(Courtesy. The Tribune) Punjabi University Patiala, has done much for the development of the Punjabi language. One of the steps it has taken is the mass production of source muter like dictionaries and encyclopedias which explain words and facts in Punjabi. An encyclopedia of Sikh religion and a dictionary of spellings and word formation have already been brought out. Punjabi will soon have a comprehensive general encyclopedia on the pattern of Encyclopedia Britannica
During the 12th International Punjabi Conference last month, the university to leased two important dictionaries. One of them is the revised edition of the old English-Punjabi dictionary and the other is more ambitious work, a Punjabi English dictionary Even earlier, some enterprising self caught lexicographers had attempted to compile Punjabi English dictionaries. The efforts of Mayya Singh and Sara Singh are worth mentioning in this regard
The Punjabi English dictionary compiled by Gurmukh Singh and edited by S. S. Joshi and Mukhtiar Singh Gill under the aegis of Punjabi University is the first institutional effort on a big scale to bring out a standard Punjabi English dictionary. A team of trained lexicographers helped Gurmukh Singh in this project. The paper vised, printing, binding and the dust jacket testify to the progress made by printing technology in the Punjabi language, which compares very well with the best in the world
Here are the salient features of this dictionary. All categories – things and phenomena in the Punjabi universe, are tenderized, which means they are either feminine or masculine in usage. Some times, depending upon the predilections of the user, certain things can be identified by both genders. The latest dictionary makes this gender-based division clear and this will go a long way to help non Punjabi learners of the language. Some of the derivations and inflections have also been given
Similarly certain important idiom have been included, but without apt sentence construction, that is because this is not dictionary of usage. The dictionary takes into account the dialectal and colloquial Varieties of the language. Wherever words pertaining to animal and plant life occur, their zoological and botanical names are giver. The transitive and intransitive Cure of Punjabi verbs is marked at the beginning of each entry
Last but not least, pronunciation of all Punjabi words has been given in international phonetic alphabet (SPA) with slight modifications keeping in view the rules of Punjabi phonology In fact, this singular feature is a tremendous achievement since it to quite trained phoneticians and philologists who have knowledge of intra mental phonetics and comparative phonology
There are certain shortcomings in the dictionary which could have been avoided with more care For instance de dictionary does not take into account Case infections and derivations, particularly those pertaining to number and gender which are very relevant to the Punjabi language. A note on morphological processes in Punjabi should have been given in the introduction so that did non-Panjabi user could understand the process of in Reaction and derivation, more so in die case of affixations. With each base word its complete paradigm should have been entered at one place.
The dictionary also contradicts at places the spelling pattern that the university linguists are trying to adopt as part of the reform movement and on the basis of phonetics.
There are many proof-reading errors Sometimes they lead to conceptual mistakes. For instance on page 227 the word “vigorous imprisonment is given in Pisces of rigorous imprisonment and imprudently” in place of “impudently in the beginning the word “dialectical” has been used for dialectal”; the former is n philosophical category not a linguistic one and docs not denote a regional variety of an guage that the dictionary-makers have had in mind. Such lexical and conceptual errors mislead the user and unit ate the scholar. If the computer floppy is still intact, many such errors can be eliminated in future editions
The other book English-Punjabi dictionary, is a revised edition and should, there fore, be an improvement on the previous version. This revision has been done by a termoflexicographers led by G.S. Rayall,
AMIR etymologist No doubt, it has been quite faithful on the meaning side, but it has failed on the pronunciation side, the reason being the use of Punjabi orthographic symbols for “received pronunciation”(RP). Since these symbols have their specific sounds in the phonological structure of Punjabi, they cannot be used effectively for denoting many sounds of English. Hence the confusion The IPA scheme could have been used for this dictionary as well In fact the pronunciation scheme in the earlier edition was easier to understand by Punjabi users.
Many English and Punjabi vowel and consonant sounds do not correspond in quality and quantity. The root cause of confusion is the twin nature of the Punjabi phonetic symbols devised by the dictionary-makers. The Punjabi users of dictionary are not accustomed to interpret the same symbol for different sounds as is the case with English. Punjabi being a phonetic language, one symbol (character) should not represent more than one sound When the user finds a Punjabi letter/symbol giving a different sound from the one it usually earns in the phonological structure, he is likely to mispronounce the words.
The university lexicographers should hold workshops to reach an agreement on the phonetic symbols to be used in future editions. Each symbol needs a thorough discussion on scientific lines. There is need of evolving a system of common symbols which can serve the purpose of other Indo-Aryan languages as well. To achieve this, linguists of other languages should also be associated
In this age of globalization, the world is dominated by the electronic and print media which demand high communicative skills. The middle classes are more obsessed with English, therefore, this exercise does not brook any delay. This will also help the local languages
These two dictionaries, despite the few shortcomings are a significant addition to Punjabi reference material so indispensable for Punjabi-English learners. De Hazara Singh, the Publication Bureau chief, and Dr. Joginder Singh Pum, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, desene praise for their tireless efforts in the production of these volumes.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 24, 1995
