Meaning-Changing as a Form of Translation: A ‘Woke’ Case

Sanja Bojanić

doi:10.2298/FID241119001B

Autori

Sanja Bojanić Center for Advanced Studies, University of Rijeka

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2298/FID241119001B

Ključne reči:

woke, meaning-making, translation, language, Antoine Meillet, Charles Taylor

Apstrakt

This article examines the issue of the reasons and mechanisms involved when words change meaning. The questions that the author raises include: can we consider this a form of translation? How does the meaning of a word change, and what factors influence this transformation? Are these changes predictable and can they be controlled? Aiming to identify the moments or catalysts that prompt these shifts, the author engages in particular with Antoine Maillet’s seminal Comment les Mots Changent le Sens, published in 1904-05 and 1921 respectively, and Charles Taylor’s “The Language Animal: The Full Shape of the Human Linguistic Capacity” in 2016, inspired by Hamann, Herder, and Humboldt and their views on language development. The encounter with these texts brings together theories of translation, general linguistics and sociolinguistics, and the complexities of the philosophy of language around the issue of how words change their meanings, particularly in terms of power dynamics. In conclusion, the article suggests that this meaning-making is a form of translation as this shift in meaning is not just a neutral linguistic evolution but a reflection of who controls language and, by extension, shapes the narratives around social issues.

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