Des mines de terminologies dans les chansons en langues africaines : une étude de cas assortie d’un lexique spécialisé du hausa

Abstract

For decades, the languages of Sub-Saharan Francophone African countries, chiefly, were primarily viewed as mere cultural tools. This likely explains the prevalence of translations from French into local African languages. This perspective is no longer tenable. These languages have always served, and continue to serve, in numerous contexts where French is inadequate. Many realities are better understood when expressed in these languages. This is amply justified by certain African sociocultural realities, with songs serving as a prime example. Thus, from within their cultural shell, local African languages serve diverse uses in various aspects of human life. This research, combining translation and terminology, aims to extract terms from various fields of human activity (education, literacy, sports, politics, law, cooperation, etc.) and certain social values (hospitality, respect, integrity, solidarity, mutual aid, etc.) from the translation of excerpts from some traditional Nigerien songs. The methodology involves first identifying traditional Hausa songs on varied themes, analyzing them, and then translating excerpts of these songs containing terms specific to different areas of human life into French. Subsequently, a test will be conducted with native speakers to verify the acceptability of the collected and translated terms. The research results, once completed, are intended for use by bilingual teachers, literacy workers, interpreters, politicians, journalists, and any other user wishing to communicate on a specific topic in Hausa.