An academic advocates the compilation of dictionaries in indigenous languages to enhance the cultural heritage of Nigerian people.
Dr. Scholastica Amadi who made the assertion in an interview with our correspondent described the dictionary as a compilation of words and a reference book which standalises and promotes consistency in the speaking of a particular language.
She noted that without the dictionary it would be difficult for an individual to understand the meaning of a strange word.
“The most important thing in communication is accessibility and intelligebility. If we communicate in writing and have different spellings or in speech the pronunciations do not sound better no doubt we will have challenges in understanding one another. If you have a dictionary just look at it. Every word in the dictionary has its spelling, pronunciation, and usage. You can see, the dictionary is important as far as communication is,” she explained.
Dr Amadi stated that the ability to speak fluently in any language lies on the usage of the dictionary which helps to build vocabulary.
“In as much, students are advised not to consult the dictionary as the first item when faced with a challenge on how to use a particular word, they should look at the context of usage but where the context does not give them an understanding, spelling, meaning, usage, and pronunciation of that word, they would then resort to the dictionary.
It is a reference text so if an individual wants to build his vocabulary he should use the dictionary,” she noted.
Dr. Amadi admitted that there are soft copies of the dictionary made available by the internet, however, warned students to be mindful of the settings in the usage of abbreviations in communication as promoted by the cyber space.
On Artificial Intelligence, AI she advised that while sourcing materials from the net, the web users should add human elements to the information gotten as the use the online expressions to incorporate human intelligence.
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” When I see an AI generated work no doubt the features are there. Am not saying they should not be used. They make our work now faster but there is need to humanize it . Any writing you see done by a human being will not be monotonous. If you look at AI generated text, you can easily identify it in terms of monotony, the structure of the sentence and no person write perfectly,” she concluded.
The educationalist urged students to always use the dictionary for intellectual upliftment.
