Browsing by Author "Chiduo, Eliezer K. F"

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    Sense discrimination and arrangement in monolingual dictionaries: the case of Kiswahili
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1990) Chiduo, Eliezer K. F
    This study investigate Kamusi ya Kiswahili(1935) (K.K.) and Kamusi ya Kiswahili Sanifu (1981) (K.K.S.) in respect to (1) whether homonymic and polysemic phenomena were clearly and appropriately distinguished in the two dictionaries and (2) whether the organization of polysemic lexical entries reflects monosemic theory or not. The study has five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction which deals with the background to the study, the problems to be investigated, the hypotheses, objectives and significance of the study are shown. Also data gathering and analyzing techniques are presented. Chapter two contains the review of related literature which highlights different methods used in organizing senses in different dictionaries. Chapter three presents and discusses data from documentary review. The criteria used to distinguish the majority of homonymic and polysemic items in K.K, and K.K.S. are described. In K.K. differences in noun classes and in lexical categories allow two or more separate entries for lexical items with the same phonological shape. In K.K.S, for the most part, semantic criterion was used to distinguish between homonymic and polysemic lexical items. The chapter also deals with the organization of senses in polysemic lexical entries. It was revealed that in both dictionaries senses are arranged starting with basic senses. This conforms to monosemic theory. Chapter four presents and discusses data from the questionnaires. The data reveals that most speakers could not make the necessary distinctions between homonymic and polysemic lexical items. On the arrangement of senses most speakers intuitively remember the basic senses before other senses. Finally chapter five includes the summary, conclusion and recommendations.