ELF Annual Research Journal 17
(2015) 75-92
Presenting Pronunciation in a Dictionary: A Critical Survey
of Bilingual English-Sindhi Dictionaries
Zulfiqar Ali Shah , Ghulam Mustafa Mashori 
ABSTRACT: This study aims to investigate the approaches adopted by bilingual
English-Sindhi dictionaries in presenting phonological information on headwords.
Almost all important dictionaries are studied for this purpose. A unique trend has been
identified. Most bilingual English-Sindhi dictionaries don’t provide phonological
information on the entries at all. Few dictionaries set the trend of providing
pronunciation (Shahani, 1939; Yadgar, 1988; Kifayat, 2001; Advanced Dictionary,
2007; and Oxford, 2010). Almost all dictionaries except the one-The Oxford
Elementary Learner’s English-Sindhi Dictionary, (2006) which uses IPA, adopt the
method of providing pronunciation in Sindhi characters. This study also tries to find the
strengths and weaknesses of these dictionaries in the use of Sindhi characters for
providing pronunciation. The study concludes by pointing out many shortcomings and
weaknesses in the method of representing information on pronunciation for the
headwords. The use of diacritic marks on Sindhi characters is strongly recommended.
This study also suggests some guidelines for the future compilers to follow. In the light of
these guidelines a better approach may be adopted in future.
Keywords: Microstructure, bilingual dictionary, pronunciation, English Sindhi
Introduction
Dictionary is an important reference work in general and in language
learning and language teaching in particular. Lexicography is an academic
field which studies the theory of dictionary research or dictionary criticism
and practice of dictionary making (Hartmann, 1998; Bejoint, 2000; Landau,
2001 & Jackson, 2002). Sindhi language is one of the important languages in
Indo-Aryan branch of modern languages. It is being spoken by about 40
million speakers around the world (Cole, 2005) with a very rich tradition of
literature and culture. During the British rule over Sindh i.e. 1842-1947,
Sindhi language got its present form, grammar, and structure. Present day
Sindhi alphabet was introduced in 1853 by a committee of experts on it

**
Assistant Professor, & Ph.D Scholar, Institute of English Languages & Literature, Shah Abdul Latif University,
Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan.
Professor and Director, Institute of English Languages & Literature, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Sindh,
Pakistan.
Z.A Shah, G.M Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 17 (2015) 75-92
76
(Jetley, 1999, p. 163). This study aims to investigate one aspect of the
microstructure (Jackson, 2002) of dictionary i.e. pronunciation in bilingual
English Sindhi dictionary.
Six important dictionaries starting from the first dictionary to include
pronunciations in it language (Shahani, 1939) to the latest one (Oxford, 2010)
are selected for this purpose. List of the dictionaries analyzed is given in table
1 below:
Table 1
List of the Bilingual English Sindhi Dictionaries Analyzed
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Dictionary
English Sindhi Dictionary
Yadgar Dictionary
Sindhica Dictionary EnglishSindhi
Kifayat’s English to English
and Sindhi Dictionary
Advanced Dictionary: English
to English and Sindhi
Oxford English Sindhi
Dictionary
Compiler
Anandram T. Shahani
Shah, A. D & Mangi, B. A
Year
1939
1988
Sindhica Academy, Karachi
2003
Rashid Ahmed Memon
2004
Abdul Nabi Pirzado
2007
Shah, Q & Abro, B
2010
Literature Review
Microstructure of a Dictionary
Usually, some information about a word or a lexical item is to be
located and studied in a dictionary. We tend to find the form or spelling of a
word, its structure, meaning, grammar, usage and information about its
origin. This is the information or comment on the headword entry in a
dictionary. The arrangement of such information within the entries of a
dictionary is known as the microstructure of that dictionary.
