The Term creation strategies in a specialised Shona dictionary: A linguistic analysis

Abstract

This paper critically examines the term-creation strategies and quality of medical terms included in a Shona specialised dictionary, Denhe reDuramazwi rezveUtano neUrapi (Shona Medical Encyclopaedia). This study argues that translators and lexicographers have a number of translation or terminology development strategies they can apply to bridge the lexical gap between source and a target language. Furthermore, it argues that there is a need to evaluate the quality, accuracy, readability and acceptability of these terms for users. This study is guided by the communicative theory of terminology as proposed by Cabré (2003). This theory views terminology as dynamic and context-dependent, and it focuses on the way terms are created, transmitted and interpreted in real communicative situations. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews with lexicographers, translators, health professionals and end users, together with discourse analysis of the medical terms dictionary. Findings reveal that borrowing, compounding, coining, descriptive phrases and semantic extension were used to develop terms in the Shona Medical Encyclopaedia. It was also found that, although considerable progress has been made to enrich the Shona biomedical lexicon, when compared to borrowed or transliterated terms, many coined or compounded terms struggle to gain traction. The study recommends orthographic reform to strengthen the scientific expressiveness of indigenous languages, alongside the establishment of a national terminology board to coordinate and standardise terminology development in Zimbabwean indigenous languages.