The Bokobaru-English, English-Bokobaru dictionary was compiled by the
author in Nigeria over a 12 year period while translating the Bible
into Bokobaru. It forms a trilogy together with the simultaneously
published Boko and Busa dictionaries. This cluster of languages, of
which the grammar was published in 1998 by Lincom Europa, belongs to
the Eastern subdivision of the Mande language family.
The database is root based, so that any word that begins with a
lexeme root will appear as a subentry under that lexeme. The head and
subwords are written in Bokobaru orthography, followed by phonetic
representations, including tones and variants, a part of speech label
and glosses in English. Sentences in the vernacular illustrate the
use of the words, followed by a translation into English.
Etymology, synonyms and variants are given as appropriate, with the
etymology showing significant historical borrowing from Dendi.
Comparison of Bokobaru words with the equivalent words in the Boko
and Busa dictionaries illustrates consonant weakening, elision and
significant changes in the tone systems.
Linguistic Field(s): Language Description;
Lexicography
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