Translating unknown concepts into Toposa: a lexical-pragmatic approach

This dissertation examines the problem of how translators can deal with concepts found in the source text which are unknown in the target language, using linguistic and cultural data from Toposa, an ethnic group in South Sudan that has experienced massive cultural change caused by extended civil war, the importation of modern technical goods and ideas from outside. The theoretical framework employed in this analysis is Lexical Pragmatics (a sub-discipline of Relevance Theory), which offers superior explanatory power because it approaches word meaning not via semantic definitions but as pragmatically determined meaning that needs to be inferred and fine-tuned in context, using existing assumptions in the minds of communicators. Thus, this study presents an interdisciplinary case-study that combines pragmatic-cognitive linguistics with translation theory and practice, informed by aspects of cultural anthropology. The literature review reveals substantial divergences between Bible translation textbooks and secular translation theory, with the latter demonstrating greater diversity in theoretical grounding and proposed solutions, correlating techniques with overall translation strategies. Not one approach provides a full set of tools how to handle unfamiliar concepts or sufficient guidance on what might work best in a given project, and why. Beyond this, a clearer understanding of word meaning and a cognitive explanation of understanding would be helpful. The Toposa data presented are from two different realms: natural language use and Bible translation. Analysis of neologisms in natural language reveals the following processes: semantic extension, derivation, compounding, borrowing, and phrasal constructions. As an agglutinative language, Toposa demonstrates particular reliance on derivational processes, including root reduplication and ideophone incorporation. Other notable processes include change in gender and shifting word class for lexicalizing new concepts. The data indicates preference for utilizing known morphological elements over complete innovation, with borrowed terms typically undergoing nativization processes. Significantly, speakers accept synonymous terms for novel concepts to compete for extended periods. Translators utilize the same techniques as found in monolinguistic use, but they avoid certain natural language processes – ideophone root incorporation, gender-based meaning shifts, noun class changes and total lexical innovation. Beyond the techniques common in both realms, the translators employed a whole range of translation-specific solutions: adjusting the conceptual content of existing traditional terms, substitution, increase and decrease in the specificity of terms, reduction and omission, loan translation, adding comments in footnotes and providing a wide range of other aids in the paratext. As theoretical contribution, this study suggests refining Bible translation pedagogy: emphasizing the distinction between words and concepts, and the gradual nature of conceptual acquisition. It also shows the availability of techniques beyond the traditional taxonomies, the advantage of combining techniques in problem solving, as well as adding options beyond word- level. Additionally, lower-level techniques are shown to correlate to higher-level strategies. Finally, this research demonstrates that lexical-pragmatic theory needs to be extended so it can deal adequately with agglutinative languages like Toposa: meaning questions raised at word level in isolating languages must be redirected to morpheme level in synthetic languages. The analysis reveals distinct roles for root morphemes (pointing to conceptual content) and grammatical morphemes (providing procedural instructions), which in combination guide toward correctly understanding the intended meaning of novel lexicalizations.