Selected Papers from the 44th Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society, 2013

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'I just relexified this one': translation processes in language revival texts

Stebbins, Tonya ; Eira, Christina ; Couzens, Vicki (University of Melbourne, 2014)

In language revival, text creation is one of the key areas where language development work is focussed. As texts are predominantly developed from the starting point of a text in English, methods used for translation are crucially important in determining the form of the end product. In this paper, we present a representative selection of texts to illustrate different strategies used within translation processes. The salience of lexical gaps creates a pressure on translators to develop alternatives where a word cannot readily be found. In contrast, the lower salience of grammar allows translators greater flexibility in their focus on grammatical elements. Priorities, resource availability, and salient elements for individual translators at particular times function as drivers in relation to both grammar and lexicon. In studying language revival outputs, we note the intrinsic connection of language and sociopolitical context. To understand the use of forms and structures in these texts requires an view of revival languages as inherently in-process, being researched, learned and developed in a single complex process.