“NOISE”
The Translation of Constructed
Language into Dutch in Chaos
Walking by Patrick Ness
Maya Gail de Graaf 10274308 Master Thesis Linguistics: Translation Graduate School of Humanities Supervisor: Eric Metz University of Amsterdam 30 September 2017
“The language fictional characters use is chosen for effect,
at least if the author is concentrating.”
Abstract
The translation of constructed fictional languages has received limited academic attention, and it is therefore the subject of this thesis. The text selected for analysis is the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness and its Dutch translation by Ineke Lenting, the language of which consists of eye dialect and constructed lexis. This thesis is an attempt at answering three research questions: (1) how has the constructed language been translated, and (2-3) to what extent were the style and functions of the source text maintained in the translation? The trilogy was analyzed using Nord’s functionalist approach (1997), consisting of the translation brief and source text analysis, followed by a comparative analysis using Vinay and
Darbelnet’s translation procedures (1995). The results show that the eye dialect lost the specificity of location bound natural dialects whilst still violating common literary norms. Lexical items, on the other hand, were predominantly translated literally and translation losses were compensated. In conclusion, the extent to which style and functions are maintained in translation is heavily linked to the features the constructed language contains, of which lexis seems to pause little issue whist dialect seemingly always result in a loss. Extensive analysis of the source text’s constructed language is therefore essential to reach a stylistically and functionally equivalent translation. Seeing that this is a modest contribution to the debate on the translation of constructed language, future research could include a larger corpus
consisting of multiple languages or multiple different translations of the same constructed language.
Table of Contents Abstract 3 Table of Contents 4 List of Tables 6 1. Introduction 7 2. Theoretical Framework 12
2.1 The Functionalist Approach 12
2.2 Constructed Language 14
2.3 Dialects and Accents 16
2.4 Translation Procedures 20
3. The Translation Brief 24
3.1 Textual Functions 24
3.2 Addressee(s) 25
3.3 Time and Place 26
3.4 Medium 27
3.5 Motive 27
4. Source Text Analysis 29
4.1 Eye Dialect 29 4.1.1 Todd 30 4.1.2 Secondary Characters 34 4.2 Lexical Items 37 4.2.1 Human 38 4.2.2 Spackle 40
Table of Contents 5. Comparative Analysis 41 5.1 Eye Dialect 41 5.1.1 Maintained in Translation 42 5.1.2 Lost in Translation 49 5.1.3 Gained in Translation 50 5.2 Lexical Items 54 5.2.1 Human 57 5.2.2 Spackle 68 6. Conclusion 71 6.1 Major Conclusions 71
6.2 Strengths and Limitations 74
6.3 Further Research 75
References 76
List of Tables
Nr. Title Page
1 Features of Todd’s dialect 34
2 Number of occurrences per lexical type 37
3 Comparison of eye dialect features 52
4 Comparison of lexical categories 55
5 Comparison of mixture amounts 55
6 Translation procedures 56
1. Introduction
There have been many great inventions throughout human history, to name a few: the printing press, the internet, and certainly coffee. Still, language is often attributed to be the greatest invention of mankind (Deutcher, 2005, p. 1; Okrent, 2009, p. 4). However, the languages you and I speak developed out of a communicative necessity rather than invention and
continuously change throughout time. Any person might unconsciously start using a certain linguistic structure differently from the norm and, over time, it might become the norm rather than the exception. The complexity of language, its continuously changing usage, and the dissimilarities between them all, is what makes translation a specifically laborious task. Accordingly, what happens when instead of a natural language, a translator is presented with an artificial one? These constructed languages have been fabricated for a specific purpose and frequently in the hopes that they would solve humanity’s innumerable communicative
problems (Okrent, 2009, p. 6). Would these languages improve translatability or perhaps make translation obsolete? Fortunately for translators, time has shown that these constructed languages have not been able to fulfill their intended purpose.
The earliest documented constructed language is the Lingua Ignota, invented by the twelfth-century abbess Hildegard von Bingen (Okrent, 2009, p. 10). Whilst the Lingua Ignota and other recorded first attempts at inventing language were meant exclusively for the
personal use of the inventor, from the 19th century onward, languages were created out of sheer frustration with natural alternatives and their intricacies, irrational inconsistencies, and irregularities (Okrent, 2009, p. 6). A well-known and relatively successful example of this latter type of language is Zamenhof’s Esperanto, yet it never became the intended world language, gaining a mere two million speakers globally (www.ethnologue.com). This history of, relative, failure to create a world language is perhaps due to the fact that natural languages
succeed, “not in spite of, but because of, the very qualities that the language inventors have tried to engineer away” (Okrent, 2009, p. 17). Be that as it may, in literature, where
constructed languages serve no other purpose than to entertain and engross their readership, they thrive.
Familiar examples of constructed languages in fiction are Nineteen Eighty-Four’s
Newspeak, Tolkien’s many elven languages of Middle Earth, and A Clockwork Orange’s Nadsat. Ordinarily, these languages lack communicative potential, as they can consist merely
of a few lexical items and phrases. They provide their audience with the idea of a full-fledged society without having to create an all-encompassing language, nor do they invite further examination (Okrent, 2009, p. 284). Conceivably, they can be as intricate as natural
languages, containing not only lexical items, but also: dialects, sociolects, slang, and more. For example, Nadsat consists of Russian lexical items incorporated into English grammar, syntax, and slang, whilst Tolkien’s Quenya originated out of his real-life linguistic ideals (Rhiemeier, 2012, p.1). The complexity of constructed languages might be the cause of abounding translation problems, yet, these languages are translated regularly, repeatedly re-translated, and all seemingly without difficulty.
The Chaos Walking trilogy written by Patrick Ness and published between 2008 and 2010 is such a work of fiction, consisting of the novels The Knife of Never Letting Go, The
Ask and the Answer, and Monsters of Men. This young-adult dystopian trilogy has been
translated into over 22 languages and sold more than 350.000 copies in the U.S. and Canada alone (Lodge, 2014). Its successful author has written nine novels and various short stories, taught creative writing at the University of Oxford, works at the Guardian as a literal critic, and won the Carnegie Medal for the final book in the trilogy (www.patrickness.com). Chaos
translation of the constructed language it contains, but also as a result of the immensely interesting nature of its language, which contains constructed lexis and dialects specific to individual characters.
The target text selected for this thesis is the only Dutch translation available at the time of writing, i.e. De Chaos Trilogie by Ineke Lenting and published in 2013. She is a literary translator with eighteen years of experience in the translation of well-known literary texts from English into Dutch, such as Karin Slaughter’s thrillers. Lenting was nominated for the 2014 Dioraphte Literatour Award for her translation of the first book in the trilogy, i.e. Het
Mes dat Niet Wijkt (van Voss, 2014).
