8.1
Nature of bilingual dictionaries: A bilingual dictionary, as contrasted to
a monolingual dictionary, deals with two languages. The lexical units of one language
are defined or explained in another language. The language whose lexical units
are defined is the source language and the language used to define these units
is target language. In other words, the source language is the language of the
entry word and the target language is the language of the translation, equivalent
or meaning of the entry word. The titles of these dictionaries generally, though
not exclusively, indicate their nature. In a Hindi Tamil Dictionary Hindi is the
source language and Tamil the target language.
The
entire work of a bilingual dictionary involves providing equivalents to the lexical
units of one language by the lexical units of another language i.e. "coordinating
with lexical units of one language those lexical units of another language which
are equivalent in their lexical meaning" (Zgusta 1971, 274). It is "the
field of interlingual translation or translation proper………an interpretation
of the verbal signs by means of some other language". (Jacobson, 1959, 233).
Before
starting work on a bilingual dictionary, a detailed planning is respect of its
purpose, coverage, and audience should be done by the lexicographer. The purpose
of the dictionary should be clearly defined. Does it aim to equally serve the
purpose of the speakers of both the source and target language? Or is it designed
to serve the speakers of the source language only, or the speakers of the target
language only? Does it aim to help in comprehension or in production and for who,
the source language speaker or the target language speaker?
Most
of the bilingual dictionaries of Indian languages, for that matter, of the other
languages also do not define their audience. Sometimes tall claims of serving
the speakers of both the languages are made, which has become a highly debatable
point now. As rightly put by Harrel (1967, 51). "A primary problem in the
composition of a bilingual dictionary is to decide whether the work is intended
primarily for the speakers of X language or the speakers of Y language. It is
clearly impossible to pay equal attention to both X speakers and Y speakers in
one and the same work".
Equally
revealing is the remark by Haas (1967, 47) "Thinking they are preparing a
dictionary for the speakers of both languages, they may easily end up producing
a dictionary which is not useful as it should be to the speakers of either language".
Shcherba
pleads for four bilingual dictionaries for two languages. An English Russian Dictionary
for British or American readers. The first will be primarily used to translate
written or spoken English into Russian which is the reader's native language.
The same book cannot be used, or is at least likely to be inadequate, for a reader
who is primarily concerned not with understanding a foreign text but with expressing
himself in foreign languages (Arnold 1973. 266-267).
8.2.
Types of bilingual dictionaries: in the foregoing discussion
there are two focal points, the user and the purpose of the dictionary. With these
points in view the bilingual dictionaries can be classified on the basis of following
oppositions:
(1)
Dictionary for source language speakers vs. the dictionary for target language
speakers,
(2) Dictionary for production vs. dictionary for comprehension.
On
the basis of these, two dictionaries can be prepared with one language as source
language.
(1)
Dictionary for the speaker of the source language for production of text in the
target language. e.g. Hindi English dictionary for a Hindi user. The user will
refer to this dictionary in order to express himself in English and will need
to know how English words he finds there are used. He will also need additional
information about the difference in meaning of the English words if they are polysemous.
This is the native to foreign use of the dictionary.
(2)
Dictionary for the speaker of the target language for comprehending the source
language text or for translating in his own language e.g. English Hindi dictionary
for a Hindi speaker. He will use it to understand the text in English or to translate
from English to Hindi. For this he must know the main Hindi equivalents and the
difference in the semantic structure of the English (source language) word as
compared to its equivalent in Hindi. This is the foreign to native use of the
dictionary.
In
a similar way, two dictionaries English-Hindi and Hindi-English could be prepared
with the English speaker in view.
Another
point to be noted about the purpose of the dictionary is whether it is prepared
for the use of scholars or for student or for layman. As noted earlier (chapter
2) any type of dictionary etymological, historical, or dialectal etc. could be
a bilingual dictionary. Such dictionaries are mostly for scholars use.
Although
in compilation of a bilingual dictionary the above criteria are to be kept in
view always, the adherence of a single criterion is rare, if not impossible. Generally
speaking a dictionary which pursues exclusively one of the possible intentions
is a rare phenomenon. "It is possible only in a language with abundant lexicographic
resources (otherwise it is work wasted and opportunity lost) or in situations
which do not allow another solution. The usual situation is however that the dictionary
is planned as to be helpful in more than one respect". (Zgusta 1971, 304).
