Meaning in Translation : Illusion of Precision. 9781443888585, 1443888583

Citation preview

Meaning in Translation

Meaning in Translation: Illusion of Precision Edited by

Larisa Ilynska and Marina Platonova

Meaning in Translation: Illusion of Precision Edited by Larisa Ilynska and Marina Platonova This book first published 2016 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2016 by Larisa Ilynska, Marina Platonova and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-8704-8 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-8704-5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface ........................................................................................................ ix Meaning in Translation: Illusion of Precision Larisa Ilynska and Marina Platonova Part I: Translation 3Ps: Product, People, Practice Chapter One ................................................................................................. 3 Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue? From Concepts to Positions to Goals Jose Lambert Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 25 Translationese, Translatorese, Interference Andrejs Veisbergs Chapter Three ........................................................................................... 53 Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades JƗnis SƯlis Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 81 Translator’s Role in Advertisement Translation in Latvia of 1920s and 1930s Gunta Loþmele Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 99 Translation between Typologically Different Languages or the Utopia of Equivalence: 1 vs 1.round, 1.long or 1.nasty being Antonia Cristinoi Chapter Six .............................................................................................. 111 Translating Examples in Linguistics Texts Anna de Meo and Marilisa Vitale

vi

Table of Contents

Chapter Seven.......................................................................................... 125 Relativity of Poetic Translation Natalia Shutemova Part II: Translation and Lexical Precision Chapter Eight ........................................................................................... 139 Translation and the Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts Rita Temmerman Chapter Nine............................................................................................ 161 Illusion of Terminological Precision and Consistency: A Closer Look at EU Terminology and Translation Practices Koen Kerremans Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 179 Striving for Precision: Biblical Allusions in Terminology Marina Platonova Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 197 The Role of Metaphor in Comprehension of Railway Terminology Jelena Tretjakova Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 211 Problems of Terminology in Translating Islamic Law into Legal English Rafat Y. Alwazna Chapter Thirteen ...................................................................................... 223 Interpreting Legal Terminology: From Informative to Normative Translation Katja Dobriü Basaneže Chapter Fourteen ..................................................................................... 237 When Terms do not Match: Translation Strategies for Dealing with Conceptual Mismatches in Surveying Terminology Ewelina Kwiatek

Meaning in Translation: Illusion of Precision

vii

Chapter Fifteen ........................................................................................ 253 Compound Verbs Formed by Means of Back-Formation: Seeking Lexical Enrichment in Bilingual Dictionaries Enn Veldi Chapter Sixteen ....................................................................................... 261 French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds: With Special Focus on Translation Techniques Maria Rosenberg Chapter Seventeen ................................................................................... 281 Translation of English and Arabic Binomials by Advanced and Novice Student Translators Reima Al-Jarf Chapter Eighteen ..................................................................................... 299 Self-Reported Practices of Professional Curaçaoan Papiamentu Translators and Writers: A Window on Their Influence on Papiamentu Standardization Courtney Parkins Ferrón Part III: Text, Context, Meaning Representation Chapter Nineteen ..................................................................................... 321 “The Murder and the Echo”: How Meaning Reverberates in Translation Rita Filanti Chapter Twenty ....................................................................................... 335 Flying in the Face of Illusion: A Comparative Study of the Variables that Interact in English Language Scientific Journals that Publish Translators Bryan J. Robinson and Elisa Alonso Chapter Twenty-One ............................................................................... 353 Intextuality in Technical Texts: The Web of Facts and Allusions Larisa Ilynska and Tatjana Smirnova Chapter Twenty-Two............................................................................... 369 Preserving the Allusions in Translating the Bible Adina Chirilă

viii

Table of Contents

Chapter Twenty-Three............................................................................. 385 Translation between Accuracy and the Claims of the Text Genre: Problems Posed by Patient Information Leaflets Isabelle Lux, Heidelberg University, Germany Chapter Twenty-Four .............................................................................. 403 Picking Up the Intentional Meaning of the Writer by the Translator is Often like the Blind Man’s Description of the Elephant Behrooz Azabdaftari, Islamic Azad University, Iran Chapter Twenty-Five ............................................................................... 419 La sémantique et la pragmatique du proverbe et de l’expression figée portugais l français dans l’œuvre de Saramago «Ensaio sobre a Ceigueira/ l’Aveuglement/ Blindness» Minh Ha Lo-Cicero, University of Madeira, Portugal Chapter Twenty-Six................................................................................. 435 Translating What is Blurred: Evidence from Swedish-to-Polish Translations Ewa Data-Bukowska, Jagiellonian University, Poland Contributors ............................................................................................. 453 Index ........................................................................................................ 461

PREFACE

The present book is a platform where scholars of various linguistic and cultural backgrounds, studying a variety of subjects, share their opinion on the matters of the utmost importance in the field of translation theory and practice. Can meaning be accurately represented in translation? Is loss of certain components of meaning inevitable? What compensation mechanisms can be used to ensure that the target text is not inferior in comparison with the source text? What are the implications of the failure to transfer both semantic and pragmatic aspects of meaning in the process of translation and cross-cultural communication? How can developments in the field of corpus linguistics and new methods of discourse analysis contribute to contrastive analysis and translation of texts? The volume focuses on various aspects of translation theory and practice. The articles are grouped into three main parts. Part I—“Translation 3Ps: Product, People, Practice”—unites seven papers considering the process of translation in both synchronic and diachronic perspectives with the focus on the key issues of translation theory and applied translation studies, such as translation universals, translation quality assessment, and translator’s role. Part I opens with the article by José Lambert, “Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue? From Concepts to Positions and Goals”, which presents a review of the role, position and development of translation criticism within and beyond the field of translation studies. The second article by Andrejs Veisbergs, “Translationese, Translatorese, Interference”, addresses the topical issue of interference as a consequence of the growing volume of translation activity. The paper by JƗnis SƯlis, “Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades”, provides an insight into the development of translation theory and practice in Latvia in a historical perspective, with the focus on the last two decades and with an aim to relate the research conducted locally and internationally. The article “Translator’s Role in Advertisement Translation in Latvia of 1920s and 1930s”, by Gunta Loþmele, analyzes translation strategies used in translation of advertisements in the medical field. The author also highlights the role of the translator in the development of the national language of Latvia. The impact of language contacts on the translation process is also studied in the paper “Translation between Typologically Different Languages or the

x

Preface

Utopia of Equivalence”, by Antonia Christinoi. The main aim of the author is to explore the limits and possibilities of the concept of translation equivalence from an anthropological/ethnographical perspective. Anna de Meo and Marilisa Vitale, in their article “Translating Examples in Linguistics Texts”, investigate the importance of identifying appropriate strategies for the rendering of examples in the texts on linguistics in order to ensure they perform the same metalinguistic function in the target language. The final paper of Part I, “Relativity of Poetic Translation”, by Natalia Shutemova, analyzes how poetic translation is characterized in relation to the target cultures and the ways the source texts’ poeticic style is represented in the target texts. Part II—“Translation and Lexical Precision”—comprises twelve articles covering a variety of topics connected with linguistic aspects of translation as well as various aspects of terminology coinage, alignment and standardization in the multilingual environment. The opening article, “Translation and the Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts”, by Rita Temmerman, provides a detailed overview of the challenges connected with the understanding and reproduction of European texts. Three fundamental competencies to be possessed by a translator, namely cognitive, reproductive and contextual, are discussed considering vast empirical data. Koen Kerremans, in his article “Illusion of Terminological Precision and Consistency: a Closer Look at EU Terminology and Translation Practices”, studies the causes and treatment of denominative variation in the terminology data base ‘IATE’ in relation to the EU’s terminology practice. The following paper, “Striving for Precision: Biblical Allusions in Terminology”, by Marina Platonova, investigates the mechanisms of the formation of terms based on allusion. The author discusses the functions of allusive terms and studies their application and alignment across the languages. The next paper in the section, “The Role of Metaphor in Comprehension of Railway Terminology”, by Jelena Tretjakova, aims to analyze metaphorical terms in railway terminology, advocating their acceptability in scientific language. The issue of legal text translation and the challenges associated with alignment of legal terms between English and Arabic languages are addressed in the article “Problems of Terminology in Translating Islamic Law into Legal English”, by Rafat Y. Alwazna. The topicality of legal text translation is also attested to in the next paper, “Interpreting Legal Terminology: From Informative to Normative Translation”, by Katja Dobriü, who analyzes the difficulties caused by the lack of correspondence in legal norms and concepts across the working languages and the strategies translators apply in establishing textual and legal equivalence.

Meaning in Translation: Illusion of Precision

xi

Lack of conceptual correspondence is also discussed by Ewelina Kwiatek in her article, “When Terms do not Match: Translation Strategies for Dealing with Conceptual Mismatches in Surveying Terminology”. The author considers the strategies translators should apply in bridging lexical gaps. The next article, “Compound Verbs Formed by Means of BackFormation: Seeking Lexical Enrichment in Bilingual Dictionaries”, by Enn Veldi, analyzes the lexicographic treatment of back-formations in bilingual dictionaries revealing important cross-linguistic differences. The author also demonstrates that back-formations are often neglected and undertreated in English-Estonian bilingual dictionaries. The issues of word-formation in the contrastive perspective are also considered by Maria Rosenberg in her article, “French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds”. The article “Translation of English and Arabic Binomials by Advance and Beginning Student Translators”, by Reima Al-Jarf analyzes the strategies applied by student translators in rendering binomials and the difficulties they face, particularly in translating idiomatic and culturespecific binomials. The last chapter, “Self-Reported Practices of Professional Curaçaoan Papiamentu Translators and Writers: A Window on their Influence on Papiamentu Standardization”, by Courtney Parkins Ferrón, presents a quantitative study of responses of practicing translators with regard to the issue of lexical transfer and its influence on standardisation of Curaçaoan Papiamentu. Part II provides a broad overview of contemporary research in translation theory and practice in both global and minor languages. The topics covered in the articles in Part II present a vast and potentially productive area for further research. Many papers offer practical solutions to numerous translation problems and thus will be of particular interest to student translators and interpreters. Part III—“Text, Context, Meaning Representation”—includes eight papers covering issues that have relatively recently acquired prominence in the field of translation studies, which is characterized by a growing degree of interdisciplinarity. The issues addressed in Part III range from text theories, text genre and the concept of intertextuality to semantic and pragmatic aspects of meaning representation in context. The first paper, “The Murder and the Echo: How Meaning Reverberates in Translation”, by Rita Filanti, addresses the issue how the intentions, artistic expression, and the creative genius of the author of the original text can be reproduced in the translation of fiction. The author argues that any translation is only an approximation reflecting the aesthetic perception of the original by the translator. The paper by Bryan J. Robinson and Elisa Alonso, “Flying in the Face of Illusion. A Comparative Study of the Variables that Interact in the English Language Scientific Journals that Publish Translations”,

xii

Preface

analyzes the Impact Factor (IF) of scientific publications translated into the English language in comparison to the IF of publications in other languages, attesting to the role of English as a scientific lingua franca. The next article, “Intertextuality in Technical Text: the Web of Facts and Allusions”, by Larisa Ilynska and Tatjana Smirnova, analyzes intertextuality as an instrument of linguistic economy that facilitates the encoding of a vast body of information in a compressed form. Intertextuality in technical texts is studied as a complex phenomenon that facilitates the creation of a certain information space. Such a manifestation of intertextuality as allusion is considered in the article “Preserving the Allusions in Translating the Bible”, by Adina Chirilă. The author argues that although Biblical allusions lie at the core of many successive texts, they are not always recognized and interpreted, decoding all the hidden meanings. The following paper, “Translation between Accuracy and the Claims of the Text Genre: Problems Posed by Patient Information Leaflets”, by Isabelle Lux, compares the prototypical Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) grids in Britain and Germany on the basis of a macrostructural analysis of the text type PIL in both countries to identify what implications the differences in the respective legislation may have in the process of interlingual transfer. The article “Picking up the Intentional Meaning of the Writer by the Translator is Often like the Blind Man’s Description of the Elephant”, by Behrooz Azabdaftari, covers the topical issue of meaning representation in translation. Having conducted extensive empirical research, the author concludes that apart from linguistic and communicative competence, a successful translator should be fully aware of the sociohistorical entailments surrounding the texts in both source and target languages. The paper “La sémantique et la pragmatique du proverbe et de l’expression figée portugais français dans l’œuvre de Saramago «Ensaio sobre a Ceigueira / l’Aveuglement/Blindness»”, by Mihn Ha LoCicero, presents an analysis of semantic, pragmatic and cultural aspects of metaphoric meaning representation in proverbs and set expressions from Portuguese into French. The closing chapter of Part III features the article “Translating What is Blurred: Evidence from Swedish to Polish Translations”, by Ewa Data-Bukowska. The paper analyzes the role of the background knowledge of the translator in rendering culture- and language-specific units, the meaning of which may be vague to non-native speakers. The papers collected in Part III provide a wide variety of opinions on how meaning can and should be represented in context, taking into consideration the intentions of the authors of the original texts, the needs and expectations of the target audience, and the struggle for precision in translation.

Meaning in Translation: Illusion of Precision

xiii

The complicated issue of representation of meaning in translation has always been a focus of research in the field of translation studies. Can meaning be transferred across languages or is it simply an illusion that what has been said in one language can be accurately represented in another? Different scholars have taken different stances on this issue. Opinions vary; absolute denial of the existence of interlingual equivalence as such and beliefs that some day computers will be able to translate better than human translators can be mentioned among extreme points of view.

