Cover not available
Article published In:
Target
Vol. 26:1 (2014) ► pp.32–62

Poetry translators and regional vernacular voice

Belli’s Romanesco sonnets in English and Scots

| Newcastle University

This study investigates how poetry translators tackle source regional voice within their wider approach to poetic text. It analyses eleven translators’ ‘outputs’ of Scots and English translations from Giuseppe Belli’s 19th-century regionallanguage sonnets, which are set in working-class Rome. Each output was coded for voice (space, community, tenor marking), text-world space, and poetic form (rhyme, rhythm), then analysed quantitatively and qualitatively; translator interviews and translators’ written commentaries provided extra data. Translators ranged along a spectrum (apparently genre-specific) between two extremes: (1) ‘relocalising’ voice into target regional language/dialect with similar workingclass and informal features to Belli’s originals, whilst relocalising place and person names to target-country analogies, and recreating rhyme and rhythm; (2) translating into standard (supra-regional, literary/educated, neutral-toformal) English, whilst preserving Belli’s Roman setting, but replacing rhyme and rhythm by free verse. This reflects a spectrum between two priorities: (1) creatively conveying poetic texture; (2) replicating surface semantics.

Keywords: regional dialect, poetry, Italian, Scots, English, voice, rhyme, rhythm
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Translating regional voices in poetry
    • 1.2Belli’s Romanesco sonnets
    • 1.3Reading and translating poetry
    • 1.4Language varieties
    • 1.5Translating regional voices and text worlds
  • 2.Methods
    • 2.1Data sources
    • 2.2Analysis
  • 3.Findings
    • 3.1Correlations
  • 3.2Tackling Belli’s vernacular voice
    • 3.2.1Preferences and interconnections
    • 3.2.2Relocalised vernaculars
    • 3.2.3Delocalised vernaculars
    • 3.2.4Diverging to standard language
  • 3.3Space-marked text worlds
    • 3.3.1Voice and text-world space
    • 3.3.2Relocalised text worlds
    • 3.3.3Preserving the source-poem text world
    • 3.3.4Mixed text worlds
  • 3.4Poetic form, voices and text worlds
    • 3.4.1Poetic form
    • 3.4.2Reflecting voice and sound
    • 3.4.3Free verse and standard voicing
  • 4.Conclusions
    • 4.1Regional voice and genre
    • 4.2Poetic approaches
      • 4.2.1Problem spaces and poetic texture
      • 4.2.2Poetic texture and regional vernacular
      • 4.2.3Normalisation and literary norms
    • 4.3Creativity and regional voice
    • 4.4Ideologies and identities
    • 4.5Voices and signals
    • 4.6Further research
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 7 March 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.26.1.02jon
References (73)
Allén, Sture
, ed 1999  Translation of Poetry and Poetic Prose . Singapore: World Scientific.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, Nigel, and Federico M. Federici
2006 “Introduction.” In Translating Voices, Translating Regions, ed. by Nigel Armstrong, and Federico M. Federici, 11–15. Rome: Aracne.Google Scholar
Belli, Giuseppe Gioachino
1981  Sonnets of Giuseppe Belli . Translated by Miller Williams. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.Google Scholar
1984  The People of Rome in 100 Sonnets . Translated by Allen Andrews. Rome: Bardi.Google Scholar
1995  A Hantle O Romanesco Sonnets . Translated by William Neill. Castle Douglas: Burnside.Google Scholar
1996  Twa Score Romanesco Sonnets . Translated by William Neill. Castle Douglas: Burnside.Google Scholar
1998  Seventeen Sonnets . Translated by William Neill. Kirkcaldy: Akros.Google Scholar
. 2002–2008. “The Sonnets of Giuseppe Gioachino Belli.” Translated by Peter Nicholas Dale, Anthony Burgess, and Harold Norse. I sonetti di Giuseppe Gioachino Belli . [URL]. Accessed December 20 2012.
2007a  Sonnets . Translated by Mike Stocks. Richmond: Oneworld Classics.Google Scholar
2007b  Tutti I Sonetti Romaneschi , ed. by Marcello Teodoni. [URL]. Accessed December 15 2012.
Berman, Antoine
(1985) 2000 “Translation and Trials of the Foreign.” Translated by Lawrence Venuti. In The Translation Studies Reader, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 284–297. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bly, Robert
1983  The Eight Stages of Translation .Boston, MA: Rowan Tree.Google Scholar
Boase-Beier, Jean
2004 “Knowing and Not Knowing: Style, Intention and the Translation of a Holocaust Poem.” Language and Literature 13 (1): 25–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 “Poetry.” In Routledge Encyclopaedia of Translation Studies, ed. by Mona Baker, and Gabriela Saldanha, 194–196. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bowman, Martin, and Bill Findlay