The
choice of the user and the purpose govern the selection of word list in the dictionary
as also the method of the treatment of each individual entry. In a Hindi Khasi
dictionary meant for the speaker of Hindi for producing text in Khasi the word
suhaagin 'married woman' need not be explained in detail because the Hindi speaker
knows the word and this cultural phenomenon is unknown in Khasi. But if the dictionary
is meant for a Khasi speaker the word should have detailed Khasi gloss "that
lady whose husband is alive and who is considered fortunate and auspicious".
In a Malto Hindi dictionary for a Hindi speaker the words for mushrooms must be
explained in detail because the Malto speaker knows them.
This
becomes all the more necessary if the differences in geographical surroundings,
cultural milieu and social institutions are taken into consideration. Punjab has
83 words for sand and 123 for camel. In a Punjabi Tamil dictionary for a Punjabi
learner of Tamil all semantic distinctions for words for sand and camel might
not be given but if it is for a Tamil speaker thy must be included in order to
make him understand the Punjabi text.
Another
point related to the dictionary designed with the speakers of the source and target
language in view is the language of direction in the introductory part as also
with each individual entry. If the dictionary is meant for the speaker of the
source language, the introduction and direction should be in the source language,
but if it is meant for the target language speaker, it should be in the target
language. For example, in an English Hindi dictionary meant for a Hindi speaker
the direction should be in Hindi. Similarly in Russian English Dictionary meant
for an English speaker the direction should be in English. But if the same dictionaries
are meant for the speakers of the source language the direction will be in the
source language. For example a Hindi Russian dictionary for Hindi speakers will
give the direction in Hindi and Russian Hindi dictionary meant for Russian speakers
learning Hindi will have it in Russian. In some dictionaries meant for the speakers
of the source language even the meanings are transliterated in the source language
script1.
The
dictionary for the comprehension of the texts aims at the understanding of the
foreign language text. It may be called the general bilingual dictionary. Such
dictionaries have large word list which includes not only words of general nature
but also argotisms, archaisms, in some measure the necessary special terms and
neologisms. Each word is given with all its possible meanings. The description
of the entry is very short, its sole purpose is to give the meanings of the source
language words. Collocations and illustrative examples are not given. Only literal
equivalents in the target language are given.
The
dictionary for production, on the other hand, although it might contain a comparatively
smaller word list, provides a detailed description of the entries. The user is
furnished with more details of usages and collocations. It contains more details
of morphological and syntactical features. An entry from Hindi Russian Dictionary
(Beskrovny) would make it clear:
mauqaa
m. (1) (convenient) chance, (approaching) moment, (favourable) opportunity
~d(huud(hn(aa ‘seek opportunity’; or ~paanaa (milnaa) ‘get opportunity’,
acchaa ~’favourable moment’; mujhe vahaaN jaane kaa~ or nahiiN milaa
‘I could not get time to go there’. (2) place of incident – vah mauqaapar
aayaa ‘he arrived at the place of the incident’. (3) ‘place’, ‘position’,
mauqe kaa (a) ‘in proper time’, (b) ‘appropriate of’, (c) good…..’
mauqe kii jagahōN par jamaa huaa honaa ‘to gather at good strategeic
places’. ~ cuuknaa (chor(naa) ‘mis chance’ ~par ‘at good time’,
‘at needed time’, mauqe mauqe se ‘from time to time’, maueq se see
mauqe par, …mauqe kaa ghuusaa talwaar se bad(hkar (proverb).
8.3.
Collection of data: The collection of material in a bilingual
dictionary involves more or less the same methods as used for a monolingual dictionary.
in a monolingual dictionary the slips are scrutinized, the contexts of the lexical
units are compared and different senses of the word are found out. In a bilingual
dictionary the contexts in which a lexical unit occurs in the source language
are not only compared with one another they are also compared with the contexts
of the target language in which the equivalent of the lexical unit occurs to find
out their comparability in terms of their total or partial identity. In order
to achieve this there should actually be a parallel collection of data in both
the languages.
The
focus of a bilingual dictionary is not normative. It is more of a reference type.
So a bilingual dictionary should be more up to date than the explanatory monolingual
dictionary. Its aim is to serve in direct communication, so it cannot wait for
the accepted standards in the languages. The sources of collection need not be
as exhaustive as that of a bigger monolingual dictionary. Shcherba feels that
a bilingual dictionary cannot fully serve the purpose of a total understanding
of the second language. According to him a bilingual dictionary (in the form it
exists today) is useful only for beginners. He opines "on account of practical
difficulties, bilingual dictionary cannot offer real meaning and the exact semantic
range for the words of a second language. It can (and so it does) only help in
conjecturing about the possible meaning in a given context". (Srivastava
1968, 125). So he advises the reader to shift to the explanatory dictionary.