Both the publisher of the source texts, Walker Books, and the publisher of the target texts, Moon, specialize in the publication of children’s books (www.walker.co.uk; www. uitgeverijmoon.nl). Walker publishes books for all age groups between 0 and 12-plus, and has published the immensely popular Where’s Wally series. Moon exclusively publishes young adult fantasy and romans novels, both from Dutch authors and translations of popular English authors.
In the first book readers are introduced to thirteen-year-old Todd, who was raised to believe that, after the colonization of a new earth, the alien species released a germ which killed all women and made the thoughts of men and animals telepathically heard by everyone. The men’s Noise is all consuming until Todd encounters the women’s Quiet in the form of Viola, a young teenage girl whose spaceship recently crashed on the new earth, killing her parents. Their meeting initiates a chain of events that bring to the light the horrors humanity experienced (and enacted) when they colonized the new planet. As the story progresses Todd learns that the alien Spackle might not be as evil as he has been taught to believe, and that the men in his village are more dangerous than one might initially think. With this new-found
knowledge, Todd and Viola have to flee from an army that knows his every thought.
Inspired by his favorite author, Peter Carey, Ness decided that he wanted to create “the feeling that each of his books is just one thin slice of a larger imagined world”, and
accordingly readers have to comprehend the plot largely through inference (Levy, 2009). As the settlers came across new animals and plants that were similar to those on earth, common English words were ascribed to them, e.g. “crocs” for giant purple that can walk on their hind legs. New inventions and other things far removed from life on earth were ascribed new names, e.g. “es’paqili” for the alien language. In addition, the English dialects spoken by the settlers developed and merged into unique future predictions of Modern English. The
complexity of said language is a vital world building block, which allows the readers to fully immerse themselves in Todd’s reality, accomplishing an all-encompassing new earth.
In this thesis I will provide a quantitative analysis of the constructed language used in the Chaos Walking trilogy, followed by a comparative analysis of the source and target texts using Vinay and Darbelnet’s (1995) translation procedures. To fully appreciate and
understand the importance and intricacies of the language I will use Nord’s functionalist
approach (1997) and subsequently write a detailed analysis of the the source text’s lexical and
dialectal features. To do this each occurrence of constructed language will be classified according to the translation strategies and procedures used by Lenting and the other changes that occurred during the translation process. In this way, I hope that this thesis will help me to answer the following research questions:
1. How was the constructed language translated in the Chaos Walking trilogy? 2. To which extent has there been a flattening of style in the translation?
3. To which extent has the function of the constructed language been maintained in the translation?
Going into this research project I expect to find that the translation of constructed language leads to an inevitable flattening of Ness’ writing style, due to the fact that the translator has to consider a natural language, an artificial language, and the relation between the two. Additionally, I expect to find that there will be a loss of function, for the above-mentioned reasons, although to a lesser extent. Moreover, seeing as Lenting only had a couple of months to translate all three novels, I expect that the time constraints on the translation process have unnecessarily increased the flattening of style and loss of functions.
The remainder of this thesis is organized into five chapters. The present first chapter is designed to give a brief introduction into the subject of the present thesis, and a detailed theoretical framework will be discussed in chapter two. The translation brief, containing information on the functions of the source and target texts, is provided in the third chapter. The fourth chapter contains the quantitative analysis of the constructed fictional language in the source text, which is followed by a comparative analysis of both texts discussing the translation procedures that were used during the translation process in the fifth chapter. Finally, in the sixth chapter, I will present the major conclusion, limitations, and strengths of the present thesis, as well as recommendations for future research.
2. Theoretical Framework
Trekkies or Trekkers, as some prefer to be called, are the famously fanatic group of Star Trek
fans who enjoy little to no respect from the general populace, and they are often believed to be forty-year-old men who still live in their mother’s basement. Yet, even these die-hard fans ridicule those people who have taught themselves the language of Klingon. Though the reasoning behind this behavior may be elusive, the consequences are profound, as little research exists on the subject of constructed language and its translation.
This second chapter serves as an introduction of the theories that will support this thesis. The first section contains a discussion of the functionalist approach to translation, i.e. Reiss’ textual functions (1989) and Nord’s functionalist model (1997), which is followed by the second section containing information on constructed languages and three of the proposed classification systems. Research into the translation of dialects in fiction will be discussed in the third sections, and the final section includes Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures (1995).
2.1 The Functionalist Approach
Between the 1970s and 1980s translation theory moved away from being seen as a purely linguistic endeavor towards being seen as an attempt at communication between cultures (Munday, 2001, p. 133). Whilst previous theories looked at translation from the word level, functionalism started at the pragmatic level, aiming to liberate the translator from servitude to the source text. After all, functionalists view a translation as a new
communicative act in which the functions of the source text are brought to the forefront and reproduced in the target text.
Katharina Reiss, one pioneer in functionalist theory, argued in Text Types, Translation
Types, and Translation Assessment (1989), that communication is achieved at the textual
level, rather that the lower linguistic word level, giving prominence to the texts’ function (p. 113). Reiss proposed three main textual functions: informative, operative, and expressive.
Informative texts provide the reader with facts and are content focused, requiring a plain
translation with explicitation wherever necessary, e.g. a student handbook. Operative texts, such as a presidential speech, are meant to inspire action from their audience and should therefore be translated with the appellative function in mind. Finally, expressive texts contain the author’s attitudes towards life, utilizing the communicative power of language, and are focussed on the aesthetic form of language. These texts, of which Chaos Walking is one, require the translator to adopt the author’s point-of-view. Reiss’ move towards the study of translation at a higher linguistic level, although in the right direction, was met with the just criticism that a translators choices depend on more than the textural type alone (Munday, 2001, p. 117).
An attempt at creating a more elaborate functionalist approach to translation, and the overarching theory used in this thesis, is the functionalist model proposed by Christiana Nord in Translating as a Purposeful Activity (1997). The model consists of three parts, each of particular importance: (1) the translation brief, (2) the role of the source text analysis, and (3) the functional hierarchy of the translation problems.
Traditionally, translators use a bottom-up approach, transferring source text elements at the lower linguistic word-for-word level, and the author’s writing style is incorporated after this initial draft-like translation. Thus, the translator works from the linguistic text surface structures, to the genre’s conventions, and finally to pragmatics (Nord, 1997, p. 67). Nord argued that this obsession with the source text leads to unjustifiable and intuitive decisions
(interference) resulting in, for example, inconsistent translations of reoccurring constructed lexical items. Nord therefore recommended a top-down approach, which starts from the pragmatic level, and this approach will be employed in the analysis of the source text (p. 68).
The translation brief is formulated before closer textual analysis and involves a comparison of the source and target text commissions in order to see where the two texts diverge. Information included in this brief is: the textual functions, the addressee(s), the time and place of text reception, the medium, and the motivation for its publication (p. 59). After comparing the source text and translation brief, the source text can be analyzed to allow the translator to ascertain: the feasibility of the translation, the order of relevance of the source text items to achieve a functional translation, and the possible translation strategies (p. 62). By means of comparison the translator is able to prioritize what should be included in the target text as is, and what can be translated using a target language orientation, ultimately leading to the identification of the main translation problem (p. 63).