Larisa Ilynska, Marina Platonova

PART I: TRANSLATION 3PS: PRODUCT, PEOPLE, PRACTICE

CHAPTER ONE TRANSLATION CRITICISM, AN UNPROBLEMATIC ISSUE? FROM CONCEPTS TO POSITIONS TO GOALS JOSE LAMBERT THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF SANTA CATARINA, BRAZIL/CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF TRANSLATION AND CULTURES (CETRA), CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN, BELGIUM

Abstract One of the illusions in the use of scholarly discourse related with translation phenomena may justify the discussion that follows about “(translation) criticism”, a concept which is largely used and which is generally received as unproblematic. “Criticism” appears to have an equivalent in many (European) languages; experienced scholars select it as an unproblematic (critical?) concept that suits academic discourse: “criticism” and its equivalents seem to belong to international scholarly traditions. While it can hardly be assumed that any word / concept simply excludes (any) translation problem and while the item “criticism” is not one of the nightmares of translators (such as “false friends”, etc.), it deserves to be considered as a trap at the highest level of scholarly discourse on translation, or as one of the illusionistic keywords in a new academic discipline. Keywords: Academic discourse, criticism, interdisciplinarity, translation, translation theories.

4

Chapter One

1. Are “Translation” and “Translation Studies” Forever? Even in matters of research, trivial questions deserve to be asked and reformulated from time to time. In case the answer is also trivial, we may learn from the intellectual exercise. In the case of Translation Studies (TS, from now on), such exercises make us wonder about the positions within a young/new discipline. The progressive recognition of TS stimulates many new questions on translation, but mostly within TS itself (Gile 2012; Lambert 2012; Lambert 2013). Why only within the new discipline? Of course, there are no chances that new disciplines and competencies will immediately inspire the neighboring disciplines. Who are they exactly, these neighbors? So far, translation scholars have not yet reflected on translation issues in other disciplines, e.g. in medical or legal environments, or on translation phenomena at the websites of engineering or mathematics departments. It is not astonishing at all that scholarly disciplines are submitted to changes. How could the World of Learning be static, since it aims at progress in research, and since it makes use of new techniques and tools, e.g. the new technologies that seem to redefine us as human beings as well as our planet. The object of study, as well as our tools, keeps changing; hence, research is a perpetuum mobile. There is no need to remind engineers, economists or medical researchers of such trivial insights. They may look less trivial from the perspective of “the Humanities”, the “Language Departments”, where Translation Studies (TS) tends to be located near Literary Studies as much as in the neighborhood of Linguistics. Forever? The awareness of Communication and Technology environments has certainly had a heavy impact on many particular subareas in many disciplines, the Humanities included, as it might be fundamentally illustrated by works such as Walter Ong’s Orality and Literacy (Ong 1982). If our universities want to survive as integrated structures, or as integrated Learning Societies (“societies of practice”: Wenger 1987), it will be urgent to revise our classification systems (see Lambert & Iliescu Gheorghiu 2014). Given the rhythm of changes on both our planet and in our UNIVERSE-Cities, scholars had better accept that they do not simply produce “universals”, from the morning to the evening. The very fact that TS seems to play a role in such fundamental issues is supposed to illustrate that Academia is in trouble exactly at the moment when globalization has become a fashionable concept (internationalization rather than globalizations is centuries old, but has hardly been explored): TS, even Linguistics used to be located within “the Language Departments”; there is no way of putting Communication into the same

Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue?

5

“shoebox”, i.e., the “Language Departments” (for shoeboxes, see Lambert & Iliescu Gheorghiu 2014, passim). Would it imply that translation—and language/languages—have nothing to do with communication? The fact that Translation and TS are being accepted, in recent decades, within and among academic disciplines (up to the level of PhD’s, i.e., as a research discipline, and not any more as a service to societies/enterprises (Lambert 2012; Lambert 2013), can probably be accepted as one of the strong illustrations of the continuous redefinition of our cultural frameworks. Due to the development of technologies, due also to their impact on the organization of societies/communities, the interaction between individuals, between groups of people as well as the relationships between organizations and institutions, is getting more systematic and intense than ever—on the local scale, but also from international and institutional perspectives. Whether the translation phenomenon is one of the consequences or one of the causal factors of such intensification is a well-known chicken-and-egg question. Why exactly translation—and TS—are booming nowadays, is not the topic of this discussion paper, but it is good to keep aware of it. From our panoramic perspective, we might assume that the spread of translation within cultures and among communities worldwide—its socalled “Ubiquity”1—was more or less predictable from the moment internationalization became “globalization” in the fashionable terminology of our media. But let us avoid trusting our own individual “feelings” in such complex matters. It was also predictable that English was going to be the “lingua franca” of the new age. Intellectuals might believe that wherever any “lingua franca” plays a role, translation also fulfills a function; or does one work as an obstacle for the other? Do they support each other? The question has recently been reexamined (House 2003). Only a few experts in TS (or communication studies) seem to realize that such very new phenomena (the globalization of both “lingua franca” and translation) cannot be approached using the traditional nation-state terminology. New research and concepts are needed. Besides translation, would the languages of the Global Village be given and established forever, i.e. as static functions, unlike communication? How could academic disciplines resist fundamental changes, how could they stick to the nation-state models? One of the basic symptoms of fundamental changes in the status of translation is the terminological issue: it may be true that the translation (and “interpreting”) phenomenon is centuries old, that it may have been created from the moment human beings left the “Garden of Eden” (or other mythical worlds), but “Translation Studies”—and several concepts

6

Chapter One

in competition with TS—has been used and disseminated for only a few decades. This explains why it has been written that the institutionalization of “translation” is centuries old, whereas the institutionalization of the discipline (TS) is extremely young (Gile 2012). Neither much imagination nor information is needed in order to illustrate this chronological paradox. Is it really a paradox? Administrative and even statistical evidence might be a simple support of our impressions about the recognition of translation as an object of study in Higher Education. This recognition came in two waves: (1) the first wave, since World War II, almost exclusively in specific training institutes, in view of the training of translators/interpreters; and (2) in the second movement, at the end of the 20th century and beyond. The progressive institutional recognition of translation within Higher Education can also be observed within scholarly discourses on translation itself. And it could easily and systematically be registered—often by its absence, ex negativo—in scholarly discourse on language(s), religion(s), on historiography, legislation, say in the terminology area of any discipline. TS may be a success story of the contemporary university, but it is not very visible at the level of university, though translations are working everywhere under the waterline, at the websites, among other places. The second wave in the institutionalization of translation and TS obviously completes the first one while opening academic structures, i.e. universities—still in a limited number of cases, but on 5 continents, to the scholarly study of translation phenomena, up to the highest level of PhD and Post-Doctoral research. No need to say that such recognition in the area of languages looks like an event, particularly in a period of undeniable restrictions and cuts in the academic landscape (for budget reasons). Whoever is familiar with the debates and the dynamics preparing such a reform will have an easy task indicating: (1) that Western-Europe has been first in working out the reform, while inspiring other continents and their institutes; (2) that the link with the acceleration of the internationalization processes is more than obvious, especially on the basis of the so-called Bologna Declarations (as well as in the Sorbonne and other Declarations since 1998) (Bologna Declaration n.d., Bologna Process n.d.). It is easy to understand that such a reshuffling of academic structures: (1) in two networks (Higher Education and Universities), and (2) in quite a few countries, even far beyond the territory of the Bolognacountries2—can hardly have been initiated on a local basis. Only large international and extra-academic networks can provide particular disciplines with the support necessary for any new international

Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue?

7

institutionalization. In other words, the extra-academic pressure must have been particularly strong (or convincing). Insiders might tell us that the more or less analogous pressure in the 1940s and 1950s was sufficient for the realization of the first wave, i.e. the establishment of a network of translation training institutes, but not at all for the recognition of fullfledged academic curricula and concepts on translation issues. At that moment, immediately after World War II, there was not even any name, any concept available for such curricula. “Translation Studies” did not yet exist. May we assume that the Internationalization and Globalization waves, at least in the world of knowledge, reflect progress in the history of mankind? No one said that progress (in this case in TS or in Communication Studies) is unproblematic, anyway. But more communication, in view of knowledge, can hardly be rejected as one of the Human Rights. Translation and Translation Studies (TS)—it is not unimportant to distinguish well between them—serve Human Rights, maybe even more. Traditional Academia had different standards.

2. Before TS: Professional Translator Training, Translation Theories, etc. Between both historical waves—World War II and the end of the 20th century—during more or less half a century, various efforts, events and intellectual debates have, of course, taken shape within the world of translation(s). Actually, the first group of people who claimed worldwide (like the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs: F.I.T. 1953—) to be competent in the matters of translation (and interpreting) were the professionals who produced translated communication for the impressive new communication networks, going from radio to cinema and television (for translators and translation scholars, the Internet was more or less predictable, but virtual communication and societies come into the picture at a later stage). Their associations (not only the F.I.T.) had a globalizing scope from the beginning, including as representatives of research activities. But they had no chance to convince the academic institutions; they were supposed to refer to institutes and institutions for vocational training. Under its successive labels, and until the 1980s, the European Union was eager to put some order and quality control into their professional structures, but treated them as professionals, not as scholars (or artists, as the representatives of dubbing wanted to be treated).3 In fact, the European Union hesitated for a few decades between Machine Translation and the professional translator. At that moment, ambitious companies like IBM and Siemens invested heavily in the

8

Chapter One

machine dream (which had started in the 1950s, even in East-European countries)—and so did the European Union. Their research-oriented efforts required a human resources input on behalf of universities, which did not imply at all that the academic structures were really creating new structures or departments for translation issues. The position of computer linguistics (as these groups tend to be called since quite some time ago) was often linked with Applied Linguistics, where translation training happened to be concentrating from the moment any department of Linguistics tolerated the translation issue. Between 1960 and 1990, the academic landscape was indeed not really excluding translation, but it offered mainly no man’s lands: the academic scholars dealing with translation issues were spread out between theology (Biblical Studies in particular), philosophy and various philologies (from Comparative Literature to various national literatures). Under the impact of General Linguistics, several individual efforts have produced several great “classics” in Translation Theory (Catford, Mounin, Wandruszka, the Leipzig group, Koller, etc.). And literary translation theories as well as literary translation itself, as an object of study, were treated like a peripheral world, like “Art”, rather than “Science” (see Ljudskanow’s books). The exceptions were Levý 1969, where a confrontation between most West and East European traditions were meeting, and then, more than anything else, Gideon Toury’s In Search of A Theory of Translation (Toury 1980), whose title sounds like a manifesto: there is no general translation theory, and before we can work out any new interdisciplinary (descriptive) research is needed. But in different steps and in different countries and departments, since the end of the 1960s, the idea of an academic (inter-)discipline was taking shape. It was only around 1990 that, in several articles, books and meetings, Mary Snell-Hornby and other colleagues welcomed partners from several scholarly traditions while repeating: “There was a time when the translation issue only inspired colleagues from either Comparative Literature or Applied Linguistics.”4 The academic landscape was moving indeed.

3. Cooperation and New Institutional Maps Heaven knows why exactly scholarly communication on translation circulated better within a few particular, privileged networks between 1970 and 1990, i.e. since James S. Holmes, an American translatorscholar-poet, started promoting his programmatic views on The Name and Nature of Translation Studies (Holmes 1972). Isolation was part of the game among the first promoters of TS, but this was probably why their

Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue?

9

networking became the heart of the matter. Little by little, their ideas and initiatives were supported by (young) scholars from very different cultural (USA, Holland, Belgium, Israel, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, etc.) and scholarly (Literary Studies, Comparative Literature, Semiotics, Linguistics, etc.) backgrounds. Even in terms of institutions, the advocates of TS did not represent any power positions, except in their continuity and their mobility, while taking part in many international congresses in various subareas of Linguistics and Literary Studies. Decisive components of the international movement were, anyway, the formulation of one single programmatic article linked with a diplomatic new name, in the “lingua franca” of the future—Translation Studies—and explored in several programmatic meetings and publications (Holmes 1972). Another decisive component was certainly the combination of competencies and, of course, a strong theoretical backbone around new concepts and questions. Strangely enough, the Literature and Translation symposium at Leuven in 1976, which was organized by the Department of Literary Studies and where only some fifty-five scholars from some twenty countries were meeting,5 has functioned as a key moment of interaction between disciplines, countries, generations, groups of researchers and even scholarly societies. During some fifteen more years, their international image continued to be treated as “literary translation”, while they obviously wanted—Holmes, Toury, Even-Zohar in particular—to explore general translation issues. This situation changed around 1990, and it was a group of sociologists, the Bourdieu group, who concluded in 2002 that (a) the 1976 meeting had been the founding event in the establishment of the discipline, and who accepted that (b) literary translation had to be accepted as a key area for the study of social phenomena in general.6

4. Beyond Languages—Really? It seems that the small group around Holmes—hardly beyond 1976— then around Toury, later around an international group, focused on one fundamental and new concept, the idea of norms (Schäffner 1999). Toury did not create the concept, he borrowed it from sociology (e.g. MukaĜovsky), and until this very day new translation scholars have hardly realized what implications concepts borrowed from outside of the language departments had. According to many publications from the 1990s or after 2000, the sociological turn is one of the striking trends in contemporary TS; the cultural turn was also stressed as a revolution somewhere in the 1980s and 1990s. But what else other than cultural and

10

Chapter One

social relations was hidden in the norms concept since the birth of the discipline? The small group of scholars that created and established “Translation Studies” had no monopoly at all, quite the contrary. They were limited in number, in space, in time. They had partners in different space-and-time conditions, e.g. the (German) Skopos Theory movement, who shared the use of the “norms” idea. But as far as we know, there were no partners within the Skopos group who worked on the status of TS as a new academic discipline; this was the central focus of Toury’s entire work, not only in his two books but in his articles and in Target (1989, I, 1: Preface), after having first inherited the Newsletter TRANSST from Holmes, etc. (Pym 2014). The recognition and the institutionalization of the discipline have often been described elsewhere (e.g., Gile 2012; Lambert 2013). They have been made visible in the dissemination of the new label, via new journals, symposia, scholarly societies and—in particular—via the establishment of new curricula and departments in many (but not all) universities on five continents. The Globalization of Knowledge has indeed also conquered the world of Translation—and Translation Studies. To what extent one goes without the other is another story. The extension of the idea of TS has been and is a historical phenomenon, in terms of space and time, notwithstanding the speed of contemporary technological, intellectual and social revolutions. It can be watched, spotted and even plotted on our new world maps. But scholarly insights tend to be slower in their progress than cultural revolutions. Anyway, the scholarly institutionalization gathered much more power between 1989 and 2000 (the foundation of Target, the European Society for Translation Studies (E.S.T.), research projects, several handbooks, encyclopedia and academic bestsellers; cf. Lambert 2013). From the perspective of international academia, the question was—and remains— whether TS in the year 2000 represented more than a series of historical and multicultural coincidences that were all labeled as Translation Studies, be it more and more under the umbrella of one language—mainly though not exclusively in the new lingua franca—and under the umbrella of a very open (perhaps vague) concept: Translation Studies. From the perspective of the pioneers of the “new discipline”, at the beginning of the 1970s, the consensus about the translation phenomenon—including “interpreting”, localization, the new social media, and “sign language”— was not illimited at all, but it was mainly rooted in a few new key concepts, maybe also in a few successful communication channels (Telenet, YouTube), books, etc.

Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue?

11

There can be no doubt about the general mobility of people and communication on our contemporary planet, including in the academic world, and within TS. But one could wonder how central literary heritage has remained, in the use of concepts such as “criticism”, among other factors. Within TS, political and economic developments had and have a heavy impact, in particular the internationalization and globalization trends (e.g. in the impact of the European Union, including on other continents), together with the institutionalization of English as the new lingua franca around the world. The new channels for international electronic communication as well as the new kinds of networking favored new pragmatic and theoretical (also research based) backgrounds. Within TS, it is only at a rather late stage, mainly after 2000, that globalization was accepted as a new translation world (there were a few very explicit symptoms from the end of the 1980s). There can be no homogeneous academic disciplines anyway. One of the most remarkable results of the new global(izing) environment seems to be the simultaneous development of homogenizing and heterogenizing trends within TS. And this is what the question of “translation criticism” is supposed to illustrate.

5. Translation in the Contemporary World of Education: Interferences between Different Worlds Whether they like it or not, universities and higher education cannot escape language challenges in the age of globalization (Lambert & Iliescu 2014). In case we forget about the (impressive number of) institutions that do not (yet) devote any explicit attention to translation (either to multilingualism or lingua franca cultures), we might be able nevertheless to structure the basic trends in the approach to translation and TS along the following lines. First of all, it would be nonsensical to reduce institutions and programs/curricula to “translation studies” only. Translation scholars have not stopped demonstrating how, through the ages and today in particular, languages and translations are manipulated in a policy/strategy of (in)visibility. The use of various labels, in every language, is very often quite misleading, in everyday life as well as in educational environments. Hence, it cannot be expected that the programs and curricula go (explicitly) back to the ideas and motivations that have been worked out between, say, 1970 and 1990 in a few (mainly Western European) countries. Even in the countries with a strong lingua franca impact,

Chapter One

12

“translation studies” has no monopoly; “traductology”, which has obvious francophone roots, or “Übertragungswissenschaft” are among the many competitors. And while our interrogation on concepts, so far, concentrates on a few Western European languages, the extension of the analysis within other (e.g., Asian) languages would make much sense. Whatever the hesitations in terms of didactic and scholarly labels may be, there are good reasons for distinguishing between three dominant orientations (groups) in the planning and in the activities of the education approaches to translation. x

Translation training focused curricula:

The training of translators and interpreters (and other subgroups of professional “translators” of any kind, including subtitlers, dubbers, etc.) —whatever kind of books, concepts and theories are being explored by their teaching staff—their didactic (professional or academic) tradition deserves to be considered one of the subgroups of TS, in the broad meaning of the term. Several situations are known where the effort to link the activities with the established kind of TS is strongly developed; very often it is only a peripheral part of the institutional priorities. x

Translation Studies focused curricula:

TS, in its most explicit and conscious interpretation, refers to those curricula where the so-called grounding texts—first of all from the Holmes-Toury group, but hardly ever exclsuive to it—occupy a substantial part of the research training, and where the key questions around translation and translation cultures are tackled in relation to issues such as “norms”, etc. (Would “norms” be the distinctive feature? It would not appear so.) Their number may appear to be limited, and even limited to particular centers or countries or networks. However, the book market and the bibliographical tools available at present, on the world level, confirm that they have an international and even intercontinental status. The same scholarly book market illustrates, however, that many environments and scholarly circles function largely, if not entirely, outside of this strict TS realm, while the key concepts from 1970–2000 (to start with TS, largely without the norms idea however) are being used without any scruples. One of the crucial distinctions is to what extent the cohabitation with normative approaches as well as with translation training is accepted. In fact, such distinctions are indicative of the degree of integration between the tradition of translation training and the world of academic research (be it empirical/descriptive or not). This (impossible?) integration seems to be

Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue?

13

the leitmotiv of the last fifty years. It is not unknown that many philosophical and biblical traditions are active somewhere within this framework of TS: their bibliographical references make it simple to locate them in Group II or in Group III (hardly ever in Group I), which means that heterogeneity under the new institutional label is supposed to be almost illimited. x

Research on translation phenomena outside of any TS curriculum:

The third group is easier to define than to locate in space and time. Long before TS had been created (under a given label), many scholars from many different disciplines had more or less systematically/ occasionally dealt with translation phenomena, e.g. in psychology (subtitling, multilingualism, etc.), in medicine, in foreign language learning, etc. We may envisage them as the pre-history of TS as a discipline. And in many cases, the academic recognition of TS has not really revised this situation. From the moment, such colleagues are embedded in a group of scholars including researchers from TS. Their status may slightly change, because the impact of theoretical or methodological considerations may include the use of hypotheses from the more canonized discipline. Such may be the position of researchers from the EGOS group, where some reading work has been imported from TS (European Group for Organizaional Studies, n.d.). In certain areas of sociology, TS is even explicitly identified as a new subarea in sociology. And psychologists or medical and technological researchers may also concentrate on translation issues. Anyway, the necessity to take this academic group into consideration is more than obvious: we have no reason for excluding that systematic research from these “neighbor disciplines” might sooner or later have an impact on fundamental findings in the so-called legitimated discipline. It can be dismissed that only the new academic discipline specializing in translation matters may have an impact on translation research and on its public image. “Translation Studies?” What is that? Whatever our answer will be, and whoever our partners are in such interrogations, we are committed. And the use of any specific terminology or discourse commits us—translation scholars—to particular paradigms. From the moment we make use of items that have a specific terminological codification in “our” discipline. It will become visible what kind of particular options we are backing.7 And from the moment we select our concepts outside of the TS

14

Chapter One

tradition, we opt for alternative priorities. There cannot be any free lunch any more. And this is why translation criticism occupies a delicate position in our scholarly discussions.

6. “Translation Criticism” in “Translation Studies” In 1972, as well as a few years before and a few years later, Holmes’ map suggested a new framework for scholarly work on translation phenomena. Toury used it as his starting point from more or less 1976 on until Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond (Toury 1995). There are no reasons for excluding that other translation scholars are able and allowed to make use of this map in its entirety or even partly; or even to avoid doing so. It is part of good scholarly discussions to indicate where the key concepts are being taken from—and where they are subject to modification. Even when referring to particular items from this map, translation scholars are entitled to combine them with items that have other origins. In that case, however, it will be clarifying to tell their readers and partners. When selecting particular items, especially the socalled key concepts (those that have been openly submitted to justification and explanation debates) from such maps, it may be complicated to borrow them in isolation, i.e. without contextualizing them in relation to the rest of the program. And it will be hard to make use of alternative concepts while claiming to adopt the basic rules of the overall map. Hence, it may be more enlightening, in the case of programmatic statements, to identify the origins and backgrounds of our models and methods. This is even supposed to be a more than basic rule in theoretical and didactic discussions, though every individual scholar is aware of the limits of such justifications: not every concept can be contextualized from all possible perspectives. However, in the case of new disciplines and in the case of revision moments in a given discipline, it will be embarrassing not to justify the origin and the use of the key terminology. As far as “criticism” goes, not many intellectuals will be surprised when it is used as an unavoidable term. This is why, at a given moment in the 1980s, our students did wonder whether Belgian cinema had any tradition of film criticism at all. This does not mean at all that there can be no research paradigms, even in the Arts faculties and in matters of texts, language, communication, without the idea of “criticism”. On the contrary: film criticism, like literary or art criticism reflects dilemmas and options from artistic life.

Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue?

15

But let us examine how the authors of the first “map” of TS approached translation criticism, and why.

Translation Studies

'Pure' Theoretical General

Medium Restricted

Applied Descriptive

Partial

Product Oriented

Area Restricted

Rank Restricted

Process Function Oriented Oriented

Text-Type Restricted

Time Restricted

Translator Training

Translation Translation Aids Criticism

Problem Restricted

Fig. 6-1: Holmes’ map of translation studies (in Toury1995: 10)

In Holmes’ map, criticism is not missing at all, but it is used in a particular context, on a particular level (one might say), i.e. as a subarea in the “applied branch” of TS. This position separates it clearly from the “pure” TS branch (“fundamental research” might sound better, as has often been told). This means that the scholar will not take himself as “a critic”, since the intellectuals in the critical position or function are probably going for particular priorities, according to space-and-time situations: this is one of the primary features of any applied research, yes? In Toury’s (and Holmes’) view, this implies that critics are part of the object of study (just like scholars, yes, but not in the same position). What in fact is going on is the discrimination between many kinds of (specialized) discourse: there are not many reasons for not distinguishing between people who address academic audiences (on the one hand) and those who talk to the readers of magazines about a new (translated) book. Quite a few discussions have taken place around this “map”, which of course aimed at defining scholarly discourse(s) on translation phenomena. One of its ambiguities is that it has been produced by one scholar (Holmes), then maintained and heavily re-explained by another one (Toury). By definition, the canonization of the Holmes document by Toury involved new explanations. The central innovation was the idea that, in Toury’s mind, any research on translation(s), from any among the perspectives envisaged, had to focus on norms. And for Toury (as well as for Holmes, perhaps) there was no ideal norm, the goal of the confrontation was to establish what particular kind of norms had been

16

Chapter One

decisive, where, why, etc. (Schäffner 1999). This is exactly where the distance between critics and researchers became manifest: for critics, it could hardly be imagined that all those many questions and options had an almost equal status, and that the goal of the analysis was not to indicate any priorities. In the descriptive approach, a systematic survey was required, in which not the evaluation, but possible explanations were the final goal. In Holmes’ map, criticism has a specific—and limited—position. In Toury’s work, the concept of criticism is hardly mentioned at all. And when it is, it refers to the specific activity of experts who try to establish how and why (new) translations introduce books in a foreign language to the reading audience in a given society; such critics often operate within newspapers, magazines, and literary magazines. And it is true that many societies have developed this critical function, which very often is part of literary criticism. Hence, there is no way out: from the moment “criticism” was involved, compatibility with Toury’s (and Holmes’) “map” was almost excluded, except when assuming that criticism is one of the (many) approaches to translation, i.e. when criticism does not claim to have the status of “scholarship”.

7. Translation Criticism: Old and New Worlds Already in the 1970s and the 1980s, scholarly discourse in the Humanities was trapped by the new theoretical terminologies, which unavoidably also invaded TS. In very different circumstances, older colleagues from the 1970s warned us against jargon. But we did not really understand them. Whose jargon do you mean? The neighbor’s terminology? When myself offering a paper, in 1974, on “la critique de la traduction”,8 I hardly realized what kind of developments were going to come after 1976. One of the well-known colleagues attending the paper, Mario Wandruszka, told the audience that I had tackled a brand-new topic, that “there was nothing on such a very basic issue”. Though feeling grateful and full of respect, I cannot deny that he was very wrong, and so was I: the first theory explicitly devoted to “Übersetzungskritik” was (very probably) the now classic book by Katharina Reiss (Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Übersetzungskritik: Reiss 1971), which has recently been published in English (Reiss 2000). Within the German tradition, particularly among the strong profiles of the Skopos Theory, Reiss (1972) was a keystone. But Reiss’s disciples were going to refine her still static

Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue?

17

classifications: the norms concept was on its way, even outside of Descriptive Translation Studies. Many years later, in 1987, we were surprised when Raymond van den Broeck, one of the pioneers from the Leuven and Manipulation group and one of the key people between Holmes and Toury, delivered a paper on “translation criticism”, more or less along the traditional perspectives: had the norms idea really changed anything? Within Benjamin’s canonical Translation Studies Bibliography, criticism actually has 677 “hits” according to the online question–answer program. This kind of bibliography is not supposed to discriminate between various scholarly traditions while accepting or selecting given titles. Hence the TSB is a remarkable detection system for registering the heterogeneity of TS in one of its (unavoidable?) central concepts. It confirms that criticism remains one of the concerns of our contemporary generation of translation scholars, notwithstanding the revision of the concept in the TST texts from the 1970s. Such observations can at least be deduced from the titles recorded in the bibliography, which, however, do not allow for establishing which titles adopt the DTS options. New tools such as the Internet happen to be more instructive as far as the theoretical and methodological priorities are concerned. And Wikipedia offers a wonderful illustration of the power of worldwide information, even about research. However, it also confirms its ambiguities: “Translation criticism is the systematic study, evaluation, and interpretation of different aspects of translated works. It is an interdisciplinary academic field closely related to literary criticism and translation theory.” (Translation Criticism n.d.)

