Region to benefit from multilingual dictionary

ON FRIDAY July 6, 2001, a copy of the manuscript of the Caribbean Multilingual Dictionary was presented by Mrs. Jeannette Allsopp to the CARI-FORUM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana.

The Caribbean Multilingual Dictionary is a cross-referenced dictionary of the flora, fauna and foods of the Caribbean, presented in three languages of the Caribbean: Caribbean English to Caribbean French and Caribbean Spanish.

Mrs. Jeannette Allsopp, a Caribbean lexicographer, who is the author of this reference work, has been actively engaged for 15 years in conducting research in the Caribbean region on these specific categories and how these are referred to in the three main languages in the region.

The Caribbean Multilingual Dictionary is the physical product of the Multilingual Lexicography Project, which commenced implementation in December 1998, under the CARIFORUM Cultural Centres Programme. This cultural sector development programme is being financed by the European Union under the Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme of the 7th European Development Fund.

Culture is one of the areas of co-operation between the European Commission and the Caribbean Forum of ACP States (CARIFORUM). Other components in the CARIFORUM Cultural Centres Programme are the Cultural Centres in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, which are responsible for the co-ordination of specific cultural activities in the region ranging from the publication of cultural reviews, the organisation of regional exhibitions, youth exchange programmes, the establishment of a CARIFORUM Cultural Support Fund and support to national libraries and museums in the region. The objective of this programme, which is considered a first phase in the establishment of a CARIFORUM Cultural Centres Network, is the development of a capacity to promote CARIFORUM cultural identities and cultural exchanges and encouraging intra-CARIFORUM cultural communication.

The Multilingual Lexicography of Caribbean Language Usage Project is a research project that is implemented by the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, in Barbados. Mrs. Allsopp is contracted as a consultant lexicographer to the project and is responsible for the daily implementation of the project. Field research assistants were contracted in various countries in the region to assist in the collection and verification of data. Collaboration links were also established with other linguists and lexicographers working in similar areas in the francophone and hispanophone Caribbean as Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Venezuela. Besides the compilation of a Caribbean Multilingual Dictionary, the project has delivered a large computerised database of Caribbean flora, fauna and foods in four languages ­ English, French, French Creole and Spanish. Through the project a cadre of research assistants in these four languages was trained to a level where they are able to do further work in multilingual lexicography as well as to apply the knowledge gained in further linguistic research.

The presentation of the manuscript at the CARIFORUM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana, is seen as the first step to publication of this important Caribbean cultural and scientific product. Arrangements for the signing of the publishing contract with Arawak Publications in Jamaica are currently being finalised. Mr. Percival Marie, director, Technical Operations of the CARIFORUM Secretariat, who received a copy of the manuscript on behalf of the secretary-general of CARIFORUM, expressed his appreciation for the perseverance and hard work of the author despite the various hiccups experienced in the implementation of the project. He responded to the author's expressions of gratitude to CARIFORUM by indicating that: "CARIFORUM and the people of the region owe you tremendously, because we cannot pay you for the 15 years of your life that you have given to produce this valuable treasure for the Caribbean region."

It should be mentioned that Mrs. Jeannette Allsopp is the wife of Mr. Richard Allsopp, author of the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, which was published by Oxford University Press in 1996. It is anticipated that the new Caribbean Multilingual Dictionary will be available in February 2002.

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