Standardising Borrowed and Translated Oshindonga Literary Terminologies from English: Towards a Decolonised Standard Orthography

Abstract

Languages expand their lexicons through various word formation processes, including neologism, reduplication, affixation, derivation, abbreviation, acronyms, compounding, coinage, echoism, blending, borrowing, translation, etc. This study specifically examines two of these processes: borrowing and translation. Its primary objective was to investigate how English literary terminologies are borrowed and translated into Oshindonga, with a view to understanding how these linguistic practices contribute to the development of an Oshindonga decolonised standard orthography. The study is guided by Prince and Smolensky’s (1993) Optimality Theory and Nida’s (1991) Translation Theory. Optimality Theory provided a framework for analysing the interaction between phonology and morphology, enabling the study to explore the morphophonological strategies employed in adapting English literary terminologies into Oshindonga. Nida’s translation theory facilitated an examination of the translation strategies used in translating English literary terminologies into Oshindonga. A qualitative research approach, grounded in the interpretivist paradigm, was employed in this study. Data was purposively collected from documented sources and analysed using a descriptive method within qualitative analysis in conjunction with the Optimality theory and Nida’s theory of translation. The study identified and analysed morphophonological processes such as prefixation, diminutisation, suffixation, modern trends, vowel and semi-vowel insertion, consonant substitution, consonant deletion, and consonant epenthesis/nasal insertion. Additionally, translation strategies, including formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence were examined as translation strategies through which literary terminologies are integrated into the Oshindonga sound system. The insights gained from this study have practical implications for lexicographers, lecturers, teachers, students and learners in teaching and learning. The study recommends that future research could focus on developing a comprehensive model for compiling the Oshindonga decolonised standard orthography.