Natural expressions and deeper meanings in Chumburung

Should a translation of the Christian Scriptures be close to the source language, or be more close to the target language? The authors of this volume show that, especially for ethnic groups that are largely unfamiliar with Christianity and its teachings, the translation must be both as natural and as comprehensible as anything written or spoken in the target language. As a team working with Chumburung of Ghana native speakers, they were able to help them use their own natural expressions and deeper meanings to make an accurate, meaningful and idiomatic translation. Learning the language and culture of the people, they studied the use of body metaphors to express emotions and characteristics, and the use of proverbs and riddles and songs. They also studied name-formation-rules, and how these could be effectively used to create natural expressions for the attributes of God. Keir Hansford also translated a large number of poems written by one talented poet. He also showed how Serial Verb Constructions were very productive in a language that has few adverbs and only three adpositions. This volume is a must-read for Bible translators and consultants and ethnolinguists.

Autorentext

Keir and Gillian as members of SIL were assigned to GILLBT to study the Chumburung language and supervise native speakers in translating the Bible into that language. This was completed in 2009. Keir has a PhD in the Grammar of Chumburung, and Gillian gained an MA in their history. She died of cancer 2011. Keir was Editor of JWAL for 16 years.