthographiques et sont rarement basés sur des corpus linguistiques

Planning a dictionary for mother tongue education: a conceptual framework for Gabonese languages

The present article is a plea for mother tongue education dictionary projects in Gabonese lexicography. The latter has been in a fast-developing process for the past twenty years and has experienced quite an important crop of dictionary products in such a short time. However, the production of dictionaries for mother tongue education, especially for Gabonese native lan-guages, has been totally neglected. Only a very limited number of projects, which have ever since remained at the level of studies, do exist. This article provides a conceptual plan for mother tongue education dictionary production in Gabonese native languages. It successively suggests an organi-sation plan and a dictionary conceptualisation plan

What French for Gabonese French lexicography?

This paper is a response to Mavoungou (2013a) who has pleaded for the production of a dictionary of Gabonese French as variant B of the French language. The paper intends to comprehend the concept of "Gabonese French". It gives an outline of the situation of French within the language diversity of Gabon as a contribution to the theoretical perspective toward the inception of Gabonese French lexicography. Answers are given to the following questions: What French is described in existing Gabonese French studies? What French is and should be presented in Gabonese French dictionary production?DHE

Language endangerment and language documentation in Africa

Non peer reviewe

Dictionaries as teaching instruments for mother tongue education : the case of Fang in Gabon

Thesis (DLitt)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation attempts a study in the design of school dictionaries for their use in the mother tongue or first language education. Pedagogical dictionaries have undergone changes, which are also due to changes, which had taken, place in the teaching of the mother tongue and in descriptive linguistics from the 1950s onwards. Features of the pedagogical model also have been affected by the development in language-teaching methodology. The teaching of the mother tongue is now less concerned with the knowledge and critical exploration of texts than with competence in oral and written expression

Lexicography in Gabon: A Survey

<p>Abstract: nus paper traces the historical development of lexicography in Gabon. Gabon, like most African countries, is multilingual. The recent inventories of languages spoken in Gabon ar~ those established by Jacquot (1978) and Kwenzi-Mikala (1998). According to Kwenzi-Mikala (1997), there are 62 speech fonns divided into 10 language groups or language-units in Gabon. These speech fonns co-exist with French, the official language. In fact, in article 2 of paragraph 8 of the revised Constitution of 1994 the following can be read: ''The Gabonese Republic adopts French as the official language. Furthennore, she endeavours to protect and promote the national languages." This constitutional arrangement naturally makes French the language used in education, administration and the media, The survey of lexicography in Gabon that is presented here inclUdes the linguistic situation in and the language policy of Gabon, the lexicographic survey itself, as well as the lexicographic needs of the different speech forms (including languages and dialects), Initially, the pioneers of Gabonese leXicography were missionaries or colonial administrators. Very little was done in this field by the Gabonese themselves. Although credit is to be given to these early works, there are a number of shortcomings regarding the linguistic as well as the metalexicographic contents of dictionaries and lexicons produced during this period. In fact, the main weak point of those studies was the lack of tones in the written transcription of oral productions and orthographic problems. Furthermore. in those contributions, the theory of lexicography is largely unknown and lexicographic works are hardly ever based on authentic data corpora of the languages veing described.</p><p>Keywords: SPEECH FORMS; LANGUAGE GROUP(S); OFFICIAL LANGUAGE; LANGUAGE POLICY; LEXICOGRAPHIC NEEDS; LEXICOGRAPHIC WORKS; DICTIONARY BASE; METALEXICOGRAPHY; LEXICOGRAPHIC TRAINING</p><p> </p&gt

Lexicography in Gabon : a survey

CITATION: Assam, B. N. & Mavoungou, P. A. 2000. Lexicography in Gabon : a survey, Lexikos, 10:252-274, doi:10.5788/10-0-898.The original publication is available at http://lexikos.journals.ac.zaThis paper traces the historical development of lexicography in Gabon. Gabon, like most African countries, is multilingual. The recent inventories of languages spoken in Gabon are those established by Jacquot (1978) and Kwenzi-Mikala (1998). According to Kwenzi-Mikala (1997), there are 62 speech fonns divided into 10 language groups or language-units in Gabon. These speech forms co-exist with French, the official language. In fact, in article 2 of paragraph 8 of the revised Constitution of 1994 the following can be read: ''The Gabonese Republic adopts French as the official language. Furthermore, she endeavours to protect and promote the national languages." This constitutional arrangement naturally makes French the language used in education, administration and the media, The survey of lexicography in Gabon that is presented here includes the linguistic situation in and the language policy of Gabon, the lexicographic survey itself, as well as the lexicographic needs of the different speech forms (including languages and dialects), Initially, the pioneers of Gabonese lexicography were missionaries or colonial administrators. Very little was done in this field by the Gabonese themselves. Although credit is to be given to these early works, there are a number of shortcomings regarding the linguistic as well as the metalexicographic contents of dictionaries and lexicons produced during this period. In fact, the main weak point of those studies was the lack of tones in the written transcription of oral productions and orthographic problems. Furthermore. in those contributions, the theory of lexicography is largely unknown and lexicographic works are hardly ever based on authentic data corpora of the languages being describedhttp://lexikos.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/898Publisher's versio

African Linguistics in the Americas, Asia and Australia.

This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive state-of-the-art study of African languages and language in Africa since its beginnings as a colonial science at the turn of the twentieth century in Europe