DIJALEKAT KAO DISKURZIVNA PRAKSA: KONTRASTIVNA ANALIZA ROMANA „OČI SU IM GLEDALE U BOGA ZORE“ NIL HERSTON

Abstract

This paper analyzes the translation solutions employed in transferring dialectally marked speech in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, wherein dialect is observed not merely as a formal linguistic system but as a means of constructing meaning within discourse. The aim of the paper is to determine the ways in which structural dialectal features are reduced in the Serbian translation, as well as whether their communicative and pragmatic functions are simultaneously retained. The analysis shows that the most frequent translation strategies in the novel are neutralization, lexicalization, and colloquialization. These strategies do not represent a loss of the source dialect’s effect, but rather its reconfiguration in accordance with the norms and expectations of the target language. It is concluded that the dialect in translation is realized as a discursive practice through colloquialism, orality, and register markedness, thereby preserving its role in characterization and the shaping of social relations, despite the absence of direct dialectal markers. The translation strategies of neutralization, lexicalization, and colloquialization demonstrate a shift in focus from form to function: the dialect ceases to be a means of precise sociolinguistic differentiation and becomes a method of preserving the impression of orality, emotionality, and informality. Through these procedures, the dialect loses its collective and culturally specific aspects but retains its discursive role in marking relationships between characters and their position within the narrative framework. Thus, the translation does not reproduce African American Vernacular English as a linguistic system but reinterprets it as a stylistic practice adapted to the norms of the Serbian language.