Developing a trilingual glossary for the physicochemical properties of alternative sources of edible potash (culiash) from unripe plantain peelings (UPP).

Due to the rising correlation between food additives and several health disorders, it is important that researchers in this area disseminate their findings to rural artisans, translators, indigenous newscasters and consumers. This will promote healthy living and consequently reduce health risks which may be associated with artificial food additives. However, this has been quite challenging in that it has been hampered by the lack of indigenous technical terms, especially in the Igbo language. Against this backdrop, this study develops a trilingual glossary for the physicochemical properties of alternative sources of edible potash (UPP). The convenience sampling technique was employed in selecting twenty female participants who were not above 50 years of age from the Mbaise community, a town in Imo State of Nigeria. Personal interviews, observation/participation and documentation in the field were the primary sources of data collection, while the secondary sources included textbooks, journals, theses, dissertations, magazines, newspaper articles and the internet. The chemical compositions of the edible ash were ascertained using standard analytical methods. To generate its technical terms, four major linguistic principles (indigenisation, terminologisation, semantic shift, paraphrasing with explanation and compounding) were applied in developing equivalent terms in the Igbo language. Findings show that indigenisation and compounding are more productive in the development of terms in the Igbo language for the physico-chemical properties/constituents of alternative sources of edible potash than pure loaning. Terminographers are encouraged to standardise these developed terms while working to fill the gap of terminology scarcity in African languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]