scholarly journals Indlela or uhambo? Translator style in Mandela’s autobiography

Literator ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Nokele ◽  
Koliswa Moropa

One of the aspects that concerns translation scholars most is the question of the translator’s style. It was realised that little research had been undertaken investigating the individual style of literary translators in terms of what might be distinct about their language usage. Consequently, a methodological framework for such an investigation was suggested. Subsequently considerable research has been conducted on style in the European languages. However, the same cannot be said about African languages. This article proposes a corpus-driven study of translators’ style, comparing isiXhosa and isiZulu translations of Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom by Mtuze and Ntuli, both published in 2001. The target texts are compared with each other focusing on the use of italics, loan words and expansions and contractions as features that distinguish the two translators. The source text was used not to evaluate the target texts but to understand the translators’ choices. ParaConc Multilingual Concordancer was used to align the source text and its target texts for easy examination. The results revealed that the fact that the two translators were dealing with an autobiography did not deter them from displaying their personal imprints as creative writers.

Author(s):  
Elena G. Tareva ◽  
Boris V. Tarev

The article represents the analysis of individual styles of summary writing with the aim to describe them, and verify the methods of their defining (diagnosis). The purpose of the paper is to determine the scientific status, and also to substantiate the pragmatic function of individual summary writing styles in order to improve the quality of students’ preparation for this type of written activity in the process of learning foreign languages. The main goal of the authors is to prove that the individual style of summary writing is conditioned by socio-cultural and personal factors that influence the ability to perceive and process the source text and generate a secondary text — a summary. Materials and methods. As a methodological basis, the authors rely on the learner-centered and intercultural approaches to teaching. The solution of research problems was ensured through the use of a set of interrelated methods: theoretical (analysis of literature, of available domestic and foreign experience), general scientific (classification, differentiation, comparison, generalization), as well as empirical (experimental work, content analysis of activity products — summaries, statistical data processing). The material for research is summaries which are regarded as products of written speech by Russian-speaking and English-speaking students of an economics university. Results. The research identifies and characterizes lingvocognitive styles of summary writing specific for English and Russian language speakers, that reflect nationally and personally conditioned approaches to analytical and synthetic processing of information. We prove experimentally and statistically reliably the fact that Russian-speaking students are characterized by differentiating, scanning style of summary writing, while English-speaking students — by integrating, fragmenting style of summary writing. The systematization of the results of the summaries’ content analysis has demonstrated the use by the learners of their personal experience for perception, processing of the source text and in the generation of the text of a summary. Conclusions. The obtained results help to optimize the process of preparing students for writing summaries in the conditions of intercultural communication, taking into account the individual style of summary writing


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edadi Ilem Ukam

Language issue has been considered as a major problem to Africa. The continent has so many distinct languages as well as distinct ethnic groups. It is the introduction of the colonial languages that enable Africans to communicate with each other intelligibly: otherwise, Africa has no one central language. Among the colonial languages are English, French, Arabic and Portuguese which today serve as lingua franca in the mix of multiple African languages. Based on that, there is a serious argument among African critics about which language(s) would be authentic in writing African literature: colonial languages which serve as lingua franca, or the native indigenous languages. While some postcolonial African creative writers like Ngugi have argued for the authenticity and a return in writing in indigenous African languages, avoiding imperialism and subjugation of the colonisers, others like Achebe are in the opinion that the issue of language should not be the main reason in defining African literature: any languagecan be adopted to portray the lifestyles and peculiarities of Africans. The paper is therefore, designed to address the language debate among African creative writers. It concludes that although it is authentic to write in one’s native language so as to meet the target audience, yet many Africans receive their higher education in one of the colonial and/or European languages; and as such, majority do not know how to write in their native languages. Rather, they write in the imposed colonial languages in order tomeet a wider audience. Not until one or two major African languages are standardised, taught in schools, acquired by more than 80 per cent of Africans and used as common languages, the colonial languages would forever continue to have a greater influence in writing African literature. The paper recommendes that Africans should have one or two major African languages standardised, serving as common languages; also African literature should be written in both colonialand African languages in order to avoid the language debate by creative African writers. 