Though it is presented here as an academic and as an interdisciplinary activity (or as an academic field), it is closely linked with literary criticism, even with translation theory (and why not with research, as Toury would say), but neither with translation studies (as Toury would say) nor with literary studies. In fact, there are many, many references to other sources where “literary studies” is quoted and/or discussed, but the concept itself, Literary Studies, does not belong to the key repertoire of Wikipedia. One explanation may refer to the general tradition of “criticism” in English, in any discipline, which obviously is much more developed than, say, “critique” (in French) or “Kritik” (in German: notwithstanding Immanuel Kant’s Kritik der reinen Vernunft). The very literary interpretation of the translation and the criticism phenomena directly refers to the bibliographical sources supporting the

18

Chapter One

Wikipedia item: Antoine Berman, Valentín García Yebra, Peter Newmark, Katharina Reiss, Lance Hewson, etc. All these references confirm that the discussions of TS as a new discipline have no impact at all, except maybe in Berman’s case (see further). But the footnote referring to M.H. Taqiyeh’s “Translation Criticism” offers a remarkable boomerang movement: “Who is responsible for criticizing the translated 'papers’? Translator? Author? Or a third person?” Except for the reduction to literary works, the answer (“It is obvious that critic is the best answer.”) would have inspired the TS from the mid-1970s. The most striking features of the Wikipedia document confirm once more that translation criticism is interpreted along principles that lead us back into the 1960s and the 1970s views of the (intellectual) man in the street: criticism reminds us of “the work” (the literary work), the author, etc. Notwithstanding the use of labels such as “academic” and “interdisciplinary”, the scholarly status of both translation and criticism are heavily compromised. And the selection of one scholarly book from the impressive Benjamin’s Translation Library (Translation Studies Bibliography n.d.) does not mean at all, on the contrary, that the dozens of books published in the same book series, or the bibliography of “the new discipline”, or scholarly journals such as (but not only) Target have left any impression at all. In other words, this Wikipedia item has been produced neither by scholars nor for scholarly use. For obvious reasons, the new discourse on translation and TS could hardly look attractive, between 1975 and 1990, from the perspective of translation training. The very priorities of almost any training perspective are in trouble, even nowadays, from the moment the idea of “norms” popped up. The conflicts with translation training varied between quite pragmatic considerations and more ideology-supported ones, as in Peter Newmark’s case (see his position in Anderman & Rogers 2003). The general difficulty was, anyway, that there was no opportunity to identify any possible central principle (norm) with an obvious priority over the neighboring ones.9 It seems that recent conflicts around translation criticism have become spectacular in France, maybe because it is one of the countries with a rich translation culture. And the French translation culture has certainly been intensified by the strong national language policy. Among the key moments, Henri Meschonnic’s quarrels with Eugene Nida deserve to take an interesting place, first of all because the language clash also conceals a religious one. And both the rhetorical force of Meschonnic “Poétique de la traduction” and his poetic views on the Bible and translation bring translation back into literature, not into academic discourses.

Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue?

19

There can be no more interesting moment in the renaissance of translation “criticism”—rather than research—than Antoine Berman’s last book: Pour une critique des traductions: John Donne (Berman 1995). Not unlike Levý 1969, it is one of the emotional monuments in the history of TS because the author wrote it as kind of a testament when dying, after having produced several rich books on the history of translation. And the French editorial world canonized it from the beginning by introducing it into the Bibliothèque des Idées at Gallimard, where translation had already been celebrated by Georges Mounin’s Problèmes théoriques de la traduction (Mounin 1963). Berman’s ambitions can indeed be treated as an unambiguous effort towards canonization, as the title tells us. But Berman’s enthusiasm happens also to be compromizing, whatever the contemporary (French) world may have read: Antoine Berman proposed un nouveau genre de critique littéraire: la critique des traductions. (Bouvet 1995, V: 4) Berman’s tendency to actively participate in literary and cultural trends with the aid of translation criticism, up to the idea of installing it as a new genre within the Académie française demonstrates that the Belles Infidèles and French language policy complicate, in this context, every integration into international scholarly projects. Berman’s partners belong to (French) literature, literary criticism and literary theory: […] l'auteur entend combler une lacune de la critique actuelle, qui étudie les textes étrangers "soit dans leur langue, soit dans une version française en 'oubliant' qu'il s'agit d'une version" (Berman 1995 : 41). Sa démarche consiste à replacer les réflexions théoriques sur la traduction littéraire au sein de la réflexion sur la littérature et sur la façon dont elle se donne à lire. Il insiste d'ailleurs sur la parenté entre l'acte critique et l'acte de traduction en affirmant que la lecture du texte et son étude critique sont des étapes indispensables du processus de traduction. (Ibid.)

In the same book, Antoine Berman is producing fascinating pages on new translation theories and the norms concepts, which were hardly known in France at that moment, but his theoretical and ideological priorities are not compatible with the research priorities underlying the (functionalist) “norms” idea. It could not be more manifest that, from the moment criticism becomes an equivalent or a competitor of “research” or TS, the basis for an academic status of research on translation is definitely compromised.

20

Chapter One

References Anderman, Gunilla, and Margaret Rogers, eds. 2003. Translation Today. Trends and Perspectives. London: Multilingual Matters. Berman, Antoine. 1995. Pour une Critique des traductions: John Donne. Paris: Gallimard (Bibliothèque des Idées). Borillo, Josep Marco, ed. 1995. “Estudis sobre la traduccio.” In La Traduccio literaria, 19–42. Castello: Universitat Jaume I. Bologna Declaration. Accessed May 19, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_declaration. Bologna Process. Accessed May 19, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_Process. European Group for Organizational Studies. Accessed May 25, 2014. http://www.egosnet.org/. Fouces, Oscar, Diaz, and Esther Monzȩ, eds. 2010. Applied Sociology in Translation Studies. Sociologia aplicada a la traducciȩ. Castello: Universitat Jaume I. Gambier, Yves, and Luc van Doorslaer, eds. 2012. Handbook of Translation Studies, Vol. 3. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Gile, Daniel. 2012. “The Institutionalization of Translation Studies.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, Vol. 3, edited by Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer, 73-80. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Heilbron, Johan, and Gisèle Sapiro, eds. 2002. “Traduction: les échanges littéraires internationaux.” Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales 144: 3–5. Heilbron, Johan. 2010. “Towards a Sociology of Translation. Book Translations as a Cultural World System.” European Journal of Social Theory 2 (4): 429–444. Hermans, Theo, ed. 1985. The Manipulation of Literature. Studies in Literary Translation. London: Croom Helm. Holmes, James. 1972. “The Name and Nature of Translation Studies.” In Translated!, edited by Raymond van den Broeck, 67-80. Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodop. Holmes, James S., José Lambert, and Raymond van den Broeck, eds. 1978. Literature and Translation. New Perspectives in Literary Studies. Leuven: Acco. House, Juliane. 2003. “English as a Lingua Franca: A Threat to Multilingualism?” Journal of Sociolinguistics 7 (4): 556-578.

Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue?

21

Kittel, Harald, Armin Frank, Norbert Greiner, Theo Hermans, Werner Koller, José Lambert, and Fritz Paul, eds. 2004–2011. Übersetzung Translation – Traduction. Ein Internationales Handbuch zur Übersetzungsforschung. An International Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. Encyclopédie internationale de la recherche sur la traduction, Vol. 3. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter. Lambert, José. 1995. “Literary Translation, Research Updated.” In La Traduccio literaria, edited by Josep Marco Borillo, 19–42. Castello: Universitat Jaume I. Ljudskanov, Alexander. 1972. Mensch und Maschine als Übersetzer. München: Hueber. Lambert, José. 2005. “Is Translation Studies too Literary?” Génesis. Revista cientifica do ISAI. Tradução e Interpretação, 5–20. —. 2012. “Interdisciplinarity in Translation Studies.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer, 81-88. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. —. 2013. “The Institutionalization of the Discipline.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by Carmen Millán, and Francesca Bartrina, 7–27. New York: Routledge. Lambert, José, and Catalina Iliescu Gheorghiu, eds. 2014. UNIVERSECities as Problematic Global Villages. Continuities and Shifts in Our Academic Worlds. Tubarăo: CopyArt/PGET-UFSC. Levý, JiĜí. 1969. Literarische Übersetzung. Theorie einer Kunstgattung. Frankfurt: Athenäum. —. 2011. The Art of Translation. Translated by Patric Corness. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Ljudskanov, Alexander. 1972. Mensch und Maschine als Übersetzer. München: Hueber. Mounin, Georges. 1963. Les Problèmes théoriques de la traduction. Paris: Gallimard. Munday, Jeremy. 2012. Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications. London, New York: Routledge. Ong, Walter. 1982. Orality and Literacy. The Technologizing of the Word. London: Methuen. Pym, Anthony. 2012. Exploring Translation Theories. New York: Routledge. Sapiro, Gisèle, and Johan Heilbron, eds. 2002. “La traduction littéraire, un objet sociologique.” Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 144: 3–5. Schäffer, Christina. 1997. Norms and Translation Studies. London: Multilingual Matters.

22

Chapter One

Reiss, Katharina. 1971. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Übersetzungskritik. München: Hueber. —. 2000. Translation Criticism – The Potentials & Limitations. Translated by Erroll F. Rhodes. Surrey: St. Jerome Publishing. Snell-Hornby, Mary. 1987. Translation Studies. An Integrated Approach. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co. —. 2006. The Turns of Translation Studies. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co. Translation Criticism. Accessed May 21, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation_criticism. Toury, Gideon. 1978. “The Nature and Role of Norms in Literary Translation.” In Literature and Translation: New Perspectives in Literary Studies, edited by James S. Holmes, José Lambert, and Raymond van den Broeck, 83–100. Leuven: Acco. [See also Toury, 1980. 51–62; Toury, 1995. 53–69.] —. 1980. In Search of a Theory of Translation. Tel-Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, Tel-Aviv University. —. 1982. “A Rationale for Descriptive Translation Studies.” Dispositio VII 19-20-21: 23–39. —. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Toury, Gideon, and José Lambert. 1989. “On Target’s Targets.” Target 1 (1): 1-7. Translation Studies Bibliography. 2004. Accessed June 15, 2014. https://www.benjamins.com/online/tsb/. Vinay, Jean-Paul, and Jean Darbelnet. 1958. Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais. Méthode de traduction. Paris: Didier. Wenger, Etienne. 1998. Communities of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Notes 1

The “Ubiquity” of translation has been a fundamental feature of translation in our contemporary world since the de Gruyter Handbook (Kittel et al. 2004–2011; the concept has been suggested by Armin P.Frank) 2 The Bologna countries themselves represent a much larger group than the European Union: “The Bologna Process currently has 47 participating countries. While the European Commission is an important contributor to the Bologna Process, the Lisbon Recognition Convention was prepared by the Council of Europe and members of the Europe Region of UNESCO.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_declaration)

Translation Criticism, an Unproblematic Issue?

3

23

For several years I have been a member of a special EU commission that aimed at a quality policy in the profession of translators. Mr. Jan Roukens supervised the commission. Mr. Geoffrey Kingscott from Language International was the secretary. 4 This observation on the academic position of translation research was a leitmotiv between Snell-Horby 1987 and the creation of the European Society for Translation Studies (EST: 1992), where Snell-Hornby was the first president. 5 The Leuven Symposium was small, but it attracted quite a few important names from the international world. Besides the speakers (Holmes, Lefevere, vanden Broeck, Even-Zohar, Toury, Bassnett, Efim Etkind, Lambert) and a few visitors (Karl Maurer, Jürgen Fechner…), there were also a few silent witnesses, i.e. students who got a name in TS (Theo Hermans, Kitty van Leuven-Zwart, Lieven D’hulst). 6 Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 144, 2002 : 5, note 5. 7 During the last years of the CETRA Summer School (http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/cetra), Yves Gambier devoted important discussions to the tricky interaction between disciplines via the import of concepts from other disciplines. 8 Unpublished. One of my first papers, at a conference organized by Gianfranco Folena. 9 During the (strictly oral) discussions at a conference in Castellón, it became obvious that Mary Snell-Hornby and Margaret Amman, more or less explicitly on behalf of Skopos Theory, had one fundamental objection against Descriptive Translation Studies: the exclusion of the possibility that there would be a clear priority principle in terms of translation quality. And one imagines that translation training is embarrassed by this limit.

CHAPTER TWO TRANSLATIONESE, TRANSLATORESE, INTERFERENCE ANDREJS VEISBERGS UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA, LATVIA

Abstract This paper looks at the concepts of translationese, translatorese, translation universals—explicitation, simplification, normalization, and finally interference, which is the focus of this study. Interference is a fuzzy, blanket term, which is frequently used but rarely clearly defined and understood. Moreover, it usually carries a pejorative, negative connotation and is frequently equated with poor quality, errors and mistakes. The author sees interference as the influence of one linguistic system on another in either (a) the individual speaker or (b) the speech community. In an individual, interference is seen as a source of errors, in a speech community, as a source of language change. This paradoxical vision bonds the negative and positive traits of interference. The empirical material shows that interference is omnipresent, in fact inevitable. Interference in translation can be seen on all language levels: orthographical, phonetic, morphological, lexical, semantic, idiomatic, phrasal, syntactic, cultural, textual, pragmatic, conventions interference. In many translations, interference may be the result of a deliberate choice of translation strategies. Socio-cultural aspects determine varying expectancy norms for translated texts, e.g. translations from high prestige languages have higher interference tolerance levels. Interference has always been, and continues to be, the initial stage of the linguistic interchange, enriching and energizing the languages in contact. Most modern texts are characterized by hybridity, which extends in the global village not only to translations and translated texts but also most of the original and natural texts. We live in a translated world, where international culture competes

26

Chapter Two

and interacts with local forms. Discursive similarities appear, irrespective of the language in which a text has been created, and “transnational” and “translational” concepts have become synonyms. Keywords: Translationese, translatorese, interference, norms, universal, translation.

