Betty Harnum’s paper identifies the challenges faced by Dene language interpreters due to a lack of specialization and demand for a wide range of services. Dene Interpreters and Translators (I/Ts) have had to quickly adapt their languages to new concepts, items, and ideas. The author outlines the methods commonly used by I/Ts to create new nomenclature, specifically:

“a) borrowing a word from the source language, with various phonological changes (sound-changes) in order to adapt the pronunciation of the word to the available sound inventory of the target language;
b) creating a new lexical item by describing some feature(s) of the item, idea or concept; and
c) expanding or shifting the meaning of an existing word or phrase.” (105)

Terminological variation and inconsistency often creates problems for Dene language interpreters who should have more opportunities for training and terminology development.

Abstract:

In the Northwest Territories, there are daily demands for interpreting and translating in all the Dene languages. The people who perform this role rarely have the opportunity to specialize in any specific field, so they must try to develop an understanding of as many subjects as they can. This paper highlights some of the inter-lingual difficulties faced by the interpreters, along with a brief explanation of the methods used to develop new terminology in the Dene languages. It is demonstrated that the methods used in Dene language terminology development are the same as those used in other languages.

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DOI: 10.7202/003026ar

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Harnum, Betty. “Terminological Difficulties in Dene Language Interpretation and Translation.” Meta 38, no. 1 (1993): 104-106.