The Contribution of Missionaries (original) (raw)

2004

Abstract

The article discusses the developments in Shona lexicography during the colonial era and the contribution made by the missionaries in general and Father M. Hannan in particular which later resulted in the on-going process of compiling monolingual dictionaries by the African Languages Research Institute (ALRI) (into which the ALLEX project has been transformed). The missionaries employed various methods that did not only signal the beginning of an economically exploitative relationship between "the West and the rest of us" but also had ancillary cultural con- sequences (Dathorne 1975: 3). Their motives towards the development of African literature in gen- eral and Zimbabwean lexicographic work in particular were primarily evangelical and not to fur- ther creative writing. This caused Father Hannan to experience problems not only in his translation of the Shona Bible but also in his Standard Shona Dictionary. Hannan is used as an example because his translation problems were...

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