A bilingual
lexicographer can use monolingual dictionaries, if any, but be careful in analysing
in detail the semantic range of a word and its correspondences in the target language.
The dictionaries should be used as a secondary source only. Texts of different
subjects should be used for the basic collection. As in the case of monolingual
dictionaries, bilingual dictionary also should make use of newspapers, magazines
and the language of the mass media as radio and television etc.
For
a language with vast lexical gaps, which is quite usual with developing languages,
a dictionary of a developed neighbouring language should be used as a help to
fill in these gaps. For example, from a Bengali dictionary many lexical units
can be created in Jaintia by the method of loan translation, loan shift etc.
Although
the corpus of the bilingual dictionary covers the same type of sources as those
of a monolingual dictionary the translated texts have a greater role in the former.
If there are translations from the source language they should be utilized by
a lexicographer. It provides clues for the lexicographer to translated the culture
bound words in a more appropriate way.
8.4 Selection
of Entries: selection of entries in a bilingual dictionary
depends on the type and size of the dictionary and its prospective user. If the
dictionary is meant for native to foreign use i.e. for the source language speaker
for expressing himself in the target language or translating into the target language
many words typical to the source language culture may not be included in it because
the speaker knows these terms. But in a dictionary meant for foreign to native
use i.e. for a target language speaker to understand the source language the words
should be included with their meaning, because the target language speaker may
come across these words in the texts of the source language.
If
the dictionary is small and is meant for the native to foreign use uncommon words
or words of lower frequency may not be given. For example in a Hindi Konyak dictionary
aiming to help Hindi speaker understand Konyak words kalatra, and kaantaa 'wife'
need not be given. The Hindi speaker can find the equivalents of these words by
looking at the entries patnii or strii 'wife'. But if the dictionary is meant
for the target language speaker to understand the text of the source language
i.e. for a Konyak speaker to understand the text of Hindi these words should be
included because the user may come across them while reading the text of the language.
In The Oxford Progressive English Hindi Dictionary meant for Hindi speakers knowing
Indian culture the words sampan, sausage, stile are not included because these
words do not occur frequently in the texts (magazines and newspapers) that the
Indian reader comes across regularly.
The
smaller dictionaries have no scope for in the inclusion of archaic, obsolete,
regional, vulgar and colloquial words.
For
languages with widely different cultural and social milieu the lexicographer has
to keep in view the culture of the target language also. There may be certain
items which are not found in the source language but if the source language speaker
has to produce texts for the target language he must have lexical units for such
items. e.g. detskii sad 'the childrens' garden or Kindergarden' is an institution
in the Russian society. In a Hindi Russian dictionary the equivalent of this word
should find a place. This can be given as baal gr?h (s) m. detskii sad. The word
baalgr?h is not found in Hindi dictionaries.
We
give another entry from the same dictionary (Beskrovny). saathiipan m. towarishestvo
'comradeship'. towarish 'comrade' is a special word used in the socialist system
for a fellow socialist (cf. gaspadin used for a person from a capitalist or a
non-socialist country). The word saathiipan is not found in Hindi dictionaries.
Even the word saathii does not have the meaning of comrade'. So if a Hindi speaker
has to writer a text about the life and culture of USSR in Hindi he must have
word like this in Hindi dictionary. The same dictionary has the entries aaathiifauj
and saathiiraastra not found in Hindi dictionaries.
For
languages which are closely related e.g. Hindi and Urdu or Hindi and Bengali differential
dictionaries could be prepared giving only uncommon and widely different
words
not having generality for both the language. The words which are common
and have common derivatives may either be left out or given without derivatives.
In a Bengali Hindi dictionary a word like kas((t(a ‘trouble’ and its derivatives
~kar, ~daayak ‘troublesome’ ~saadhya
may not be given but the derivative kas(te
sr(st(e ‘with
great trouble’ should find a place, because this is not found in Hindi.
But such dictionaries are not of much practical use.
For
the dictionaries of related languages or languages which have borrowed form each
other or from the same source care should be taken in defining what is called
'false friends', words similar in shape but having different meanings. If the
languages belong to the same family the lexicographer may be tempted to treat
such words as having one meaning. But because of semantic changes the word may
have different meanings. e.g.
Hindi sthaaii 'permanent' : Kannada 'adhoc'
Hindi
siks?aa 'education: Marathi 'punishment'.
Hindi hanumaan 'the name of a god':
Bengali 'monkey'
Bengali satkaar 'the respect shown to dead body', 'last rites'
Gujarati, Hindi 'respect, 'hospitality'.
