The paper aims at analysing linguistic problems and cross-cultural aspects in translating the Variety of ‘Indian English’, using insights from sociolinguistics and Systemic Functional Linguistics, Translation Studies and semiotics. In particular, the study tries to illustrate different kinds of ‘Indianization of English’ (Kachru 1983) and methods to cope with it when translating Indian literature in English, drawing illustrative examples from the novel Swami and Friends by R.K. Narayan (Madras, 1906-2001) and from the collection of short-stories Love and Longing in Bombay by Vikram Chandra (New Delhi, 1961-), translated into Italian by the author of this study. If it is true that translation is not only a linguistic transcoding but also a cross-cultural transfer when dealing with closely related languages, this is even more evident when translating literary works from distant cultures, where the ‘Context of Culture’ (Malinowski 1935: 18) is even more different. When translating Indian creative writing in English in particular, language is an integral part of culture not only because of the pragmatic cultural aspects of a distant setting, but also for the peculiarity of the literary context. Thus when translating an Indian literary work in English into another language, the translator should consider language as both the result of a multilingual/multicultural contact and a writer’s personal option. Moreover, s/he should not forget that, as G.J.V. Prasad pointed out, Indian English writers “[...] use different strategies to make their works sound like translations” (Bassnett and Trivedi 1999: 14). Indian writers ‘Indianize’ their English through various linguistic experiments at various levels: morphology, syntax, lexis. Without wanting to minimize the importance of grammar in cross-cultural translation, the focus in this paper is on lexical aspects only, in an attempt to demonstrate that, as R.R. Mehrotra remarked, words are really “the repository of culture” and “the carriers of sociocultural genes” (Mehrotra 1987: 104). The core of the first part aims at offering an overview of the range of such linguistic devices in the two literary texts taken into consideration and of “[...] the interplay between semantic components, pragmatic functions and contextual features that determine the linguistic [...] choices” (Mehrotra 1989: 422). The second part illustrates how these linguistic devices are used in such a way that their meaning can be inferred from the context, since they are interpolated in the text through a strategy referred to as “cushioning” (Young 1976, quoted in Sridhar: 1982/83). Seeking to demonstrate this, the study proposes an analysis of some examples based on a Hallidayan approach (Halliday 1994): through an examining of Nominal Groups, it is seen how Modifiers are often employed to suggest the meaning that the Indian word wants to convey. These two aspects are investigated with a view to highlighting the necessity of a kind of translation whose purpose is respecting the cultural value of the source-language text. In this kind of translation of works from a very different cultural context and with a particular literary intent, the choice has been mostly oriented towards a so-called ‘foreignizing’ translation (Venuti 1995: 20). From a post-colonial perspective, the intended purpose has been to try to respect the cultural value of the source-language text and to consider translation as an experience of the Other.

Translating varieties of English in a cross-cultural perspective: lexical items and nominal groups in the translation of works by R.K. Narayan and V. Chandra into Italian

MANFREDI, MARINA
2005

Abstract

The paper aims at analysing linguistic problems and cross-cultural aspects in translating the Variety of ‘Indian English’, using insights from sociolinguistics and Systemic Functional Linguistics, Translation Studies and semiotics. In particular, the study tries to illustrate different kinds of ‘Indianization of English’ (Kachru 1983) and methods to cope with it when translating Indian literature in English, drawing illustrative examples from the novel Swami and Friends by R.K. Narayan (Madras, 1906-2001) and from the collection of short-stories Love and Longing in Bombay by Vikram Chandra (New Delhi, 1961-), translated into Italian by the author of this study. If it is true that translation is not only a linguistic transcoding but also a cross-cultural transfer when dealing with closely related languages, this is even more evident when translating literary works from distant cultures, where the ‘Context of Culture’ (Malinowski 1935: 18) is even more different. When translating Indian creative writing in English in particular, language is an integral part of culture not only because of the pragmatic cultural aspects of a distant setting, but also for the peculiarity of the literary context. Thus when translating an Indian literary work in English into another language, the translator should consider language as both the result of a multilingual/multicultural contact and a writer’s personal option. Moreover, s/he should not forget that, as G.J.V. Prasad pointed out, Indian English writers “[...] use different strategies to make their works sound like translations” (Bassnett and Trivedi 1999: 14). Indian writers ‘Indianize’ their English through various linguistic experiments at various levels: morphology, syntax, lexis. Without wanting to minimize the importance of grammar in cross-cultural translation, the focus in this paper is on lexical aspects only, in an attempt to demonstrate that, as R.R. Mehrotra remarked, words are really “the repository of culture” and “the carriers of sociocultural genes” (Mehrotra 1987: 104). The core of the first part aims at offering an overview of the range of such linguistic devices in the two literary texts taken into consideration and of “[...] the interplay between semantic components, pragmatic functions and contextual features that determine the linguistic [...] choices” (Mehrotra 1989: 422). The second part illustrates how these linguistic devices are used in such a way that their meaning can be inferred from the context, since they are interpolated in the text through a strategy referred to as “cushioning” (Young 1976, quoted in Sridhar: 1982/83). Seeking to demonstrate this, the study proposes an analysis of some examples based on a Hallidayan approach (Halliday 1994): through an examining of Nominal Groups, it is seen how Modifiers are often employed to suggest the meaning that the Indian word wants to convey. These two aspects are investigated with a view to highlighting the necessity of a kind of translation whose purpose is respecting the cultural value of the source-language text. In this kind of translation of works from a very different cultural context and with a particular literary intent, the choice has been mostly oriented towards a so-called ‘foreignizing’ translation (Venuti 1995: 20). From a post-colonial perspective, the intended purpose has been to try to respect the cultural value of the source-language text and to consider translation as an experience of the Other.
2005
Cross-Cultural Encounters: Linguistic Perspectives
205
215
Manfredi M.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/73748
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