2004 “Translating Register in Michel Tremblay’s Québécois Drama.” In Frae Ither Tongues: Essays on Modern Translation into Scots, ed. by Bill Findlay, 66–83. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Briguglia, Caterina
2011 “Comparing Two Polysystems: The Cases of Spanish and Catalan Versions of Andrea Camilleri’s Il Cane De Terracotta.” In Translating Dialects and Languages of Minorities, ed. by Federico M. Federici, 109–125. Berne: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Burgess, Anthony
1977 “Two.” In Abba Abba, by Anthony Burgess, 92–127. London: Faber.Google Scholar
Chesterman, Andrew
1997  Memes of Translation . Amsterdam: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dale, Peter
2006 “Six Sonnets: Giuseppe Gioachino Belli.” In The Yellow Nib , ed. by Ciaran Carson, 86–92. Belfast: Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry.Google Scholar
Duranti, Riccardo
1989 “The Paradox of Distance: Belli Translated into English and Scots.” New Comparison 81 (Autumn): 36–44.Google Scholar
2006 “Le Molteplici Sfide Traduttive Dei Sonetti Di Belli [The Manifold Translation Challenges of Belli’s Sonnets].” In Translating Voices, Translating Regions, ed. by Nigel Armstrong, and Federico M. Federici, 287–305. Rome: Aracne.Google Scholar
DuVal, John
1990 “Translating the Dialect: Miller Williams’ Romanesco.” Translation Review 32–33: 27–31. DOI logo
Ellinger, Andrea D., Karen E. Watkins, and Victoria J. Marsick
2009 “Case Study Research Methods.” In Research in Organizations: Foundations and Methods of Inquiry, ed. by Richard A. Swanson, and Elwood F. Holton, 327–346. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.Google Scholar
Federici, Federico M.
2011 “Dialects, Idiolects, Sociolects: Translation Problems or Creative Stimuli?” In Translating Dialects and Languages of Minorities, ed. by Federico M. Federici, 1–20. Berne: Peter Lang.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Findlay, Bill
2004 “Editor’s Introduction.” In Frae Ither Tongues: Essays on Modern Translation into Scots, ed. by Bill Findlay, 1–12. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, Bryan
2000 “Translating the Folk.” Edinburgh Working Papers in Applied Linguistics 101: 32–36.Google Scholar
Fochi, Anna
2006 “A Journey from the Margins: The Transformations of Neruda.” In Translating Voices, Translating Regions, ed. by Nigel Armstrong, and Federico M. Federici, 72–89. Rome: Aracne.Google Scholar
Folkart, Barbara
2007  Second Finding: A Poetics of Translation . Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.Google Scholar
Garioch, Robert
1983 “Roman Sonnets Frae Giuseppe Belli.” In Complete Poetical Works , by Robert Garioch, 217–280. Edinburgh: Macdonald.Google Scholar
Ghassempur, Susanne
2011 “Fuckin’ Hell! Dublin Soul Goes German: A Functional Approach to the Translation of ‘Fuck’ in Roddy Doyle’s the Commitments.” In Translating Dialects and Languages of Minorities, ed. by Federico M. Federici, 49–64. Berne: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Gibellini, Pietro
1978 “Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, Romano [Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, Roman]; Cronologia [Chronology].” In Sonetti , ed. by Pietro Gibellini, vii–xciv. Milan: Monadori.Google Scholar
Gutt, Ernst-August
2000  Translation and Relevance . 2nd ed. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael
1978  Language as Social Semiotic .Baltimore, OH: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Harrison, Tony
(1984) 1987  Selected Poems . 2nd ed. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Herbert, W.N.
1996  Cabaret McGonagall . Newcastle: Bloodaxe.Google Scholar
Hickey, Leo
1998  The Pragmatics of Translation . Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Holmes, James S
1988  Translated! Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies . Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Holton, Brian
2004 “Wale a Leid an Wale a Warld: Shuihu Zhuan into Scots.” In Frae Ither Tongues: Essays on Modern Translation into Scots, ed. by Bill Findlay, 15–37. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Howard, Paul
2005 “Four Versions of Sonnets by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli.” Modern Poetry in Translation . 3 (3): 48–52.Google Scholar
Jakobson, Roman
(1960) 1988 “Linguistics and Poetics.” In Modern Criticism and Theory, ed. by David Lodge, 32–61. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Jones, Francis R
2011  Poetry Translating as Expert Action . Amsterdam: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
., and Allan Turner 2004 “Archaisation, Modernisation and Reference in the Translation of Older Texts.” Across Languages and Cultures 5 (2): 159–184. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Landers, Clifford E