The Micro structure of a dictionary includes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Spelling
Pronunciation
Inflection
Word class
Meanings
Definition
Usage
Etymology
(Jackson, 2002)
A Critical Survey of Bilingual English-Sindhi Dictionaries
77
Pronunciation
Besides the main information on ‘meaning’, dictionaries are also
consulted for the pronunciation of a word. Pronunciation is the symbolic
representation of the sounds of a word. It is the ‘phonological counterpart of
spelling’. It is the representation of words in ‘the medium of sound as against
its shape in the medium of writing’. So, it is the fore most task of a dictionary
to indicate the sounds that constitute the pronunciation of the word, and the
stress pattern of the words having more than one syllable. Mostly, there are
two ways to transcribe the pronunciation of a word in a dictionary. One is
‘respelling’ system used in the early edition of Oxford English Dictionary
(OED) and also in the Chamber’s Dictionary. On the other hand, most
modern dictionaries, and all learners’ dictionaries use the International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to represent pronunciation. Based on Roman
alphabet, IPA was developed by the International Phonetic Association in
the late nineteenth century and now is internationally recognised phonetic
alphabet. IPA uses single symbol to represent a sound. It uses extra symbols
besides the letters from Roman alphabet while ‘respelling’ system is restricted
only to Roman alphabet. That is why, in ‘respelling’ system, dictionaries use
diacritics or a large number of digraphs to represent correct pronunciation.
Here are few examples of ‘IPA’ system and ‘respelling’ system from
Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary ‘OALD8’and ‘Chambers’, respectively.
Table 2
Presenting Pronunciations in a Dictionary
Word
cheese
cook
complex
cricket
factor
infuse
lash
niche
oblige
IPA (OALD8)
ʧiːz
kʊk
kɒmpleks
krɪkɪt
fӕktə(r)
ɪnfjuːz
lӕʃ
niːʃ
əblaɪʤ
Respelling (Chamber’s)
chez
kook
kompleks
krikit
faktər
infuz
lash
nesh
ə-blij
The learners’ dictionaries of English now usually give American
pronunciation also alongside the British one. Here is a list of few words with
British and American pronunciation drawn from OALD8.
Table 3
Presenting British and American Pronunciations in a Dictionary
78
Word
advance
comment
schedule
farm
record
oppose
Z.A Shah, G.M Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 17 (2015) 75-92
British Pronunciation
ədvaːns
kɒment
ʃedjuːl
fɑːm
rekɔːd
əpəʊz
American Pronunciation
ədvӕns
kɑːment
skedʒuːl
fɑːrm
rekərd
əpoʊz
As, there are many regional accents of English; dictionaries usually
follow ‘standard accent’ or ‘received pronunciation’ RP accent.
Research Methodology
The present research is qualitative and critical in nature. It is carried
out through objective observation and critical analysis (Hartmann, 2001). The
research tools used in this study are ‘critical analysis’ (Hartmann, 2001;
Akasu, 2013) and ‘content analysis’ (Scott, 2006; Julien, 2008; Cohen,
Manion, & Morrison, 2011).
“Content analysis is an accepted method of textual investigation…In
content analysis, researchers establish a set of categories and then count the
number of instances that fall into each category” (Silverman, 2001, p.183 ).
Content analysis is an interpretive method of enquiry which involves
the close and careful reading of the contents of a text. The findings based on
content analysis may show ‘recurrent instances’ of “items” or “themes”.
According to Julien (2008) the categories or clusters of data identified may
represent discrete instances. It means whether something or some element is
present or absent in the given text or document. In this method researcher
classifies and identifies the categories in a text. ‘Ones thematic categories are
identified, the careful researcher attempts to ensure that the groupings or
categories of data are carefully defined in ways that are comprehensive.’
(Julien, 2008). The researcher has to confirm what is covered in the actual
text and what is missing or not present in the text.
Data Analysis
English-Sindhi Dictionary by Anandram T. Shahani (1939)
The English-Sindhi Dictionary compiled by Shahani (1939) is the first
English-Sindhi dictionary with pronunciation of English words in Sindhi
characters. It was for the first time that pronunciation of English words was
given in Sindhi characters in any English-Sindhi dictionary.
A Critical Survey of Bilingual English-Sindhi Dictionaries
79
The one thing for which this dictionary is popular is its presentation of
pronunciations of English words. Before this dictionary, no other bilingual
English – Sindhi dictionary made attempts in this area. As the compiler
explains this in the preface, it is very difficult to give pronunciation of an
English word in another language, because even two native speakers don’t
pronounce a word exactly as the same. Yet, the compiler has tried his best to
give more standard pronunciations commonly found with the native speakers.
As the pronunciations are given in Sindhi, the compiler makes them
clear by placing diacritical marks on almost every letter. In this way
pronunciations become intelligible and clear.