It should be noted that Nord’s functionalist model is commonly used for the translation of non-literary texts, however, Nord stated it can be used when analyzing literary translations if the functions of the source and target texts are notably different and of considerable
importance to the source text (p. 80). The analysis of Chaos Walking has to therefore start at the pragmatic level, to identify the constructed language as the main translation problem, and to understand its significance in the trilogy.
2.2 Constructed Language
One of the few scholarly publications that can be found on the subject of constructed language is Arika Okrent’s In the World of Invented Languages (2009). The book contains a history of constructed language, coupled with investigations into the reasons behind the
creation of these languages, and an inventory of five-hunderd invented languages spanning from the twelfth-century till the present day (p. 294-314). Okrent’s research led her to identify two main types of constructed language: con-languages, which have been invented for the purpose of creating a language with full communicative potential (Esperanto), and
art-languages, which pertains to those art-languages, often without full communicative potential, that
have been created for a purely artistic purpose and are not meant to be used outside of their artistic environment, such as the language in Chaos Walking (p. 284).
Rhiemeier (2012) proposed a more elaborate classification system, distinguishing between three types of constructed language: (1) auxiliary languages, which are meant to overcome communicative barriers between different native tongues (e.g. Esperanto), (2)
engineered languages, which are designed to reach objectively testable goals (e.g. Loglan),
and (3) artistic languages, which are seen as pieces of art. The latter type is subdivided into: fictional languages used by imagined races or nation (Klingon), personal languages that embody the creators’ linguistic ideals, and religious and magical languages with the purpose of celebrating higher powers (Enochian). This leads to the classification of the language in
Chaos Walking as an constructed artistic fictional language, yet, these classifications do not
specify the use of constructed language within a text and its relation to natural languages.
Frathwiki, an online collection of information on constructed languages, incorporates
a further distinction between a priori and a posteriori constructed languages. The a posteriori label is applied to those languages which are primarily based on natural languages, e.g. Esperanto, and a priori languages, on the other hand, are not primarily based on natural language, e.g. Klingon. While Frathwiki used these labels to classify entire languages, in this thesis, they will be applied to individual lexical items. Specifically, the label a posteriori will be applied to extensions of meaning of common Modern English words, and for a priori
constructions it will not matter whether the neologism is easily understandable to the reader through inference, or even described in the novel, as long as they are not present in the Oxford
English Dictionary or vanDale. New compounds consisting of two common words that are
absent from Modern English will receive the mixture label, as well as all other possible combinations between priori, posteriori, and common words, e.g. a compound made up of a priori and common English word. These classifications pertain exclusively to the lexical items of the constructed language and will be used in both the source text analysis and comparative analysis.
Following the classification of all constructed lexis using each of the above-mentioned distinctions, different translation pairs will be identified. For instance, a priori word might be transferred as the same priori word in the Dutch trilogy, or a mixture of a posteriori and common word might be translated into a mixture consisting of two common words. When a constructed lexical item is translated into a common Dutch word with its supplementary dictionary definitions they will receive the label “x”. The same goes for those translation pairs whereby a natural Modern English word is translated into constructed lexis in the target text. Seeing as there are technically nine possible word classifications, in this way, eighty-one translation pairs can be identified.
2.3 Dialects and Accents
As previously mentioned, the Chaos Walking trilogy is heavy with dialects and accents, yet no research exists into the translation of an amalgamation of multiple natural speech varieties into one constructed language. Fortunately, research into the translation of dialects in general, and eye dialects in specific, does exist. This section will contain general
information on the subject of (eye) dialects and accents, followed by research into the translation of these subjects.
Geography is an important part of our identity, as traces of our origins can always be found within our speech patterns, no matter how often we move, and depending on where you have lived, you will speak with a certain dialect and accent. An accent is defined as the ways in which you pronounce your language, whilst a dialect is any variety of the same language at all linguistic levels: including phonology, lexical items, phrases, syntax, and grammar
(Trudgill, 1999, p. 2; Roach, 2009, p. 2). Within dialectology a further distinction is made between standard and non-standard dialects, the latter being those that receive no institutional support or respect from the general populace (e.g. African American Vernacular English). This lack of respect can also be found within translation, or rather, dialects pose a major translation problem and are therefore generally standardized.
The reasons behind the drastic reduction, or even removal, of speech varieties from fiction is not merely for the sake of comprehensibility, but often because a persons’ dialect is still seen as indicative of their intelligence and standing in society. Bellos has therefore argued that translators are naturally hesitate to translate speech varieties, in fear of being seen as incompetent at their profession, even if the Chaos Walking trilogy and similar texts would suffer from the removal of these dialects and accents (p. 200-201). Solutions to this problem have been proposed in publications on the translation of speech varieties.
Morini (2006) has argued that translators reduce a distance, between source and target text by reproducing difference, and sometimes this difference is so immense that there is a “spatial and temporal abyss” between the source text and the translator’s knowledge (p. 123). Importantly, Morini pointed out that part of the pleasure in reading comes from the distance created by the differences even if one of the most important translation norms is to create a
comprehensible text (p. 138). Although, the examples provided by Morini are of geographical and historical distance, the concept is easily extendable to constructed language. He
introduced three solutions: normalization, compensation, and retention, and argued that a translator needs to find the middle ground when translating and text with a huge gap between the source and target language.
David Horton (1998) studied the translation of non-standard language in five novels by Roddy Doyle, who is an Irish novelist who uses dialect as the main form of
communication rather than a more sporadic distribution throughout the novel (p. 415). Horton explored the implications involved in the translation of a dialect from Irish to German, and he uses a similar method to Nord’s functional analysis: firstly discussing the source texts on a pragmatic level, followed by an analysis of the source text language, and finally a
comparative analysis of the source and target texts. Horton concluded that the options
available to a translator endeavoring to translate a non-standard dialect are limited in number, and all with their own disadvantages (p. 429). The four options he proposed are:
1. Dialect-into-dialect: a target language dialect is used instead of the source
language dialect, which could result in differences in connotations and stereotypes. 2. Dialect-into-standard: the source language dialect is removed and standardized,
improving understanding but removing the dialects’ textually significance.
3. Translator notes: explanatory footnotes are included, resulting in the encoding
of important information outside of the main body of text.
4. Dialect-into-supraregional non-standard: a more encompassing non-standard
dialect is used to replace the specific non-standard dialect, whereby the translation loses specificity but retains the violation of standard norms.
Horton concluded that the translation of dialect remains a fascinating but burning issue, leaving the fourth option of supraregional non-standard language as a viable solution (p. 429). The dialectal translation pairs found in Chaos Walking will be categorized using these four options, and we will return to Horton’s classifications when identifying Lenting’s overall translation strategy.