1. Introduction The theoretical goal of this paper is to clarify some central concepts frequently used in translation studies: translationese, translatorese and, mainly, interference. When looking at the essence of interference, we should not proceed from an initial view that interference is a harmful phenomenon and a pejorative term, but rather look at the laws of translation more widely, at interference as a regularity. The theoretical points are based on examples from various languages, mostly English and Latvian, trying to avoid overspecialized terminological texts and excessively artistic or poetic texts. Thus, the corpus consists of journalese (newspapers, magazines, non-fiction, easy fiction, popular science)—in other words, texts for general consumption. There is a widespread public view that if a translation is poor or defective, or strange, it is because of interference from the SL (Source Language). This connection of interference to a translator’s general incompetence also frequently appears in scientific literature (Rodríguez 2002). But it is certainly not correct. There can be translations that have no interference but are defective because the translation bears little similarity to the original, or the translator is just a poor Target Language (TL) user, or cannot write intelligibly, or the idiolect of the translator is extremely strange, or the translator has chosen a totally inappropriate register, or the original text is hopeless, untranslatable in a normal fashion, and myriad other causes. First, we have to distinguish between translationese and interference. Andrew Chesterman, when proposing a translation typology, sets out a huge system of variables and aspects for studying and assessing translations: equivalence (form, style, etc.), translator (visibility, native, etc.), situation (constraints, screen, subtitles, hurry), etc. (Chesterman 1999). Variables are interconnected and often mutually contradictory, for example strict equivalence in form (e.g. EU demands for similar sentence structure in translations) or preoccupation with authenticity (see further) might presume stronger interference. Among the TL variables there is acceptability, and a number of subtypes can be distinguished here: (1)

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

27

good native style—fluent and readable, may involve editing (communicative translation); (2) 100% native style—no signs of translationese, conforms to target text-type norms (covert translation); (3) deliberately marked, resistant to target stylistic norms (foreignized translation); (4) grammatical—grammatically faultless but clearly a translation, features of translationese (overt translation, whether by intention or not); (5) intelligible—comprehensible, but with grammatical and stylistic weaknesses, usually not publishable without native revision; (6) machine translation (with or without post-editing); (7) unintelligible (Chesterman 1999: 56). As can be seen, the notion of translationese figures prominently in this quality assessment. Most translations fall between the above extremes and some SL influence can be discerned in them, for example, structures, peculiarities or strange, unique items. When translators aim at maximum equivalence to the original (Mounin 1963), which is far from frequent and often far from the perfect model today, SL traits will be more pronounced. Sometimes external conditions or norms determine closeness of the source and target texts, e.g. EU documentation insistence on similar sentence structures, paragraphs, unchanged spellings for certain proper names (including the term euro), which digress far from the standard norms of Latvian and some other languages.

2. Translationese Translationese incorporates several sets of components. One set consists of TL features, which behave differently from typical TL usage. The second has been referred to in descriptive translation studies as universals of translation, e.g. explicitation, simplification, normalization. There may also be a very specific translator idiolect aspect (see further). In the literature on translation, the concept of “translationese” was long a derogatory label for the language product presented by any translator. Of late, the concept has become more of a neutral term referring to features that tend to distinguish translations from original texts (Eskola 2004: 97). Translations inevitably form a language variant of their own: they tend (and are also allowed) to possess properties that differ from those texts that have originally been produced in the same language. Translations are “different”, not “deviant” (Baker 1999: 292). As language pairs are involved in every translation and as translation direction must also be considered, it is more advantageous in practice to discuss specific features of translationese for given language pairs and directions. In this case it would be possible to use “translationese” as a collective abstraction

28

Chapter Two

featuring the typical traits of translation language of a specific language pair. The features that characterize languages in contact have been well documented in the literature on second language acquisition and have been termed interference, interlanguage (Selinker 1972), quasi-correctness (Papp 1984) and lack of naturalness (Sinclair 1984), while in the context of translation a similar phenomenon has come to be known as “the third language” (Duff 1981), “hybrid language” (Trosborg 2000) or translationese (Toury 1980; Gellerstam 1986). “Theoretical considerations highly verify it, and even lead to hypothesizing that the language used in translation tends to be interlanguage (sometimes designated ‘translationese’), or that a translation is, as it were, an ‘inter-text’ by definition.” (Toury 1980: 75) In other words: the translation itself is “essentially a third code which arises out of the bilateral consideration of the matrix and target codes: it is, in a sense, a sub-code of each of the codes involved.” (Frawley 1984: 168) “While interlanguage often becomes manifest in formal equivalencies which do not exist in the TL as deviation from the target code, translationese is primarily characterized by the occurrence of unusual forms as deviation from the norm of language use. If, for example, the frequency of certain linguistic items or forms which have formal counterparts in the SL is higher or lower in the target text than is usual in the TL, it may mark the particular text as a translation.” (Balaskó 2008: 60)

The term “translationese” has often been used to refer to the difference in the distribution of particular lexical items or to the translated version of the TL (see, for example, Gellerstam 1986). However, translationese is more complex than this, manifesting itself on all levels of the linguistic system, and even on supralinguistic ones. The language of translations does not bear only specific features of the SL. Like interlanguage in second language acquisition, translation also shows universal traits, i.e., “features which typically occur in translated text rather than original utterances and which are not the result of interference from specific linguistic systems.” (Baker 1993: 243) Such features are present even in translations which House (1977) has termed covert. In contrast to overt translations, which can easily be identified as such, covert translations often sound like natural TL texts. Nevertheless, research (Laviosa 1997, Balaskó 2008) has proven that even these texts carry features that differ from those of genuine texts in the same language. These universal features or translation universals include explicitation: making what is implicit in the original explicit in translation. The term was first introduced by Vinay and Darbelnet in 1958, purely from their

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

29

observations and raised to the status of translation universal by BlumKulka (1986). Today corpus studies have reinforced this view (Klaudy 2003; Heltai 2005; Hirsch2011), although some scholars call for a more subtle and differentiated approach. Explicitation can be a technique, a process and a product, and consists of adding explanatory phrases, spelling out implicatures, or inserting connectives to increase readability (Shuttleworth 1997: 55). Translators tend to be risk-averse and this offers a rationalist explanation for explicitation while doing away with considerable semantic idealism (Pym 2005: 41). Another universal is simplification. “Translations tend to under-represent TL-specific, unique linguistic features and overrepresent features that have straightforward translation equivalents (functioning as some kind of stimuli) in the source text.” (Eskola 2004: 96) Thirdly, normalization or flattening (Lefevere 1992: 107), levelling (Toury 1995: 67), or stylistic flattening (Chesterman 1997: 71) includes more full forms, normalized punctuation, normalizing grammar, softer slang, adaptation of foreign measurements, etc. Thus, interference is not the sole feature or universal of translationese.

3. Translatorese One could consider another term, “translatorese”, as an idiolectal description of language used by individual translators, one of the main ingredients of which would be the individual strategies used by the translator to solve problems. Translatorese is thus constituted by texts which are different from other translations in specific respects as other translators use different techniques to solve similar problems (this includes individual features of style, personal “stereotypes”, likes, preferences, petnames and idiolect). There are well-known historical examples of translatorese, where a translation by one person, or a group of translators under one person, have made a considerable impact on general language use, style and the perception of what is “correct”. These are usually canonical texts, e.g. the King James Bible and modern variants, Luther’s translation of the Bible, Glück’s Latvian Bible, Rainis’s translation of Goethe’s “Faust”. Translatorese is generally determined by the translator’s choices of strategies and idiolect, his linguistic stamp on the product. One can see also Euro-English (often the result of translation) as a specific form of translatorese, as translators have to follow a rather rigid framework. All corpora of translatorese, if blended together, would cancel out individual “handwritings” and again show the basic traits of translationese.

30

Chapter Two

4. Interference Any book on translation, foreign language learning, language contacts or contact linguistics uses the concept and term interference. But, unusually for a term, it is very unclear, fuzzy, blurred and diffuse. Closer scrutiny reveals that it is usually used in passing (in translation literature or foreign language learning literature), with the presumption that everyone knows what is meant, and therefore without any definition. The term is fuzzy, a blanket term comprising various and differing phenomena. Moreover, it is predominantly related to lexemes and semantics only and tends to refer especially prominently to “false friends”. It should be pointed out that “interference” has numerous terminological senses apart from the linguistic one, but these can be discounted. However, linguistic interference is polysemantic, e.g. interpreting interference (which differs greatly from translation and foreign language learning interference) (Gile 1995: 202), language learning interference, interference into native and foreign language, simple speech interference, when we adapt to our partner in conversation (monkeying), and deliberate versus unconscious interference. The classic definition of interference was provided by Uriel Weinreich: “Those instances of deviation from the norms of either language which occur in the speech of bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more than one language.” (Weinreich 1953: 1) One can, of course, see that “bilinguals” could be replaced with multilinguals, and a translator need not be a bilingual in the strict sense of the word. This definition has little to do with translation as a concrete task or a result, nor even with the learning aspects. This language contact interference, moreover, can differentiate between interference as a langue (language), and interference as a parole (speech: synchronic, individual, contextual) phenomenon or case. It is perhaps wise to put aside those definitions that focus on language learning interference. Another frequently referenced definition is found in Peter Newmark’s seminal “A Textbook of Translation”: “Literal translation from SL or third language that does not give the right or required sense.” (Newmark 1988: 283) Here interference is reduced to the level of a word and sense. This is broader than the frequent equation with false friends only, but still very narrow. Javier Franco Aixelá defines interference as “the importation into the target text of lexical, syntactic, cultural or structural items typical of a different semiotic system and unusual or non-existent in the target context.” (Aixelá 2009: 75) Perhaps morphology and phonetics could be

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

31

added to cover the missing aspects of the language. It is important that Aixelá includes all deviations “whether intentional or not” (Aixelá 2009: 75). Finally, in my opinion, the best definition, with a nice tongue-in-cheek understatement, is by Bußmann: “Interference is the influence of one linguistic system on another in either (a) the individual speaker or (b) the speech community. In an individual interference is seen as a source of errors, in a speech community, as a source of language change.” (Bußmann 2006) As pointed out above, interference is to some extent a fuzzy omnibus or blanket term. It is often impossible to draw the boundary between interference and literally accurate (correct) rendering, either in general or in specific cases. It can be interpreted narrowly or broadly, and may sometimes be spoken of as negative or positive. This might again lead to an endless discussion of what constitutes an error since the determination of a specific interference case is somewhat subjective and often individualdependent. What one person considers interference from the SL someone else can perceive as a different kind of mistake or even as a perfectly acceptable solution in the TL. Similarly, what one person considers appropriate language in a certain situation or context, especially in translation (“expectancy norms”, see further) as full equivalence, someone else might view as completely degenerate. For Thorovský (2009: 86), one of the major criteria for identifying interference is that the translation sounds unnatural. This claim confirms the above argument that expressions or sentences which sound weird can serve as indicators of interference. This can be viewed as a theoretical issue for translation theory that we will not take up.

5. Intentionality The negative-positive dichotomy is to some extent connected with intentionality. Positive transfer does not create errors and is sometimes referred to as transference, while negative transfer is labelled interference (Richards, 1985: 160). Interference is frequently viewed as unintentional, unwanted, unconscious: a slip, an error, a mistake. “By ‘linguistic interference’ I mean an unintentional transfer of some elements of the SL to the TL.” (Thorovský 2009: 86) Crystal also views interference as error (2001: 165). Aixelá is even stronger in his evaluation: “Almost everybody seems to agree to a lesser or greater extent that normalization is a very good thing and interference is essentially evil.” (Aixelá 2009: 78) Well, not everybody. In “About Translation”, Newmark suggests that interference

32

Chapter Two

can have its virtues: “In translation, there are various degrees of interference, and its appropriateness depends partly on the type of text that is translated; in a literary work, both idiolectal and cultural interference often enriches the translation.” (Newmark 1991: 78) In other words, the interference may be intentional (or at least not unconscious) and even desirable in some cases, and it need not always be an error. Equating interference with an error partly stems from the position of language learning. As a phenomenon it can constitute a problem in translations, but at the same time its dangers should not be exaggerated. Even more importantly, excessive fear of interference can even be harmful, as it paralyzes the translator. Translators trying to avoid interference pay too much attention to it and, for example, in cases where it would be absolutely correct to preserve the form of a word from the ST in the TT (use the “good friend” or a formally corresponding word), may prefer to use another expression to avoid a potential mistake. Newmark points to this as “fear of literalness” (Newmark 1991). Kußmaul describes it in more detail in his hypothesis: “There is a long tradition in foreign language and also in translation teaching to warn students of false friends and ensuing interferences /…/ with the effect that students do not dare to look beyond the word-border. Such warnings should therefore always be counterbalanced by contextual considerations.” (Kußmaul 1995: 19) This is a broader issue, connected with the translator’s decision of how to translate a text, what method to use, what target audience to address, what goal the translation might have. For example, many translations aim to enrich the TL, to saturate, improve it with new foreign elements. The intentionality aspect does not make any difference for the recipient, reader or viewer, who usually has no clue as to the translator’s motivation. As regards the impact on the language in a broader perspective, it does not create any difference either: intentional and nonintentional interference tend to blend. Whatever the concrete judgement on a specific case, interference exists; it is rife (or omnipresent, to use a better term) and inevitable. This is well expressed by Gideon Toury: “Virtually no translation is completely devoid of formal equivalents, i.e. of manifestations of interlanguage.” (Toury 1979: 226) Gideon Toury defines his Interference Law: “Phenomena pertaining to the makeup of the source text tend to be transferred to the target text.” (Toury 1995: 275) “The extent to which interference is realized depends on the professional experience of the translator and the sociocultural conditions in which a translation is produced and consumed, so that experienced translators tend to be less affected by the make-up of the source-text, and tolerance towards

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

33

interference tends to increase when translation is carried out from a highly prestigious culture.” (Baker 2009: 307) When trying to enumerate the various types of interference, we should recognize that all levels of a language system can be affected via a language contact, translation or learning process. The causes and intentionality, however, might differ on different levels of the language. Thus, phonetic interference would generally be the result of unconscious pressure from another language (when using the mother tongue) or be largely the result of deficient knowledge or skill (when speaking a foreign language). Lexical and phraseological interference might often be a conscious decision, when there are missing elements in the language, gaps and lacunae (Schröder 1995) to be filled in. Semantic interference can be boosted by universality of thinking, metaphoric, polysemic processes on the semantic level. Cultural, textual and convention interference would be strongly affected by the prestige associated with the SL and culture. Thus, we could look at types of interference at many levels.