The dictionary gives two pronunciations of an English word where
necessary as native speakers sometimes use both pronunciations, as,
barrage
‫ براج‬، ‫بئريج‬
cabaret
‫ ڪئبري‬، ‫ڪئبريٽ‬
canine
‫ ڪئنائين‬، ‫ڪنائين‬
celestial
)‫ (ٽئل‬، ‫سليس شل‬
clinch
‫ڪلنش‬، ‫ڪلنچ‬
courier
‫ ڪوريئر‬، ‫ڪريئر‬
effectual
)‫ (چئل‬، ‫اِفيڪ ٽيوئل‬
distillery ‫ ڊسٽيلري‬، ‫ڊس ٽلري‬
The compiler explains the issue of pronunciation in the preface,
‘many words ending with ‘ture’ are pronounced by some as/tʃər/and by else
as/tʃuːər/, while the pronunciation of ‘tian’ in some words is made as
tʃʌn/ and /tʃӕn/, and of ‘du’ as /duː/ or /juː/.
In order to register all standard varieties and every day dialects, the
compiler chooses to give them all in the dictionary. But at some places it has
uselessly been made complex, as ‘culture’ as pronounced both as /kʌltʃər/ and
/kʌltəʊr/ while only the first pronunciation is accepted universally as correct.
The most striking feature of Shahani’s dictionary is its use of diacritic
marks on Sindhi letters to make the pronunciation as near to the standard
one as possible. A few examples are illustrated below:
َ ‫َب‬
Burden
‫رڊن‬
Button
‫بٽن‬
Dire
َ
‫ڊاير‬
Dirt
‫َڊرٽ‬
Emersion
‫ا َِمرشن‬
Stitch
‫س ِٽچ‬
Turn
‫َٽرن‬
Yadgar Dictionary: English to English and Sindhi (1988)
Z.A Shah, G.M Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 17 (2015) 75-92
80
Two renowned teachers of English, Sayed Ali Dino Shah and Bashir
Ahmed Mangi compiled this dictionary. In 1988, Yadgar Publishers,
Hyderabad published it. It is well about 920 demy size pages and gives 18-20
lexical items per page, hence covering approximately 1800 lexical items. The
latest edition of 2007 of the dictionary is under study for this research.
Pronunciation of English words in Sindhi is given in brackets. In the
order of presentation, pronunciation is the first micro information given in
the dictionary before the word class labeling.
The compilers have given a separate introductory note on the
presentation of pronunciation in the dictionary. The compilers describe the
pronunciation given in the dictionary as that of Received Pronunciation ‘RP’. They
further inform that all pronunciations have been confirmed from ‘Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary’ and from the cassette which is accompanied with
the BBC dictionary.
In spite of the hard work done by the compilers with respect to
pronunciations, the dictionary is full of mistakes and misprints in this regard.
First and foremost factor is the absence of diacritical marks in the
Sindhi form of pronunciations. It is not possible to describe the exact
pronunciation of an English word in Sindhi without diacritical marks.
Though sometimes these marks are placed, yet neither regularly nor in
correct form. That is why, the pronunciation section of the dictionary is full
of blunders and thus, misleading. Here are some examples:
The dictionary never makes difference in /ɑː/, /ɔː/and /ɒ/ as
illustrated in table 4 below:
Table 4
Comparison of Dictionary Translations with their Phonemic Translations
Pronunciation
given in Sindhi
Transcription of
Sindhi
Pronunciation
Phonemic
Transcription(OALD 8)
Apostle
‫اپاسل‬
əpɑ:sl
əpɒsl
Applaud
‫َاپالڊ‬
əplɑ:d
əplɔːd
Copper
‫ڪاپر‬
kɑ:pər
kɒpə (r)
Copulate
‫ڪاپيوليٽ‬
kɑ:pju:let
kɒpjuleɪt
Word
A Critical Survey of Bilingual English-Sindhi Dictionaries
81
‫ڪاپي‬
kɑ:pi:
kɒpi
Hostile
‫هاسٽائل‬
hɑ:staɪl
hɒstaɪl
Order
‫آڊر‬
ɑ:dər
ɔːdə(r)
Oracle
‫آرڪل‬
ɑ:rkɪl
ɒrəkl
Organ
‫اوگن‬
əʊgən
ɔːgən
Profit
‫پرافٽ‬
prɑ:fɪt
prɒfɪt
Project
‫پراجيڪٽ‬
prɑ:ekt
prɒʤekt
Copy
No difference has been made between /əʊ/ and /ɔː/ in Sindhi
