Entries explained
How to Read an Entry in this Dictionary
When you look in the dictionary, you will see many lines of words. Some look similar to the example below:
yuïc [yᵘí̤c] {yuɛ̈c} /yuii/ n head ɣoth [ɦòt̪] {ɣothë}
Here’s what the words mean:
- The word yuïc in bold is called a ‘main entry’. All the words after it give information about this word. All entries are listed according to the order of the Reel alphabet letters. See the Reel Aphlabet Order below for the list of letters in order. Entries that are nouns are in the singular form (only one of the noun). Entries that are verbs are in the infinitive form (such as following göör be ‘(s)he wants to’).
- Next, the word in square brackets [yᵘí̤c] shows the pronunciation in an alphabet used for all languages of the world. This is so that people who don’t know Reel can pronounce the word correctly. There is a High tone mark above the vowel letter [í̤]. Other words such as yuïïr [yᵘì̤ì̤r] ‘venom’ and riŋ [rꜜíŋ] ‘run’ have a low tone mark [ ì̤] or a down-stepped tone mark [ꜜí].
- Next, the bold word in braces {yuɛ̈c} shows the possessor singular form of the noun. This is how the noun is said when possessing another noun, as in wään yuɛ̈c ‘place of head’. See Noun Forms below for an explanation of noun forms that are listed in the dictionary.
- Next, the bold word between slashes /yuii/ shows the location form of the noun. This is how the noun is said when it shows the location of an action, as in nuɛ̈ɛ̈r wëï yuii ‘person is going to the head’.
- Next, the letter n in italics shows the word category (type of word) of the entry is a noun. See the Word Category Abbreviations below for a list of all possible word category abbreviations.
- Next, the word head is the definition of the entry and shows its meaning in English.
- The next bold word ɣoth is the plural of the entry. It is how to say more than one of the noun. Only entries that are nouns, adjectives, or possessor pronouns have a plural form. Some nouns such as nhiaal ‘sky’ do not have a plural form. Other nouns such as cak ‘milk’ have a plural form but no singular form. See Singular and Plural Nouns below for more explanation of how singular and plural nouns are formed.
- Next, the word in square brackets [ɦòt̪] shows the pronunciation and tone for the plural ɣoth.
- Finally, the bold word in braces {ɣothë} shows the possessor plural form of the noun.
Here are four minor entries that point to the same main entry yuïc ‘head’.
ɣoth1 pl. of yuïc head
ɣothë pos.pl of yuïc head
yuɛ̈c pos.sg of yuïc head
yuii loc.sg of yuïc head
- ɣoth1, ɣothë, yuɛ̈c, yuii are the four minor entries.
- The abbreviations pl. (plural), pos.pl (possessor plural), pos.sg (possessor singular), loc.sg (location singular) show the noun forms of these minor entries. Minor entries always have the word of following its noun form abbreviation, and the abbreviation is not in italics. Main entries never have the word of and their abbreviations are always in italics.
- Next, each of these four minor entries have the words yuïc head to show they are included in the main entry yuïc ‘head’ in another part of the dictionary (as shown above in the main entry yuïc).
Here are two other entries.
tääŋ [tꜜá̤á̤ŋ] v.in advise (tɔ̈ɔ̈ŋ advise s.m.)
tɔ̈ɔ̈ŋ [tɔ̤́ɔ̤́ŋ] v.tr advise s.m. (tääŋ advise)
- tääŋ is the first entry and tɔ̈ɔ̈ŋ is the second entry. The first can be in göör be tääŋ ‘(s)he wants to advise’ and the second can be in göör be yɛ tɔ̈ɔ̈ŋ ‘(s)he wants to advise him’.
- [tꜜá̤á̤ŋ] and [tɔ̤́ɔ̤́ŋ] are the pronunciations of the entries.
- v.in shows the first entry is an intransitive verb (an action that does not have an object receiving the action). v.tr shows the second entry is a transitive verb (an action that has an object receiving the action).
- advise and advise s.m. are the definitions.
- Bold words in parentheses should be compared with the entry. (tɔ̈ɔ̈ŋ advise s.m.) shows the transitive form of the intransitive verb tääŋ, and (tääŋ advise) shows the intransitive form of the transitive verb tɔ̈ɔ̈ŋ. These verbs in parentheses show that the entries have different forms when transitive or intransitive. In other entries, the abbreviation v can show that a verb has the same form when transitive or intransitive. See Verb Forms below for an explanation of verb forms that are listed in the dictionary.
Now look at two other entries.
kä [kà̤] prep to (before words beginning with a) (kë1 to)
kë1 [kè̤] prep to (kä to–before vowel a)
- The bold words in parentheses should be compared with the entry. (kë1 to) shows another form of the entry kä. (kä to–before vowel a) shows another form of the entry kë1. Both these entries have the same meaning. They only differ in the words they come before–kä comes before words beginning with the vowel a, and kë1 comes before all other words.
Now look at another example entry.
cɛ̈ŋ [cɛ̤̀ŋ] {cäŋ} n 1) sun 2) day cääŋ [ca̤a̤ŋ] {cääŋë}
- cɛ̈ŋ is the entry
- [cɛ̤̀ŋ] shows the prononciation and tone.
- n shows the entry is a noun.
- Next, we read 1) sun 2) day. These are two definitions (meanings) of the entry, where the definitions are related (similar) in some way. 1) sun is the most common meaning. 2) day is the next most common meaning.
Here are two other entries.
wɛ̈ɛ̈r1 [wɛ̤́ɛ̤́r] {wäär} n night wäärë [wà̤à̤rê̤]
wɛ̈ɛ̈r2 [wɛ̤̀ɛ̤̀r] {wär} n dung wɛ̈r [wɛ̤r] {wɛ̈ɛ̈r}
- There is a small number 1 after the entry wɛ̈ɛ̈r1. This means there is another word wɛ̈ɛ̈r2 that has the same letters but a completely different meaning. The word wɛ̈ɛ̈r1 means ‘night’ and wɛ̈ɛ̈r2 means ‘dung’. The two words are not related, and just happen to have the same spelling.
- [wɛ̤́ɛ̤́r] and [wɛ̤̀ɛ̤̀r] show that the words differ in pronunciation. wɛ̈ɛ̈r1 [wɛ̤́ɛ̤́r] ‘night’ has High tone and wɛ̈ɛ̈r2 [wɛ̤̀ɛ̤̀r] ‘dung’ has Low tone.
- {wäär} and {wär} are the possessor singular forms of these nouns and also are different.
- wäärë and wɛ̈r are the plural forms of these nouns and also are different.
Now look at this entry.
dɛ̈rceŋ [dɛ̤rceŋ] n village dɛ̈rceŋ [dɛ̤rceŋ] (dɛ̈r centre, cïɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ home, home area)
- dɛ̈rceŋ is the main entry
- The words (dɛ̈r centre, cïɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ home, home area) show that dɛ̈rceŋ ‘village’ is made from the two words dɛ̈r ‘centre’ and cïɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ ‘home, home area’. The two words joined together have different meaning than the meaning of either of the two words when they are separate. The bold words in parentheses dɛ̈r, cïɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ are also listed as separate entries in other places in the dictionary.
Now look at another entry.
deec Bw (Arabic) n 1) army 2) soldier deecë
- The words Bw (Arabic) show this entry deec is borrowed from Arabic. Other entries may be borrowed from Dinka or English.
Here is one final minor entry and main entry.
a [ꜜá] var. of la is, be
la , a [lꜜá] part is, be
- var. of la is, be means the minor entry a is another way of saying la ‘is, be’.
- In the main entry la, a, both ways of saying the word are listed together.