Poeticizing the Psalter in an African Language
Domain:
natural language processingCreator:
Ern
Publisher:
Wal
Host:
Abstract
This study illustrates the application of a literary methodology to the analysis and translation of
biblical poetry. The aim is twofold: first and foundational, to reveal salient aspects of the beauty and power
of Psalm 13 in the original Hebrew; and second, to experiment with different methods of communicating
the original meaning of the psalmist’s passionate prayer with respect to lyric form, content, and function
in Chichewa, a major Bantu language. After a thorough examination of the principal structural and
stylistic features of the biblical text, a typical lament psalm, several published and unpublished Chewa
translations are critically discussed. The ultimate purpose is, as the title of this paper suggests, to produce
an acceptable, functionally equivalent, poetic version of the Hebrew text in the vernacular. In conclusion,
the main principles illustrated in this study are summarized in an effort to encourage more dynamic,
idiomatic, indeed melodic translations of the Scriptures in local languages, where circumstances allow.
“How long” must so many reader-hearers suffer under the burden of a less than communicative version of
the Psalter in their mother tongue?
Similar
Casein an African LanguagePower of Language, Language of Power: An Analysis of the Im/possibilities of African Unity through An African Standardized Regional LanguageTranslating francophone African Literature into an African language: An experienceTruth and an African LanguageTigrinya, an “African-Semitic” languageEnglish as an African language