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MALEXPROJECT-WHATISITALLABOUTThe Malawi Lexicon (MALEX) Project’s main objective is to apply modern empirical methods from computational linguistics and lexicography to facilitate the creation of language tools designed to fit with educational system in Malawi. Language specimens are gathered from two main sources, i.e. from field work and from translation activities that are carried out at the Centre for Language Studies. These are processed into electronic resources in the form of language corpora from which lexical databases can be derived. The linguistic resources are designed to accommodate scholarly research without losing sight of the practical goal of producing dictionaries and language aids for the multilingual situation in Malawi. Specifically, the project aims at · Creating an electronic lexical database for Chichewa, Citumbuka and Ciyawo · Using electronic database to develop and compile dictionaries and technical terms in Chichewa, Citumbuka and Ciyawo. The MALEX Project is funded by NUFU in Norway and is being conducted jointly by the University of Malawi, through the Centre for Language Studies and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Professor Pascal Kishindo is the Project coordinator at the University of Malawi, Centre for Language Studies while Professor Lars Hellan is the Project coordinator at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). As of mid April 2009, the status report of the three languages showed that Ciyawo had 5346 lexical entries, 5692 definitions and 1582 examples; Citumbuka had 4168 entries, 2393 definitions and 711 examples while Chichewa had 9871 entries, 6190 definitions and 447 examples. The project commenced in 2007and will run up to 2011. |