Course title: Formosan Dictionaries: Topics in the Research on the Vocabulary of
Indigenous languages and dictionary compilation
Instructor: Dr Jozsef Szakos, Associate Professor, CBS, Polyu, HK
ctszaki@polyu.edu.hk
Goals: Introducing the the research methodology of indigenous lexicography to
advanced students of Ethnology. Through an overview of Formosan dictionary
making, analysis of contemporary lexicographic projects and results, the students
should be enabled and motivated to conduct such research, contribute to existing
projects and work on their on areas of interest. They should experience sessions of
dictionary making fieldwork, but also gain access to the international efforts to
stabilize and document indigenous and endangered languages.
Contents: The historical overview of the past century of Formosan lexicography
(starting with Japanese scholars, missionary documentaries and recent scientific
dictionaries) is followed by the delineation of most pressing needs of indigenous
dictionary making and an analysis of how these goals shape the different types of
dictionaries, which in turn determine the choice, arrangement and explanations of
vocabulary. There are dictionaries prepared with the international Austronesian
scholars in mind (with English explanations, etymologies) and others with the
purpose of documentation (aboriginal with Chinese or English) or the revival and
maintenance of languages (school use, assisting the native language education
classes, testing, etc.). Depending on the purpose of the funding institutions for such
projects, the dictionaries might concentrate on historical linguistic (diachronic)
aspects or synchronic data, and these may decide the entries and treatment of words,
as well as indices, other parts of the dictionaries.
Sessions and topics:
1. Dictionary making generally: What can/should be included in a lexicograpic work?
2. Dutch and Japanese works on Formosan in the context of emerging Austronesian
studies.
3. Bilingual dictionaries prepared by missionaries: Scope and principles (Amis,
Taroko, Paiwan, Puyuma, Tsou).
4. Bilingual dictionaries prepared by international scholars (Atayal by Egerod,
Paiwan by Ferrell, Thao by Blust).
5. School dictionaries over the past two decades (Amis, Tsou, Saaroa) prepared by
native speakers.
6. Dictionary projects supported by the Council of Indigenous Peoples: Goal,
methods, evaluation, use, future and other problems.
7. The relevance of indigenous knowledge (tradition, ethnobotany, history) in the
identity preservation of tribes.
8. Encyclopedic dictionaries online – and indigenous wikipedia.
9. Integrating the dictionary making into everyday life, culture and school education
of aboriginal students.
10. Integrating Formosan dictionary making into the international Austronesian
research.
11. Fieldwork experience in dictionary making.
12. Dictionary project planning experience.
13. Software and other techniques of dictionary making
Bibliography: (Selected, more materials given during the individual sessions)
Blust, R. 2003. Thao Dictionary. Taipei: Academia Sinica.
Egerod, S. 1980. Atayal-English Dictionary. Copenhagen: Curzon Press.
Ferrell, R. 1982. Paiwan Dictionary. Canberra: ANU.
Li, Paul Jen-Kuei and Tsuchida, S. 2001. Pazih Dictionary. Taipei: Academia Sinica.
Li, Pau Jen-Kuei. 2003. English-Favorlang Vocabulary by Naoyoshi Ogawa. Tokyo:
Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.
Li, Paul Jen-Kuei and Tsuchida, S. 2006. Kavalan Dictionary. Taipei: Academia Sinica.
Ross, M., Pawley, A., Osmond, M. 1998. The Lexicon of Proto Oceanic: the culture and
environment of ancestral oceanic society. Canberra: ANU.
Tryon, D. 1995. Comparative Austronesian Dictionary. Berlin: DeGruyter.