The application of reversibility principle in Northern Sotho-english Bilingual dictionaries : a lexicographic analysis

Abstract

This study focuses on aspects that form part of the reasons of not having complete bidirectional bilingual dictionaries and to find solutions to those problems. The following dictionaries have been evaluated in this study: Oxford Pukuntšu ya Sekolo School Dictionary (2010), Pharos Popular Northern Sotho Dictionary (2007 & 2009) and Sesotho sa Leboa/English Pukuntšu Dictionary (2006). Most African bilingual dictionaries which are supposed to be bidirectional are not because reversibility is not applied thoroughly. This study focuses on checking how Northern Sotho-English bilingual dictionaries apply the reversibility principle. When evaluating bilingual dictionaries it comes to light that there are a lot of errors that lexicographers commit and these errors negatively affect the process of compiling complete user-friendly bidirectional dictionaries. Having user-friendly bidirectional bilingual dictionaries is very important because dictionaries help different language speakers to learn each other’s language.