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Encyclopaedic lexicography: The Warlpiri Encyclopaedic Dictionary

  • Mary Laughren

Abstract

The Warlpiri Encyclopaedic Dictionary is the outcome of a collaborative enterprise started in 1978 between Warlpiri speakers, linguists and many others who contributed their particular knowledge and skills. Its form and contents were determined to a great extent by the linguistic, historical and social context that is described in this chapter. The role of the bilingual education programs established from 1973 in Warlpiri community schools is shown to be a crucial factor while the brilliant documentation of Warlpiri language carried out by linguist Professor Ken Hale starting in 1959 provided rich and reliable data to seed the dictionary. The rationale for including encyclopaedic content, rather than limiting the dictionary to the purely linguistic (if that is even possible) and some of the presentational issues that arise especially where the languages and cultures diverge are addressed.

Abstract

The Warlpiri Encyclopaedic Dictionary is the outcome of a collaborative enterprise started in 1978 between Warlpiri speakers, linguists and many others who contributed their particular knowledge and skills. Its form and contents were determined to a great extent by the linguistic, historical and social context that is described in this chapter. The role of the bilingual education programs established from 1973 in Warlpiri community schools is shown to be a crucial factor while the brilliant documentation of Warlpiri language carried out by linguist Professor Ken Hale starting in 1959 provided rich and reliable data to seed the dictionary. The rationale for including encyclopaedic content, rather than limiting the dictionary to the purely linguistic (if that is even possible) and some of the presentational issues that arise especially where the languages and cultures diverge are addressed.

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