Making words Sing and Dance: Sense, Style and Sound in Yoruba Prose Translation

Pamela J. Olúbùnmi Smith, University of Nebraska at Omaha

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The original publication can be found here: UR Ihttp://id.erudit.org/iderudit/004197arCopied DOI10.7202/004197ar

Abstract

Ordinarily in prose translation, rhythm is usually not a matter of great concern for the translator. Unlike poetry, with its comparatively rigid form, prose, by its very nature, permits a free form fluidity, giving the translator a certain kind of carte blanche “prosaic” license. However, in language-driven texts, as is the case in the novels of Yoruba creative writer D.O. Fagunwa, the translator has to be ever mindful of the author's purposeful inter-linking of the aesthetic value of sound to the cognitive meaning of the text.