The Owé Bilingual Dictionary

Abstract

This paper presents a report on an ongoing documentation, revitalization and description effort of the Owé dialect of Yorùbá spoken in Kabba (and her surrounding communities), in the southern axis of Kogi State, North Central Nigeria. It resulted in the production of the Owé Bilingual Dictionary with an online version which is presently being tested. The paper adopts a simple descriptive approach reporting what has been done in the work. The dictionary was compiled with data collected from native speakers and from other secondary sources over a period of ten years. The researcher is also a native speaker who is intimately connected with the dialect. Pratt was the software used to segment the sounds while Lexique Pro was used in the configuration, compilation and distribution of the dictionary. The dictionary is a learner’s dictionary designed purposely to help the learners of Owé at home and in the Diaspora to learn and relearn the dialect. The paper describes the information provided on each lexeme and also points out some limitations of the software. The language learning and teaching charts developed for Owé which formed part of the appendix of the dictionary were presented. The online dictionary unlike the published counterpart does not have an appendix. We conclude that the aim of the dictionary is to enhance proficiency in the dialect and this can only be achieved when the people are ready to take action and return Owé to the table.