Ebonics in Russian translation?

[Romy Taylor]

Hi Francoise, Robert, John, Simon, and SEELANGS!

Francoise: Yes, it must have been the infinitives that reminded me of  
Tintin.  How ironic that the "pidgin French" taught to Africans was  
then reflected (a la Orientalism) in Tintin books set in Africa!   
Could it be that the same grammatical rules were applied to indigenous  
folks in the Himalayas and South America?  The Tintins I remember  
reading in French were set there... Besides the rules cited on the  
wikipedia link, it seems to me that genders were usually reversed, as  
the translator has "Momsie" do in Wayland Rudd's play.

I see John’s point about a translator not having many options, though  
I wonder whether lexicon could have been enough to convey a difference.

The idea that African Americans did not speak English natively seems  
to have been widespread.  Usually, effects were negligible, but it  
hurt a few African Americans living in Moscow (when Soviets who knew  
something about America were purged and their replacements had no  
clue...).

Thanks!
Romy Taylor


Quoting Francoise Rosset <frosset at WHEATONMA.EDU>:

> Two things.
> One is the apparent consistency of the "pidgin" used in the Russian  
> translations cited. "Moya" seems to take the place of "ya," and  
> infinitives are used for all verb forms. John Dunn mentioned this  
> could be a regional pidgin; it's also in the translations cited by  
> Robert, and -- if I remember correctly -- the Goldi tracker-hunter  
> Dersu Uzala speaks like that too. So it may indeed be some generic  
> pidgin and not merely for African speakers. Is there any evidence  
> that anything was ever codified?
>
> The other thing was Romy's mention of the Tintin books: I assume she  
> means the language used by African natives in Tintin au Congo. This  
> actually has a name in French, ... "petit nègre."
>
> Turns out "petit nègre," which I assumed was merely a nasty  
> caricature, was actually TAUGHT to native populations in the French  
> colonies (or in this case, Belgian colony.) Evidently it served as a  
> default shortcut "vehicular language," used for communication  
> primarily in the military. The more educated presumably learned the  
> colonial "mother" tongue, in school.
>
> A descriptive "grammar" was created for this "language." It includes  
> putting verbs in the infinitive, using "there" for all  
> demonstratives, and using one token preposition for all prepositions.
> http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petit_nègre
> http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petit_n%C3%A8gre
>  A tangent about this business of learning the "mother" tongue: in  
> the French colonies it extended to learning French culture as one's  
> own. My mother used to work for the Côte d'Ivoire mission to the UN.  
> During one reception, everybody had a good laugh remembering school  
> and how the African diplomats had all been taught from the same  
> textbooks as the French had. (The same textbooks were used in  
> Vietnam, Laos etc. as well) And since French schooling back then was  
> based on recitation, they all recited, in chorus, the beginning and  
> catch-phrase of their elementary school history:
> "Nos ancêtres les Gaulois ..."
>
> -FR
>
>
> Francoise Rosset, Associate Professor
> Chair, Russian and Russian Studies
> Coordinator, German and Russian
> Wheaton College
> Norton, Massachusetts 02766
> Office: (508) 285-3696
> FAX:   (508) 286-3640
>
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