Tamil vyavasaaya 'agriculture':
Malayalam 'industry'
Hindi laag. 'hostility': Kashmiri 'infection'
Hindi
asaadhu 'wicked' : Malayalam 'invalid'.
Hindi aalocanaa 'criticism' : Kannada
'consideration'
Hindi upnyaas 'novel' : Kannada 'lecture'.
The
shape similarly should also be kept in view in case of words having only accidental
shape similarity without any semantic relation e.g.
Hindi
aan 'prestige': Malayalam 'elephant'
The
next problem is related to the inclusion of the proper names. It has been noted
earlier that the proper names which have attained the status of common name should
be entered in dictionary. the inclusion of proper names makes a dictionary encyclopaedic
but a bilingual dictionary is also a bicultural dictionary at the same time. It
not only explains the linguistic items but also cultural aspects. The proper names
peculiar to the culture must be included in a bilingual dictionary. There are
certain names which until explained are unrecognisable by any other language speaker.
e.g. Russian diminutive names Shasha for Alexander, Natasha for Natalya, Misa
for Mikhail, if not explained, may not be understood. Dictionaries can give them
in appendices.
Proper
names derived from the same source but represented differently in different languages
should be indicated in bilingual dictionaries of these languages. e.g.
Mary
Arbic
Suleman
English Soloman
Arabic
Musa
English
Moses
Bengali
kes(t(o
hindi
Kr(s(n(a
Bis(t(u
Vis(n(u
Tamil
Kirubaavathi
Kr(paavatii
8.5
Dictionary Entry: a typical entry in a bilingual dictionary
gives the following information:
(1) Head word,
(2) Pronunciation,
(3) Grammatical characteristics of the word,
(4) Meaning or gloss in the
target language,
(5) The use of the word in different contexts i.e. exemplification
of the valency of words.
The
criteria for selection of the head word for a bilingual dictionary are the same
as for that of a monolingual dictionary. But the criteria may be determined by
not the following linguistic consideration only but also cultural, specially for
the unknown and unwritten languages. (Robinson D. 1969, 19-26)
(1)
Choose as simple a form as possible,
(2) Choose as short a form as possible,
(3) Choose a frequently accruing form,
(4) Choose that form from which
the greatest number of sub-entries can be derived.
Cultural
criteria.
(1) Choose that form which vernacular speakers are most apt to
look for when they want to know the meaning of the word,
(2) Choose that
form which the vernacular speakers find easiest to understand,
8.6
Spelling and Pronunciation: The general problem of pronunciation
has been discussed with monolingual dictionaries.
A
basic requirement of a bilingual dictionary is to have a contrastive study of
the two languages. All the phonemes of the source language with all the allophonic
variations should be given in detail with their correspondences in the target
language. The front matter of the dictionary should contain a list of all the
phonemes of one language with their equivalents in the other. A more useful method
would be to give a brief phonological sketch of the two languages as an appendix3.
As
for giving the pronunciation in the source language or the target language, it
depends on the user of the dictionary. if the dictionary is to serve the purpose
of the speaker of the target language, the pronunciation should be given in the
target language. The Oxford Progressive English Hindi Dictionary and the English
Hindi Dictionary of Bulke give the pronunciation in Devanagari.
But
if it is meant for the source language speaker the pronunciation need not be given
because the speaker knows the pronunciation. But when there is a large gap in
the phonemic and graphemic systems of the language and the speaker is likely to
commit a mistake pronunciation may be given in the source language4.
This
much about the entry word. It may be argued whether the pronunciation of the equivalents
or translation is also to be given in the source language. For example an English
speaker who consults an English Hindi dictionary would find it difficult to pronounce
the Hindi words. For his convenience the pronunciation of the target language
equivalents should be given in Roman. But this would consume a lot of space and
would be a practical impossibility. For this bi-directional dictionaries should
be prepared. It would be useful to prepare English Hindi and Hindi English dictionaries
in the same volume. So that the English speaker could see the pronunciation of
Hindi words in the Hindi English part. But this is practicable for smaller dictionaries
only. Some dictionaries which are basically learner's dictionaries give the translation
of the meanings in the source language. This helps the source language speaker
to learn the target language5.
8.7 Grammar:
As in case of pronunciation a contrastive study of the structure of the two languages
in a prerequisite for providing grammatical information in a dictionary. the two
grammatical systems should be thoroughly compared and correlation be made between
the similar and dissimilar grammatical categories. Very often there is no correlation
between the grammatical categories of the two languages. Marathi has three genders,
Hindi has two. In some languages the gender system in based on semantic notions
into animate, inanimate, human, non human while in other the gender is arbitrary.
