The research aims to analyse the translations of Sergio Atzeni’s work in English and French to identify how the dialectal elements are transposed in the two Target Languages (TLs).
The source text language, rich of Sardinian and foreign languages items is characterized sometimes by syntactic structures typical of the Cagliari dialect and enriched by culture-specific elements typical of Sardinia, which symbolises the author’s attachment to his native land.
The dialectal variety of Italian language allows the source text receiver to constantly perceive the concept of identity in the Atzenian literature and the constant search for identity.
However, the choice of a linguistic style based on Italian and enriched by Sardinian language elements, in a text which is understandable by Italians coming all from different regions, symbolises the author’s opening to the “external”. The syntactical and lexical choices in the source text transmit then a modern concept of identity, founded on a constant search.
The main aim of the research is to analyse the translation choices made in the transit from the SL to the TLs, and to explore how the valuable Atzenian linguistic mélange, composed by a “langue et parole” has been made in the TLs.