Credits & acknowledgements

The dictionary project begań with Father Yves Blanchard's arrival in Cameroon in 1952; Philip Noss' linguistic research begań in 1966. From handwritten notes, a list of words was typed, a first draft of the dictionary was prepared, and then a manuscript was entrusted to the North Suburban Printing Service, Westminster, Colorado, USA, for typesetting and printing. The first publication appeared in 1982; a reprint was done in 2006 also by North Suburban Printing Service.

In 2006, the Indonesian Bible Society accepted to digitize the dictionary content. Ms. Alicia Chandradwi's team, Yuti Yuliati and Zeth Bitjoli, scanned the text. They installed it in Paratext (PT), a software program created by Reinier de Blois of the United Bible Socieies (UBS) to help Bible translators. The complete dictionary was installed in the PT glossary program to preserve it for republication. Brian Renes, lead trainer in the Bible Ministry Technology program of the UBS, helped́ Philip Noss learn to use the PT glossary program. He provided frequent assistance as Dr. Noss, in collaboration with the Gbaya Literature Center in Meiganga, filled in gaps and introduced new vocabulary items in the dictionary.

Recently, Robert Hedinger, an SIL international dictionary specialist, introduced the dictionary manuscript into Fieldworks Language Explorer (FLEx), a software program created by SIL to facilitate language analysis and dictionary preparation. Dr. Hedinger re-coded the the words in the dictionary to match the FLEx system, thereby opening the door for worldwide electronic circulation, and also for the printing the dictionary as a book. A great debt of gratitude is owed to the media specialists who generously provided assistance without which the updated dictionary would not have seen the light of day.

Deep appreciation is expressed to all those who in one way or another have promoted and supported the project: Mr. Emmanuel Soundjock, formerly director of CERELTRA (Centre de Recherches sur les Langues et Traditions Africaines) in Yaoundé who encouraged us to undertake the work; Rev. Darman Paul, first president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon (EELC); Bishop Djida Joseph, Bishop of Ngaoundéré; Dogo Badomo Beloko, a Gbaya artist; Catholic priests, Yves Blanchard, Pierre Bodéns̀, and Daniel Hava; the first translators, Kombo Samuel and Bekawah Paul, and other collaborators who have passed on.

We extend our warm thanks to current collaborators, namely; Dr. Daud Soesilo, regional coordinator of the UBS, Rev. Tiko Daniel, director of translation and literacy of the EELC, Doko Jean Marie, director of the Gbaya Literature Center; Dr. Denis Bétaré Ndoe, dean of the Lutheran Theological Institute of Meiganga; and countless supporters, including Daniel Djidéré and Daniel Djoulé. Special thanks is given to our friend Nathan Mueller who has provided photographs of the highest quality as illusrations for Gbaya words, and to Mama Cece Noss, whose photos have been used in memorial. Our colleagues and friends have never wavered in their efforts to support the project.

We also express gratitude to those who devoted themselves to proofreading, Aliette Cheramy at the Universitý of Florida and Atta Elisabeth, Doko Jean Marie, Gumbela Ruben, and Samson Hamidou at the Gbaya Literature Center in Meiganga.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)