Retronym: The Missing Entry in the Ndebele Monolingual Dictionary

This article seeks to explore the novel phenomenon of retronymy in linguistics and accommodates it in Ndebele lexicography. Retronyms are a special class of compound nouns that is not catered for in the Isichazamazwi sesiNdebele (ISN). Retronymy becomes part of derivational morphology because nouns are derived by combining different parts of speech in retronymy. This process is a major contributor to Ndebele lexical expansion. The process enables the language to accommodate new concepts as it is influenced by other cultures and technology. Retro naming is an area in Ndebele morphology that has not had much attention from linguists compared to other noun derivatives. The Ndebele language now operates in a global village where many cultures meet and mix. This creates a situation whereby many concepts are borrowed from other cultures and some from technology; most of these are retro named. Ndebele dictionaries cannot afford to ignore retronyms in future. While the Isichazamazwi sesiNdebele is a breakthrough in Ndebele monolingual dictionary work, it leaves out a very important entry the retronym.