5.1. Orthographic and Phonetic Interference Orthographic interference is frequently unavoidable and natural and, when proper names are to be transferred, the prototype naturally conditions the reproduction. A more interesting case of interference can be observed in translations from an intermediate language, when the latter “distorts” the expected, normative reproduction rules if approximation to the original is the main rule. For example, in the case of Latvian, many English, French and other names were borrowed via German or Russian, which frequently left an impact: Dover tended became Duvra, and the English Channel is Lamanšs; many names had multiple Latvian forms depending on the intermediate language, e.g., Norþepinga, NorþƝpinga, NoršƝpinga (Swedish Norrköping). The German general Hoth was Gots for 50 years in Latvian because the limited historical sources were mostly Russian. It was only after the collapse of the USSR that Hots appeared. The following excerpts are from a Russian-Latvian translation where English and German proper names have been affected by Russian: .. un sudraba „Rollex”.. (V. Maƺceva. KGB smokingƗ. 4. grƗmata RƯga: Elpa, 2000: 45). (Should be Rolex);„Whait libel”(Ibid. 2. grƗmata.:46.) (Should be White Label); Tempelgolfas lidosta.. (Ibid. 63). (Should be Tempelhofa—(German Tempelhof); Karls Bjomers (Viktors Suvorovs Ledlauzis. RƯga: Dienas grƗmata. 2005: 236) (should be BƝmers— German Boemer).

34

Chapter Two

Phonological interference can be observed in the anglicized pronunciation of some abbreviations and initialisms in Latvian, the relatively longestablished exception BBC [bi-bi-si] is now frequently joined in by GPS [džƯ-pƯ-es], CV [sƯ-vƯ], MTV [em-tƯ-vƯ], NBA [en-bƯ-ei], PR [pƯ-Ɨr(s)], etc. Latvian norms would presume Latvian alphabetical pronunciation of these initialisms, but speech is often sprinkled with the anglicized pronunciation.

5.2. Morphological Interference Morphological interference can be seen in the change of morphemes under the influence of the SL. Present-day Latvian often exhibits the loss of syllables, midclippings in older loans, change of affixes. At first this was interference, but many have of late become the norm: katastrofƗls > katastrofisks (catastrophic), optimalizƝt > optimizƝt (optimize), komentƗrs > koments (comment), implantƗts > implants (implant): Augsto tehnoloƧiju mekƗ—SilƯcija ielejƗ—investƯcijas ik gadu meklƝ.. (Diena 06.06.2012); Mans vƯrs cƝla mƗjas Silikona ielejƗ AmerikƗ (Diena 30.04.2009); ..un iespƝjamo komplikƗciju analƯze darbƗ ar zobu implantƗtiem (Diena 12.05.2008); Francija, VƗcija un ýehija ir ieteikušas šos implantus izƼemt.. (Diena 26.01.2012)

ImplantƗts was last used in the leading Latvian newspaper Diena in 2008. It seems to have survived only in the Akadterm database, which is notorious for its conservatism. Morphological interference can be seen statistically in the different distributions of morphological patterns in translations from different languages. Thus, the adjective construction maz- plus participle of the type maziepriecinošs (ɦɚɥɨɩɪɢɹɬɧɵɣ) is relatively rare in Latvian and seems to have been imported mostly by way of translation from Russian (it does not violate Latvian norms). Translations from Russian usually have a triple rate of the normal frequency. Similarly the construction neplus genitive (nepiena, nevaldƯbas) seems to benefit from English pattern non- (non-milk, non-governmental). Again, translations from English, especially official texts, exhibit the construction ten times more than translations from German. German translations tend to have a higher rate of derivatives with caur- (durch-): caursist, cauršaut, caurskatƯt, cauršnjt. German translations into Latvian also tend to have more compounds (extremely common in German). English tends to enrich

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

35

Latvian with verbs derived from borrowed nouns (a widespread conversion in English): rezultƝt(ies) (to result), orgasmƝt (to orgasm), inovƝt (to innovate), bosƝt (to boss), defoltƝt (to default).

5.3. Lexical Interference Lexical interference may be the result of deliberate decision as well as carelessness. For a translator, not knowing or finding a corresponding equivalent, an occasional loan is the easy solution. Frequently there is no lexical equivalent in the TL. Cultural realia are frequently loaned in this form—the TL element may seem better, more appropriate, more precise, better sounding, more fashionable. This applies to all languages, so occasional loans are frequent: It’s late afternoon as Zhang Yuqing, 72, steps out his two-room hutong home near the Lama Temple and goes for a stroll, much as he has done at this time of day for the past 10 years. (Beijing Weekend, May 28, 2004) Hutong: an alley not accessible to buses or even large cars and lined with traditional Chinese courtyards, each being surrounded by mostly onestorey houses. Nyt maistuu parhaiten southwest- ja bbq-tyyppinen grillattu sapuska. (Dynamite 1/05: 15),

Gloss from Finnish: My favorite is now southwest- and bbq-type grilled food. MarinƗdei var mazliet pievienot BBQ mƝrci. (Diena 22.08.2008); Gloss from Latvian: Some BBQ sauce can be added to the marinade. PlašƗs Krievu galma viesnƯcas priekštelpƗs jeb, kƗ tƗs AmerikƗ mƝdz saukt, “lƗbijƗs”, ik dienas apgrozƯjƗs krietns skaits šƗdu politiƷu. (H. RudzƯtis. Manas dzƯves dƝkas. RƯga: ZinƗtne 1997:162).[1984] Gloss: In the reception areas or, as they are called in America, “lobbies” of the Russian court hotel, there would be a large number of such politicians.

This text is by a Latvian emigrant, who has transferred the American word by its pronunciation. The word exists in Latvian as lobijs (closer to the English spelling) and only in its transferred meaning. It is possible to forecast domains of strong SL interference in many languages, for example in most languages computer terminology is

36

Chapter Two

nowadays imported from English. Languages with underdeveloped terminology in some domains tend to import it, e.g. oenology, Eastern medicine, exotic and foreign foods in Latvian. Sieru nosaukumi taþu skan kƗ mnjzika: adigejietis, asjago, pesto bazirons, banons, zilais venslijdeils, bofors, brƯ, brinza, buko, burrata, bursƝns, gouda, holandietis, dažƗdie blnj, jeb ar zilo pelƝjumsƝnƯti „inficƝtie”, sƗkot ar gorgoncolu, beidzot ar saldiem knjstošajiem deserta zilajiem, grana padano, grijƝrs, dubultais glosters, derbijs, dorblnj, zaƺie sieri, imeretietis, pulkie kamambƝri, kašels, portugƗƺu delikatese—„aitnieks”, keižu-daserƗ, kontƝ, maskarpone, riekstƯgais Monterejas „džeks”, mocarella, gruzƯnu maigumiƼš nadugi, parmezƗns (ItƗlijas renesanses laikƗ 50 kilogramu smaga parmezƗna galva garantƝja labu zelta aizdevumu bankƗ!), pekorƯno, Pošehonas gardums, porainƗ provolone, rokfors, vijƯgƗ Pnjlijas skamorca, suluguni, feta, mƯkstais filadelfietis, þedars, þešƯrietis, edams, leƧendƗrie Šveices un šokolƗdes sieri, jokainais þeþils jeb siera matiƼi (Diena 7. 12. 2012).

Frequently, the authors or translators explain their decision to introduce a new or strange word, or provide a translation or explanation: Lietošu šo anglisko terminu taskšiftings, un jums nƗksies man piedot valodas kropƺojumus (NeatkarƯgƗ 4.11.2009); Gloss: I will use this English term taskshifting, and you will have to forgive my distorting the language TotƗls fail – izgƗšanƗs. (Dienas Izklaide, 16.08.2012); Gloss: Total fail – flop.

Sometimes “approved” TL equivalents are cumbersome, long or difficult to pronounce and people prefer to use a loan, e.g., ielogoties :: ieiet sistƝmƗ, izmantojot paroli (to log in); harvesters :: koku gƗšanas, atzarošanas un sagarumošanas mašƯna (harvester), peintbols :: krƗslodƯšu šaušanas sacensƯba (paintball). Ielogojos draugiem.lv, atveru vƝstuli no kƗda nepazƯstama cilvƝka. (Diena 19.9.2008);..no kuriem trƯs ir apaƺkoksnes pievedƝjtraktori un viens— harvesters, (Diena 12.4.2010); ..atpnjtai draugu vidnj tomƝr ieteicamƗks ir izklaides peintbols. (Diena 28.5.2004).

Often, however, lexical interference is motivated by vague motives or simple transfer: TƗs „snjdu bedres” baigi prevalƝ. ( Sestdiena. 22.06, 2012); Gabals, kas „esot jƗredz” politiski advansƝtiem cilvƝkiem. (Dienas Izklaide.

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

37

26.01.2012); Ja tu man saki, ka tƗ ir þernuha, tad es saku—labƗk þernuha nekƗ seruha. (RƯgas ViƺƼi. 10.03. 2012).

Interference often comes in variants of the same lexeme before the loan stabilizes. This occasionally occurs even within one text: GatavošanƗ tažinƗ. AgrƗk to gatavojƗm mƗla podƗ jeb cnjciƼƗ, bet šajƗ rudenƯ—tažƯnƗ, ko uzdƗvinƗja draugi. MƗla pods iepriekš jƗmƝrcƝ njdenƯ un jƗliek cepeškrƗsnƯ, turpretƯ tadžinu var nemƝrkt un likt uz plƯts. (100 labi padomi. 11. 2012: 14).

Frequently, after acceptance, the words undergo full assimilation, developing paradigms, being supplied with derivations etc.: þekot, izþekot, noþekot, paþekot, ieþekoties, tusiƼš, ietusƝt, patusƝt, iztusƝties, tusƝtƗjs: „Ieþekoties” varƝs paši (Diena 19.3.2008);Taþu StokholmƗ Kristapam neƺƗva ieþekoties lidojumam (Diena 29.9.2009).

Lexical interference and borrowing can in the long run occasionally lead to the replacement of the old word or term (usually a loan from another language) by the new one from the dominant contact language. Such permanent loan substitution can be noted in Latvian: prevencija (prevention) has virtually ousted profilakse, urinƗls (urinal) substituted pisuƗrs; animƗcijas (animation) ousted multiplikƗcijas; enzƯms (enzyme) has been substituted by ferments, revƯzija by audits (audit), kadri by personƗls (personnel)—kadrus, limiti by kvotas (quotas). TemperatnjrƗ, kas augstƗka par 40 grƗdiem, iet bojƗ liela daƺa produkta vitamƯnu, pilnƯbƗ tiek zaudƝti enzƯmi jeb fermenti, kas piedalƗs visos ƷƯmiskajos procesos organismƗ. (Diena 27.9.2009).

Finally, lexical interference is a single, nonce occurrence, in numerous cases, frequently the result of bad translation strategies, e.g., in the following case either italics or capitals should have been used to point at the proper name “Gutenberg Square” because of the different meanings of English and French place: On place Gutenberg, just a stone’s throw from the cathedral… (Le Mag Strasbourg Alsace 5.2012:16).

Interference also affects terminology, especially in those cases where the official terminology creators are tardy in their efforts, or their coinages

38

Chapter Two

are unknown or clumsy or too scholarly. In these cases translators frequently coin new loans or semantic loans. The latter is especially true for evocative culturally embedded neologisms (Temmerman 2011).

5.4. Semantic Interference Semantic interference “is caused by an overlap of meanings between the source lexical unit and the target lexical units, which are only partial equivalents.” (Thorovský 2009: 86) Again it may be a deliberate choice of the translator to import the new meaning. It is, however, frequently an unconscious act: the translator relying on the first meaning from a dictionary or his current knowledge, and failing to consider the whole context in which a word appears. One way or another, this is how TL words acquire new meanings contextually—often they are established and borrowed. Semantic interference can take a variety of forms, the simplest being importation of a new meaning, but there is frequently an extension or narrowing of meaning, or connotative change. Full substitution of meaning (usually later when adopting the meaning) is rare, but frequent in translations into a non-native TL (learner’s interference). False friends, so often viewed as equivalent to interference, in fact constitute a small share of meaning shifts. It is interesting to note that linguistic studies provide an abundance of dictionaries of false friends in various language combinations (Veisbergs 1996), while there are few studies of false idioms, or false morphology (Swan 2001). Semantic interference is very frequent in translations as it is convenient to use the existing form; the usual logical polysemic link also makes perception of the meaning easier. Semantic loans trend to be shorter than descriptive technically precise terms, e.g., Latvian naudas atmazgƗšana (money laundering): noziedzƯgi iegnjtu lƯdzekƺu legalizƝšana (legalization of criminally gained proceeds). Similar interference and borrowing can be seen in other languages: Lithuanian pinigǐu plovimas, Estonian rahapesu, French blanchiment d'argent, German Geldwäsche, Geldwäscherei, Spanish lavado de dinero. Semantic loans tend to integrate into colloquial language and slang fast (which testifies to the natural tendencies of language development). For example, Latvian loans from Russian: uzmest (throw up = deceive), jumts (roof = protection), uzbraukt (drive on = attack), kƗposts (cabbage = money), bremzƝts (braked = stupid), uzvƗrƯties (boil = get rich). Again, domains in need of new concepts abound in semantic loans which usually integrate in the TL as the sole terms, especially if there are also semantic

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

39

shifts in the SL, like computer technology in English: mouse—Latvian pele, Lithuanian pelơ, Estonian hiir; Latvian e-pasts, Lithuanian epaštas, Estonian e-mail, elektronkiri. Or the modern term to burn out— Latvian izdegt, pƗrdegt, Lithuanian perdegti, Estonian läbi põlema. Latvian computer terminology abounds in semantic loans as a result of English interference: vƯruss (virus), tƗrps (worm), ugunsmnjris (firewall), tablete (tablet), mƗkonis (cloud), aplikƗcija (application): PƗrsteidzoši, bet ir ƺoti daudz vietu, kur pnjderis ir fantastisks ... [powder snow] (Klubs 9.2004: 33); Security sniedz „tablešu” Ưpašniekiem maksimƗlu drošƯbu (Diena 14.2.2012); … tu neesi ar mieru par to savu „tableti” maksƗt simtus (Diena 30.7.2012); AtslƝgas vƗrds, kura dƝƺ es lielƗ mƝrƗ sƗku strƗdƗt Panda, ir mƗkoƼošana—caur tƯklu pieejami resursi un pakalpojumi, to skaitƗ informƗcijas drošƯbƗ. (Diena. 18.01.2011.)