In some languages the gender is grammatical and syntactically significant, in
others it is not. Os when in a dictionary the latter language is the source language
and the language with grammatical gender the target language it creates a problem.
The speaker of the source language if he has to generate or translate text in
the target language must know the gender others wise he may commit such mistakes
as mej bar?aa hE 'the table is big' or cir?iyaa ur?taa hE 'the bird flies'. In
such cases either the gender is covertly marked by some symbols or overtly marked
by abbreviations for gender terms, e.g. Bulcke Angrezi Hindi Kosh, Bahri English
Hindi Dictionary.
Care
should be taken to give equivalents of the same grammatical category, but if there
is no correlation between them the equivalent should be so phrased as to be equivalent
of the source language word.
8.8.
Equivalent or meaning: as noted earlier the basic task of
a bilingual dictionary is to provide equivalents of the lexical units of the source
language in the target language. There are basically two types of equivalents
(i) translational equivalents and (ii) explanatory equivalents.
The
translational equivalents can be fitted into the context of the translation in
the target language. e.g. Eng. dog Hindi kutta, Abuj Madia aga, English there
etc.
For
this purpose contexts of the source language are collected and they are translated
in the target language. If any word in the target language fits into all the translated
contexts it is a complete translational equivalent. But this rarely happens. e.g.
Hindi patlii is used in different contexts patlii kitaab 'thin book', patli
galii 'narrow lane', patlii kamar 'slim or slendour waist', patlii rajaaii 'light
quilt', patlii dhotii 'fine dhoti'.
Here
patlii has as many as five equivalents in English none of which can be said to
be a complete or absolute equivalent of the word patlii6.
As
complete equivalents are rare in languages the dictionaries usually give partial
or comparative or near equivalents, e.g.
(1) country made (thing)
(2)
native (not foreign)
(3) pure (ghee)
(4) indigenous (medicine)
(5) rural
English
god Hindi devataa
All
the above types of equivalents are translational and can be fitted in the translated
contexts of the target language.
Let
us compare the following:
Hindi
tar?kaa 'seasoning' (heated oil or ghee in which spice and onions are well stirred
and browned to be administered as a relish to pulses etc.)
Abuj Madia pendaa
vaar?ii 'menstruation hut' (a special hut made for the couple to stay during the
period of the menstruation of the lady).
Muria ghot?ul 'dormitary' (a small
hutment constructed near the village where unmarried boys and girls above the
age of 10-12 years stay during night).
What
we find here is that 'seasoning', menstruation hut' and dormitary' are not exact
translational equivalent. They are only explanatory or descriptive, but they can
also be fitted in the translated contexts of the target language. These explanatory
equivalents have some description in parenthesis. These descriptions are like
definitions giving more information and cannot be fitted into the context of the
target language. The translational equivalents are good for the purpose of producing
texts in the language, whereas the explanatory equivalents and the explanations
are good for providing cultural information.
8.8.1
Problems of equivalents or meaning in a bilingual dictionary :
languages have their own systems of organising form and meaning, so lexical units
are organized differently in different languages. as there is lack of isomorphism,
"there are no exact correspondences between related words in different languages".
(Nida 1958, 281). As already noted exact correspondences or absolute equivalents
are those which can be fitted into all the translated contexts of the target language.
in other words they should have total identity between the lexical units of the
two languages in all their semantic components and meanings, denotative, connotative,
collocation and grammatical. As these are rarely found, as noted earlier, the
lexicographer gives partial equivalents only. As pointed out by Nida, 'though
dictionary compilers cannot attain an absolute definition of a term in another
language or culture (or even the same language or culture- for that matter), nevertheless
they can give very useful approximate descriptions' (Nida 1958, 282).
Although
finding out of equivalents is a problem for all classes of words, there are a
few which present the greatest difficulties. Among these, the culture bound words
are the most notable. A bilingual dictionary does not only mean a dictionary dealing
with two languages. It is also a bicultural dictionary, it correlates the process
and objects of one culture with that of the other. If there is a continuum between
two cultures the problem of equivalents is not as difficult as in case of those
with profound cultural differences.
The
lexical units belonging to the following groups of culture present great difficulty
of equivalence.
(i)
Ecology - Natural phenomena, the flora and fauna, typographical features have
their own peculiarities from place to place. Malto has the following words for
'mushrooms'.
naqslo-oosdu,
dule kor?a, telekuut?o, gejo, t?upo, t?akno, jibr?a kut?apur?a, edroosdu, peetgo,
potrilo, mookroosdu
how
to find equivalents for them in Hindi which has only one word kukurmuttaa?
