Foreword

 

In order to preserve and promote the Yaka language, we are pleased to present the first version of the Yaka-French dictionary of which the volume will increase while it is still in the editing process. During this process, we aspire to make "the most comprehensive and well-written reference document" for the preservation and promotion of the Yaka language, as spoken in the Lékoumou Department, Sibiti District, Republic of Congo.

Its implementation was facilitated by previous studies that have been published including:

  • Ikounga, Martial De-Paul & Guy Kouarata. Proposition de guide d’orthographe Iyaa (Iyaa Spelling Guide Proposal). SIL-Congo.
  • Ikounga, Martial De-Paul, 2004. Nzisili a Iyaa (L’apprentissage du Yaka) (Learning Yaka).
  • Mouandza, Jean Daniel. 1991. Equisse phonologique du Iyaa (Parler Bantu du Congo) (Phonological sketch of Iyaa) (Bantu language of Congo). Mémoire D.E.S. Université Marien N’Gouabi, Brazzaville.
  • Raharimanantsoa, Ruth. 2020. Le système verbal du Yaka (The Yaka verbal system). SIL-Congo.
  • Ruth Raharimanantsoa, SIL-Congo, May 2021. Précis d’orthographe Yaka (Precise orthography of Yaka) (B73c).

All of these articles have contributed to the improvement of this dictionary.

This dictionary has adopted a standardized spelling system that is consistent with the writings of standardization guidelines of Congolese languages (Lumwamu 1986).

Among the many difficulties encountered during the writing of this dictionary, we can mention two that were a real headache:

The first difficulty concerns the elision of certain final vowels which are very subtly pronounced in speech, but the grammatical conventions of the language do not allow these elisions in writing, so the idea was to write all the possible letters of the word. However, the problem became more difficult to solve. For words with more than two syllables, whose penultimate syllable does not have a long vowel, it is often very difficult to find the exact vowel that corresponds to the penultimate syllable, because in speech, this vowel is naturally elided.

The second difficulty concerns the inclusion or not of words from neighboring languages, national and international, which are now used in a natural way in the Yaka language. These words that are used in everyday life without any concern for the denaturalization of the language by the new generation are a real concern of the older generation.

We take full responsibility for everything that can be seen as a flaw or loophole contained in the dictionary. And perfection not being a human work, judging ourselves very reasonably, the publication of this dictionary, while hoping that these last compilers will not stop only at this stage, and will encourage others who will have the goal of improving or enhancing even in small ways this dictionary for the promotion and the preservation of the Yaka language.

Our thanks go to the people who have contributed to the realization of this dictionary. May each of them find this reference work the fruit of their heritage to the community. For any comments or additional contributions to this work, please contact:

SIL Congo

18 Avenue Emile Cardinal BIAYENDA

B.P. 1067

 Brazzaville, Congo

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