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Oxford English-Sindhi Dictionary: A Critical Study in Lexicography

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 Oxford English-Sindhi Dictionary: A Critical Study in
Lexicography
Zulfiqar Ali Shah• and Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Mashori••

ABSTRACT: Oxford English Sindhi Dictionary (2010) is the latest

addition in the bilingual dictionary making in Sindhi. OESD is based,
in its English text on Concise Oxford English Dictionary (9th Ed). It
gives the meaning of the headwords through the Sindhi translation of
the original meaning descriptions. The pronunciation of English words
is given in IPA as well as in Sindhi. Few earlier English dictionaries
attempted to present English pronunciation in Sindhi characters
(Shahani: 1940; Yadgar: 1988; Kifayat’s: 2004; Pirzada: 2007). In
this paper, we examined in the light of the science of modern
lexicography the organization and presentation of lexical items with
particular reference to the question of pronunciation and the
description of meaning. We found some weaknesses of the dictionary
on the part of pronunciation. It may cause problems for the learner to
use this dictionary. The revised version of the IPA is suggested to use in
the dictionary.

Key words: Bilingual; Lexicography; Pronunciation; Microstructure

INTRODUCTIION
Lexicography as a science has two distinguished areas of enquiry and operation.
One is its practical area of dictionary making, and other its theoretical aspect of
dictionary research. (Jackson, 2002) Practical lexicographer goes through different
phases of dictionary making and compilation. And the work of a theoretical researcher is
to point out merits and demerits of existing dictionaries in the light of set principles and
guide lines for practitioners in the field.

Sindhi is a language originating in the Sindh province of present day Pakistan,

and is spoken by over 40 million people in Pakistan and India and by a large Diaspora
community around the world. Sindhi belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family
(Jennifer Cole. 2005). It is spoken in eight different countries of the world. It stands
number 43 in Ethnologue list of 9606 world languages (Ethnologue 2012).

Many bilingual English-Sindhi dictionaries were compiled and produced before

and after the independence of Pakistan i.e.1947. Oxford English Sindhi Dictionary is one

•
Assistant Professor Department of English, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur Pakistan
••
Associate Professor Department of English Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur Pakistan
38 Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Ghulam Mustafa Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 2011 Vol.13

of them which is produced by Oxford University Press, Karachi in 2010.The present

study is an in depth critical analysis of this dictionary.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Much work has been done on the descriptive analysis and interpretation of
existing dictionaries the world over. Two of the great names in the pioneers of such
tradition are those of James Augustus Henry Murray The Evolution of English
Lexicography (1900) and Mathews, Mitford M (1933) A Survey of English Dictionaries.
The most recent developments in this connection are 'English Dictionaries for Foreign
Learners: A History' (Cowie, A.P:1999) and 'The Oxford History of English
Lexicography' (Cowie, A.P:2009). Another important work is A Comparative Review of
Two Monolingual Dictionaries of the English Language by Rek-Harrop. J (2010). 'The
lexicography of English: from origins to present' (Béjoint, Henri: 2010) is also a useful
addition in this tradition.

Howard Jackson (2002) pointed out the following components which form the
microstructure of a dictionary:

• Spelling
• Pronunciation
• Inflections
• Word class
• Senses
• Definition (meaning description)
• Examples
• Usage

Sekaninova (1993) as quoted in Klapicova (2005) emphasizes following

parameters for the construction of an entry in a bilingual dictionary:

a) phonetic information
b) grammatical component
c) stylistic parameter
d) lexical equivalence
e) lexical stability
f) lexical-semantic connection potentiality
g) context applicability.
Oxford English-Sindhi Dictionary: A Critical Study in Lexicography 39

Steiner (1984) has suggested some guidelines in order to evaluate a dictionary

whether monolingual or bilingual. The dictionary should be according to the principles of
the science of modern lexicography. It should specify the area and its audience or users.
He emphasizes the utility of the dictionary either for general use or for specific use. The
lexicographer's claims made should be compared with the actual content of the
dictionary. The purpose of the dictionary should also be examined whether it is for
learning a language, for translation or for something else.

Besides, Zgusta, L. (1971), Béjoint, H. (2000), Landau, S. I. (1984/2001) form a

very sound basis for the descriptive method of a dictionary research.

A heuristic checklist is developed by Abu-Risha (2003) for the entries and

information in a bilingual dictionary. It shows what a learner expects or needs to find in a
learner's dictionary:

A. Semantic Information:
• Definition
• Lexical Relations (Synonyms and/or antonyms and/or semantic field)
• Formality and Technicality (formal, informal, slang, colloquial, and
register)
• Collocations, idioms and fixed expressions
• Illustrative examples showing the actual grammatical usage of the word

B. Grammatical Information:
• Parts of Speech
• Verb Argument Structure
• Grammatical use in sentences

C. Morphological Information:
• Derivational forms of lexemes
• Inflectional forms of lexemes
• Pronunciation (with special reference to BrE and AE)
• Variation (Variation of usage or spelling in the various Englishes:
British, American, New-Zealand, Australian, Canadian, etc.)