pronunciations; as ‘menopause’ ‫ مين پوز‬as /menəpəʊz/ while actually it is
/menəpɔːz/; few other examples are:
Odd
‫آڊ‬
Odour
‫اوڊر‬
Posture
‫پاسچر‬
Potter
‫پاٽر‬
Spot
‫اسپاٽ‬
Snob
‫سناب‬
Sock
‫ساڪ‬
Sort
‫ساٽ‬
The well-known consonant sound of English /ŋ/is wrongly
interpreted and identified with Sindhi nasal implosive ‫ڱ‬. Whole dictionary
carries this misunderstanding. Few examples:
blank
‫بلئڱڪ‬
carbuncle
‫ڪابڱڪل‬
Z.A Shah, G.M Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 17 (2015) 75-92
82
king
‫ڪڱ‬
sink
‫سڱڪ‬
link
‫لڱڪ‬
Pink
‫پِڱڪ‬
Another blunder in pronunciation is to describe the first consonant sound of
/s/ as /ɪs/ in the words beginning with /sp/ letter. This mistake is almost
generally adopted through out in the dictionary. Just few examples are
quoted as under:
spoon
‫اسپون‬
split
‫اسپلٽ‬
speak
‫اسپيڪ‬
special
‫اسپيشل‬
spread
‫اسپريڊ‬
spy
‫اِسپاء‬
standard
‫اسٽئنڊڊ‬
stem
‫اسٽيم‬
Other Common Blunders of Pronunciation
There is an endless list of blunders in the pronunciation part of
dictionary. Some of them may be mistakes of printing and some on behalf of
the compilers. Few of them are:
alcohol
‫ڪهال‬
ِ ‫آئل‬
/a:ɪlkɪhaːl/
complement
‫ڪام پل نٽ‬
/kɑːmpɪlnɪt/
conquest
‫ڪا ڪئيسٽ‬
/kɑːkʊest/
merchant
‫مچنٽ‬
/məʧənt/
merciful
‫مسفل‬
/məsfl/
mercury
ُ
‫مڪوري‬
/məkuːri/
naïve
‫ناِء ايٽو‬
/nɑːiːtɪv/
A Critical Survey of Bilingual English-Sindhi Dictionaries
83
Kifayat’s Comprehensive English to English and Sindhi Dictionary (2001)
Kifayat’s comprehensive English to English and Sindhi Dictionary is
a monumental work done in the field of Sindhi lexicography (Shah, 2009).
The dictionary spreads over three huge volumes containing 3686 pages. The
first volume carries letters from A to H, (1-1321) the second from I to R
(1322-2659), and the third volume contains letters from S to Z (2660-2659).
The information about abbreviations containing 36 pages is given at the end
of the dictionary.
The dictionary is English to English and Sindhi; we are concerned
only with the Sindhi portion of it in this study.
To give correct pronunciations in a dictionary is always a most
challenging job. This becomes even more difficult when pronunciations are
to be given in Sindhi. This is the third English-Sindhi Dictionary in which
pronunciations are given in Sindhi characters. Shahani’s, (1939) and Yadgar’s
dictionary, (1988) are predecessors to this one in this regard.
After the careful study of pronunciations in these dictionaries, it
becomes quite clear that without diacritic marks on them, English
pronunciations are not possible to produce in Sindhi.
The dictionary adopts the methods of diacritic marks regularly but
only for the entries of first letter-A. Then, these marks appear less frequently.
Without these marks, it becomes very difficult to distinguish two
pronunciations from one another. For example, the pronunciation of the
following words becomes identical in the dictionary and indistinguishable.
Bail
bale
Bake
beck
Check
cheek
Card
chord
Ferm
firm
Glass
gloss
Glow
glue
Mail
male
Mid
mud
Pain
pen
Some examples of homographs from the dictionary:
bow
bow
bell
meal
Z.A Shah, G.M Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 17 (2015) 75-92
84
Close
close
Row
row
Sow
sow
Use
use
The user’s guide with the title of ‘using this dictionary’ reads; ‘attention
to English spelling can only make it clear to the user to correctly pronounce
the word’. However, it is quite clear even to a layman that one cannot
pronounce English word from its spelling. Many times spelling of an English
word is misleading. So, it becomes necessary to place diacritic marks on
Sindhi spellings and their clear guide to the readers.
