A Comprehensive Comparison of Lexemes in the ... - SIL International

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1.3 Methodology
1.3.1 The advantage of dictionaries over Swadesh wordlists
There are a number of advantages of a comparison of lexemes based on
comprehensive dictionary data, rather than on a Swadesh wordlist. First, a
Swadesh wordlist is English-based and does not give an adequate picture of the
richness or idiosyncrasies of a language. Second, when a Swadesh wordlist is
compiled by a linguistic surveyor who is largely unfamiliar with the language, the
likelihood of errors is greater than when a linguist compiles a dictionary over
time as he or she becomes familiar with the language.
1.3.1.1 Discovering idiosyncrasies of a language
A lexicon based on a language of wider communication (LWC) is unlikely
to elicit words for which there is no equivalent in the LWC. For instance, it is
unlikely that an English-speaking surveyor would discover words for which there
is no English or Bislama equivalent. 2
Table 1.2 lists some of the lexemes in Tanna’s languages which are
idiosyncratic and would not typically show up on a general survey list.
Table 1.2. Some idiosyncratic lexemes in the languages of Tanna.
verbal break off a leaf at its stem
eat food with a leaf
erect wild cane to ensorcel garden
trespassers
expectorate kava
give someone a piggyback ride
mash something between the fingernails
roast in an earthen oven
scrape with the side of a knife
wear a bark skirt
wear something around the neck
wear something in the hair
nominal half-eaten food
house for newborns
kava drunk during daylight
Additionally, Tanna vernaculars have idiosyncratic words for ceremonies,
such as dances and rites of passage, and for localized methods of cultivation. For
example, Tanna languages list five stages of a coconut and more than a hundred
types of banana, taro, and sweet potato. Lexical data elicited through surveys
would not turn up these words; they are discovered over time.
2 Bislama is one of the official languages of Vanuatu, together with English and French. It is an English
pidgin which is becoming creolized.