2001  Literary Translation: A Practical Guide . Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey, and Mick Short
2007  Style in Fiction . 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Lefevere, André
1975  Translating Poetry: Seven Strategies and a Blueprint . Assen: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Leppihalme, Ritva
2000 “The Two Faces of Standardization: On the Translation of Regionalisms in Literary Dialogue.” The Translator 6 (2): 247–269.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matterson, Stephen, and Darryl Jones
2000  Studying Poetry . London: Arnold.Google Scholar
McClure, J. Derrick
2006 “Scots and Italian: A Tradition of Mutual Poetic Translation.” In Translating Voices, Translating Regions, ed. by Nigel Armstrong, and Federico M. Federici, 308–322. Rome: Aracne.Google Scholar
Munday, Jeremy
2006 “Style in Audiovisual Translation.” In Translating Voices, Translating Regions, ed. by Nigel Armstrong, and Federico M. Federici, 22–36. Rome: Aracne.Google Scholar
Norse, Harold
(1960) 1974  The Roman Sonnets of G. G. Belli . Translated by Harold Norse. London: Perivale/Villiers.Google Scholar
O’Grady, Desmond
1977 “Five Sonnets by Belli.” The Malahat Review 431: 94–99.Google Scholar
Pilkington, Adrian
2000  Poetic Effects . Amsterdam: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scottish Executive Education Department
2007  A Strategy for Scotland’s Languages . [URL]. Accessed December 21 2012.
Sternberg, Robert J
., and Todd I. Lubart 1999 “The Concept of Creativity: Prospects and Paradigms.” In Handbook of Creativity, ed. by Robert J. Sternberg, 3–15. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stocks, Mike
2007 “Extra Material on Belli’s Sonnets.” In Sonnets, by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, 137–162. Richmond: Oneworld Classics.Google Scholar
Stockwell, Peter
2002  Cognitive Poetics: An Introduction . London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Susam-Sarajeva, Sebnem
2001 “Is One Case Always Enough?” Perspectives: Studies in Translatogy 9 (3): 167–176.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tabouret-Keller, Andrée
1999 “Western Europe.” In Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity, ed. by Joshua A. Fishman, 334–352. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Trifone, Pietro
2011 “Italiano E Dialetto Dal 1861 a Oggi [Italian and Dialect from 1861 to Today].” Treccani – l’Enciclopedia Italiana . [URL]. Accessed December 15 2012.
Trollope, Frances Eleanor
1881  The Homes and Haunts of the Italian Poets . London: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Tymoczko, Maria
2000 “Translation and Political Engagement: Activism, Social Change and the Role of Translation in Geopolitical Shifts.” The Translator 6 (1): 23–47.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence
1995  The Translator’s Invisibility . London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2000 “Translation, Community, Utopia.” In The Translation Studies Reader , ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 468–488. London: Routledge.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verschueren, Jef
2012  Ideology in Language Use . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wardhaugh, Ronald
2006  An Introduction to Sociolinguistics . 5th ed. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Weston, Anna
2006 “Sophocles on the South Bank: Tony Harrison Translatee and Translator.” In Translating Voices, Translating Regions, ed. by Nigel Armstrong, and Federico M. Federici, 235–253. Rome: Aracne.Google Scholar
Williams, Miller
1981 “Introduction.” In Sonnets of Giuseppe Belli, xv–xxi. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.Google Scholar
Wolfram, Walt, and Natalie Schilling-Estes
2006  American English: Dialects and Variation . 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Woodham, Kathryn
2006 “From Congolese Fisherman to British Butler: Francophone African Voices in English Translation.” In Translating Voices, Translating Regions, ed. by Nigel Armstrong, and Federico M. Federici, 392–408. Rome: Aracne.Google Scholar
Yin, Robert K
1993  Applications of Case Study Research . London: Sage.Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by 1 other publications

Walker, Callum
2018. Chapter 11. Towards a quantitative measurement of equivalent effect and a tentative conceptualisation of cognitive equivalence. In Eye Tracking and Multidisciplinary Studies on Translation [Benjamins Translation Library, 143], ► pp. 225 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 10 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.