It is the pronunciation part, where the dictionary is full of mistakes.
In order to make the distinction clear, a few examples are quoted as under
(Adopted from Shah & Khand 2009, p. 39).
Pronunciation in the Dictionary
RP Pronunciation
(OALD-8)
Adjective
‫ائڊ جيڪٽو‬
/ӕdʤektɪv/
/ӕʤɪktɪv/
adjoin
‫ائڊ جوائن‬
/ӕdʤwɑɪn/
/ӕdʤɔɪn/
Bury
‫بري‬
/bəriː/
/beri/
Climb
‫ڪالئيمب‬
/klaɪmb/
/klaɪm/
Dengue
‫ڊينيو‬
/denjuː/
/deŋgi/
Enchant
‫اين چانٽ‬
/enʧɑ:nt/
/ɪnʧɑ:nt/
Encourage ‫اين ڪريج‬
/enkəreʤ/
/ɪnkʌrɪʤ/
Obedience ‫اوبيڊينس‬
/əʊbi:dens/
/əbidəns/
Obey
‫اوبي‬
/əʊbeɪ/
/əbeɪ/
These are just few examples to show that one cannot claim this
dictionary as an authentic source on English language. However, one cannot
deny the pain of collection and confirmation of the correct pronunciations
through which the team of compilers under went. It makes the reader
obliged to appreciate them.
Many words starting with /s/ sound are pronounced in the
dictionary as /ɪs/ which is clearly Sindhi style of pronouncing English words:
A Critical Survey of Bilingual English-Sindhi Dictionaries
spoon
‫اسپون‬
skip
‫اسڪپ‬
skill
‫اسڪل‬
skin
‫اسڪن‬
spray
‫اسپري‬
state
‫اسٽيٽ‬
85
All these words are wrongly pronounced by starting with /ɪs/ sound
instead of /s/, which is the correct sound.
Advanced Dictionary: English to English and Sindhi (2007)
This is the latest English-Sindhi dictionary published in 2007 by
Kathiwar Stores, Urdu Bazar, Karachi. The main body of the dictionary
spreads over 1314 pages with 46 pages for other information at the end of
the dictionary, making the total number of pages to 1360.
Main entries are given in bold type and almost all entries start with a
capital letter. A table of ‘contents’ is given before the start of the dictionary.
The contents cover the information about the location of words by
mentioning their pages. So the table shows the page number for all letters
from A to Z.
Pronunciation of English lexical items is given in Sindhi.
Unfortunately, as with other dictionaries, this one also does not place
diacritics on Sindhi words. That is why, the pronunciation part of the
dictionary is deceiving and misleading. There are many words whose
pronunciations cannot be differentiated without diacritic marks. Below are a
few examples (Adopted from Shah & Khand, 2009, p. 39):
bale and bell
)‫(بيل‬
league, lag and leg )‫(ليگ‬
lake and leak
)‫(ليڪ‬
lodge and loge
)‫(الج‬
pit and put
)‫(پٽ‬
lick and luck
)‫(لڪ‬
main and mean
)‫(مين‬
mis and muss
(‫)مس‬
steam and stem
)‫(اسٽيم‬
steep and step
)‫(اسٽيم‬
The dictionary is full of mistakes and blunders in the part of
pronunciations. The words starting with /o/ are pronounced as /əʊ/ while
most of them are actually pronounced as /ə/ as;
Z.A Shah, G.M Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 17 (2015) 75-92
86
‘obey, objective, object, obedient, oblige’ all these words are
presented as starting with /əʊ/ sound in the dictionary instead of /ə/. Same
is practiced by Kifayat’s Dictionary which has been discussed in detail there.
Words like ‘adjective, adjoin, adjourn, adjust’ are pronounced with
the initial sound as /ӕd/, but in their actual RP pronunciation the /d/ sound
in these words is not pronounced.
The other blunder is committed in the pronunciation of English
words starting with /s/ sound. Most of these words are pronounced in the
dictionary as starting with /ɪs/ sound. For example;
‘school, student, stand, still, stone, stop, store’ etc all these words
have been given /ɪs/ sound in their start in the dictionary.
