The perceptions of a dictionary

The first question that confronted the participants in the online survey read as follows: What is your understanding of a dictionary?

All but two respondents attempted to define or describe a dictionary in their responses. According to one of the two (PV), the question was vague. “Probably you want to know what people understand to be the use of dictionaries or why dictionaries are important” (PV). This suggestion is highly presumptuous. Firstly, the respondent assumes that the idea of a dictionary is so simple that it does not warrant investigating. This is only true if we speak of the dictionary, which according to Ilson (1985: 1) is conceptualised in the same way. As far as lexicography is concerned, such an assumption is problematic because the notion of a dictionary is like what different blind people would perceive of an elephant after touching its different organs. Secondly, the response suggests that knowing a dictionary means simply knowing its use and importance. Again, this is equally problematic because one may know something without using it, or use something without knowing it well enough to use it optimally. For lexicography, that would be extremely unfortunate. Therefore, the question might be vague, but it is more purposeful rather than vague. Of course, it is not to be expected that the participants would provide a specialist or academic definition of dictionary, but would indicate their awareness of its various formats and uses. This would constitute their critical awareness of dictionaries and the existence of a dictionary culture.

All the participants in the questionnaire survey know at least two things about dictionaries. This includes what it is, what it does or provides and at times how it does what it does. Thus the responses to the first question could be broken into at least two

main parts; the first basically stating what a dictionary is and the second specifying it according to function. For example, PB understands a dictionary as “a book that explains meanings of words and guides you towards proper pronunciation”. This explanation tells us the following:

i) A dictionary is a book

ii) A dictionary explains and guides ...

iii) A dictionary provides information on meanings and pronunciation

By analysing different responses to the first question, it is possible to gauge the participants’ knowledge about dictionaries. Table 1 below summarises the participants’ ideas of a dictionary according to (i) above.

A dictionary is Percentage of all respondents

- a book ... 50 - a reference ... 10.9 - an instrument 6.5 - a tool ... 2.2 - a resource 2.2 Others 28.2

Table 1: What a dictionary is to Zimbabweans according to the online questionnaire survey

The table indicates that many Zimbabweans know a dictionary as a book, a reference, an instrument, etc. These denominations may not simply be taken as matters of differences in language usage. They reflect each participant’s knowledge about dictionaries and their formats. For example, PP who defines a dictionary as “a reference item” explains in brackets that he/she is “avoiding book because it comes in various media”. Interestingly, among the others who constitute 28.2% of the respondents is PU who uses “media” as the genus of his/her definition of dictionary. This means that the majority of Zimbabweans (50% of the survey participants) understand a dictionary as a book due to the fact that paper dictionaries have dominated the history of lexicography and their community. Those who define a

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dictionary as a reference, an instrument, a tool, etc, may be aware of the latest dictionary formats. However, some of them may actually be using those terms not necessarily to include other formats such as the electronic or cell-phone dictionary, but simply to underline the functions of the dictionary, even in its paper format, as a work of reference, an instrument, a tool or a resource. At least, with the benefit of doubt, it may be said that they have a broader understanding of a dictionary as an object.

From the second parts of the definitions provided by the respondents as they explained their ideas of a dictionary, one could formulate a question which pertains to what dictionaries do, ought to do or are known or presumed to do. Here, all sorts of appreciative action words such as guides, gives, assists, supplies, enables etc, in addition to lists, explains and defines, are used to describe what dictionaries do with regard to words, meaning and other aspects of language and knowledge. The appreciative action words are further seen as indications of the respondents’ personal opinions and experiences about the value of dictionaries in 4.2.2.

In the analysis of the responses to the first question, attention was also paid to the kinds of information that respondents associate with dictionaries. The following information types were explicitly stated in the responses and they are listed according to their frequency.  Meaning  Pronunciation  Usage information  Spelling  Synonyms  Etymology  Morphology  Antonyms

Zimbabweans seem to be aware of the different kinds of information that can be obtained from general dictionaries. Expectedly, meaning takes precedence. PQ defines a dictionary in two sentences, with the second reiterating that “It’s a book about (?) meaning”. Yet it needs to be pointed out that some respondents may actually know more than the information types they listed as what dictionaries

provide, as they used expressions which suggest that they were giving examples: such as, including and etc.

From the foregoing, the questionnaire survey managed to solicit Zimbabweans’ ideas about a dictionary. If the knowledge of a dictionary could be taken as evidence of dictionary culture, then it could be claimed that Zimbabweans have a good dictionary culture. However, this is not the case since some respondents think they do not need dictionaries. Besides, the respondents constitute of those potential English dictionary users who have been classified as advanced learners in 4.1.3 above. The observations made during focus group discussions at schools paint a different picture whereby some secondary school students know absolutely nothing about dictionaries.