Towards Quality in Translating Biblical Poetry: Target Language Orality Research

Great efforts have been made in discourse studies focused on narratives to enhance the quality of Scripture translations. However, little is done to research aspects of poetry in the target languages including the form and structure, morphosyntactic patterns, and kinds of rhetorical features available in the poetry of the target language. Consequently, most translations render the poetic aspects of the Scriptures in prose with emphasis on meaning alone and format the text using Paratext standard format markers to make it look like real poetry. This paper is based on linguistic analysis of songs on Rigwe, a language in Central Nigeria, and argues that research into the orality features of target language poetry needs to be carried out, and the findings of the poetic features and structure incorporated in translating biblical poetry to enhance the appropriateness and adequacy of the translation.

The study is theoretically approached from complexity theory and semiotics within the discipline of translation studies. Examples are given from the translation of selected portions of the Psalms into Rigwe, a language of Central Nigeria.