The subject of translating eye dialect has been studied by David Brett (2009), referring to any variation of spelling indicative of a particular pronunciation or dialect (p. 49). Brett analyzed Italian passages from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, identifying features of the eye dialect and their
translations, and found that (similar to Morini) the dialects are either standardized,
compensated, or retained (p. 59). Brett proposes that translators should transfer the dialect only partially, and that they need to opt for an eye dialect that is equally foreign to both the source and target audience. He concludes that the translation of an eye dialect is a daunting task which likely results in translation losses and failure (p. 59-60).
Presently, it is important to point out how the above-mentioned dialectal terms will be used in relation to the constructed language under analysis. Certainly, the incorporation of different natural dialectal items into one fictional dialect does not fall under the category of constructed language per se. Nevertheless, the amalgamation of the different dialectal items taken from multiple natural speech varieties, in combination with the constructed lexis, is unique to the trilogy, and in turn, create the foreignizing illusion of a fully developed language and society. In the end the full set of lexical and dialectal items will inevitably be labeled as part of a constructed language as a whole, distinctive from the natural language the text also contains. Since this thesis deals with a language consisting of a lexical and dialectal component, which both aim at creating a boundary between the characters and readers, the
overarching term that will be used to describe any instance of abnormal language is
constructed language, and individual dialect items will be classified as eye dialect.
2.4 Translation Procedures
Typically, the analysis of translation shifts can lead to largely self-evident results, however, the analyses in this thesis involves shifts between the author’s and translator’s constructed fictional languages, and both do not necessarily overlap. The translation shifts are therefore less obvious to those who have not read the novels. In addition, it would be
interesting to see if there are correlations between the translation procedures used by Lenting and the type of constructed fictional language.
Vinay and Darbelnet’s Comparative Stylistics of French and English (1995) led them to formulate seven translation procedures, which can be applied at the lexical, syntactic, and message level (that is the metalinguistic context of the utterance). The seven procedures are: borrowing, calque, literal translation, transposition, modulation, equivalence, and adaptation (p. 31-40). For the purposes of this thesis the procedures had to be modified to accommodate the constructed lexical items as well as the dialects, and the traditional definitions and their extensions will be described in the coming paragraphs.
Borrowing occurs when the source language word is translated directly into the target
language, usually to fill a semantic gap, and therefore does not involve any actual translation, e.g. the English “computer and “internet” in Dutch (p. 31). This simplest of procedures is usually employed when the source text item has no equivalent term in the target language, or because the translator wants to maintain the style of the source text, and the result can he slightly foreignizing to the reader. Within the context of a constructed fictional lexicon, borrowing will entail the direct translation of a priori word into the target language. For
instance, a made-up term such as “pewuo” would be transferred as “pewuo” in the target text to fill the semantic gap. Still, it is possible that the the source text item is similar to a target language word, and reader might attache their own connotations to the lexis.
Secondly, a calque occurs when a source language word, expression, or structure, is transferred literally into the target text (p. 32-33). Although a type of borrowing, the first two procedures differ in that a calque involves an actual translation, whilst borrowing maintains the exact formulation of the source text. However, both borrowings and calques often become ingrained into the target language. In the context of the constructed lexical items, the label calque will also be applied to those lexical items that are nearly identical to the source text, except for some localization. An example of a constructed calque would be the translation of swoover into zwoever, since Dutch commonly uses “zw” and “oe” instead of the “sw” and “oo” formulation.
Next up is the literal translation, where a structure is translated word-for-word in a way that does not alter the meaning of the source text item (p. 33-35). The difference between a calque and literal translation is that the former is applied at the lexical level whilst the latter is applied at the sentence or phrasal level. In the case of constructed language, posteriori words and mixtures made up of two common words are likely to be translated literally
because a word-for-word translation would maintain the constructed meaning. Additionally, it cannot be classified as a calque since it does not introduce a neologism in the strict sense.
The fourth procedure is transposition, which occurs when the translator changes the word class without changing the meaning, e.g. verb to noun. This change can either be: obligatory, because of linguistic constraints in the target language, or optional, because there are multiple alternative translations. This procedure will be applied in the same way to construct fictional language.
Fifthly, modulation, involves as shift in the semantic point of view of the source language, such as a shift from active into passive or a reversal of terms. Modulation has a necessary standardizing effect when the use of the above-mentioned literal and transpositional procedures would lead to awkward formulations, even if they are grammatically, lexically, and syntactically correct. This too, will be applied in like manner to the constructed language.
Second to last, equivalence, whereby a cultural structure, such as an expression, is changed into its target language counterpart, as a literal translation would confuse the reader (p. 38-39). For example, the English expression “raise one’s game” is equivalent to the Dutch “een handje bijschakelen”.
Finally, adaptation, whereby the cultural reference of the source text is shifted to one more common in the target culture, for example “American Football” translated as
“voetbal” (p. 39-40). With adaptation, the translator is able to recreate a similar effect or function in the target text, whilst ensuring that the reader will find it as meaningful as the original. Constructed lexical items are exclusively part of the fictional universe, and
normalization through the translation of the constructed lexis into a Modern Dutch word will be labeled as adaptation, i.e. fictional source text culture becomes natural target culture. Similarly, completely new and unrelated target text translations of constructed source text lexis will be also labeled as adaptation as they create a new cultural item, e.g. the translation of the previously mentioned “swoover”, referring to type of animal, into “raastje”.
In addition to the seven procedures, Vinay and Darbelnet formulated eight supplementary procedures, namely: amplification, economy, false friend, loss, gain, compensation, explicitation (vs. implicitation), and generalization. Of these, compensation and implicitation will automatically result in a translation gain, as it will involve the invention of more fictional lexis, and explicitation and generalization will ultimately lead to translation
losses. Similarly, the economy and amplification labels will be applied to items involving drastically different optional translation shifts in the amount of words, and never to obligatory changes caused by the rules of the target text language, as these changes are linguistically inconsequential in relation to the constructed language, such as Dutch compounding. All items will be ascribed a main translation procedure and one or more supplementary procedures in every possible combination (if present).
To summarize, there are no translation theories or models in existence that are relevant to the analysis of constructed language translations, and I therefore had to combine existing theories into a working theoretical framework. Using Nord’s functional analysis, recreating the translation brief will assist in identifying the constructed language as the leading
translation problem, and the source text analysis will then allow me to fully understand the complexities of the constructed language, both lexically and dialectically. Through the comparative analysis I will be able to see the difference in use of constructed language in the source and target texts, the methods Lenting employed in translating it, and if it ultimately lead to a flattening of style and reduction of functions. Finally, I will be able to answer the three research questions in the conclusion.
