Hybrid Voices in Self-Translation. Using Language to Negotiate Identity In
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HYBRID VOICES IN SELF-TRANSLATION. USING LANGUAGE TO NEGOTIATE IDENTITY IN (TRANS)MIGRATORY CONTEXTS A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2018 ELENA ANNA SPAGNUOLO School of Arts, Languages and Cultures List of contents List of figures .............................................................................................................. 5 Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 6 Declaration and Copyright Statement ..................................................................... 7 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1 THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK ... 16 1.1 Overview of the chapter ....................................................................................... 16 1.2 Self-translation: ‘a territory without history’? ..................................................... 16 1.3 Establishing self-translation as a translational act ............................................... 19 1.4 The focus on the self-translator ............................................................................ 21 1.5 Main points of the present research ..................................................................... 23 1.6 Self-translation as an accommodating practice .................................................... 28 1.7 Adding a linguistic perspective ............................................................................ 31 1.7.1 A hybrid text .............................................................................................. 32 1.7.2 A hybrid process ........................................................................................ 33 1.8 Understanding the term ‘migrant’ in the present research ................................... 36 1.9 The linguistic situation in Italy ............................................................................ 39 1.10 Defining hybridity .............................................................................................. 41 Chapter 2 MEETING THE AUTHORS ............................................................... 46 2.1 Overview of the chapter ....................................................................................... 46 2.2 The conceptual framework ................................................................................... 47 2.3 Gianna Patriarca ................................................................................................... 50 2.4 Dôre Michelut ...................................................................................................... 58 2.5 Licia Canton ......................................................................................................... 65 2.6 Francesca Duranti................................................................................................. 69 2.7 Simonetta Agnello Hornby .................................................................................. 75 2.8 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 80 2 Chapter 3 RETHINKING TRADITIONAL MIGRANT TROPES ................... 82 3.1 Overview of the Chapter ...................................................................................... 82 3.2 The concept of home ............................................................................................ 83 3.3 Memory ................................................................................................................ 97 3.4 Otherness and sameness ..................................................................................... 105 3.4.1 The body .................................................................................................. 106 3.4.2 The name ................................................................................................. 110 3.4.3 Accommodating the body and the name ................................................. 113 3.5 The sense of belonging and un-belonging ......................................................... 115 3.6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 122 Chapter 4 THE PHENOMENON OF CODE-SWITCHING ........................... 123 4.1 Overview of the chapter ..................................................................................... 123 4.2 Code-switching: background to the analysis...................................................... 123 4.2.1 Food ......................................................................................................... 128 4.2.2 Urban and geographical spaces ............................................................... 133 4.2.3 Kinship, affiliation, and nicknames ......................................................... 137 4.2.4 Greetings and forms of addressing .......................................................... 145 4.2.5 Cultural and social references.................................................................. 152 4.2.6 Insertion of poems ................................................................................... 157 4.2.7 CS beyond the lexical level ..................................................................... 159 4.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 162 Chapter 5 SELF-TRANSLATION AS A CONTINUUM .................................. 163 5.1 Overview of the chapter ..................................................................................... 163 5.2 Analysis .............................................................................................................. 164 5.2.1 Sogni mancini/Left-Handed Dreams ....................................................... 164 5.2.2 There is Nothing Wrong With Lucy/Vento scomposto ............................. 166 5.2.3 Almond Wine and Fertility/Vino alla mandorla e fertilità ...................... 169 5.2.4 Loyalty to the Hunt and Ouroboros: The Book That Ate Me .................. 171 5.2.5 Italian Women and Other Tragedies/Daughters for Sale/Ciao, Baby/What My Arms Can Carry/My Etruscan Face .............................................. 172 5.3 Self-translation as a continuum: a hybrid process .............................................. 173 5.3.1 Emotional and abstract vs rational and concrete use of the language ..... 175 5.3.2 Rendering and use of definite and indefinite articles, singular and plural, demonstrative adjectives, pronouns ..................................................... 187 3 5.3.3 Omissions, additions, and clarifications .................................................. 196 5.3.4 Rendering of numbers ............................................................................. 199 5.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 204 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................... 206 6.1 Summary of findings .......................................................................................... 206 6.2 Suggestions for further research......................................................................... 210 References ............................................................................................................... 212 Word count 79,991 4 List of figures Figure 5.1. Front cover of Left-Handed Dreams (Leicester: Troubador, 2000) ...... 166 Figure 5.2. Front cover of Sogni Mancini (Milan: Rizzoli, 1996) ........................... 166 Figure 5.3. Front cover of Vino alla mandorla e fertilità (Milan: Rotomail Italia, 2015) ................................................................................................................. 171 Figure 5.4. Front cover of Almond Wine and Fertility (Montréal: Longbridge Books, 2008) ................................................................................................................. 171 5 Abstract This thesis investigates the phenomenon of self-translation within the context of mobility, seeking to understand it as a practice, which exists in conjunction with a process of redefinition of identity. Through the analysis of a corpus of narratives written by five writers who were born in Italy and then moved to English-speaking countries, I illustrate how these authors use language as an instrument to negotiate and voice their identity in (trans)migratory contexts. The first part of the research follows a translator-oriented approach. Guided by Yasemin Yildiz’s concept of monolingual paradigm, I reconstruct the linguistic biographies of the authors in my corpus, investigating how the experience of (trans)migration affects their monolingual framework. The monolingual paradigm establishes that individuals belong to a single mother tongue and mother land. By contrast, these authors’ (trans)migrant experience demonstrates that it is possible to establish relationships with multiple linguistic and physical spaces. These authors resort to language rightly to express and affirm the existential and creative possibilities of such an experience. The reconstruction of their linguistic biographies is therefore deeply interconnected