Vitaly Voinov (PhD Linguistics, UT Arlington) is the director of the Institute for Bible Translation, Russia/CIS. He has worked as an exegetical advisor in the Tuvan and Gagauz Bible translation projects, and as a translation consultant in the Lak, Tsakhur and Rutul projects.
Intrusive Voices: Translating Unexpected Changes of Speaker in the Bible
Abstract
In many languages, a change of speaker in a text is usually introduced by a speech orienter (Dooley&Levinsohn 2000:50). It is therefore challenging for translators and readers when they encounter “intrusive” speech (Culpepper 1983:17) by speakers that have not been explicitly introduced. I survey texts with an unexpected change of speaker, such as:
-Jer 31:26 “I woke and my sleep was sweet” (God→Jeremiah)
-Jn 21:24 “we know that his testimony is true” (narrator→narrator’s circle)
- Ac 16:10 “we endeavored to leave for Macedonia” (addition of author to Paul’s group)
- Rev 22:12 “Lo, I come quickly” (angel→Jesus)
- Gen 48:7 “Ephratah (that is, Bethlehem)” (Jacob→narrator’s comment)
I explore the textual signals indicating that a change of speaker has occurred even without a speech orienter. I also examine texts where it is unclear if a change of speaker has taken place, e.g.:
-various Minor Prophets passages (God→prophet?)
-Jn 3:14 (Jesus→narrator?)
-the name Josiah in 1Kg 13:3 (prophecy by man of God→narrator’s comment?)
-Heb 13:22-25 (author of 1:1—13:22→author of postscript?)
I then survey existing translations for the approaches translators have used to clarify that a change of speaker has transpired. Interpretive helps surveyed include:
-Quotation marks or speech dashes
-Section heads
-Stophe division (see Bratcher 1978)
-Speech orienters added
-Red letters
I conclude with warnings about making things too clear if there are differing, reasonable interpretations.