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<DIV><SPAN class=245533922-27042004><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>The
best intermediate solution is to get someone knowledgeable about plants and
animals to describe the form, characteristics, and uses of each. A
definition like 'a small green insect that has a bad smell when crushed' is
better than 'insect sp.' The biologists might wish for the scientific name, and
that would certainly be ideal, but most users want a description. The scientific
name means nothing. I would recommend developing a template of questions to ask.
You will probably need a different template for each major type of plant or
animal. For instance for trees you might have, "Is the wood used for firewood?
Is the wood good for building houses and furniture? Is the wood hard or soft?
What do the leaves look like? What do the flowers look like? Is the fruit
edible? Do the bark, leaves, or fruit have medicinal uses?"</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=245533922-27042004><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=245533922-27042004><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Ron
Moe</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=245533922-27042004><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>SIL
International</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=245533922-27042004><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Phoenix, Arizona</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Cami Borza
[mailto:camiborza@yahoo.com]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 26, 2004 11:56
PM<BR><B>To:</B> lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re:
[Lexicog] Re: Lacunae -- what should go in a dictionary<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>Rudy,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thank you very much for your suggestions. It really sounds
great. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Unfortunately the situation in Congo doesn't allow us to do that anywhere
in the forsiable future (in my opinion). You see in the areas where we work
they have no libraries, no universities, no museums, no roads, no electricity
and no means to go in there except charted planes. There might be a couple of
cameras available in a few hundred km area, but then there is no way of
developping those films except when they occasionaly travel to Uganda. I
don't think any scientific researcher would dare to travel there. SAD BUT
TRUE! </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>That's why I don't know what to do with these names for plants and
animals.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Let's just hope one day would be possible to do research. But I think the
idea of contacting the Belgium society sounds great. Maybe they have already
done some research.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Cami.</DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR><B><I>Rudolph C Troike <rtroike@u.arizona.edu></I></B>
wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"><TT><BR>Re
Cami's question, my first suggestion would be to contact a university<BR>in
the area to find out if there are any botanists or zoologists around<BR>who
could help. Secondly, to check at the library of one or more<BR>universities
in the region, to see if there are books on the flora and<BR>fauna
available. Librarians, in my experience, will often go far out of<BR>their
way to respond to requests for help, even when they do not know<BR>anything
about the subject matter.<BR><BR>As suggested earlier, another useful
approach, if practicable, is to visit<BR>a natural science museum in the
region and see what resources they have.<BR><BR>Finally, since in the
colonial period there were often expeditions from<BR>museums in the home
country to collect and classify specimens, and often<BR>publish results in
research reports, probably a very productive approach<BR>would be to !
contact a major natural science museum in Belgium, and perhaps<BR>one in
France, to see if there are research reports on these topics. Some<BR>of
these may actually date to the 19th century. Also, there are<BR>undoubtedly
curators in such museums who would be interested in<BR>establishing contact
with someone in the field who could actually furnish<BR>specimens with
native names, and ethnographic information on their use.<BR><BR>Since the
existence of a number of different terms for 'manioc' imply<BR>native
knowledge on different means of collection and preparation, it<BR>would not
only be valuable to annotate a dictionary with this kind of<BR>detailed
ethnographic information, but it might be possible to link
this<BR>information with prior anthropological research on food and
agricultural<BR>practices in the region. There is certainly a growing
scientific interest<BR>in ecological issues, to which this information could
contribute. As I<BR>have noted here before, once languages beco! me extinct,
dictionaries often<BR>become a major source of ecological and cultural
information, so the long<BR>term scientific and historical importance of
inclusiveness in providing<BR>detailed glosses should not be
overlooked.<BR><BR>
Rudy<BR><BR><BR></TT></BLOCKQUOTE>
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