Angami has
the following words for different types of bamboo, all used for different purposes:
Kerie,
khopri, viiprie, vuni, kuocierie, runyu, rustu luou.
Can
all these be translated by bamboo in English or baaNs in Hindi or even by 'a kind
of bamboo'. There are thousand types of birds and fishes, grasses and grasshoppers,
trees and bushes peculiar to different regions. Eskimo has a number pf words for
snow, a thing not known in tropical countries.
A
bilingual lexicographer finds it difficult to provide equivalents for them and
he has to describe them (see 8.8). it also depends on purpose. If the dictionary
is for explicating the source language description should be given. If it is for
learning the target language equivalents thought not semantically identical might
be given.
(ii)
Material culture: Material world, articles of food, dress, house and household
goods etc. are culture specific e.g.
lohe,
the most common shawl of Angamis, itself difficult to translate, has the following
parts:
puomhou 'the stripped part'
puoluo 'part between stripped parts'
puozeru 'the part where two different portions of the shawl are stitched
or joined together'.
puomhuchie 'the three lines at the border'
puokhu
'lines above puomhuchie'
puomhumu 'border on the non-stripped parts'.
The same
language has the following words for spear runger, ngudu, ngerkei, ngutho, sozungu
How
to find equivalents for them?
What
is naav 'boat' in Hindi has five words sikar, khoc, duug, bahats and haveshot
in Kashmiri for different type of boats.
The
following words of Tangkhul Naga are special to the culture.
khorphuk
'container broad and small made of bottle gourd to carry liquor etc'.
khorson
'a container long and thin in size made of bottle gourds'.
There
are hundred types of nets and baskets, several types of drums and pipes, various
kinds of earrings and bracelets and innumerable types of household utensils. Equivalents
for these are difficult to find.
(iii)
Social Culture: Every culture has its own social systems, customs and rites, with
words for them. It is difficult to translate them. e.g.
Hindi
suhaagin 'a lady whose husband is alive and who can participate in some auspicious
functions'.
It
is difficult to get an equivalent for this. Hindi avivaahitaa is not an equivalent
to spinter. Same is the case with the following words.
Malto
eenalsdook 'to be in a state of pollution as during menstruation'.
Angami
keciesu 'the practice of the son of the deceased dragging a boulder in his father's
remembrance if his father had died after four shas'. The word sha in this definition
meaning feast given to all the villagers by an affluent man is itself problematic.
We
may examine some more words.
Tangkhul
Naga ranrei 'assembly of people for the celebration of maraankasaa…',
Maraankasaa. 'festival of celebrating a newly built house'.
The
lexical units belonging to the semantic fields of kinship, colour, time, weights
and measures etc. are other notable items for which equivalents are not easily
available.
(iv)
Religion: Religious systems differ and so do the words for them.
Hindi
puujaa is not the same as worship. Religion and dharma do not have the same qualities.
manglaaratii cannot be equated with lamp worship. We give some typical words from
tribal languages.
Abuj maria
usandi ‘Madia god represented by a ladder decorated with peacock
feathers’.
Malto
erwe ‘séance, invoking the spirit of a dead man through a
medium’.
Tangkhul Naga khangayei
‘a Puranic character taking the form of a tiger’.
Khasi
so? blei ‘a sacrificer, or Puja maker (who is held sacred for the
time of the sacrifice
united with god)’.
Besides
these, there are various other semantic fields like human feelings, movements
etc. for which we do not get absolute equivalents.
Besides
these, there are certain other factors which contribute to the rareness of the
equivalents in two languages:
(1) Languages differ in their grammatical categories.
Sanskrit has three numbers. the Sanskrit dual is to be translated by plural.
e.g. asvau 'two horses'.
What
is singular in one language may be plural in another.
Russian
svedenia
pl. Eng. information sg.
Hindi
kENcii
sg. Eng. scissors pl.
English
trousers
pl. Hindi paajaamaa
sg.
Abuj
Madia nakorong
pl. Hindi subah or saberaa ‘morning’.
2)
languages have different gender systems, which although not creating problem of
equivalents, have to be marked by a bilingual lexicographer.
When
the grammatical categories are different e.g. v=adj. there are two ways to mark
them:
(i)
to give the form of same category sweet ‘to be sweet’
(ii)
to mark the different grammatical category.
(3)
Some languages have inclusive and exclusive pronouns, for which there are no equivalents
in other language.
(4)
Languages have different syntactical patterns e.g.
Eng.
I have a book:
Hindi mere paas ek kitaab hE.
She
has three brothers:
uske tiin bhaaii hEN.