Punctuation plays a pivotal role in enhancing the comprehensibility of a text. It not only abolishes ambiguity from the text but also adorns the individual style of the author. This paper analyses Bacon’s essay “Envy” evaluating the aberrant use of punctuation to understand its impact on the holistic comprehension of the essay. Bacon has deviated in some punctuation marks in different situations. Most deviations occur in the use of the comma and the semicolon. The least deviations occur in the use of the period. Two explanations may be inferred from the analysis: First, what seems to be deviant in this regard was normal in his time; second, he deviates on purpose to make the long, complex sentence clear and easy for the reader.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renáta Gregová ◽  
Lívia Körtvélyessy ◽  
Július Zimmermann

Universals Archive (Universal #1926) indicates a universal tendency for sound symbolism in reference to the expression of diminutives and augmentatives. The research ( Štekauer et al. 2009 ) carried out on European languages has not proved the tendency at all. Therefore, our research was extended to cover three language families – Indo-European, Niger-Congo and Austronesian. A three-step analysis examining different aspects of phonetic symbolism was carried out on a core vocabulary of 35 lexical items. A research sample was selected out of 60 languages. The evaluative markers were analyzed according to both phonetic classification of vowels and consonants and Ultan's and Niewenhuis' conclusions on the dominance of palatal and post-alveolar consonants in diminutive markers. Finally, the data obtained in our sample languages was evaluated by means of a three-dimensional model illustrating the place of articulation of the individual segments.


2018 ◽  
pp. 95-99
Author(s):  
В. В. Колівошко ◽  

This article reports a study according to the tenets of empirical methodology in addressing research questions. The project tests the principles of using geographical vocabulary in Emily Dickinson’s verse. It focuses on the study of stylistic and semantic aspects of the usage of geographical vocabulary. The results demonstrate the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the usage of geographical vocabulary. Emily Dickinson’s poems are full of geographical names, which she uses with both positive and negative connotations. As we can see, the negative connotations prevail. The results point out how Emily Dickinson manipulates geographical names at all levels of the language. In addition, the findings indicate specific color gamma of Emily Dickinson’s poems. The use of colors is different for each geographical object; especially it applies to the names of countries, towns etc. Emily Dickinson associates every continent with its own unique color. These findings demonstrate the individual style of Emily Dickinson, which is distinctive among other poets.


‘It has been said by its opponents that science divorces itself from literature; but the statement, like so many others, arises from lack of knowledge.’ John Tyndall, 1874 Although we are used to thinking of science and the humanities as separate disciplines, in the nineteenth century that division was not recognized. As the scientist John Tyndall pointed out, not only were science and literature both striving to better 'man's estate', they shared a common language and cultural heritage. The same subjects occupied the writing of scientists and novelists: the quest for 'origins', the nature of the relation between society and the individual, and what it meant to be human. This anthology brings together a generous selection of scientific and literary material to explore the exchanges and interactions between them. Fed by a common imagination, scientists and creative writers alike used stories, imagery, style, and structure to convey their meaning, and to produce work of enduring power. The anthology includes writing by Charles Babbage, Charles Darwin, Sir Humphry Davy, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Michael Faraday, Thomas Malthus, Louis Pasteur, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, Mark Twain and many others, and introductions and notes guide the reader through the topic's many strands. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.


Ecography ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippine Chambault ◽  
Tarek Hattab ◽  
Pascal Mouquet ◽  
Touria Bajjouk ◽  
Claire Jean ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
A. Yu. Bovsunivska A. Yu.

