Paper short abstract:

An Afrocentric approach in e-Lexicography requires the investment and development of dedicated and accurate linguistic resources targeting African languages, supported by the integration and use of African languages in official, institutional and science communication.

Paper long abstract:

Being current Lexicography mostly focused on the digital, some authors believe that minority languages - poorly funded, with low prestige, and under-resourced - can benefit from the Internet preponderance. Bantu languages, for instance, could greatly benefit from the development of new accessing strategies only possible through digital resources accounting for their complex morphological structure and conjunctive writing.

The observation of the few e-dictionaries available for these languages, however, shows us that the paradigm in e-Lexicography has not yet changed: neither the digital potential is being used for accurately describing the specificities of Bantu languages, nor the information provided is even in comparison with the information provided for European languages.

The importance and relevance of dictionaries for the upholding of minority languages go hand in hand with the communication purposes for which the languages are used and, thus, the goals of these linguistic resources. Dictionaries are more often used in contexts of scientific and technical communication, where accuracy and knowledge are required, rather than in domestic and/or familiar contexts, concerning common and daily activities known to all participants.

And so, an Afrocentric approach in Lexicography requires a change of direction towards the integration and use of African languages in public and private institutions, covering technical information and reaching people from all communities, in schooling and education and in science, which will support the investment and development of dedicated and accurate linguistic resources, specifically targeting and accounting for African languages properties and linguistic strategies.