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Translingualism, Translation and Caribbean Poetry

Mother Tongue Has Crossed the Ocean

Hilda de Windt Ayoubi author Pieter C Muysken author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Amsterdam University Press

Published:25th May '22

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Translingualism, Translation and Caribbean Poetry cover

Linguists estimate that around 7,000 languages exist, but many are under threat. Translingualism, Translation and Caribbean Poetry is a multi-language collection comprising over fifty translations of the poem 'Lenga di mama' ('Mother Tongue') by Curaçao-born poet Hilda de Windt Ayoubi, published here alongside three additional poems each providing a different perspective on the mother tongue. De Windt Ayoubi's sharp, socially charged poetry has inspired translations from across the world. Collected here for the first time, they serve to protect the native languages and cultures – particularly the minority languages – of their translators, who range from expert linguists to speakers of underrepresented languages. In his accompanying essay, Pieter C. Muysken considers the role of translation in addressing the urgent cultural concern of language loss and revitalization where he discusses bilingual translations and mass translations. Complete with maps, language profiles, interviews with the translators, and the poet’s essay on Papiamento, this collection explores the emotional, cultural and intellectual importance of language conservation through poetry and translation.

"The literary world focuses mainly on dominant European languages, mainly English, and rarely gives space to less spoken languages, certainly not creole languages; That is also why this book is unique in the literary world. Hilda de Windt hopes that this book will also put the cultures and languages of the many translators in the spotlight."
– Herman Deceuninck, Esperanto Magazine

ISBN: 9789463727440

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

316 pages