Such
constructions are to be marked in the bilingual dictionaries whose aim is to help
translating in the target language.
(5)
Onamatopoetic words and interjections also present the problem of equivalents
e.g.
Hindi
khat(khat(aanaa ‘to knock’
kat(kat(aanaa
‘to grind teeth’
that
the semantic features differ from language to language has already been noted.
A word in source language may have two equivalents in the target language.
Hindi
ghar(ii
Eng. watch and clock
Hindi
Kannada ling.
Eng. sex
and gender. Russian pol and rod.
English
floor
Hindi pharś
and tallaa
Russian
noga
English leg
and foot
Bengali khaa-
English
eat, drink and smoke
Hindi
khaa and pii, the latter equal to English drink and smoke.
May
words in some languages like cut, carry etc. are not translatable by one
word equivalents. e.g.
Angami
re and
gi ‘to cut with a saw’
re ‘to
cut with a dao’
be ‘to
cut hair with scissors’
da ‘to
cut hair with a dao or knife’
not or
phir ‘to come over on the same level’
cur ‘to
come slightly down from a distance’
khor
‘to come up form a distant place’
kerii ‘to
come down from a relatively remote place’
par ‘to
come up from a near place’
ler ‘to
come down from a near place’
8.8.2.
The problem of finding equivalents for polysemous words in quite difficult for
a bilingual lexicographer. The following meanings of Hindi patlii are
themselves polysemous.
patlii
(1) narrow
(1) measuring little across a comparison with length
(2) small limited
(3) with a
small margin etc.,
(2) thin
(1) lacking density
(2) opposite
of fat
(3) of liquids
(thin curd) etc.,
(3) slim
(1) Small
(2) slender
(3) cunning
(4) light
(1) not heavy
(2) not dark
(3) gentle
(4) not serious
(5) thoughtless
(6) cheerful
(5) fine
(1) (of weather) bright
(2) enjoyable
(3) delicate
(4) of very
small particles
(5) slender,
thin, sharp
(6) refined,
pure.
With
such a multiplicity of meanings of the meanings of a word of the source language
the lexicographer has to adopt some device of discriminating between different
senses of the word.
The
same situation is faced with a polysemous word in the source language having polysemous
word as its equivalent sharing some meanings in common and not sharing the others.
e.g.
Kashmiri
Hindi
lumun
khiicnaa
(1)
to pull (rope, cloth)
(1) to pull (a rope, cloth)
(2)
to drag
(2) do draw (water from a well)
(3)
to tighten
(3)
to draw (picture, line)
(4)
to expand (4)
to take (photo, picture)
(5)
to delay
(5)
to attract
(6)
to pull (legs) (6)
to extract (money)
(7)
to draw (cart etc.)
(7) to stop (help), to withdraw
(8)
to absorb (ink etc.,)
(8) to drag
(9)
to lengthen (tune etc.,)
(9) to tighten
(10)
to pull out (tongue, eat) (10)
to expand
(11)
to delay
(12) to pull (legs)
(13) to draw (cart etc.,)
(14) to absorb (ink etc.,)
(15) to lengthen (tune
etc.,)
(16) to pull out (tongue,
ear)
(Handoo 1977)
we
find that two words have different semantic structures. The Hindi equivalent
has larger semantic range. For this the dictionary maker has not only to
give mere equivalents but also indicate the limitations of the verb in Kashmiri
to help the Hindi user and explain the larger semantic ranger of the Hindi verb
to help the Kashmiri user.
Such
cases require sense discrimination so as to disambiguate the polysemy of words.
the sense discrimination depends on the user and the use of the dictionary i.e.
on whether the dictionary is for native to foreign use or for foreign to native
use.
In
both the cases sense discrimination is not needed if the source word has on meaning
and the target word has one meaning e.g.
Bengali
baalii
Hindi
baaluu
‘sand’
Hindi
baaNs Bengali
baaNs
‘bamboo’
If
the dictionary is meant for native to foreign use sense discrimination is needed
when the source word has one meaning for which the target language has a polysemous
word. e.g.
Kashmiri
naal ‘collar’
Hindi ‘galaa’
(1) collar (of the garment)
(2) throat
(3) neck
(4) gullet of person
(5) voice
(Handoo 1977)
Here
the Kashmiri speaker must know the sense discrimination of the five meanings in
order to be able to produce text in the target language. But if the same
dictionary is meant for foreign to native use that is for the Hindi speaker to
comprehend Kashmiri text there is no need of giving any sense discrimination.
In
a dictionary for native to foreign use sense discrimination becomes necessary
if the source word is polysemous and for each of its senses the target language
has words with one or more senses e.g.