3. The Translation Brief
As proposed by Nord, this section will contain the first step of her functionalist approach, the translation brief, and the information provided through the reconstruction of the brief will help hypothesize where translation problems are most likely to occur. This method assures that the analysis of the constructed language starts off with a blank slate, considering that this information can be found without reading the main body of text, and remains uninfluenced by the possible target text translations. In this chapter I will discuss, the textual functions, the addressee(s), the time and place of reception, the medium, and the motive.
3.1 Textual Functions
The intended textual functions of the source text can be said to be, as in the case of any work of literature, to entertain and inspire critical thought about society (Nord, 1997, p. 80). In the case of Chaos Walking this would be the effects of information overload, violence, and gender discrimination. In terms of Jakobson textual functions, the trilogy could be said to have a even higher expressive function than most literary texts, since it is a dystopian novel containing predicted future versions of the English language. The referential function is also particularly important due to the inferential nature of Ness’ writing style, but only as part of the expressive function.
The intended textual functions are largely the same for the target text. Lenting’s intentions doubtlessly are to produce an accurate translation which upholds the text-type related standards and style conventions of the source text’s genre and author. The referential function remains the second most important, seeing that the use of constructed language needs to be consistent throughout the translation.
What comes to the forefront in this reformulation of the textual functions is that the constructed language is of considerable importance for the translations’s maintenance of the expressive function, i.e. the author’s writing style. Translation problems such as the lexis and eye dialect of Chaos Walking require a different translation method when it comes to the usual target text oriented translation strategy the functionalist approach proposes. Thus, Lenting should have strived to adopt a method between a source and target orientated strategy; one which maintains the creativity and foreignizing effect of the source text’s constructed
language, whilst being domesticating enough to remain legible. The comparative analysis will show whether this method was employed, and if it had the desired effect.
3.2 Addressee(s)
The addressees of the source text and the target text are roughly part of the same age group, i.e. young adults between the ages of 15 and 25. It is likely that the Dutch readership includes slightly younger children, since the majority of young people in the Netherlands live less sheltered lives than their English speaking counterparts. This assumption is underpinned by articles written on the dangers of the trilogy, due to its supposed highly inappropriate subject matter, although this sentiment was debated by Ness himself in an article from 2008 for The Guardian titled “On Being Branded a Health Hazard” (Harris, 2008).
It is reasonable to assume that both the source and target addressees have been exposed to an equal amount of dystopian literature, due to the growing popularity of the dystopian young adult narrative in the English speaking world in the past decade.
Simultaneously, translations of a myriad of dystopian trilogies with overlapping audiences were published on the Dutch market, and these translations were readily available in the Netherlands around the same time and far before the publication of De Chaos Trilogie in
Dutch, such as: The Hunger Games (published between 2008-2010 and adapted for film in 2012-2014) and Divergent (published between 2011-2013 and adapted for film in 2014-2016) (Lawson, 2006). The readers are, as a result, conditioned by their literary experience to have specific expectations of the use of language in these novels, and they have moderate to high literary competence and command of the literary codes.
3.3 Time and Place
The prospective time and place of source text reception would have been English speaking countries (mostly America, Canada and Britain) and to a lesser extent English speakers all over the world between the years of 2008 and 2010. The time and place of target text reception is the Netherlands in 2013. Both source and target text reception are continuing to this day, and perhaps even increasing since Ness has gained popularity through film
adaptations of his novels, namely the film adaptation of his novel A Monster Calls, which was released at the end of 2016, with well-known actors Liam Neeson and Sigourney Weaver (Atienza, 2016). The first filmic adaptation of the Chaos Walking trilogy is currently in pre-production, with plans to turn all three books into films (Kroll, 2016). Still, it is important to note that the source text addressees are more aware of Ness’ writing than their Dutch
counterparts, after all the Chaos Walking trilogy was the first of Ness’ writings to be published in Dutch, and only two other books have been recently translated into Dutch.
Although the trilogy was published over a time span of three-plus years and written in many more, Lenting only had a couple of months to write all three of her translations, owing to Moon’s intention to publish the complete trilogy in one go in 2013 (Lenting, 2013). The time of creation and reception therefore dramatically differs for the source and target texts,
and it is highly likely that this drastic shortening of time influenced the translator’s ability to fully analyze and understand the constructed language. This could have increased the
flattening of style and reduction of functions.
The place of publication is the Netherlands, and seeing that Dutch and English are a language pair that, generally speaking, do not cause many linguistic or cultural translation problems, this should not result in any major issues. In addition, English readers should have little to no cultural-specific knowledge over the Dutch readers, since it is a dystopian novel set on a new planet with a new invented language. This, again, leaves the constructed language as the highest priority problem due to its creative nature and the short span of time available to Lenting.
3.4 Medium
The medium of transmission is identical for both the source texts and target texts, in that both are available as physical copies and e-books. The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask
and the Answer, and Of Monsters and Men are all printed paperbacks of respectively 518,
566, and 514 pages, and contain different fonts to represent “Noise" and chapter headings. The Dutch translations: Het Mes dat Niet Wijkt, Het Donkere Paradijs, and Lawaai dat Nooit
Stopt, are also printed paperbacks of 482, 514, and 530 pages respectively, containing similar
fonts to represent Noise but no different fonts for chapter headings.
3.5 Motive
Lastly, the motive for the production of the trilogy is different for those involved. Initially, the motive for Patrick Ness to write the trilogy would have been artistic expression,
and latter, to compel the readers to consider the central theme, i.e. undermining personal morals for the greater good. The final motivation would doubtlessly be: garnering readership and financial gain, which is unequivocally also the motivation for the publisher. The
motivations behind the publication of the translation remain the same on account of the publisher, and to a large extent Lenting’s motive overlaps with Ness’: artistic expression, thought provocation, readership, and a salary. Seeing as the motivations behind both texts’ production are very much alike, it is unlikely that motivation would have influenced the translation.
To conclude, both the source and target texts largely overlap in terms of their addressees, medium, and motive. A significant difference can be found between the time of reception of both trilogies, since the timeframe for the creation of the target texts was alarmingly short. It is likely that the translation of the constructed language might have suffered because of it, and a flattening of style is likely to have occurred. We might assume that this problem, in relation to the constructed language, has been amplified by its highly expressive textual function. The reconstruction of the translation brief leads me to conclude that the constructed language is the main translation problem and it is amplified by the time constraints. Ideally, the translation will have its focus on the style and function of the constructed language, whilst creating a target text oriented translation in relation to the comprehensibility of the text, reaching pragmatic equivalence. Whether this method was employed by Lenting, and achieved this desired effect, will be discussed in the conclusion.
4. The Source Text Analysis
Whilst reading the trilogy instances of constructed fictional language were identified and grouped together by linguistic category. Although lexis is a component of the dialect, it will be treated separately in the analyses, as individual dialectal items are strictly speaking not constructed language. Additionally, a character’s dialectal features are made obvious through the dialogue, while individual knowledge of lexical items remains unclear due to the first person point-of-view. Consistency of use and possible origins will be discussed for the dialectal component, and the lexical component has been subdivided into lexis used by humans or the alien species.