There is a long list of words, which are wrongly pronounced in the
dictionary. Few examples with their pronunciations are:
ballad
)‫(بالڊ‬
climb
)‫(ڪلمب‬
coupdetat
)‫(ڪوپ ڊيتا‬
debut
)‫(ڊي بٽ‬
examination
)‫(ايگزاميننشن‬
expand
)‫(ايڪسپانڊ‬
Oxford English Sindhi Dictionary (2010)
Oxford English Sindhi Dictionary (OESD) came out in 2010 and is
published by Oxford University Press, Karachi. It is a good addition in the
tradition of bilingual dictionary making in Sindhi. It spreads over almost 2100
pages. Though few popular English Sindhi Dictionaries were present in the
scenario, there was a persisting need for a good dictionary in the field.
This dictionary is the directed adaptation of Concise Oxford Dictionary. As
mentioned on the front matter of the dictionary English text is taken from
the 9th edition of Concise Oxford Dictionary (1995).
The system of presenting pronunciation of an English word is based
on the older version of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). All modern
English dictionaries i.e. Oxford Advanced Learners’, Cambridge, Longman,
give pronunciations in the revised version of IPA i.e. 2005. The learner who
is familiar with OALD or any other modern English dictionary will find it
confusing to read the correct pronunciation of an English word.
A Critical Survey of Bilingual English-Sindhi Dictionaries
87
The IPA symbols used in this dictionary are compared with IPA
system in other modern dictionaries as under:
IPA in
OESD
ʌ
ʌɪ
ɛ
əː
ɛː
IPA Modern
(2005)
ӕ
aɪ
e
ɜː
eə
Word
cat, fan
fine
pen
girl
hair
Pronunciation
in OALD
kӕt , fӕn
faɪn
pen
ɡɜːl
heə (r)
Pronunciation
in OESD
kat , fan
fʌɪn
pɛn
ɡəːl
hɛː
(Shah & Mashori, 2011, p. 43)
Instead of /e/ it gives /ɛ/ as for send, or self.
Instead of giving well known symbol of /ӕ/ in the words like ‘cat’,
the dictionary provides /a/ for this double vowel sound. This feature runs
throughout the dictionary, and is certainly misguiding.
The English diphthong/ɜː/ for the sound occurring in the words like
‘girl’ and ‘thirst’ is wrongly given as /əː/. It is actually an old system. Now
all English dictionaries represent this sound with the IPA symbol of /ɜː/.
(Roach, 1983, Crystal, 1987; Cruttenden, 1994)
Pronunciation of English sound /ɜː/ in Sindhi is completely
misleading. For example, the pronunciation of two English words ‘gurn’ and
‘gun’ appears as same as /‫گن‬/ on page no.781 & 782 respectively.
In the Sindhi characters these pronunciations are totally misguiding.
In the following table we will illustrate with more examples how a misguiding
pronunciation is given which is identical with a different word:
Word
burn; bun
ton; turn; tonne
tough; turf
verdict
verge
verb
verbal
virgin
Pronunciation in
Sindhi
‫بن‬
‫ٽن‬
‫ٽف‬
‫وڊڪٽ‬
‫وج‬
‫وب‬
‫وبل‬
‫وجن‬
Transcription in IPA
of Sindhi
Pronunciation
bʌn
tʌn
tʌf
vədkʌt
vəʤ
vəb
vəbəl
vəʤən
Z.A Shah, G.M Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 17 (2015) 75-92
88
‫وٽيو‬
‫وڊ‬
‫وڪ‬
‫ولڊ‬
virtue
word
work
world
vətjoʊ
wəd
wək
wəld
(Shah & Mashori, 2011, p.44)
These are few examples to clarify that the present dictionary uses an
outdated version of IPA system. This system is used for the description of
Cardinal Vowel System but is not used for Transcription or for Dictionary
Pronunciation. Though based on Concise Oxford Dictionary, this dictionary
will be of less use for the learner who refers most modern dictionaries.
The system given by original version of the Concise Oxford
Dictionary has been adopted without giving any second thought to it to make
the dictionary updated.