Meaning extensions as a result of interference are occasionally unclear (though generally easy to guess). Extensions tend to occur frequently in translations when translators use the first dictionary equivalent. This tendency, boosted by machine translation and the use of other electronic tools, has been aptly designated as semantic hypertrophy of the basic equivalent (Baldunþiks 2010: 69), for example: produkts (product), pieredze (experience), svinƝt (celebrate), administrƝt (to administrate), attƯstƯba (development), izaicinƗjums (challenge). Thus, produkts (product) in Latvian used to mean food produce or fabricated items in the past. Today the senses are totally diffuse and can comprise goods, merchandise, substances, live beings, remains, offers, results, experience, thoughts, consequences: VeikaliƼš ir slavens ar baseiniƼu, kurƗ peld dzƯvi produkti. (Diena 9.4.2005) Gloss: The little shop is famous for its small pool, in which live products swim. .. neesmu tik iedomƯgs, lai uzskatƯtu, ka ar saviem dzƯves produktiem spƝju bagƗtinƗt lielƗku kopumu. (Diena 30.9.2011) Gloss: I am not so vain as to think that I can enrich a larger community with my life products.

Semantic interference also includes false friends. Their number is unstable (Veisbergs, 1994), changes of the dominating language can change the standard meanings: old false friends can become real equivalents, as seen above. However, there are many false friends in translations:

40

Chapter Two ViƼiem bija jƗnokƗrto veci rƝƷini: konkurence par Krievijas nacionƗlo gaisa lƯniju Aeroflot (Goldfarbs Alekss. Disidenta nƗve. RƯga: Diena, 2007: 141). Correct: cƯƼa, cƯniƼš, sacensƯba. Uz Zakajevu acumirklƯ atstƗja iespaidu tas, ka Boriss un Ribkins uzvedas, it kƗ viƼiem tiešƗm bnjtu autoritƗte (Ibid. 106). Correct: vara, pilnvaras, teikšana. .. veidoja savienƯbu ar Anatoliju ýubaisu, Kremƺa administrƗcijas vadƯtƗju, kas tagad efektƯvi vadƯja prezidentnjru (Ibid. 102). Correct: bnjtƯbƗ, patiesƯbƗ, reƗli. Sagatavots vai ne, bet 23. decembrƯ 6:30 no rƯta pƝc desmit minnjšu ilgas, patƝtiskas artilƝrijas uguns uzbrukums sƗkƗs (Troters Viljams. Ziemas karš. RƯga: AtƝna, 2005: 104). Correct: nožƝlojamas, vƗrgas. Riti vƝlreiz mƝƧinƗja pierunƗt Molotovu uz kƗdƗm koncesijƗm, lai cik mazƗm ... (Ibid. 266). Correct: piekƗpšanos, piekƗpties.

As mentioned above, regular interference can remove words from the list of false friends and even lead to full meaning substitution (the original meaning disappears, and the new meaning takes its place). In Latvian this has occurred with drastisks (formerly playful, today radical), kritisks (formerly criticizing, today important), dramatisks (formerly connected with theatre, today sudden), klasificƝts (formerly sorted, today secret). ..lai kƗpums nebnjtu tik drastisks (Diena, 10.12.2007);Uz jautƗjumu, vai tad drošƯbas nauda uzskatƗma par bargu sodu, advokƗts izsaucƗs, ka tas ir drastisks. (NRA 12.8.2010); Darba režƯms—visai drastisks (Diena, 1.3.2011); mazinƗt mƗtes vƝlmi izšƷirties par tik drastisku soli, kƗ sava jaundzimušƗ mazuƺa pamešana (Diena 26.11.2012); Tie ierobežojumi, cik noprotams, ir tik drastiski, ka tas var arƯ nenotikt. (Diena 14.5.2012).

Connotations can change naturally or under the pressure of some official decisions; thus, þigƗns (gypsy), a long-standing Latvian word, is being replaced by the politically correct and confusing Roms (Roma), and þigƗns may be developing a negative connotation (which it has never yet had). Similarly, the Soviets imposed ebrejs (Hebrew) instead of žƯds (Jew) in Latvian because the Russian equivalent had a negative connotation. English military, which is neutral, has deprived Latvian militƗrists of its former negative connotation through regular translation: 22 gadus jauns students, militƗrists, kura hobijs ir sports un dejošana (Diena 25.8.2009); Bija ieradies Hamlets, kura tƝvs bijis militƗrists, un vƗra lielus snjdus (Diena 3.4.2008); ...bijis arƯ personƗlais militƗrists JƗnis Loþmelis (Diena 23.8.2011).

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

41

Semantic interference can be caused by institutionalized decisions, like EU defining marmalade as jelly of citrus origin only, while in Latvian (as in many other languages (Lithuanian, Estonian, German) the word refers to any jam-like substance. Thus, the word has, to some extent, in some contexts, undergone a narrowing of meaning.

5.5. Idiomatic, Phrasal Interference Idiomatic interference includes the deliberate use of an ST idiom, usually a loan translation which is frequently used in translation. It may also occur in incorrect translations of idioms which the translator or speaker either does not recognize or misinterprets (the SL and TL idioms may be formal equivalents but not real semantic equivalents, i.e., these are idiom false friends (Ettinger 1994; Szpila 2000; Piirainen 2004a,b; Vrbinc 2010)), e.g., English to lead sb. by the nose (to control), Latvian vazƗt kƗdu aiz deguna (to cheat). This interference usually takes the form of direct translation of idioms and, sometimes, collocations. Even though this group partially overlaps with syntactic interference, the interference occurs on the semantic level. For example, the English phrase “my home is my castle”: ...par teiciena „mans nams ir mans cietoksnis” britu izcelsmi. (Maƺceva 3.269)

The correct (or perhaps better, the established) Latvian phrase is „mans nams ir mana pils” (though historically „cietoksnis” appears occasionally). Pils in Latvian has the meaning of both “castle” and “palace”, so it can emphasize the security of the first and the size and grandeur of the second. The traditional Russian phrase contains the “fortress” word, which has been transferred into Latvian. Most phraseological interference, however, is deliberate, in order to retain original SL metaphors, style, peculiarities, and often also because there is no equivalent or analogue and the phrase is comprehensible. Frequently authors comment on the phrase or its meaning, refer to the original language: KƗ krievi mƝdz teikt, sauc mani kaut par katliƼu, tikai krƗsnƯ nebƗz (NeatkarƯgƗ 31.1.2012); Gloss from Latvian: As the Russians say, you can call me a kettle, just don’t put me on the stove.

42

Chapter Two Jo citas iespƝjas jau nemaz nav, jo kƗ saka angƺi, puišiem pirksti ir sabƗzti visƗs iespƝjamƗs knjkƗs (Diena 8.12.2010). Gloss from Latvian: There is no alternative since, as the English say, the guys have stuck their fingers into all possible cakes. (to have a finger in the pie).

The huge effect of phraseological interference can be seen in the enormous phraseological internationalism corpus in European languages: idioms of biblical stock, phrases of Latin and Greek origin or in the fact that half of the Latvian phraseological stock has been borrowed (Veisbergs 2012: 50). Many English phrases have been fully borrowed in the last decades skelets skapƯ (a skeleton in the cupboard), bumba ir laukuma otrƗ pusƝ (the ball is in somebody’s court), stikla griesti (glass ceiling), while others are still to be viewed as cases of interference guƺošais policists (sleeping policeman), iešaut sev kƗjƗ (to shoot yourself in the foot), justies ne savƗs þƯbƗs ((feel) in somebody’s shoes), biznesa eƼƧeƺi (business angel), nƗkt ƗrƗ (to come out). Translators should, however, consider whether the idiom is really comprehensible, since unmotivated, illogical idioms can be confusing: ManuprƗt, viƼa izskatƯjƗs lƯdzƯga Hitleram, tƗds pats jƗtnieka deguns (Mišs Rohuss. Hitlera telefonists, kurjers un miesassargs. RƯga: Jumava, 2011: 65). rider’s nose. A more appropriate translation would be: aristocratic or aquiline nose. Ironija ir tƗda, ka, tiklƯdz poloniju noteica, tas kƺuva par knjpošu stobru (Goldfarbs Alekss. Disidenta nƗve. RƯga: Diena, 2007: 322). Smoking gun. An appropriate translation would be evidence. TƗs taþu katru dienu ir vienas un tƗs pašas „spinƗtu paipalas”, kas sƝž man pretƯ (Mišs Rohuss. Hitlera telefonists, kurjers un miesassargs. RƯga: Jumava, 2011: 72). Spinach quail from German Spinatwachtel: a more appropriate translation would be these old women.

Aside from idioms proper, interference can also affect structures and compositions of stable phrases: Aiz ko tad tƗ (Maƺceva 3: 248). (from Russian ɋ ɱɟɝɨ ɠɟ ɬɚɤ?) PƝc sadzƯves tehnikas pƝdƝjƗ vƗrda iekƗrtotajƗ zviedru virtuvƝ (Maƺceva 3: 234). (from Russian ɉɨ ɩɨɫɥɟɞɧɟɦɭ ɫɥɨɜɭ ɬɟɯɧɢɤɢ).

SL structures may also affect the TL statistically. Thus, because Chinese does not employ phrasal and postpositional verbs, English texts translated from Chinese tend to have fewer of them, and seem stilted, cold and official as a result. Similarly, Chinese modals do not convey a wide

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

43

range of meaning shades and again Chinese use of English tends to be more peremptory and categorical.

5.6. Syntactic Interference Simple grammatical interference should definitely not appear in professional translations, as it indicates poor target-text quality. Compared to other forms, grammatical interference mostly does not cause misunderstanding of the original meaning, but it frequently reveals that the text is a translation. Irregularities can often be easily spotted as strange, foreign-sounding, clumsy constructions: Ja Gorbaþovs—vai augusta sazvƝrnieki—izvƝlƝtos izmantot armiju, lai sagrautu visu opozƯciju, tas nekƗdƗ ziƼƗ nav droši, ka viƼi bnjtu cietuši neveiksmi. (Tonijs Džads. PƝc kara. RƯga: Dienas grƗmata 2007. 730) Copying English it is by no means sure that; ŠajƗ mirklƯ trƯs padomju tanki tika atklƗti tuvojamies pa ceƺu, kas veda no viesnƯcas… (Viljams Troters Ziemas karš. RƯga: AtƝna 2005: 129) Copying English were found approaching.

A more sophisticated statistical analysis, however, shows more covert and profound aspects of the problem, e.g. a different frequency of syntactic patterns in the language pair. This is a case of not violating the TL’s standard syntactical norms, but its frequency norms. Thus, English or Latvian translations of German texts tend to have longer sentences, which may cause the text to seem too complicated or difficult to follow. The rigid English word order can be reproduced in Latvian without breaking the syntactic norm, but in larger quantities it would make the text “somewhat too declarative”. Estonian texts in English are sometimes characterized as “boring”, even though they contain no overt mistakes. Too many sentences begin with “there is”. Corpus study shows that the sentences are too long and, while English tends to start with the subject, in Estonian the subject frequently comes after an introductory phrase which makes the text less dynamic.

5.7. Cultural Interference This occurs in cases where the translator has been unable to deal with a cultural difference between the SL culture and the TL culture (Koenig 1985). It is usually lexical, phraseological or semantic in form. It often involves the names of local institutions, historical personal names, period terms, historical events, customs, works of art, street names that are

44

Chapter Two

unfamiliar in the target culture and language. For example, HelovƯns (Halloween) was an unknown phenomenon and word in this part of the world a few decades ago, so its occurrence could be viewed as interference; later it became a loanword and today it has been imported as a phenomenon and activity, with many people oblivious of its origins. Cultural interference may involve expanding the reader’s knowledge of various alien customs or activities, or leaving the reader somewhat perplexed, e.g. airing cupboards are not familiar to Germans, Latvians or Russians. Picking mushrooms is popular in some countries and unknown or selective in others. Grass/thatch burning, birch sapping/drilling may need explanation, as a casual reference can be puzzling. In addition, the rules and conventions of using plural or singular second person pronouns (German Sie, Du, Latvian jnjs, tu, etc.) for politeness or intimacy are intricate and a problem for languages where the dichotomy does not exist. It is also a translation problem from mono-pronoun languages: when do you change it in the target language? Similarly, the asymmetric systems of titles (Ms, Miss, Mrs) involve crossing cultural borders. Cultural aspects frequently enmesh with idiomatic (e.g., carry coals to Newcastle) and lexico-semantic issues (e.g. the meaning of public school). Cultural non-equivalence can be bypassed by substitution (e.g. translating the biblical lamb or bread as fish or bananas, which are more familiar locally). Metalinguistic comment can be applied, but most frequently the new concepts are introduced without it, which means interference. Besides, cultural transfer is relative and limited, as cultures are related to space, location and time and equivalents, even if correct, are not always a perfect match: the Finnish sauna is not quite the same as the Latvian sauna. Krusta karš (crusade) has different association for an American and Latvian. Ɉɤɧɨ ɜ ȿɜɪɨɩɭ, logs uz Eiropu (a window onto Europe) have different associations for a Russian and a Latvian. Consequently cultural interference may expand the originally (ideologically and semantically) narrower sense of the notion.

