The bilingual Shona-English dictionary of biomedical terms, Duramazwi reUrapi neUtano, was compiled with the aim of improving the efficiency of communication between doctor and patient. The dictionary is composed of terms from both modern and traditional medicinal practices. The article seeks to look at the methods of production of the dictionary, the presentation of entries in the dictionary and the problems and challenges encountered in the compilation process, namely, developing Shona medical terminology in the cultural context and especially the aspect of equivalence between English and Shona biomedical terms. Opsomming: Die samestelling van die Sjona-Engelse biomediese woorde-boek: Probleme en uitdagings. Die tweetalige Sjona-Engelse woordeboek van biomediese terme, Duramazwi reUrapi neUtano, is saamgestel met die doel om die effektiwiteit van kommunikasie tussen dokter en pasiënt te verbeter. Die woordeboek bestaan uit terme van sowel moderne as tradisionele geneeskundige praktyke. Die artikel wil die metodes van die totstandkoming van die woordeboek beskou, die aanbieding van die inskrywings in die woordeboek en die probleme en uitdagings wat in die samestellingsproses teëgekom is, naamlik, die ontwikkeling van Sjonamediese terminolgie binne die kulturele konteks en veral die aspek van ekwivalensie tussen Engelse en Sjona-biomediese terme.Lexikos 15 (AFRILEX-reeks/series 15: 2005): 117-131 http://lexikos.journals.ac.za the language that are usually missed by the younger generation of doctors. Kotzé (1999: 91) states that language as a phenomenon forms part of the cultural stock of a community. Hence a cultural gap between any two people can bring about communication problems.Language use also differs according to factors such as age, social status, educational background and geographical location. For example, an elderly patient may come to a young doctor and try to explain his/her sickness using veiled language. Because the young doctor does not have proficiency in Shona and as a result also lacks the cultural background, there is automatically a communication problem between them. The purpose of the Duramazwi reUrapi neUtano is therefore to try and address all the differences in communication that may be found among different individuals, especially those from different age groups. This dictionary thus wants to help address the needs of doctors to understand the terms and expressions used by patients, especially those of the older generation. It also wants to help standardise terms used by different age groups in different parts of the country. The targeted users of the dictionary are therefore the medical fraternity and the general public. Selecting the HeadwordsThe scope of the words selected for inclusion in this dictionary are biomedical,

Abstract:The article discusses the challenges that confronted the team of compilers working on the monolingual Shona Children's Dictionary (henceforth SCD). It looks at the active involvement of the target users in shaping the project and discusses the considerations for the implementation of their recommendations. Matters of concern include issues of headword selection, especially problems of dialect representation in the dictionary. The article also discusses the inclusion of grammatical information such as tone marking. The SCD is one of the many efforts to promote and raise the functions of the indigenous languages in Zimbabwe. Of special interest in this article is therefore the discussion on the inclusion of international words like those denoting weight, distance and mathematical and scientific concepts. The article also considers the treatment of taboo words in the SCD, which takes into account that society has to open up culturally to be able to unequivocally view some of the aspects of life with which present-day children are confronted. The article lastly discusses how a balance was reached for accommodating the target users' proposal for the inclusion of an elaborate back matter in view of the limited available scope and space of the SCD. Keywords: TARGET USERS, DIALECT REPRESENTATION, INTERNATIONAL WORDS, TABOO WORDS, TONE MARKING, BACK MATTER, DICTIONARY, LEXICOGRAPHYOpsomming: Teikengebruikers se verwagtinge teenoor die werklike samestelling van 'n Sjonakinderwoordeboek. Die artikel bespreek die uitdagings waarvoor die span samestellers te staan gekom het tydens werk aan die eentalige Sjonakinderwoordeboek (voortaan SKW). Dit kyk na die aktiewe betrokkenheid van die teikengebruikers by die ontwikkeling van die projek en bespreek die oorwegings vir die uitvoering van hulle aanbevelings. Sake van belang sluit in kwessies van trefwoordkeuse, veral probleme van dialekverteenwoordiging in die woordeboek. Die artikel bespreek ook die insluiting van grammatiese inligting soos toonaanduiding. Die SKW is een van die baie pogings om die funksies van die inheemse tale in Zimbabwe te bevorder en te vergroot. Van spesiale belang in hierdie artikel is dus die bespreking oor die insluiting van internasionale woorde soos dié wat gewig, afstand en wiskundige en wetenskaplike konsepte benoem. Die artikel beskou ook die behandeling van taboewoorde in die SKW wat in aanmerking neem dat die gemeenskap kultureel oper moet word om in staat te wees om sommige aspekte van die lewe waarvoor hedendaagse kinders te staan kom, onomwonde te beskou. Laastens bespreek die artikel hoe 'n balans verkry is om die teikengebruikers se voorstel vir die insluiting van 'n uitvoerige agterwerk in te pas in ooreenstemming met die beperkte beskikbare omvang en ruimte van die SKW.

As in most African cultures, Shona personal names are not mere referential labels, but rather carriers of family values, hopes, fears and aspirations. This article presents an exegesis of Shona personal names with spiritual significance. The bulk of the data was obtained from name lists found in onomastics articles and books. Some of the names analysed in this article were recollections of the writers' experiences. The data were analysed using the Hallidian Systemic Functional framework that puts a premium on contextual analysis of data. The findings show that what are often called Christian names are in some cases not Christian, but rather personal names that allude to some Shona spirituality and beliefs. The argument we proffer here is that some Shona personal names are not as transparent as often supposed, but are rather shrouded in ambiguity, and such ambiguity can only be unpacked through a sound comprehension and appreciation of the Shona culture, in particular spiritual matters and beliefs.

This article looks at diglossia in Shona dictionaries. Diglossia is seen here as the differential and preferential use of a language or a dialect in dictionaries. The main language spoken in Zimbabwe is Shona. Over a period of about one and a half century, at least twenty Shona lexicographic publications including glossed word lists and medium-sized dictionaries have appeared, examples of which are used in this article to demonstrate the diglossic principles in Shona lexicography. As is the case with many languages, Shona is also in contact with other languages, among them English, which during the colonial era was declared the official language of the country. As a result the dictionaries that were compiled were bilingual. In these dictionaries, involving English and Shona, the bias was towards satisfying the needs of English-speaking users, as much of the detail, including the headword entries, was in English. However, with the need to empower the indigenous languages of the country, there was a deliberate move to promote Shona. This saw a change from the compilation of bilingual dictionaries to monolingual dictionaries which resulted in a different mode of diglossia as the dialects within Shona itself do not enjoy equal status in the dictionaries, because some dialects are given preference above others. This article traces the diglossic tendencies among languages and within the same language in dictionaries involving Shona.