4.1. Eye Dialect
The language in Chaos Walking can only be understood through inference, as not one of the approximately fifteen-hundred pages contains an expository paragraph. What we do know is that the settlers have been on the new planet for at least a generation, and we know that this relatively small group of people lived in close proximity to each other in complete isolation from earth. Over time their natural earthly dialects started to evolve into the constructed fictional language found in the trilogy.
Throughout the story Todd and Viola’s dialects start to merge as their relationship grows stronger. Before Viola’s arrival Todd was unaware of the existence of multiple dialects, as highlighted by his interest in other character’s speech varieties, describing the way Viola speaks as birds in flight whilst describing his own as a sneak attack (Ness, 2008, p. 132). Throughout the trilogy emphasis is placed on the dialects the characters speak, strengthening the vitality and significance of the constructed language.
4.1.1 Todd. All aspects of Todd’s dialect, consisting of seven dominant features, can
be gleaned from the eye dialect present in the first chapter of the first book in the trilogy. His dialect will be seen as largely representative of the Prentisstown dialect (his hometown), owning to the fact that they lived in complete isolation from the other villages on the new planet and earth.
Pronoun Variation. The first indication of Todd’s dialect comes in the form of the
possessive determiner “yer”, when readers are introduced to Todd and his dog Manchee: “The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk” (Ness, 2008, p. 3). The Oxford English
Dictionary (OED) states that this colloquial eye dialect spelling can be found in both British
and Southern American English, and although it is impossible to firmly state which of the two dialects “yer” belongs to, it is most likely a reference to Southern American informal speech when seen in relation to other pronoun variations in the first chapter. For instance, the
reflexive pronoun “theirselves” is classified, by the American Heritage Dictionary (AHD) and Berrey, as chiefly Southern American or part of a South Midland dialect (1940, p. 51). Other pronouns which are consistently used by Todd are “yerself” and “‘em”. The former has the same possible origins as “yer”, whilst the latter eye dialect for “them”, contains a common feature of Southern American dialects, i.e. syncope (Berrey, 1940, p. 47). The deletion of the stop sound /t/ in the pronunciation of “em” is therefore likely a variation on this dialectal feature. Still, it is important to note that a reader’s interpretations depend on their location, e.g. British readers will likely understand “yer” as British rather than American English.
Negation. A second feature of Todd’s dialect is the use of single, double, and
occasionally even triple negatives, and most often these negations include the contraction “ain’t” instead of the standard “are not”, for instance: “which I know from experience ain’t coming out” (Ness, 2008, p. 5). The OED and AHD both mention that this form is attributed
to both British and American English and has a controversial history within linguistics, also stating that the use of “ain’t” is often seen as a sign of ignorance. Todd uses the double negative more often than singular options, as in: “you pretty much ain’t got no chance at all then” (Ness, 2008, p. 8). There are also a handful of instances of triple negative use, such as: “not nothing good nowhere” (Ness, 2008, p. 402). Although its origin may be disputed, negation is certainly part of a non-standard dialect, and it reiterates the duality of the fictional dialect as having both British and American origins.
Suffixation. A recurring spelling of nouns ending in tion" is the eye dialect suffix
“-shun”, e.g. “the preparayshuns prepared” (Ness, 2008, p. 4). Looking at the British English pronunciation /ˌprɛpəˈreɪʃn/, and the American English pronunciation /ˌprɛpəˈreɪʃən/, both provided in the OED, the American version seems to more accurately apply to the eye dialect spelling due to the addition of schwa between the consonants of the suffix, which the /u/ likely indicates. Yet, other suffixations highlight the amalgamated nature of the eye dialect, i.e. “non-working petrol stayshun” (Ness, 2008, p. 19). In this instance the American pronunciation including schwa is combined with the British English “petrol”. Interestingly this features is also applied to constructed lexical items, such as the horrific compilations of war imagery called “horrorpilashuns” (Ness, 2008, p. 25).
Profanity and Slang. Considering that Todd is a teenager, it should be expected that
he uses a variety of curse words, or to “spit it” as it is called in the Chaos Walking universe (Ness, 2008, p. 15). The majority of profanity is spelled using eye dialect or even invented lexis, for instance, in one sentence “goddam” occurs six times: “it’ll be my own goddam fault […] even tho I never wanted the goddam dog” (Ness, 2008, p. 5). There are sentences where Todd refers to “effs”, an uncommon eye dialect spelling for the f-word, but also “geedees”, most likely in reference to the “goddam’s”, since it is not part of Standard English (Ness,
2008, p. 7). An additional invention is the posteriori word “gonk”, defined by the OED as an arbitrary Modern English word for "egg-shaped doll”, which Todd uses to describe an uncooperative Manchee: “hold still, you gonk!” (Ness, 2008, p. 12). None of the common profanities provide a clear indication of their source, whilst the constructed ones emphasize the fictional reality.
Certain instances of slang use provide us with a location, such as Todd’s uses of the phrase “hacked off”, which the OED defines as a non-standard American slang term
expressing annoyance (Ness, 2008, p. 7). Additionally, the word “spooked”, which the OED describes as belonging to American slang, is used in reference to fear: “Manchee’s spooked […] me double-spooked” (Ness, 2008, p. 14). The hyphenated use might even be a reference to Orwell’s Newspeak, i.e. “doublespeak” , seeing as the prefix “double-” is used in Newspeak 1
to create the superlative form of adverbs or adjectives.
Colloquialisms. The trilogy is also littered with colloquialisms, which is not surprising
considering the fact that Todd grew up in a town where elders are to be respected or you will receive a beating. Therefore, it is logical that he has adopted some of these words in
combination with his ever present profanity and slang. Todd uses “ruddy” to describe
Manchee, which the OED defines as a chiefly British colloquial intensifier, originally used as an euphemism for “bloody” (Ness, 2008, p. 11). A further colloquialism, and archaism in certain dialects, occurs in the sentence: “Manchee’s torn twixt racing after it and coming back to me” (Ness, 2008, p. 16). Similarly, the OED refers to this term as archaic British English, although also ascribing it to Scottish dialects. These weaken the argument for an American dialect, and, if anything, highlight the fact that this thesis, in the end, deals with an
amalgamated constructed fictional dialect, containing different features of natural dialects and
For more on Newspeak’s prefixes: www.blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2014/09/george-orwell-newspeak/
constructed eye dialect to create an unique language.
