Depends how you implement "dictionaries".

The arrays here are homogenous 2-tuples with constant indices value=0 and next=1

So $aref->[VALUE] is just another implementation (just far more efficient than hashes are) (updated)

not sure what the generic and neutral definition of "dictionary" is, but imho it's not necessarily a hashmap like in perl

Lisp for instance has name=>value pairs implemented as association list.

But I have to admit that you as a non-emacs user might be handicapped in this respect ;-p

xD

update

Added WP links