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Publications

Books & Dictionaries

  • Otlogetswe, T.J. 2015. Dipoeletso-ditumammogo tsa Setswana: A Dictionary of Setswana Alliteration and Consonance. CASAS Book Series No. 116. Cape Town: CASAS.
  • Otlogetswe, T.J. 2013. Oxford English Setswana Setswana English School Dictionary. Oxford: OUP.
  • Otlogetswe, T.J., Bagwasi, M., Chebanne, A. & Ndana, N. 2013. Our Languages Our Pride (Diteme tsa rona, Mokgabo wa rona). Ministry of Youth and Culture.
  • Otlogetswe, T.J. 2011. Text Variability Measures in Corpus Design for Setswana Lexicography. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Otlogetswe, T.J. 2010. Poeletso-medumo ya Setswana: The Setswana Rhyming Dictionary.

Selected Articles & Papers

  • Otlogetswe, T.J. "Treatment of spelling variants in Setswana monolingual dictionaries." Lexikos. Available online.

Digital Resources

  • Setswana Spell Checker — available for Firefox and LibreOffice.
  • Oxford Online Setswana-English Dictionary — contributed to its development.

For further details on research areas that inform these publications, see the Research page.

The study of language is a study of identity, and nowhere is that more evident than in the work of a lexicographer who documents a living tongue. Setswana, spoken by millions across Botswana and beyond, carries within it the history, values, and worldview of its people. Every word entered into a dictionary is a small act of preservation, capturing not just meaning but the cultural context that gives language its depth. Dictionaries serve as bridges between generations and between communities, allowing speakers to see their own language reflected with dignity and precision. This is especially important for languages that have faced the pressures of colonialism and globalization, where documentation becomes an assertion of cultural pride and intellectual sovereignty.