Relaxed Pronunciation. The main and most obvious features of Todd’s eye dialect is
the use of relaxed pronunciation, and although these pronunciations cannot be positively ascribed to a certain dialectal origin, they do help build Todd’s character. Examples of relaxed pronunciation are the conjunctions and prepositions: “tho”, “cuz”, and “thru” (Ness, 2008, p. 4), which are evenly distributed throughout the trilogy. Words such as “have”, “of”, and “to” are often pronounced as schwa in regular speech, resulting in eye dialect spellings such as: “shoulda”, “outta”, and “wanna” (Ness, 2008, p. 6). Certain eye dialect spellings of adjectives are also a common feature of Todd’s relaxed pronunciation, such as in “what they were ever sposed to be” (Ness, 2008, p. 12). These features cannot be ascribed to a dialectal origin, as relaxed pronunciations are part of every language, and a person’s everyday speech patterns.
Noun and Verb Variation. Sporadically, Ness has also included eye dialect spellings
of certain nouns and verbs, such as “creachers”, “ sematary”, “reckernize”, and “mim” instead of “mam” (Ness, 2008, p. 5; p. 9; p. 12; p. 184) . The main purpose of these eye dialect
variations is to give the reader some idea of Todd’s pronunciation and strengthen the fictional reality of the new earth.
To summarize, Todd’s eye dialect contains multiple distinctive features which serve to build his character and create a separation of worlds between the reader and Todd (see table 1 below). Thus, Ness was able to create the feeling of a different planet without explicitly stating that the story takes place on New Earth, and in this way, the reader is largely unaware of this important plot line during the first hundred pages. Granting that Todd’s dialect contains features of multiple dialects, mainly Southern American English, Standard British English, and some with purely constructed origins, firm conclusions on the origins of the dialect
cannot be made. This helps strengthen the idea of a constructed fictional dialect and language from the readers point-of-view.
Table 1. Features of Todd’s dialect. This table illustrates the different features present in Todd’s dialect, as well as examples of said dialect.
4.1.2 Secondary characters. Throughout the trilogy, distinctions are made between
the speech patterns of different characters. The dialects of secondary characters, however, are shown exclusively through dialogue and are therefore less detailed than Todd’s dialect. These secondary characters are (for the most part) plot devices, only present in a couple of chapters, but they help strengthen the illusion of a different planet by illustrating how English
developed in the different villages on the new planet after colonization.
Hildy and Tam. The first two secondary characters with distinctive accents are Hildy
and Tam. Todd and Viola meet these characters in chapter fourteen of book one, after they burn down Hildy’s bridge to save themselves from the army. The following excerpt serves as an illustration of Hildy (the person speaking) and Tam’s dialect:
“I’m asking,” it says, “what exactly gives ye permisshun to go a-burning down other people’s bridges?” I don’t say nothing. Neither does the girl. “D’ye think this is a stick I’m a-pointing at ye?” (Ness, 2008, p. 141-142)
Even though Hildy and Tam’s home cannot be further than 5 kilometers from Prentisstown,
Dominant features Examples
Pronoun variation yer, yerself, theirselves
Negation: single, double triple ain’t nothing (nowhere)
Suffixation: -tion → -shun preperashun, irrigashun, horropilashun Profanity and slang goddam, gonk, hacked off, spooked
Colloquialisms spooked, twixt, hacked off
Relaxed pronunciation cuz, thru, shoulda, sposed Noun and verb variation creachers, sematary, mim
the excerpt already emphasizes clear differences between the character’ speech varieties. Through their encounter readers discover that these characters used to work together with the people from Prentisstown, and Todd’s eye dialect therefore overlaps with those of Hildy and Tam, although it has changed in other ways. What we are left with is a combination of the two. For example, similar to Todd they use the possessive determiner “yer”: “I’d quieten down yer beastie there” (Ness, 2008, p. 141), and the suffixation of “-tion” as “-shun”.
Be that as it may, there are more differences than similarities. The pronoun “you”, for example, occurs as a “ye” or even “ja” when contracted with an auxiliary verb: “now
wouldja” (Ness, 2008, p. 141), and it belongs to eye dialect spellings of relaxed
pronunciations, with no clear origin. Present participles are preceded by the “a-” prefix, as seen in the excerpt, which is a feature consistently used throughout Hildy and Tam’s speech, of which the AHD states that it is commonly used in American English dialects, particularly in the Southern and Southwestern highland areas. Similar to the seemingly random spelling of nouns and verbs in Todd’s speech, Ness also included a few irregular features in Hildy and Tam’s eye dialect spellings of adjectives, as in: “I do believe I sent an asking to a partickalar pair of pups” (Ness, 2008, p. 141). Differences can even be found between Hildy and Tam’s individual dialect, since Tam’s speech is often represented as much faster and less clearly pronounced than Hildy’s, e.g. “pleasedtameetya” (Ness, 2008, p. 153). In the end, both of their dialects lean toward a Southern American origin.
Wilf. Wilf, a character introduced in chapter twenty-two, who offers Todd and Viola
help at a critical time, lives another village away from Hildy and Tam, and at this point they have traveled approximately 50 kilometers. As previously mentioned, this is the second time, after hearing Viola’s accent, that Todd realizes people can have different dialects. Wilf's speech can best be described as a thick accent, as can be gleaned from the following excerpt:
“Ya won’t get ver far on foot,” says an other voice “They’s all go round carts,” […] They’s squish ya right up, ah kin give y’all a ride thrus” (Ness, 2008, p. 239)
The single most recognizable feature of Southern American English, as stated by the AHD, is present in Wilf’s eye dialect, which is unmistakably “y’all”. The pronoun “ya” is defined as the colloquial representation of “you” in both British and American English, and “I” is represented as the eye dialect spelling “ah”, which the AHD states is either of Scottish or (again) Southern American origin.
Another feature of Wilf’s dialect is the contraction “’s” added to “they”. In Standard English this contraction is used to represent “does”, “is”, and “has”, but in this case it seems to represent “will”. Yet, the only reference to “they’s” in the OED and AHD is the Southern American and Caribbean use for “there”, and it is likely Ness knew of this feature in Southern American and decided to apply it in a different context in Chaos Walking. Other features include the changing of vowels and consonants in certain words, e.g. “can” → “kin” and “might” → “mite”, deletion of articles and word endings, e.g. “the” → x and “very” → “ver”, and a generally more relaxed pronunciation than the other characters. Berrey (1940) states that these features are also part of Southern American dialects (p. 47), and out of all four characters discussed, Wilf’s dialect is therefore most clearly Southern American English.
In summary, the analysis of the source text’s dialects showed that the eye dialect of the different characters are distinctive enough to be identified as their own, whilst still being able to show the historic relationships between their communities. Todd, being the main character, has to most distinctive and consistent eye dialect with multiple possible origins, i.e. Southern American, British English, American English, and even Scottish. The secondary characters Hildy and Tam’ are more closely linked to (Southern) American, whilst Wilf’s dialect is unmistakably Southern American.
