Are Translators Really Subservient? Empirical Evidence from Lexical Transfer and Language Prestige in Curaçao
Open Access
- 30 September 2020
- journal article
- Published by Uniwersytet Lodzki (University of Lodz) in Research in Language
- Vol. 18 (3), 245-264
- https://doi.org/10.18778/1731-7533.18.3.01
Abstract
This paper examines whether translator subservience is generalisable among translators. Taking professional Curaçaoan Papiamentu translators as a case study built on a much larger work, the research looks at issues of subservience from the perspective of agency in the English-to-Papiamentu lexical transfer process and at the influence of language prestige. The results show instances in which the translators reported more lexical transfers than did the non-translators. The results also reveal an overlooked translator agency in the process rather than translator subservience, in view of the fact that in this process they are on the “frontline”, pre-empting whatever decisions the official language planners make.Keywords
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