Marlene NourbeSe Philip and Linton Kwesi Johnson: Sociolinguistic Analysis and Translation Issues

Abstract

United by the will of giving to the Caribbean legacy and language the prestige they deserve, Marlene NourbeSe Philip and Linton Kwesi Johnson constitute a fascinating task for any scholar who approaches their work. The project is divided into four chapters: The first chapter is, in turn, divided into three parts: in the first part Sociolinguistics, Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis are introduced, and the pioneers, the most relevant scholars of the disciplines are mentioned. In the second, Postcolonial writing and translation issues are examined in detail: the attempt is to uncover all the writing strategies adopted by postcolonial writers in general, and how these texts prove to be highly challenging when translated from ‘english’ into any other language. The third part deals with the Caribbean socio-cultural and linguistic development and wants to provide a guideline towards the birth of a Caribbean Postcolonial Literature. As a gateway to the following parts, this introductory section will be closed by a general introduction to the chosen writers, Marlene NourbeSe Philip and Linton Kwesi Johnson, providing general information about their literary background. The second chapter, titled ‘Marlene NourbeSe Philip: A Geography of Voices’, is made of three parts: part one is made of two introductory sections, the first to the style and the poetic of the author, the second to the oral tradition behind NourbeSe Philip writing; part two, titled ‘Leafing She tries her tongue, her silence softly breaks’, provides a multi-perspective analysis – sociolinguistic, computational, literary analysis – of her book; part three deals with Zong!, the latest book so far of the author, characterized by whimsical writing strategies that will be the core of the final chapter, the closing remarks, in which the theme of untranslatability is developed. Chapter three, titled ‘Linton Kwesi Johnson: Dub, Language and Riots’, is divided into three parts, or better, into three decades – Seventies, Eighties, Nineties Verses. For each decade, one or more emblematic songs are analysed and some of them translated into Italian. Particularly interesting in this chapter, is the analysis of Jamaican language and the investigation of the political issues behind the poems/songs. Chapter three focussing on translation and (un)translatability into Italian of some of their books in which the writers play with the possibilities of language. This chapter wants to be both a conclusive reflection on the outcome of the whole work and to highlight how the issue of untranslatability constitute a further incentive for the translator, who will be allowed to enhance the text, unveil stories hidden in the interstices, play with the text and turn it into something new. [edited by Author]