LW/D 24: Boko dictionary

 

Ross Jones

The Boko-English, English-Boko dictionary was compiled by the author over a period of 35 years, half of which time he lived among the Boko people in Benin Republic. It forms a trilogy together with the simultaneously published Bokobaru 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 7000 head and subwords written in Boko orthography are followed by phonetic representations, including tones and variants, a part of speech label and glosses in English and French. 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 Boko words with the equivalent words in the Bokobaru and Busa dictionaries illustrates consonant weakening, elision and significant changes in the tone systems.

Languages of the World/Dictionaries 24. 325pp. 2004.
ISBN 9783895866272 (print)