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OCR
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION IN TWO SHORT STORIES BY ALICE MUNRO... re-interpretation of elements of a culture speaks for itself in the sense of cultural appropriation (especially if we draw a parallel between the name of Gjurdhi and the similar naming practices among the indigenous people of the Americas). At the very beginning of the story, Munro provides a questionable translation of Crna Gora as Black Rock or Montenegro. The right translation is Black Mountain, just as the Italianised term of Montenegro implies. The story is set in the region known in Albanian language as Malési e Madhe (meaning Great Mountains), and right at the beginning Munro states that the region is known in the language of the Ghegs** as Maltsia e madhe, which is correct, phonetically at least. Munro continues with her explanations of toponyms by giving multiple versions of place names, such as Scutari/Sckhoder/Skodra*® and Bar/Antivari. This, and Munro’s constant reference to the language of the Ghegs, shows Munro’s intention to provide a wider, almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the land and culture. However, amassed in a short story, the provided knowledge only identifies the author as an outsider to the described cultural group. It is interesting to note that Munro mentions the city of Vuthaj as the residence of the person chosen to marry Lottar but does not provide the Montenegrin name for the city Gusinje (the city was a part of Montenegro during the period described in the story). Munro also provides a lot of cultural input on what I roughly classify as the information on language, economy, geography and religion. Examples of the usage of Albanian words and sentences in the story are numerous. The first Albanian term that appears in the story is kula. While the description of the term is mostly correct (a higher tower attached to a family house), the Slavonic spelling of the word is used (the term was taken over by both Slavonic and Albanian languages from the Turkish term kule meaning tower) instead of Albanian kullé/kulla. This is similar to the usage of the term giaour to mean non-Muslim (infidel). In Albanian (and surrounding Slavonic languages), this term exists, depicting a Christian under the Ottoman rule, and is spelled as kaur. Furthermore, at the end of the story Lottar shouts xoti! which, Munro explains, means “leader” or “master” in the language of the Ghegs. The standard Albanian word for mister or sir is zoti, and I could not find proof that a distinctive Ghegs spelling or pronunciation of that word exists. The only Albanian term that Munro seems to have gotten right, both semantically and linguistically, is the word sofra for the low dining table which enabled people to eat while sitting on the floor. Gheg dialect, or sometimes referred to as language, is the northern dialect of Albanian language. Gheg dialect shows significant differences compared to the southern dialect of Tosk (on which the standard Albanian language is based) from which it is divided by the River Shkumbin. Scutari and Scodra are the most prominent historical names for what is today referred to as Shkodér or Shkodra. 589
