An Analysis of Connectors in Balanta Narrative Texts

Implications in Bible Translation

Abstract

This paper aimed at analyzing connectors in Balanta language and how their study can be applied

to Bible translation with the special attention given to the narrative texts. This topic was chosen because

connectors’ problems are a crucial issue in Bible translation. Wrong usage of connectors affects the

syntactic relationship of clauses, sentences, and paragraphs, which in turn causes the text to lose accuracy,

clarity and naturalness in the target language. This has become an area of increased concern in many

translation projects in Guinea Bissau. This paper aims at sheding more light on the Bible translation, with

specific reference to the use of connectors in Balanta narratives. Various connectors’ functions in Balanta

narrative were examined with the aim of proposing effective strategies that can be employed by Balanta

Bible translators. The major concern was to determine mismatches in the meaning of the connectors in the

source (Hebrew) and target (Balanta) language. It was found that the Balanta language has a variety of

connectors but uses them less frequently compared to Hebrew which has very few connectors but uses

them more frequently, especially for those with the multifunctional dimensions. Balanta is an Atlantic

Language of the Niger-Congo branch, spoken in Guinea Bissau in West Africa between Atlantic Ocean, 61

Senegal and Guinea-Conakry. Though, there are severals theories used in Bible translation, such as literal

translation, dynamic equivalence, skopos and others, this study proposes the use of relevance theory