The Jamaica Observer reports that a dancehall dictionary endorsed by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and Jamaica Lexicography Project is currently being researched for publication in four languages in an attempt to profit from the internationalization of dancehall. The dictionary will be published in English, Japanese, German, and Spanish. The editor, Joseph Farquharson, has said that it will take five years to complete.
Farquharson, an advanced doctoral candidate in linguistics at the University of West Indies-Mona, who holds a MPhil in European Literature (Spanish) from the University of Cambridge in the UK, said it will be the first such publication by linguists and that the previous two known dancehall dictionaries— Joan Williams’ The Original Dancehall Dictionary and Chester Francis-Jackson’s The Official Dancehall Dictionary--did not adhere to rigorous scholarship. He also explained that the idea is to try not to misrepresent Jamaica, so the team is researching and gathering solid information on the culture of the country that will be approved by the JTB.
For full article, see http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/dancehall-dictionary-in-4-languages_7545729
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