Digital lexicography: A creeping engine for the development of minority Mabia languages in West Africa

Abstract

Digital lexicography is increasingly enhancing the documentation, visibility and everyday use of minority languages in West Africa; yet its significant contribution to language development is underexplored in the literature. This study explores how digital lexicographic resources function as a “creeping engine” for the development of minority Mabia languages spoken in Ghana and across West Africa: Buli, Dagbani, Gurenɛ, Kusaal, Kasem, Mampruli and Ninkare. The paper explores digital dictionaries that are primarily hosted on the Webonary platform and produced through collaborations between the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) International and local language communities. The study employs the user perspective and lexicographic function theory in its analysis. It adopts the qualitative comparative approach to examine the design, structure, accessibility, and usability of these digital resources as well as their broader developmental implications. It reveals that although these dictionaries differ in scope and level of completion, they share common key features such as lemma-oriented organisation, multilingual access routes, offline availability, and culturally grounded content. These features enhance orthographic standardisation, literacy support, and language visibility even in the absence of strong state or policy backing. Major challenges that are related to visibility, sustainability and institutional integration remain eminent. The paper argues that despite these limitations, digital lexicography is gradually transforming the status of minority Mabia languages, showing how modest community-embedded digital tools can contribute to language maintenance, revitalisation and inclusive language development in West Africa.