Hindi
patlii and its different meanings narrow, thing, slim light and fine and
different senses of these meanings given earlier in this chapter.
In
the same way in a dictionary for foreign to native use sense discrimination is
needed if the source language word is polysemous and for each of its senses the
target language has polysemous words e.g.
English
light
Hindi 1.
halkaa
(i)
not heavy
(ii)
little
(iii)
mean
(iv)
dim
2.
prakaaśa
(i)
light
(ii)
expression
(iii) sunlight
Several
devices may be used to mark sense discrimination in dictionaries. Some of
them are given below7:
1.
Definition: Full definitions or paraphrases may be given to clarify the
particular sense of the word. for example definitions of halkaa will
clarify the definite sub-meanings of this lexical item. halkaa: jo bhaarii
na ho ‘that which is not heavy’. The first meaning of halkaa ‘not
heavy’ is made clear by this definition. jo tej yaa cat(akiilaa na ho
‘that which is not bright’. The second meaning ‘dim’ is made clear
by the above definition. But this practice may not be useful because of
the practical problem of space.
2.
Synonyms: Synonyms can be used to mark the sense discrimination of the
polysemous words. e.g.
English
light
Hindi 1. (halkaa
madhim) ‘dim’
2. prakaasa (ghaam) ‘sunlight’
3.
Antonyms: antonyms can also be given for sense discrimination e.g.
English
light
Hindi halkaa
(bhaarii kaa ult(aa ‘opposite of heavy’).
4.
Illustrative Examples: Illustrative examples showing the actual occurrence
of the lexical unit (or its sub-meaning) may be given e.g.
English
light Hindi halkaa 1. ‘dim’ halke ujaale meN par(haa nahiiN
jaataa ‘it is not being read in dim light’.
2.
‘mean’ halke man kaaa admii kuch kar nahii-N paataaa ‘a man with mean
mind is not able to do anything’.
But
giving of illustrative examples may not be practicable, except when the dictionary
is very large, because it would consume a lot of space.
5.
Labels and glosses: The glosses and labels could be used to indicate the
semantic specification and the particular subject field of the multiple meanings
of the equivalents in the target language e.g.
English
meaning
Hindi
artha
(gram).
vowel
swara (gram).
Jaintia
sluu
blow
(mouth)
p?ut
blow (a
flute)
be?
blow (wind)
6.
Parts of Speech: Sometimes parts of speech may be given if the meaning
happens to be a homonymous word e.g. English on Hindi par (post
position)
7.
Punctuation: various signs like comma, semi-colon are used for sense discrimination
(see chapter 7).
Another
question related with the problem of equivalents is the number of synonyms for
the equivalents to be given in the dictionary. Many dictionaries give a
large number of synonyms. This practice has both positive and negative points.
On the positive side, it may be argued that since synonyms differ in meaning and
there is a large area of overlapping between two synonyms giving the synonyms
as equivalents furnishes more information and directs the reader to the nearest
approximation of the semantic structure of the source word. On the negative
side, it may be contended that the reader may be confused by the multiplicity
of synonyms and it will be quite difficult for him to choose right word for the
right collocation. Moreover for a learner or translator one word would be
more useful. Modern lexicographic practice adheres to the second view (Martin
1967, 156).
Another
point which could be made here is regarding the nature of equivalents for dictionaries
of unwritten languages. Although one word equivalents would be quite preferred
in that they would be quite useful for translation purposes, it would be more
beneficial if expanded glosses are given. The expanded gloss consisting
of about 5 words including function words gives ethnographic information, explains
clearly the kinship terms and helps in making some of the otherwise unclear meanings
clear.
The
above account of a bilingual dictionary would show that the task of a bilingual
lexicographer requires a thorough knowledge of the two languages, in respect of
their phonology, grammar and semantic structure. Above all, he has to have
complete familiarity with two cultures.
NOTES
1.
For example Hindi Russian Dictionary compiler Beskrovny, B.M. Moscow 1957. For
Introduction, Reader's Guide etc., in a bilingual dictionary see Chapter 7 'Notation
and Format'.
2.
But unfortunately this is usually not followed. Most of the bilingual dictionaries
of Indian Languages take monolingual dictionary of the source language and translate
it.
3.
Russian English Dictionary edited by Smirnitsky gives a note on the pronunciation
of English as well as a brief sketch of the Russian sound system.
4.
English Italian Dictionary Harrap.
5.
Russian Hindi Dictionary ed. Beskrovny.
6.
More about it in § 8.2.
7.
For details see Al Kasimi (1977. 70-71).