"The dictionary drafting process began in 2004, the first edition was published in 2009, and currently, the dictionary is on its third edition. In 2022, we decided to digitize the dictionary through an application called Limpapeh," West Sumatra Language Agency Head Eva Trisna stated at a press conference here Wednesday.
Apart from the Minangkabau-Indonesian dictionary with its 29 thousand entries, the regional office also published the Mentawai-Indonesia dictionary with 4,760 entries, which is expected to be digitized next year.
"The Mentawai-Indonesian dictionary is currently available only in books, and we plan to perfect and digitize the dictionary in 2023," she noted.
The regional agency head underscored that distinct dialects between regions posed a significant challenge in the dictionary formulation, as it constantly triggers debates.
The Minangkabau dialect spoken in the Payakumbuh region is slightly different from what is spoken in the Pesisir Selatan region, she remarked, adding that other regions in West Sumatra have their own unique Minangkabau dialect.
To resolve the issue, the Language Agency decided to input only the most common Minang word variants to ensure inclusion with majority of the language speakers, Trisna said.
She said that to address the same issue in the formulation of the Mentawai-Indonesian dictionary, the agency decided to pick the Sikakap variant as the benchmark.
Meanwhile, West Sumatra Language Agency's General Affairs Department Head Wahyudi stated that Expertise and Professional Services Groups (KKLPs)-based programmes and services offered by the agency had been performed optimally this year.
"There are six KKLPs in the West Sumatra Language Agency, and all KKLPs have performed their programmes optimally this year," he remarked.
The KKLPs are divided by their tasks on the dictionary, development and legal languages, translation, language protection and modernization, Indonesian Language Proficiency Test (UKBI), literacy and Indonesian Language for Foreign Speakers (BIPA) language education programme, Wahyudi remarked.
Moreover, the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry's Language and Literature Development and Protection Centre Head, Imam BudiUtomo -- who opened the press conference -- said that the conference also aims to evaluate the regional agency's performance in 2022.
The Minangkabau-Indonesian dictionary is accessible at https://limpapeh.id or https://kamus.minangkabau.id websites.
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Translator: Miko Elfisha, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
