User studies have generated considerable insight into the functional dimensions of dictionaries, but dictionaries are cultural artifacts as well as utilitarian tools and must be regarded as having not only users but also audiences. A review of the historical development of commercial and institutional dictionaries reveals the different audiences implicitly or explicitly targeted by dictionary producers over time. Scholarship on the usage of monolingual dictionaries shows that the attributes audiences expect in a dictionary and the power of the dictionary as a cultural institution vary significantly among countries and communities. In the twenty-first century, the advent of electronic dictionaries, dictionary licensing, and social media introduced new complications to the relationship between dictionaries and their audiences. The blurring of boundaries around the monolingual dictionary happened at a time when debates over words and their meaning were increasingly prominent in public discourse over topics such as gender, race, and sexuality, sometimes resulting in media controversies. To remain relevant in this landscape, dictionaries must now consider audience expectations as well as user needs.

This chapter departs from a description of transformation in African language lexicography from a Eurocentric approach where dictionaries for African languages were compiled by foreigners to an Afrocentric approach in which mother-tongue speakers of African languages take responsibility for the compilation of African language dictionaries. A Eurocentric approach to dictionary compilation for African languages refers to the colonial period where dictionaries were mainly compiled by missionaries to fulfil their own lexicographic needs, that is, to spread the gospel. Afrocentric refers to dictionary compilation for African languages in Africa by Africans in a ‘postcolonial society’, that is, projects likely to thrive as compilers have sentimental attachment to it. The main focus in the chapter, however, is on the subsequent required transformation process for multilingual lexicography in Africa from a ‘postcolonial society’ to a ‘globally competitive knowledge society’, mainly in respect of a fresh start to the compilation of reference works in the electronic era. Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) is taken as a case in point.