4.2 Lexical Items
In the world of Chaos Walking, apples are nearly ripe when they turn black and a certain purple species of giant reptiles are called “crocs” ((Ness, 2008, p. 8; p. 12). In these instances the settlers directly applied words already present in Modern English to a new discovery, i.e. a posteriori extension of meaning. In other instances a new priori word was created to describe their new inventions and those things that were too alien to receive an ordinary Modern English label. Interestingly, the majority of lexical items were posteriori constructions, and no compounds were created of exclusively priori and/or posteriori words (see table 2).
Table 2. Number of occurrences per lexical type. This table illustrates the amount of times each lexical type occurred in the source text.
4.2.1 Human. What follows in the coming paragraphs are examples of the human
lexical items with explanations, definitions, and their label of priori, posteriori, or mixture. All five types of constructed lexicon will be discussed, as mentioned above, and the general rules that apply to each type. For a full list of all lexical items, see the appendix on page 79.
Priori. As previously mentioned, priori words are those who do not have their basis in
natural languages, and the following two examples serve as illustrations of this type of lexis.
Type Amount Priori 11 Posteriori 35 Common + Common 10 Priori + Common 2 Posteriori + Common 15 Priori + Priori 0 Posteriori + Posteriori 0 Priori + Posteriori 0
In the first book readers are introduced to the alien species: “but Ben says they make the sound es’Paqili” (Ness, 2008, p. 15). Although Todd believes this word is related to Spackle speech, it is actually the result of a miscommunication between the settlers and Spackle. Seeing that the word is not present in natural language it is labeled as a priori lexical item. The same rules apply to the word “cassor”, which is a type of animal described as bird-like, three meters tall, and nearly extinct (Ness, 2008, p. 10).
Posteriori. Different from the priori constructions, posteriori lexical items are based
on natural language, and in the case of the trilogy the label includes extensions of meaning to existing Modern English words. An example of a posteriori construction would be the word “band” introduced in the second book as a metal ring, which is embedded into the skin, and it causes death from exsanguination upon its removal (Ness, 2009, p. 136). Initially these “bands” are used to identify the enslaved Spackle, but over time they are used on the women of the new earth. The word “band” is a polysemous extension of meaning, as similar tools are used in agriculture. Similarly, all other words which received the posteriori label are present in the OED but receive supplementary definitions, and the constructed lexis is either closely related or a complete homonym of the original Modern English word. For instance, the word “hooper” (Ness, 2010, p. 49) refers to a small bomb in the trilogy instead of its Modern English definition “a person who makes barrels”, introducing a posteriori homonym.
Common Mixtures. The name given to planet earth and the new earth, that is “Old
World” and “New World” (Ness, 2008, p. 162), are both examples of two common word mixtures. These mixtures are based on words which still hold the same meaning or are at least highly polysemic in nature to their Modern English counterparts, but when combined they refer to something only present in the Chaos Walking universe. Another example of such mixtures would be “bonemending” (Ness, 2009, p. 161), a medicine which when applied
heals broken bones in a matter of hours. All other common word mixtures present in the source texts adhere to the same rules.
Priori Mixtures. There are only two priori and common word mixtures present in the
trilogy, namely the natural opiate “Jeffers root” and an antidote against snake venom called “Xanthus root” (Ness, 2009, p. 76; p. 215).
Posteriori Mixtures. The final type of mixture that can be found in the constructed
language is that of a posteriori and common word. A prime example of this type of mixture is the “fissionbike”: “What I said I wanted was for Cillian to finally fix the fissionbike” (Ness, 2008, p. 3). When the reader continues with the novel they will encounter “fissioncars" and “fission generators”, and we can therefore safely assume we are dealing with some sort of energy source that can power machinery. The OED defines the term “fission” as “the action of splitting or dividing into pieces”, and it is often found in relation to nuclear physics, leading to the interpretation that nuclear fission can be used to power vehicles and other manmade tools in the Chaos Walking universe. The compound “fissionbike” is therefore a mixed extension of meaning. However, it is important to note the readers might not be aware of nuclear fission and will therefore interpret the word “fission” as being a priori construction, when in
actuality, it is a posteriori construction due to its extension of meaning. Words describing New Worldly animals and plants are also posteriori and common word mixtures, since the type of animal is always nonexistent on planet earth, and usually an adjective describing said animal is added to the noun as in “waxy squirrels” and “razor lizards” (Ness, 2008, p. 11;
p. 34). All other posteriori and common word mixtures follow the same rules.
4.2.2 Spackle. The Spackle language is first mentioned in the first book, but fully
introduced in the final book: Monster of Men. Their language is treated separately from the human constructed lexis, because the two language are distinctly different. Whilst the settlers
communicate through words and their telepathic “Noise”, the Spackle communicate purely through said “Noise”. They are one, in the strictest sense of the word, comparable to the ocean or other natural occurrences, constantly sharing their senses, feelings, and thoughts with one another. The Spackle’s constructed language consists of eight posteriori extensions of meaning of a definite article and a capitalized noun, which can be found in the appendix on page 79. Seeing that Spackle communication naturally happens through “Noise”, the use of the definite article “the” and capitalization of the nouns helps emphasize the singularity of the species as mentioned above. A further distinction is made between men, i.e. the “voiced clearing”, and women, i.e. the “voiceless clearing” (Ness, 2009, p. 304; p. 379), and these terms correlate to the distinction between “Noise” and “Quiet” in the human language.
To conclude, the analysis of the source text’s constructed lexical items showed that Ness used posteriori extensions of meaning the majority of the time, whilst including fewer a priori lexis, perhaps to create a foreignizing effect whilst maintaining comprehensibility. The importance of these items in building the world of Chaos Walking, and the contrast between humans and Spackle, cannot receive enough emphasis. Whether these features were
5. The Comparative Analysis
This chapter contains the comparative analysis of the constructed fictional language used in both the trilogy and its Dutch translation. Having analyzed the source text in the previous chapter, I was able to identify and compare the translations of the lexical items and the eye dialect to the results from the source text analysis. In the case of the eye dialect, translation pairs were categorized using Horton’s four dialect translation options (1998), and Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures (1995) were used for the classification of the lexical translation pairs.
Parallel to the previous chapter, the dialectal and lexical components need to be
discussed separately, since dialectal items do not belong to constructed language per se. In the case of the dialectal aspect, the features that were maintained in the target text will be
discussed, as well as those features that were lost and gained in translation. Differently from the source text analysis lexical items will be discussed according to the translation procedures used by Lenting and the translation pairs that were present under each procedure, for instance adaptations of a priori word into a priori and common word mixture, or a posteriori into priori calque.
5.1 Eye Dialect
In the previous chapter it was shown that the dialects of the settlers drifted apart as they started to form their own societies and created villages on different parts of the new planet, and as a result, the people Todd and Viola encounter speak their own distinct (group) dialects. Sadly, the same distinctions between the dialects of different villages and the rich
