BooksBarbecue
Back Butcher Save as PDF
Chapters (17)
  1. Cover
  2. 2
  3. 4
  4. 1
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. Prologue
  10. Scene 1
  11. Scene 2
  12. Scene 3
  13. Scene 4
  14. 1
  15. 2
  16. 3
  17. 4

1

On Creating a Language

by Christina E. Kramer and Dragana Obradović

We are specialists in different aspects of South Slavic Studies (Kramer,  linguistics; Obradović, literature). In order to create Lavinian,we began with a base translation that combined features – sound and syntax – of all of the successor languages to Serbo-Croatian: Croatian, Serbia, Bosnian and Montenegrin. While these languages have a high degree of shared features and mutual intelligibility, they all have features that suggest to speakers particular regional origin. Butcher is not intended to be a condemnation of any particular linguistic group; Lavinian, in our understanding, was to be a stand-in language for a war that took place in a certain geographical place at a specific time, but was not to add the political dimension of taking sides. Our language had to sound convincing, but should not belong to a specific linguistic community.

With the base translation completed, we then tried to create Lavinian through regular substitution of sounds: a for o, e for i, l for r, b for p, etc. This created a Lavinian that was a plausible-sounding language, but it was no longer a Slavic language. While speakers of Czech may not be able to follow an entire conversation in Macedonian, speakers will recognize many shared lexical roots, prepositions and other echoes of their own language. Lavinian had to have that sense of linguistic recognition for any Slavic speakers who watched the play; they should feel like they are on the verge of understanding.

In our final version of Lavinian, words were modified to change consonant clusters, roots adopted the vowels from different dialects and new words were created by combining Slavic roots with different derivational endings (e.g., the word bolnica, for ‘hospital,’ became bolnaca). Lavinian preserves the syntax and sound system of a South Slavic language, but it has mixed features, borrowing across language and dialect groups; it has new coinages built from Slavic material, and also from combinations of English and Slavic. Since the characters speak English, this type of language contact and cross-influence seemed natural.

Our intent in developing Lavinian was to create a language that sounds believable, is convincing for setting time and place, but universalizes the trauma of war and retribution.

Both authors are professors in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto. DRAGANA OBRADOVIĆ is an assistant professor of South Slavic languages and literatures. CHRISTINA E. KRAMER is a professor of Slavic and Balkan languages and linguistics.

2

Lavinian Pronunciation Guide

by Christina E. Kramer and Dragana Obradović

The Lavinian follows the script; page numbers are provided. Below it, there are three versions:

1. Text in rough transcription, vaguely like English.

2. Text in International Phonetic Alphabet.[1] This will be very helpful to those who do not have access to a recorded text, as it is more precise than Version 1. Consult a table of the IPA for help decoding. The stressed syllable is preceded by the symbol ˈ.

3. English translation.

GENERAL NOTES FOR VERSION 1 (TRANSCRIPTION)