On July 12th, 2012, a decent Setswana monolingual dictionary was launched at the University of Botswana by the second president of the Republic of Botswana, His Excellency, Sir Ketumile Masire.
The choice of Sir Ketumile Masire as the one to launch the dictionary was most appropriate since he is a delightful speaker of the Setswana language. He speaks the language with supreme beauty and confidence, a unique quality found amongst many Batswana of his age. Sir Quett Masire was born in Kanye, on July 23, 1925, making him 87 years of age this year.
The initial launch of the Tlhalosi ya Medi ya Setswana attracted African languages professors from the University of South Africa, the University of Botswana, academics from the University of the North West, University of KwaZulu-Natal and many others from the region. In attendance was also Theriso Tsambo, the Head of the Department of Setswana at the North West University. Mrs Tsambo has a famous son, one Jabulani Tsambo, well-known in the music circle as Hip Hop Pantsula or just HHP. The former Vice Chancellor of the University of Botswana had written an endorsement of the dictionary and was therefore in attendance at its launch. In attendance was also Prof. Dan Kgwadi, the Rector of the North West University, Mafikeng Campus, a physicist by profession. It would be difficult to forget the poet, Mr Moreri Moroka, who delighted the guests by his electric poetry. That was 12 July 2012. Following the launch of the Setswana dictionary in Botswana, many of the South Africans present wanted to have it launched in their home soil, right in the North West of South Africa, where there is an estimated 4 million Setswana speakers. Therefore on Friday October 26th, 2012 Tlhalosi ya Medi ya Setswana will be launched at the North West University in Mahikeng.
The significance of the launch in South Africa is huge. It is in very rare occasions that you find a book being launched in Botswana and then having a second launch in South Africa. It is actually rare to find any book written in Botswana launched in South Africa. What has, in part, facilitated the launch of the Tlhalosi ya Medi ya Setswana in Mahikeng is the fact that South Africans, perhaps more than Batswana of Botswana, better grasp the strategic importance of the Setswana language in the region. The Setswana language has a National Lexicographic Unit (NLU) together with a body that is totally devoted to the development and preservation of the language. Regionally and continentally, Setswana has been chosen by ACALAN (The African Academy of Languages) as one of the first working cross-border languages and the vehicular cross-border languages which should be given priority in the southern African region. ACALAN is an arm of the African Union, created in 2001 to deal with the growing efforts of promoting the African languages as tools of development and regional integration in Africa. Out of about 2,130 languages spoken in Africa, 396 languages have been identified as cross-border, that is, they are spoken across national boundaries. Setswana was identified to be one of these languages. The African Union is interested in promoting and developing these 396 languages to use them in promoting regional development and integration. In southern Africa Setswana and Chinyanga have been selected as the first regional languages to play the role of regional development and integration. The two languages were chosen for the southern African region on the basis of their broad use in several countries. This includes their extensive use in public domains, their success in attracting second language speakers, their national/official status and their levels of technicalisation and standardisation. Setswana therefore now has an African Union Language Commission made up of language experts/promoters, writers/cultural promoters from both Botswana and South Africa. The compiler of Tlhalosi ya Medi ya Setswana is a member of this commission.
The compilation of Setswana dictionaries is in line with the broader vision of the African Union of promoting and developing the Setswana language. We must remember that the first Setswana dictionary was compiled in 1976 by MLA Kgasa, a Setswana grammarian from Kanye; that was about 100 years after the first bilingual (Setswana-English) dictionary was compiled by John Brown. MLA Kgasa therefore launched a monolingual lexicographic tradition which Tlhalosi ya Medi ya Setswana is developing.
Another significant point about the launch in South Africa is a demonstration that the Setswana language is a single language. There are those who have been misled by the political borders between Botswana and South Africa and they have mistaken these to be linguistic borders. Some even wish to encourage and create the divisions between South Africa and Botswana. They claim that there is South African Setswana, as well as Botswana Setswana. There are no such entities! The Setswana language is a single language with dialectal varieties. Those varieties exist within the South African border as well as within the Botswana. Therefore ga go na ditswana. There is only one Setswana language with dialectal varieties. In Botswana the varieties are fairly well understood. The key markers of Sengwato are well known as well as the key features of Sengwaketse and Sekgatla.
At a word level there are words which identify Sengwato such as sepora, seswaa, kgomo ya metsi and phoisana. Sengwaketse words are also fairly well known. They include perepetsha, loswao, tsiri, kwii and others. There is still however a need to better understand the linguistic variation in South Africa. Studies of Bafokeng dialect, Batlhaping, Barolong, Batshweneng and others are yet to be studied in an informative way that would instruct the dictionary compilations of the future. The launch of the Setswana dictionary in South Africa in many ways is a celebration of the achievements of the Setswana linguistics and lexicography. There is still much that has to be achieved but clear strides are visible.
