Lexical Standardization and Documentation: The Challenges of the Igbo Lexicographer

The role of a dictionary as an instrument of language standardization, documentation and pedagogy is indisputable. A survey of extant Igbo dictionaries reveals the absence of a standard Igbo dictionary, even though excellent grammars exist in the variety. A number of significant issues has made the production of a standard dictionary unrealized till date in Igbo studies even in the face of the huge benefits of computational lexicography. The Igbo lexicographer is faced with the challenges of deciding what to include as a standard lexical item and how to represent it in the dictionary. The paper investigates the linguistic factors, as well as the lexicographic principles responsible for the absence of a standard form for headwords, and the factors that impede the number, type and quality of lexicographic works in Igbo. Data for analysis were sourced from extant Igbo dictionaries of both colonial-missionary lexicographers and native speaker compilers. A close examination of the dictionaries establishes that the major challenges faced by Igbo lexicographers and which have hindered the production of a dictionary in the standard variety include: the use of competing and varying orthographies occasioned by the inaccuracy and lack of acceptance of the Onwu orthography; multiplicity of dialects, the complex morpho-semantics and verbal structures of the language, as well as the choice and arrangement of citation forms of lexical items.