ADAPTATION, PARADIGMS SHIFT AND THE TRANSLATION OFỤKWỤÁNÍTRADITIONAL ORAL PRAISE SONG-TEXTS

Abstract

This paper expands translation in oral literary discourses. The focus is specifically on the adaptation ofỤkwụáníPraise Song-Texts, as practiced by bards in the diverse Communities withinỤkwụáníland. The adaptation so crafted by such griots gives rise to variants of the poetic praise song-texts as enacted inỤkwụánícommunities, invariably, the accompanying paradigm shifts associated with such song variants. The aspect of translation into English is to showcase the distinct thematic preoccupations of the variant poetic praise songs, the re-arrangement in poem lineations, the  reversal  of  the  style  in  song  renditions,  and  the  delimitations  in  translating  the  same  poetic song-texts  into  English  language. The  theoretical  framework  is  Cultural Theory  of Translation, enunciated by Homi K. Bhabha and his contemporaries, while the research methodology encompasses the recording of the collected data, the use of questionnaires, oral interviews, the use of the library, the subsequent analyses of the same data and the resort to the internet for the purposes of extracting related online information and further clarification on the topic of discourse. The findings showcase thatỤkwụáníTraditional Oral Praise Song-texts undergo modifications, as a result of adaptation, thus resulting to paradigm shifts in the modelled variants, invariably, militating against the smooth translation of the same texts into English language and other languages.