Jeff Siegel Releases New Book NAMA DICTIONARY

Jeff Siegel, Emeritus Professor at the University of New England, has released his latest work, the "Nama Dictionary".  The book is a detailed resource on the Nama language of Southern New Guinea. This is the first dictionary of a language from the Yam family to be published, contributing significantly to the documentation and preservation of Papuan languages.

The dictionary features over 4,800 entries of Nama words with English definitions and more than 1,000 illustrations. It includes an introductory section on the language use and culture of Nama speakers, as well as the characteristics of the Nama language. An English-to-Nama section helps readers navigate the dictionary.

The dictionary was created with support from the Nama-speaking community, who are keen to preserve their linguistic and cultural knowledge. It includes information and photographs of local wildlife and plants, and is designed to be accessible, with explanations of necessary linguistic terms.

About Jeff Siegel:

Jeff Siegel earned his PhD at the Australian National University in 1985 and has been teaching linguistics ever since. He has held positions at the University of the South Pacific, the University of New England, and served as the foundation director of the Charlene Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole and Dialect Studies at the University of Hawai'i. His research has primarily focused on language contact, pidgins, creoles, and new dialects, and recently on language documentation.

The "Nama Dictionary" complements Jeff Siegel's technical publication, "A Grammar of Nama: A Papuan Language of Southern New Guinea" (De Gruyter Mouton, 2023), offering additional resources for studying the Nama language and the Yam language family.

Linguists, cultural anthropologists, and historians interested in obtaining the "Nama Dictionary" can find it on Amazon and other online retailers.

To post a comment, you must register and login.