Findings
To give pronunciation of English words in Sindhi characters is very
difficult. However, editors have certainly done a good job. In many respects they
are successful. But in the pronunciation of few English sounds they have
committed blunders. For example, for the English sound of /ŋ/ there is a Sindhi
letter given, which is absolutely a different sound. This sound comes in words
like ‘sing’, ‘thing’, ‘think’ and in ‘dengue’. When one sees the pronunciation of these
and such like words one will be disappointed to find their substitute in Sindhi as
/‫ڱ‬/, which is not an appropriate sound especially when fully released. An Arabic
diacritic mark of ‘mad’ may have been used over/‫ن‬/to represent this sound. For
example when we pronounce word ‘dengue’ it will never be /‫ڊيڱگي‬/ as the
dictionary says (p. 454). Few more examples with this mispronunciation are as
under:
Table 5
Pronunciations
Word
Adjunct
Building
Bank
Bunk
Junk
Prink
Priming
Pronunciation Provided
‫ايجڱٽ‬
‫بلڊنڱ‬
‫بيڱڪ‬
‫بڱڪ‬
‫جڱڪ‬
‫پرنڱڪ‬
‫پرائمڱ‬
A Critical Survey of Bilingual English-Sindhi Dictionaries
Sing
Sink
Tonga
tongue
89
‫سڱ‬
‫سڱڪ‬
‫ٽاڱگه‬
‫ٽڱ‬
The English sound /θ/ is represented with Sindhi letter /‫ٿ‬/ which
is never the right symbol. /‫ ٿ‬/ is completely different sound and English
sound /θ/ is completely different. The Sindhi pronunciation of word ‘gigolo’
is given as/‫( ژگلوم‬p.735) where as it is without ‫ م‬sound as / ‫ ژگلو‬/. It may be
the mistake of proof reading.
Examples of some misguiding presentation of pronunciations
In addition to the mistakes in few important sounds of English and
their counterparts in Sindhi as mentioned above, there are few other mistakes
here and there in the dictionary. In the following table, we will cite few
mistakes of the pronunciations which will illustrate this feature of the
dictionary more clearly:
Word
bird
bunch
flow
situation
turf
virtue
Pronunciation in OESD in
Sindhi
Pronunciation missing
‫بنش‬
‫فالِء‬
‫سٽييئشن‬
‫ٽف‬
‫وٽيو‬
Pronunciation in OALD
(8th)
bʌnʧ
fləʊ
sɪʧueɪʃn
tɜːf
vɜːʧu
Conclusion
This study concludes that out of eleven bilingual English-Sindhi
dictionaries, six dictionaries (Stack, 1849; Lakshman, 1868; Mirchandani, 1928;
Bulchand, 1932; Mewaram, 1933; and Sindhica, 2003) don’t provide
pronunciation at all. The five dictionaries give pronunciation on their entries
which are Shahhani (1939); Yadgar (1988); Kifayat (2004); Pirzado (2007); and
Oxford (2010).
Among these dictionaries only Shahani makes use of diacritic marks
on Sindhi characters hence makes its pronunciations up to the mark and near
to perfection. All other dictionaries are full of blunders and don’t follow any
linguistic/lexicographic principle in this regard. Later on the Oxford EnglishSindhi dictionary makes use of software exclusively developed for this
purpose to read the IPA pronunciations in the Concise Oxford Dictionary
whose translation it is and convert automatically into pronunciations in
90
Z.A Shah, G.M Mashori / ELF Annual Research Journal 17 (2015) 75-92
Sindhi. It may be because of some inbuilt faults in the software that this
dictionary also commits mistakes in the pronunciation of some phonemes as
described in detail in the body of this article.
As, it is very much evident from the above discussion that no
English-Sindhi dictionary fulfills the criterion of the standard method of
presenting pronunciation either in respelling system or in an IPA style. Most
dictionaries prefer to provide pronunciation of English headwords in Sindhi
characters. Many shortcomings and mistakes were found in Sindhi
pronunciations. The major phonemes in English which cause problem to
reproduce their meaning were found as in consonants:
/θ/, /ŋ/, /ʒ/ and in vowels: /ɒ /, /ɔ:/, /ɜ:/, and initial /s/in some
English words.
The need to introduce a system for these problematic English
phonemes is emphasized. These sounds cannot be represented in Sindhi
characters without proper diacritic marks over them. It is strongly
recommended that some diacritic marks be introduced by Sindhi
lexicographers or publishers to make it authentic to produce original
pronunciations in Sindhi.
A Critical Survey of Bilingual English-Sindhi Dictionaries
91
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