Analysis of Linguistic Features in the French Translation of Osofisan’s Once Upon Four Robbers

Abstract

From the onset, a linguistic feature is often one of the essential tools in analysing a literary work, and obviously it is sine qua non in translation studies. Many studies have been done on Osofisan’s Once Upon Four Robbers but the issue of translations made by non-Yoruba native speaker where the material contains Yoruba cultural items is a contentious one. Once Upon Four Robbers (1980) was translated by Nicole Medjigbodo (2003). The study employs descriptive and comparative research methods in analysing random data taken from the source and target texts. We adopt Seleskovitch and Lederer’s interpretative theory of translation (1970s). The theory postulates that the translation of a text should produce the same cognitive, affective and aesthetic effects on target readers as the original text does. The study, therefore, examines how to avoid translation loss or mistranslation and thus ensure that indigenous thoughts in African drama texts can be retained or translated with the use of illustrative devices. The study therefore concludes that the text is rich in Yoruba cultural features as the playwright is a Yoruba man, and the speech flow (intonation, accentuation and register) in the translated version is in line with the source text. This shows that the translated play can be performed in the same way and as effectively as the original.