Mémoire - Sarah THÉBERGE

Traduction française de récits autochtones du Canada comportant des mots empruntés aux langues indigènes

Sarah THÉBERGE 

Canada's Native literature is rooted in an oral tradition, like many other aboriginal literatures. This literature's main characteristics are often distinct from those of the Western literary tradition. Throughout years and history, scholars and theorists from English Canada and Quebec have more or less ignored the members of the First Nations of this country, and their literature. However, since the late sixties, we have been witnessing a great revival of Native writing in Canada, which suggests a better and stronger image of the Native protagonist. Consequently, the contribution and image of Native literature on the English-Canadian and Quebec literary scenes have changed. The French translation of the literary works of Native authors contributes to the survival of this often marginalized literature. This transfer from one language to another implies, in this particular case, the keeping of borrowings from various Native languages used in the story. This is the central element of this M.A. thesis. The texts that I have here chosen to translate from English to French – stories from Brian Maracle, Basil Johnston, Alexander Wolfe and Marion Tuu'luq – originate from oral traditions, and all contain Native words. The same applies to their French translations, which adopt a "foreignizing" strategy by keeping those Native words in the target text. In order to help readers understand them, the authors have used various strategies which were maintained in the French translations. In addition, the specific rhythmic and syntactical characteristics of the source language, derived from the oral tradition of Native storytelling, have all been taken into account and explained in relation with translation studies.