WPC@ 2 B V L Z NLQ 10cpi ? x x x x 6 X @ ?{ X @ IBM Proprinter IBMPROPR.PRS x @ kX @ 2 . > #| x 9319415 HYMAN & ABSTRACT This three year project aims to produce in Berkeley a Comparative Bantu On Line Dictionary (CBOLD) designed to support and enhance the theoretical, descriptive and historical linguistic study of the languages in the Bantu family. The computerized database will include upwards of 4,000 reconstructed Proto Bantu roots, several thousand additional reconstructed regional roots, and reflexes of these roots for an initial 50 of the 500+ daughter languages. Published and unpublished dictionaries of selected Bantu languages will be scanned and also entered in the database. Working with colleagues and students from the United States, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Cameroon, Tanzania and other countries, organized into the Bantu Working Group (BWG), the project will (i) unify computational efforts that have thus far been separately explored; (ii) share all linguistic materials; and (iii) establish separate and collaborative efforts to push the fields of theoretical and historical Bantu linguistics forward. Coordinating with other members of the BWG, the PI and co workers will contribute in two major ways. First, computationally, Berkeley will: (i) set up the database for all of the researchers to input; (ii) establish a unified format for computational lexicographic work in the Bantu languages; (iii) input extensive (annotated) dictionaries of at least nine languages (Duala, Basaa, Fang, Luganda, Runyankore, Kinande, Chichewa, Ciyao, and Shona Ikalanga); and (iv) input lexicons of 4,000+ words for another 15 languages. Second, linguistically, the PI will: (i) participate in evaluating "Narrow" and "Wide" Proto Bantu reconstructions; (ii) conduc t specific studies in the historical phonology of the Bantu consonant, vowel and tonal systems; and (iii) produce theoretical work based on the phonology and morphology of Bantu. As outlined in the proposal, the database will be designed specifically to facilitate detailed lexical studies of the different Bantu languages.