METHODOLOGY
There is a clear distinction in the research methods used in natural science
research and in a social science one. There are many research methods to obtain data in
social science research as in the fields of Language, Linguistics and Literature. Social
science research is basically qualitative and unobtrusive (Webb et al.:1966). This
40 Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Ghulam Mustafa Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 2011 Vol.13

research is qualitative and descriptive in nature (Nunan: 1992) and (Silverman: 2000).
Descriptive research provides information about conditions, situations, and events that
occur in the present situation (Educational research: UNESO). According to Richards et
al (2002) descriptive research is an investigation that attempts to describe accurately and
factually a phenomenon, subject or area.

The research tools used in this study are 'content analysis' and 'document
analysis'. Content analysis is the intellectual process of categorizing qualitative textual
data into clusters of similar entities, or conceptual categories, to identify consistent
patterns and relationships between variables or themes. Qualitative content analysis is
sometimes referred to as latent content analysis. This analytic method is a way of
reducing data and making sense of them—of deriving meaning. It is a commonly used
method of analyzing a wide range of textual data, including interview transcripts,
recorded observations, narratives, responses to open-ended questionnaire items, speeches.

'Content analysis is an accepted method of textual investigation…In content

analysis, researchers establish a set of categories and then count the number of instances
that fall into each category' (Silverman:2001).

In qualitative research, content analysis is interpretive, involving close reading

of text. Qualitative researchers using a content analytic approach recognize that text is
open to subjective interpretation, reflects multiple meanings, and is context dependent
(e.g., part of a larger discourse). This entry describes how qualitative content analysis is
used and how to use it well. Content analysis is ' A method of analyzing the contents of
documents that uses quantitative measures of the frequency of appearance of particular
elements in the text. The number of times that a particular item is used, and the number
of contexts in which it appears, are used as measures of the significance of particular
ideas or meanings in the document (Victor.J: 2006).

Document analysis according to the Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research

Methods (2008) is 'the standard approach to the analysis of documents focuses primarily
on what is contained within them.' In this frame, documents are viewed as conduits of
communication between, say, a writer and a reader-conduits that contain meaningful
messages.

OXFORD ENGLISH SINDHI DICTIONARY

Oxford English Sindhi Dictionary (henceforth OESD) came out in 2010 and is
published by Oxford University Press, Karachi. It is a good addition in the tradition of
bilingual dictionary making in Sindhi. It spreads over almost 2100 pages. Though few
popular English Sindhi Dictionaries were present in the scenario, there was a persisting
need for a good dictionary in the field.
Oxford English-Sindhi Dictionary: A Critical Study in Lexicography 41

This dictionary is the directed adaptation of Concise Oxford Dictionary. As

mentioned on the front matter of the dictionary English text is taken from Concise Oxford
Dictionary, (9th edition).

COMPONENT PARTS OF THE DICTIONARY

The dictionary is well divided into three parts, i.e. front matter, back matter and
the middle matter containing main entries.

1) Front Matter: The front matter covers the title page inside and outside the
book. A detailed list of contents is given. Editorial board and compilers names
have been listed. A publisher's note is followed by a preface by the editor. Then,
instructions for the use of dictionary are give in detail spreading over six pages.
It points out the peculiarities of Sindhi pronunciation and there representation in
the dictionary.
2) Middle Matter: Middle matter includes main entries in the dictionary. Average
30 words per page, the dictionary covers well about more than 60000 words.
3) Back Matter: It includes some grammatical explanations. Some encyclopedic
information follows, in which abbreviations; scientific terms, punctuation marks
and symbols for proof reading are described.

As this dictionary depends for its entries and semantic details on Concise Oxford
Dictionary, our main focus of enquiry in present study is the presentation of meaning and
pronunciation. Meaning equivalents and pronunciation are the two main problems its
precedent bilingual English Sindhi dictionaries face.

comply /k´mpl√I/ v.intr. (-ies, -ied) with ‫ع ط‬E< ‫ ا‬/ ‫ِء‬

‫ڻ‬ ‫ه( ﺌﺐ‬ ‫و‬ ، ‫< ﺌن اڳ( ) ا‬
complied with herconditions
‫ﺌﺊ‬ ‫ط را‬ ‫س‬ had no choice but to comply
‫ﺌ واه ﺊ‬ ‫اِء‬ ‫ﮙ ﺌن‬ (‫ه‬ ‫و‬ )

Microstructure of the Dictionary: The microstructure of the dictionary goes in

the series of spelling, pronunciation in IPA, grammatical information, pronunciation in
Sindhi, grammatical information in Sindhi, and meaning in Sindhi. A typical entry
example is:

