Kyanga dictionary

The Kyanga dictionary, with English finderlist, was compiled in Nigeria over a seven year period. It forms a trilogy together with the simultaneously published Illo-Busa and Shanga dictionaries. This cluster of languages belongs to the Eastern sub-division of the Mande language family. Dictionaries of the other three languages of this cluster, Boko, Bokobaru and Busa/Bisã, also compiled by the author, were published in 2004 by Lincom Europa. The database is stem based so that any word that begins with a lexeme stem will appear as a sub-entry under that lexeme. The 5000+ head and subwords are written in Kyanga orthography, followed by phonetic representations, including tones, a part of speech label and glosses in English. Borrowed words, etymology, synonyms and variants are given as appropriate, with the borrowings being mainly from Hausa and English. Kyanga is regarded as the oldest language in the area where it is spoken. The 50 page introduction includes an historical survey and a summary of Kyanga phonology and grammar. The author’s PhD thesis, the Boko/Busa Language Cluster describing the grammar of Boko, Bokobaru and Bisã, was published by Lincom Europa in 1998. ISBN 9783862888061. Languages of the World/Dictionaries 66. 220pp. 2017