The article is devoted to the study of pragmatic aspects of the use of phraseology in the textual space of Carlos Ruiz Safón’s novel «Prisoner of Heaven». One of the defining features of the individual style of this well-known modern Spanish writer is the metaphoricity and figuration of aristic expression, the saturation of the text with phraseological units that play a significant role in creating a pragmatic charge of the work of art. Along with general linguistic phraseological units, which include commonly-used vocabulary, the author uses dialectal and authorial phraseological units, which is a feature of his individual style. All three designated groups of phraseological units mostly reflect the negative psychophysical and emotional state of the characters. The author uses dialectal, individually-authorial and modified phraseological units, which is a feature of his individual style. It is determined that transformation is one of the most productive and most effective ways to update linguistic means in works of art. Author’s modification of FU leads to a change in the semantics and structure of expression, gives it a more expressive or emotional coloring. Transformed phraseology is limited to individual usage and is subject to the context of the work. Modified FUs in the Zafón’s artistic space acquire certain aesthetic and artistic qualities. Their modification is mainly to create the desired stylistic effect – to achieve emotional or expressive expression, which increases the reader’s interest, focuses on the content, issues of the work, as well as reveals the potential expressive potential of the Spanish language. In the transformed FUs, not just a new meaning is traced, but a combination of the well-known and the occasional. The unique combination of different types of phraseological units in the novel is considered a manifestation of individual style and makes a representation of the individually-authorial linguistic picture of the world more expressive.


Author(s):  
James W. Underhill ◽  
Mariarosaria Gianninoto ◽  
Mariarosaria Gianninoto

Exploring the roots of four keywords for our times: Europe, the citizen, the individual, and the people, Mariarosaria Gianninoto’s and James Underhill’s Migrating Meanings (2019) takes a broad view of conceptualization by taking on board various forms of English, (Scottish, American, and English), as well as other European languages (German, French, Spanish & Czech), and incorporating in-depth contemporary and historical accounts of Mandarin Chinese. The corpus-based research leads the authors to conclude that the English keywords are European concepts with roots in French and parallel traditions in German. But what happens to Chinese words when they come into contact with migrating meanings from Europe? How are existing concepts like the people transformed? This book goes beyond the cold analysis of concepts to scrutinize the keywords that move people and get them excited about individual rights and personal destinies. With economic, political and cultural globalisation, our world is inseparable from the fates of other nations and peoples. But how far can we trust English to provide us with a reliable lingua franca to speak about our world? If our keywords reflect our cultures and form parts of specific cultural and historical narratives, they may well trace the paths we take together into the future. This book helps us to understand how other languages are adapting to English words, and how their worldviews resist ‘anglo-concepts’ through their own traditions, stories and worldviews.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.36) ◽  
pp. 983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia S.Volskaya ◽  
Olga A. Chupryakova ◽  
Svetlana S. Safonova ◽  
Gulnaz T. Karipzhanova

The paper is devoted to the study of semantic and functional features of expressive derivatives, both usual and occasional, in the artistic gist of the novel “Asan” by V. Makanin, as well as their role in structuring the individual-author’s linguistic picture of the world. It has been proven that the derivation of expressive lexemes is the result of improvisation according to established patterns, and that the formation of occasional substantives, adjectives and verbs involved the main methods of the Russian word derivation. It is noted that in the artistic discourse of V. Makanin, in the substantive word-formation, suffixation plays a leading role, which takes place in the sphere of abstractness and includes such lexical-semantic groups as expressive substantives with the meaning of a person, expressive substantives with the meaning of abstracted action or an abstract feature with connotation, as a rule, negative and/or reduced colloquial connotation. While in the sphere of adjectival and verbal word formation, confixation and prefixation, as the formation of expressiveness, is most productive. The paper considers the phenomenon of semantic word formation, describes the formation of semantic derivatives, including in the field of occasional vocabulary. Expressive derivatives in the artistic discourse of V. Makanin are a bright sign of his individual style, an important means of expressing the world view and outlook of the writer.  


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