Spelling: Both British and American system of spelling is introduced in this

dictionary. An American spelling is given as main entry mentioning it as American as for
center p.271 and the same variation is mentioned with the British spelling of the
headword as with centre (US center) p.272. Few other examples are:
42 Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Ghulam Mustafa Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 2011 Vol.13

Cheque (US check) p. 289

Favour (US favor) p.632
Favourite (US favorite) p.632
Framboesia (US frambesia) p.691
Groyne (US groin) p.776
Glycerine (US glycerin) p.745
Harbour (US harbor) p.798
Metre (US meter) p.1097
Vigour (US vigor) p.1987

The main entry or headword starts with a small case alphabet while all proper
nouns start with the capital ones. Some examples;

Breeches Bible
Breton
Calamity Jane
Cajun
Calabar bean all entries on p. 236.
Great Divide (p.767)
Oxford Movement p.1248 etc

MEANING DESCRIPTION
As mentioned earlier, translations of word meanings as given in the original
COD meanings are given. Both translation equivalent and definition methods are implied.

Translation equivalent:

gist /dZIst/ n<‫ڙ‬ ، ‫ﮗﺌ‬ ‫ا‬، : ‫ا‬

and definition as,

giraffe: /dZIrA˘f/ ‫۽ اﮗ ن‬ ‫ﮗ‬ ‫ڙ ﺌ ر‬ ‫اوﮗﺌر‬ ‫ﺌ‬ ‫آ‬

‫ن‬ ‫وچ ۾‬ ‫ﺌرا داغ ۽ ا‬ ‫۽‬ ‫نآ‬ ‫ن ﮢ نڊ‬
‫ﺌ ر‬ ‫ﺌن ڊ‬ ‫ د ﺌ ۾‬،‫ن‬ ‫ن‬
Oxford English-Sindhi Dictionary: A Critical Study in Lexicography 43

In the main entry, there are the lexical items whose all senses are presented
separately, as
Coax (2 senses)
Cob (2 senses)
Cockle (3 senses)
Fawn (2 senses)
Post (3 senses)

PRONUNCIATION
The system of presenting pronunciation of an English word is based on the older
version of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). All modern English dictionaries i.e.,
OALD, Cambridge, Longman, give pronunciations in the revised version of IPA i.e.
2005. The learner who is familiar with OALD or any other modern English dictionary
will find it confusing to read the correct pronunciation of an English word.

The IPA symbols used in this dictionary are compared with IPA system in other
modern dictionaries as under:

IPA IN IPA MODERN PRONUNCIATION PRONUNCIATION

WORD
OESD (2005) IN OALD IN OESD
a Q cat, fan kQt, fQn kat, fan
√I aI fine faIn f√In
E e pen pen pEn
´˘ Œ˘ girl gŒ˘l g´˘l
E˘ e´ hair he´ (r) hE˘

Instead of /e/ it gives /E/ as for send, or self.

Instead of giving well known symbol of /Q/ in the words like ‘cat’, the
dictionary provides /a/ for this double vowel sound. This feature runs through out the
dictionary, and is certainly misguiding.

The English diphthong /Œ˘/ for the sound occurring in the words like ‘girl’ and
‘thirst’ is wrongly given as /´˘/. It is actually an old system. Now all English dictionaries
represent this sound with the IPA symbol of /Œ˘/. The recent developments in English
phonology also suggest the same (Roach. P, 1983; Cruttenden, 1994; Crystal. D, 1987).

Pronunciation of English sound /Œ˘/ in Sindhi is completely misleading. For

example, the pronunciation of two English words ‘gurn’ and ‘gun’ appears as same as /
/ on page no.781 & 782 respectively.
44 Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Ghulam Mustafa Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 2011 Vol.13

In the Sindhi characters these pronunciations are totally misguiding. In the

following table we will illustrate with more examples how a misguiding pronunciation is
given which is identical with completely a different lexical item:

WORD PRONUNCIATION IN SINDHI

burn; bun ‫ﺐ‬
ton; turn; tonne
tough; turf
verdict ‫وڊ‬
verge ‫وج‬
verb ‫وب‬
verbal ‫وﺐ‬
virgin ‫و‬
virtue ‫و‬
word ‫وڊ‬
work ‫وכ‬
world ‫و‬

These are few examples to clarify that the present dictionary uses an outdated
version of IPA system. This system may be in use for the description of Cardinal Vowel
System but is not used for Transcription or for Dictionary Pronunciation. Though based
on Concise Oxford Dictionary, this dictionary will be of less use for the learner who
refers most modern dictionaries.

The system given by original version of the Concise Oxford Dictionary has been
adopted without giving any second thought to it to make the dictionary updated.

