Compiling the First Monolingual Lusoga Dictionary

Abstract: In this research article a study is made of the approach followed to compile the first-ever monolingual dictionary for Lusoga. Lusoga is a Bantu language spoken in Uganda by slightly over two million people. Being an under-resourced language, the Lusoga orthography had to be designed, a grammar written, and a corpus built, before embarking on the compilation of the dic-tionary. This compilation was aimed at attaining an academic degree, hence requiring a rigorous research methodology. Firstly, the prevailing methods for compiling dictionaries were mainly practical and insufficient in explaining the theoretical linguistic basis for dictionary compilation. Since dictionaries are based on meaning, the theory of meaning was used to account for all linguis-tic data considered in dictionaries. However, meaning is considered at a very abstract level, far removed from the process of compiling dictionaries. Another theory, the theory of modularity, was used to bridge the gap between the theory of meaning and the compilation process. The modular theory explains how the different modules of a language contribute information to the different parts of the dictionary article or dictionary information in general. Secondly, the research also had to contend with the different approaches for analysing Bantu languages for Bantu and European audiences. A description of the Bantu- and European-centred approaches to Bantu studies wa