ENRICHISSEMENT D’UNE LANGUE NIGÉRIANE: LE CAS DE LA NÉOLOGIE TRADUCTIVE EN IGALA

SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: Modern European Languages

CONTRIBUTORS:

Igono, J;
Ajunwa, E;
Omachonu, G.S;

ABSTRACT:

This study makes a case for lexical enrichment of Igala within the paradigm of translation.This is done with a view to empowering the language to cope with the task of communicating modern thoughts and developments. The specific objectives of the study are: to translate selected texts in specialized domains into Igala language, to create neologisms where the needs arise, to provide justification behind the created neologisms and then to examine the efficiency of translation as a means of lexical enrichment in Igala. Four research questions guided the study. The source texts that were translatedare extractions from four key domains:Linguistics, Information Technology, Commerce and Biology. These texts were translated into igala.New words created in the course of translation were then analyzedusing number and corresponding percentages of the formal structure of the neologisms. The findings reveal that at the end of the translation, a total of 461 new words were added to theIgala language. The study also shows that it is possible to translate any given text into Igala even though it is a minority and poorly documented language. It was also discovered that creation of neologisms, which is often referred to as secondary term formation, is inevitable in translating specialized texts into a developing language like Igala. It was discovered as well that adequacy in secondary term formation inIgala requires taking into account the morphological principles of lexical formation in Igala and complementing these principles with translation procedures. It was therefore, concluded that translations from different domains should be encouraged in order to enrich the Igala language.