Sindhi section of Pronunciations: To give pronunciation of English words in

Sindhi characters is very difficult. However, editors have certainly done a good job. In
many respects they are successful. But in the pronunciation of few English sounds they
have committed blunders. For example, for the English sound of /N/ there is a Sindhi
letter given, which is absolutely a different sound. This sound comes in words like ‘sing’,
‘thing’, ‘think’ and in ‘dengue’. When one sees the pronunciation of these and such like
words one will be disappointed to find their substitute in Sindhi as /‫ڱ‬/, which is not an
appropriate sound especially when fully released. An Arabic diacritic mark of ‘mad’/ Ê / or
/  /may have been used over/‫ن‬/ to represent this sound. For example when we pronounce
word ‘dengue’ it will never be / ‫ڊ ﮜ‬/ as the dictionary says (p454). Few more examples
with this mispronunciation are as under:
Oxford English-Sindhi Dictionary: A Critical Study in Lexicography 45

WORD PRONUNCIATION GIVEN

Adjunct ‫(<ا ﮜ‬p.22)<
Building ‫( ﺐ‬p.218)<
Bank ‫( ﺐ ﮜ‬p.126)<
Bunk ‫( ﺐﮜ‬p.222)
Junk ‫( ﮜ‬p. 950)
Prink ‫ﮜ‬ (p.1379<)
Priming ‫( اﺊ‬p.1778)
Sing (p.1639)
Sink ‫( ﮜ‬p.1641)
Tonga ‫( ﺌﮛ‬p.1855)
tongue (p.1855)<

The English sound /T/ is represented with Sindhi letter /‫ٿ‬/ which never is the
right symbol. /‫ٿ‬/ is completely different sound and English sound /T/ is completely
different.

The Sindhi pronunciation of word ‘gigolo’ is given as /Ýç×e‫ ژ‬/ (p.735) where as it
is without Ý sound as /ç×e‫ ژ‬/. It is certainly the mistake of proof reading.

Some mistakes in pronunciations: In addition to the mistakes in few important

sounds of English and their counterparts in Sindhi as mentioned above, there are few other
mistakes here and there in the dictionary. In the following table, we will cite few mistakes
of the pronunciations which will illustrate this feature of the dictionary more clearly:

WORD PRON.IN OESD IN SINDHI PRON.IN OALD (7TH ED)

Bird Pronunciation missing
bunch ‫ﺐ‬ b√ntS
flow ‫ِء‬ fl´U
situation ‫ﺋ‬ sItSueISn
turf tŒ˘f
virtue ‫و‬ vŒ˘tSu
 46 Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Ghulam Mustafa Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 2011 Vol.13

CONCLUSION
Oxford English Sindhi Dictionary aims to fulfill the gap and dire need of the
Sindhi learners of English for their general and pedagogical purposes. It may be useful
for the learners from secondary to higher level of education for their understanding and
using English language. The most important and challenging feature of an English Sindhi
dictionary remains to give pronunciation of English words in Sindhi besides providing
meaning. We may conclude from above discussion that OESD fulfills some basic needs
in this connection. It will be a useful source for students as well as for teachers of English
language. But in some aspects, it lacks authenticity, error free accurate information, and
the user friendly attitude. It needs to be up to date and accurate in many respects
particularly in pronunciation. It may use the up dated version of IPA, and correct the
Sindhi portion of the pronunciations. Diacritic marks may be used to provide correct
pronunciation of English words in Sindhi. These suggestions may be incorporated in the
revised editions of the dictionary which is very much needed.

REFERENCES
Bejoint, Henry, (2000) Modern Lexicography: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ibid (2010).The Lexicography of English: from origins to present London: Oxford University Press
Cole, Jennifer. (2005). 'Sindhi' in Strazny, P (ed.) Encyclopedia of Linguistics. New York:
Routledge
Cowie, A. P. (2009).The Oxford History of English Lexicography Gloucestershire: Clarendon
Press, UK
Ibid (1999). English Dictionaries for Foreign Learners: A History. London: Oxford University
Press
Davies, A. & Elder, C. (2006) The Handbook of Applied Linguistics Malden: Blackwell Publishers
Hornby A.S. (ed.) (2005) Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. 7th ed.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jackson, H. (2002) Lexicography, An Introduction. London: Routledge
Klapicová, E. H. Composition of the Entry in a Bilingual Dictionary Retrieved February 07, 2012
from http://www.google.com.pk/
Languages of the World. Retrieved February, 11, 2012, from
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Lillo,J.(2010) 'Francesco D' Alberti Di Villanuova's Renewal of Bilingual Lexicography'
International Journal of Lexicography, 23 (189–205)
Linda, S. (2001) Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Mugglestone, L. (2002) Lexicography and the OED: pioneers in the untrodden forest London:
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Richards, J.C et al (2002). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
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Silverman, D. (2001) Interpreting Qualitative Data London: Sage Publications
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