A contrastive linguistic study of selected English–Yoruba translated courtroom proceedings in Kwara State.
Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Obafemi Awolowo University
Abstract
This study identified and categorised the forms of interpretation used by the interpreters in three Magistrate Courts in Kwara State. In addition, it described the lexico-semantic and grammatical content of the selected English proceedings and contrasted these with that of the Yoruba
translations as it relates to meaning preservation, distortion and modification. It also commented
on the implications of translation in the context of courtroom discourse in English as Second
Language environment. This was done with a view to examining the theory and practice of
Yoruba-English translation.
Data for the study were drawn from primary and secondary sources. The primary source
comprised recorded courtroom proceedings. The courts from which the proceedings were drawn
are three purposively selected Magistrate Courts in Kwara State namely: Magistrate Court Ilorin,
Magistrate Court Offa, and Magistrate Court Omu-Aran. Two magistrate courts (i.e., Magistrate
Court Offa and Magistrate Court Omu-Aran) were selected from Kwara South Senatorial
District while Magistrate Court Ilorin was selected from Kwara Central Senatorial District.
These are two out of the three senatorial districts in Kwara State. The third senatorial district was
not covered because Yoruba is not dominant in the area. Three interpreters were randomly
selected from each court and three proceedings were also selected from each court; this means
that altogether there were nine proceedings and nine interpreters. The proceedings included both
civil and criminal litigations. The secondary data were books, journals and the Internet. The
lexico–semantic, grammatical content in relation to meaning preservation, distortion and
modification in the texts were analysed using the Newmark Translation Theory.
The results showed that all the courtroom interpreters in the chosen courts employed the
consecutive form of interpretation in the courtroom to interprete the text from the source
language to the target language. Also, the study showed that the interpreters allowed their
cultural background and beliefs to reflect in the interpretation of the texts. This made the
interpreted texts which were to be in the direct speech to be rendered in the indirect speech, and
consequently the use of honourifics in the target texts. Furthermore, due to the lack of equivalent
word for some words used in the source text, the interpreter omitted those words in the target
texts and this accounted for meaning distortion and meaning modification in the target texts. The
interpreters were however able to preserve meaning mainly at the lexical level.
The study concluded that interpretation if not well handled by the interpreters could lead to
misrepresentation of the message/text which could affect the response of the non-English
speaker and the outcome of the judgement.
Description
xii,104p
Keywords
Courtroom proceedings, Legal interpretation, Courtroom interpretation, Interpreter, Law, Language, Statutory rule
Citation
Oloruntola, G.T. (2014). A contrastive linguistic study of selected English–Yoruba translated courtroom proceedings in Kwara State.