ABSTRACT Rama is an obsolescent Chibchan language of Nicaragua. The goal of this project is to produce a reference dictionary by consolidating, correcting, updating and adding to data already available such as Lehmann (1914), Diccionario Elemental Rama (Craig, 1987) and the data produced for a grammar of Rama (Craig, 1988). The dictionary will include a grammatical sketch, entries with illustrative sentence examples as well as grammatical, semantic and cultural information. It is intended as a reference work for general linguists, as a tool for Chibchan comparative studies, and as a model for using a Macintiosh personal computer to compile a dictionary from a textual database. This dictionary is part of a comprehensive documentation project of the Rama language initiated in 1985 at the request of the Rama community. It is a principal tool for the community-based language revitalization project developed as one of the implementations of the language policies of the Autonomy Laws of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua established by the Sandinista government in 1987. It is designed to be a model for future dictionaries of the other indigenous languages of Nicaragua.
