For a long time I have had a love affair with dictionaries.
I can sit and read them, wandering from familiar words with unexpected origins
to words I’m yet to find a use for. That my e-reader came with a free
dictionary was one of its more exciting features, as my own had been too heavy
to ship overseas with me. As a family we bought a new dictionary for my parents
at their 40th wedding anniversary, as it is a requirement for games
of scrabble. Dictionaries are good.
Dictionaries are also difficult and dangerous.
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| A good source of knowledge for old words. |
As part of my work as a linguist, data I collect in the form
of stories or translations ends up collecting towards an eventual dictionary.
Keeping all this data in order, labelling it and giving meanings in one, two or
three languages is a challenge. We have computer programmes to help, courses to
teach us and consultants to help us, but it is still hard work…and that is even
before you start to think about formatting and printing!
While in Gulf Province, Robbie was working with one
community to review the dictionary progress so far. He had a long list of words
and meanings to go through, to see if people agreed on what was there. Before
he even got to his session, the draft copy was being waved about as part of a
spelling dispute; “But the dictionary spells it this way!” We suggested that
both spelling alternatives could be included, with a note that one was from a
particular village, or more common of a particular sub-group.
When we put words in a dictionary, we can end up pinning
them down like butterflies in a case. Language is a dynamic thing, that changes
between villages and generations. Words and ways of speaking come in and out of
use on a regular basis. It is good to record these words, but also to make
space for the new. As great as dictionaries are, they are also dangerous.
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