Seen at the event are (from l to r): Niaz A. Siddiki, former IG Police Sindh; the chief guest, Sassui Palijo, Sindh Minister for Culture; Ibrahim Joyo, renowned scholar, educationist, and critic; Dr Fahmida Hussain, Chairperson, Sindh Language Authority; and Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press Pakistan.
Hyderabad, 11 November: Oxford University Press launched its landmark Oxford English–Sindhi Dictionary the culmination of almost ten years of painstaking research and development. The dictionary is the English–Sindhi version of the popular Concise Oxford English Dictionary, which is considered the world's most authoritative dictionary. The dictionary project was spearheaded by a team of Sindhi language’s foremost scholars and lexicographers who rendered this monumental work into Sindhi, thus capturing the idiomatic, colloquial, spoken, and written character of the language and presenting the fullest picture of Sindhi today. Siraj-ul-Haque Memon, Dr Ghulam Ali Alanna, Qalandar Shah Lakiaree, Dr Fahmida Hussain, Syed Hakim Ali Shah Bukhari, and Badar Abro are some of the eminent scholars who were involved in the compilation of this dictionary.
Based on the Oxford Corpus, the Oxford English–Sindhi Dictionary offers Sindhi equivalents of almost 140,000 English words and expressions. A distinctive feature of this dictionary is the use of illustrative sentences, along with their Sindhi translations, to convey the exact meaning and to show how words are used in context. It is the first English–Sindhi dictionary which facilitates the pronunciation of English words by providing the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for guidance on pronunciation as well as the transliteration of English words in the Sindhi script. The dictionary addresses the ambiguities of grammar with the help of Usage Notes to provide clear and simple explanations. This bilingual dictionary will be an indispensable reference tool for students, teachers, academics, researchers, and others who need to be proficient in both the languages.
The launch ceremony was well-attended by a large number of guests comprising academics, school teachers and university faculty members, book dealers, and the media. Sassui Palijo, Sindh Minister for Culture, was the Chief Guest at the occasion whereas the panel of eminent speakers included Prof. Qalandar Shah Lakiari, former Chairman, English Department, University of Sindh; Dr Fahmida Hussain, Chairperson, Sindh Language Authority; Dr Ghulam Ali Allanna, former Vice-Chancellor, University of Sindh, and former Director, Institute of Sindhology; Ibrahim Joyo, renowned scholar, educationist, and critic; Dr Nabi Bux Khan Baloch, renowned lexicographer, historian, and scholar; and Dr Nazir Mughal, Vice-Chancellor, University of Sindh. Badar Abro, Editor, Sindhi Dictionaries, Oxford University Press, made an engaging presentation on the dictionary, giving an overview of the project and highlighting its key features which set it apart from other bilingual dictionaries available in the market. Earlier in her welcome address, while talking about the role of Oxford University Press in catering to the needs of dictionary users through extensive research and by keeping up with and incorporating changes in the language, Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press, said that in the Pakistan branch of the Press, this tradition has been carried on by making bilingual dictionaries for children as well as for adults and due to the advances in technology, a database has been built up that will facilitate more, varied and advanced work in this field.