Perspectives on Translating<i>YHWH</i>in Papua New Guinea

King, Phil

doi:10.1177/2051677014529577

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Possibly as a consequence of this, still today there are ongoing discussions regarding the translation of Christian terminology (cf. Pech 1985;Roberts 2013;King 2014), which may be due to the recognition of early misunderstandings as well as of a changed language use and a different understanding of traditional religious concepts in comparison with Christian concepts.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical sociolinguistics in colonial New Guinea: The Rhenish mission society in the Astrolabe Bay

Stolberg

2017

Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics

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Abstract; The Rhenish Mission Society, a German Protestant mission, was active in a small part of northern New Guinea, the Astrolabe Bay, between 1887 and 1932. Up until 1914, this region was under German colonial rule. The German dominance was also reflected in rules on language use in official contexts such as schools and administration.Missionaries were strongly affected by such rules as their most important tool in mission work was language. In addition, they were also responsible for school education as most schools in the German colonial areas in the Pacific were mission-run. Thus, mission societies had to make decisions about what languages to use, considering their own needs, their ideological convictions, and the colonial government's requirements. These considerations were framed by the complex setting of New Guinea's language wealth where several hundred languages were, and still are, spoken. This paper investigates a small set of original documents from the Rhenish Mission Society to trace what steps were taken and what considerations played a major role in the process of agreeing on a suitable means of communication with the people the missionaries wanted to reach, thereby touching upon topics such as language attitudes, language policies and politics, practical considerations of language learning and language spread, and colonial actions impacting local language ecologies.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical sociolinguistics in colonial New Guinea: The Rhenish mission society in the Astrolabe Bay

Stolberg

2017

Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics

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“…This name is quoted as Jerub-Besheth (Jerub 'shame') in 2 Samuel 11.21, giving an example of cultural sensitivity to the use of Baal's name, also seen in the way Saul's descendants are referenced: Eshbaal / Ishbosheth 'man of shame' and Merib-baal / Mephibosheth 'from the mouth of shame'. The most pervasive taboo reflected in the Hebrew texts is the replacement of the divine name YHWH with 'adonai (King 2014).…”

Section:  Symbolic Associationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Literary Use of Names in Hebrew Narrative and Opportunities for Sign Language Translation

King¹

2024

JOT

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Names of characters in literature are frequently used as dense signifiers, conveying messages from author to reader beyond identifying an individual, and offering clues about the character’s destiny or how storylines may develop. This paper explores how the potential semantic connections evoked by names in Old Testament literature are exploited by Hebrew narrators as they craft their stories, contributing to characterization, plot structure, leitworter and dramatic irony. For example, Laban (‘white’) is caught up in trickery with white goats and white sticks, whereas Micah (‘who is like Yahweh’) has an idol in his house. Bible translators working with spoken languages tend to transliterate (rather than translate) these names, relegating any semantic connections to a footnote. Sign languages, however, are more iconic and often naturally use name signs that evoke something about the referent, rather than just an arbitrary collection of sounds. This opens up the possibility of maintaining some of the semantic connections and literary features of Hebrew narratives when creating Scripture-based products in sign languages. This paper investigates the opportunities and limitations of such a strategy for translating biblical names.

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Perspectives on TranslatingYHWHin Papua New Guinea

Cited by 2 publications

References 9 publications

Historical sociolinguistics in colonial New Guinea: The Rhenish mission society in the Astrolabe Bay

Historical sociolinguistics in colonial New Guinea: The Rhenish mission society in the Astrolabe Bay

The Literary Use of Names in Hebrew Narrative and Opportunities for Sign Language Translation

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