Author: Joseph Igono
Department: Dept. of French, Federal University of Lafia
Date: 16/06/2025
Translators are often considered as secondary term formators given the compétences they possessed and the nature of their profession. But this lexical creativity in translation over the years tilts more towards languages of wider diffusions, with the implications that more secondary term formations are done in favour of these languages. As a result of this, less is known about level of interest in translation directionstowardslanguages of lesser diffusions, the difficulties encountered while translating into minority languages and the relationship between the translation of specialised texts and minority languages especially how the challenge of inadequacy of lexical items is resolved in such kind of translation. This form of knowledge is needed for a robust translation of specialised texts into minority languages. This work aims to show certain strategies that can be used while translating specialised texts into minority languages and the secondary terms created through the implementation of these strategies. It also reveals the productivity of the neological process adopted. To demonstrate this, specialised text from the domain of language and linguistics was selected and translated. The outcomes indicate the creation of 9 simple wordterms, 11 derived Word-terms, 15 complex word-terms, 16 phrasal word-terms, 1 reduce word-term and 10 borrowed word-terms. This outcomes proves also the productivity of compounding in creating phrasal word-terms. The work demonstrates clearly that translators have a lot to contribute to lexical planning. It is therefore recommended that, translators should consider translating specialised texts from languages of wider diffusions to minority languages in order to enrich them. Keywords: Translation, specialised texts, terms, Language of wider/lesser diffusions, lexical planning, neology.
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