5.8. Textual, Pragmatic, Discourse Conventions Interference This implies bringing new conventions, text type peculiarities and word-formation patterns into the TL. For example, the 90s saw a new style of CV in Latvia: formalized, less like a story (as it used to be), more like an enumeration of the person’s activities and achievements. The old Soviet style with its strict conventions and mandatory Russian-origin clichés, e.g. morƗli noturƯgs un politiski izglƯtots (ɦɨɪɚɥɶɧɨ ɭɫɬɨɣɱɢɜɵɣ ɢ ɩɨɥɢɬɢɱɟɫɤɢ ɝɪɚɦɨɬɧɵɣ [moralno ustoiþivij i politiþeski gramotnij])

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

45

(morally stable, politically educated), rapidly changed into the “European/American” style CV with its new structural and grouping conventions. Similarly, cooking recipes, which used to be native-written in Latvian or translated from Russian, changed under the new conventions and imported samples from the West, accompanied with colorful pictures, etc. And their phrasing and grammatical tenses changed, too. This was not the first change as the early conventions were imported from German. The same could be said of tourist guidebooks and other texts (Zauberga 2003). On a broader scale, literary genres have been borrowed by nations (Greek, Roman, French, Italian) all over the world. The haiku style of writing spread from Japan. Hotel texts in English in general often tend to preserve local discourse norms and are frequently quoted for amusement. Translations from Spanish often break English sentence length norms, structure norms, tend to overuse highly literary words and sound bombastic. While tourist-oriented Estonian or Finnish texts tend to be subdued, factual and too laconic. Discourse interference can be seen also in a change of frequency of linguistic structures or patterns: long hyphenated Latvian compounds appeared in the 90s under the influence of English (not so much in translations). So did the short hyphenated abbreviations—airBaltic, AkadTerm, LiePA—is an import. So are the highly frequent contextual transformations of idioms and one-off compounding which were rare in the past (Veisbergs 2009).

6. Frequencies The frequency of interference types depends on (apart from such aspects as the translator’s competence) text type, contents, the development of the respective languages and many other factors. The studies are difficult to collate, as they treat the concept of interference in different ways, the language pairs involved are different and the subjects are different. Brenda Malkiel (2006: 338), using Translog (keystroke logging recorder system) to analyze the data collected, concluded that the two main forms of interference concern failure to lexicalize and false cognates. However, Malkiel deals with interference only on the level of words. It seems that general statistical data will always be random, subjective and inconclusive.

46

Chapter Two

7. Norms Interference is closely connected with the concept of norm. It is deviation from the norm that makes people suspicious, and causes interference to be associated with an error. Norms generally reflect a broad notion of correctness that most carriers of a language agree on. Norms are also codified and sometimes the reality of language use differs from the codified (authorized) norms. Norms could be said to occupy a position between laws and conventions (Chesterman 1997: 55). Conventions are less imperative, based more on precedents, habits, and expectations. Norms contribute to stability, reduce unpredictability and exercise a certain degree of control. They impose pressure on translators and constraints on the way the language is used. In many cases (such as grammar), norms are explicit and broadly imperative. Some norms are imperative, e.g. English word order, agreement, Latvian endings, etc. As language is in a constant state of flux, language change leads to a subsequent norm change, but norms are generally retrograde. The basic language norm is the communication norm, which ensures that others understand what is meant (perceive and interpret). Norms can be broken, but generally people would like to know why. Interference is the conduit of change and, when it reaches a certain degree of frequency or saturation, the norms will change. Apart from imperative norms, there are approximate, statistical norms. For example, an average English sentence consists of 25 words in official documents, 13 words in detective stories, etc. Nouns constitute about 25% of all words, relative clauses about 25% in science texts and 10% in popular texts, the definite article accounts for 7% of all words (Chesterman 1997: 83). Statistical norms are often violated in translations. Readers comment that the text sounds somewhat unconventional, but frequently cannot pinpoint the problem; often the conclusion is simply that the text sounds like a translation. This comes close to the breaking of expectancy norms. It is not always a disaster since, as Toury has pointed out, interference from the parent text is what we expect to find in translations (Toury 1995: 275). Strangeness is not an evil per se. And not only in translations: advertisers suggest that strange things in texts are attractive, and they should know. Often strangeness is deliberate, and in translations it is often the result of interference. Schleiermacher suggested as early as 1838 that the translator could choose between a domesticating and foreignizing method. The latter registers “the linguistic and cultural differences of the foreign text, sending the reader abroad” (Venuti 1997: 20). Many cultures

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

47

lean towards one of these; others have periods of dominance of one method, and then go for another. There are numerous exceptions when texts or literary works are translated using the method that is not dominant at the time. Translations from a marginal culture into a highly prestigious one generally tend to be domesticated and vice versa. There seems to be a correlation with interference: tolerance towards interference tends to increase when translation is carried out from a major or highly prestigious language or culture (Toury 1995: 278). Generally speaking, it is likely that readers will accept more foreign language elements in translations from a highly prestigious culture than from a marginal one. Interference seems to be one of the few universals in translation domain, suggesting that within the framework of agency and causality (Koskinen 2010) there are some universal laws. In the globalized world, interference has a broad and pervasive impact, triggering noticeable changes in conventions and norms amazing in speed and scope. We can speak of higher or lower levels of hybridity depending on the degree of foreign element concentration, but translation certainly destabilizes cultural identities and makes it difficult to draw the line between national and international and, similarly, between translation and non-translation (Veisbergs 2011).

8. Conclusions Interference has always been present in translations, it is there and it always will be there. Interference is inevitable and universal, it is the first step towards borrowing and language shifts. Conscious and unconscious interference merge in the end. It is not as dangerous or harmful as some suggest. Even false friends are not such a huge problem in most cases. Translators (and maybe everyone) should be aware of it, trying to note the unconscious slips and evaluate deliberate interference. In any specific case, interference can be strange, unpleasant, confusing, necessary, educative or interesting. But in a broader sense it is one of the causes and the main conduit of language development.

References Aixelá, Javier Franco. 2009. “An Overview of Interference in Scientific and Technical Translation.” JoSTrans 11: 75-87. Baker, Mona. 1993. “Corpus Linguistics and Translation Studies. Implications and Applications.” In Text and Technology: In Honour of John Sinclair, edited by Mona Baker, Gill Farncis, and Elena Tognini-

48

Chapter Two

Bonelli, 233–250. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. —. 1999. “The Role of Corpus in Investigating the Linguistic Behavior of Professional Translators.” International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 4 (2): 281–298. Baker, Mona, and Gabriela Saldanha. 2009. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. Abingdon: Routledge. Balaskó, Maria. 2008. “What Does the Figure Show? Patterns of Translationese in a Hungarian Comparable Corpus.” Trans-kom 1 (1): 58-73. Accessed April 19, 2014. http://www.trans-kom.eu Baldunþiks, Juris. 1999. SvešvƗrdu vƗrdnƯca. RƯga: Jumava. Blum-Kulka, Shoshana. 1986. “Shifts in Cohesion and Coherence in Translation.” In Interlingual and Intercultural Communication: Discourse and Cognition in Translation and Second Language Acquisition Studies, edited by Juliane House and Shoshana BlumKulka, 17–35. Tübingen: Guenter Narr. Bußmann, Hadumod. 2006. Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. London, New York: Routledge. Chesterman, Andrew. 1997. Memes of Translation. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. —. 1999. “Translation Typology.” In The Second Riga Symposium on Pragmatic Aspects of Translation, edited by Andrejs Veisbergs, and Ieva Zauberga, 49–63. Riga: University of Latvia. Crystal, David. 2001. A Dictionary of Language. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Duff, Alan. 1981. The Third Language: Recurrent Problems of Translation into English. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Eskola, Sari. 2004. “Untypical Frequencies in Translated Language. A Corpus-based Study on a Literary Corpus of Translated and Nontranslated Finnish.” In Translation Universals. Do they exist?, edited by Anna Mauranen, and Pekka Kujamäki, 83–99. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Ettinger, Stefan. 1994. “Phraseologische faux amis des Sprachenpaares Französisch-Deutsch.” In EUROPHRAS 92: Tendenzen der Phraseologieforschung, edited by Barbara Sandig, 109–136. Bochum: Brockmeyer. Frawley, William. 1984. “Prolegomenon to a Theory of Translation.” In Translation: Literary, Linguistic, and Philosophical Perspectives, edited by William Frawley, 159–175. London, Toronto: Associated University Presses.

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

49

Gellerstam, Martin. 1986. “Translationese in Swedish Novels Translated from English.” In Translation Studies in Scandinavia, edited by Lars Wollin, and Hans Lindquist, 88–95. Lund: CWK Gleerup. Proceedings from the Scandinavian Symposium on Translation Theory (SSOT). (Lund Studies in English 15.) Gile, Daniel. 1995. Basic Concepts and Models or Interpreter and Translator Training. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Heltai, Pal. 2005. “Explicitation, Redundancy, Ellipsis and Translation.” In New Trends in Translation Studies. In Honour of Kinga Klaudy, edited by Krisztina Károly, 45–74. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. Hirsch, Galia. 2011. “Explicitations and Other Types of Shift in the Translation of Irony and Humor.” Target 23 (3): 178-205. House, Juliane. 1977. A Model for Translation Quality Assessment. Tübingen: Narr. Klaudy, Kinga. 2003. Languages in Translation. Lectures on the Theory, Teaching and Practice of Translation. Budapest: Scholastica. Koenig, Fritz. 1985. “Translation and Cultural Interference.” Anuario de estudios filologicos 8: 157–165. Koskinen, Kaisa. 2010. “Agency and Causality: Towards Explaining by Mechanisms in Translation Studies.” In Translators’ Agency, edited by Tuija Kinnunen, and Kaisa Koskinen, 165–187. Tampere: Tampere University Press. Kußmaul, Paul. 1995. Training the Translator. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Laviosa, Sara. 1997. “How Comparable Can ‘Comparable Corpora’ Be?” Target 9 (2): 289–319 pp. Lefevere, André. 1992. Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of the Literary Fame. London: Routledge. Malkiel, Brenda. 2006. “The Effect of Translator Training on Interference and Difficulty.” Target 18 (2): 337–366. Mounin, Georges. 1963. Les problèmes théoriques de la Traduction. Paris: Gallimard. Newmark, Peter. 1988. A Textbook of Translation. London: Prentice Hall Europe. —. 1991. About Translation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Papp, Ferenc. 1984. “The Russian of Hungarian People Whose Russian Is First-Rate.” In Contrastive Studies Hungarian-Russian, edited by Ferenc Papp, 139–154. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. Piirainen, Elisabeth. 2004. “Falsche Freunde in der Phraseologie des Slowakischen und anderer Sprachen.” In Deutsche Sprache in der

50

Chapter Two

Slowakei II. Geschichte, Gegenwart und Didaktik, edited by Ilpo T. Piirainen, and Jörg Meier, 151–162. Wien: Edition Praesens. —. 2004. “False Friends in Conventional Figurative Units.” In Phraseologie als Gegenstand sprach- und kulturwissenschaftlicher Forschung, edited by Csaba Földes, and Jan Wirrer, 311–321. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider Verlag. Pym, Anthony. “Explaining Explicitation.” In New Trends in Translation Studies. In Honour of Kinga Klaudy, edited by Krisztina Károly, 29– 43. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. Richard, Jack, John Platt, and Heidi Weber. 1985. Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. London: Longman. Rodríguez, Medina, M. 2002. “Observaciones a propósito de la traducción como vía de entrada de anglicismos al español.” Sendebar 13: 73-80. Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 1838. “Über die verschiedenen Methoden des Uebersetzens” In Abteilung III: Zur Philosophie, Zweiter Band, edited by Friedrich Schleiermacher, 207–245. Berlin: Reimer. Schröder, Hartmut. 1995. ““Lacunae” and the Covert Problems of Understanding Texts from Foreign Cultures.” In Lacunaology. Studies in Intercultural Communication, edited by Hartmut Schröder, and Brett Dellinger, 10–25. Vaasa: Vaasan yliopisto. Selinker, Larry. 1972. “Interlanguage.” IRAL 10 (3): 209–231. Shuttleworth, Mark, and Moira Cowie. 1997. Dictionary of Translation Studies. Manchester: St.Jerome Publishing. Sinclair, John M. 1984. “Naturalness in Language.” In Corpus Linguistics: Recent Developments in the Use of Computer Corpora in English Language Research, edited by Jan Aarts, and Willem Meijs, 203–210. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Swan, Michael, and Bernard Smith. 2001. Learner English: A Teacher’s Guide to Interference and Other Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Szpila, Grzegorz. 2000. “False Friends in Phraseology: An English-Polish Contrastive Study.” In Tradition and Postmodernity. English and American Studies and the Challenge of the Future, edited by ElĪbieta MaĔczak-Wohlfeld, 77–82. Kraków: Jagiellonian University Press. Temmerman, Rita. 2011. “Stars, Problem Children, Dogs and Cash Cows: Evocative Terminology in Multilingual Business Communication.” SYNAPS 26: 48–61. Thorovský, Martin. 2009. “Lexical Linguistic Interference in Translations of Science-Fiction Literature from English into Czech.” Ostrava Journal of English Philology 1: 86–98.

Translationese, Translatorese, Interference

51

Toury, Gideon. 1979. “Interlanguage and Its Manifestations in Translation.” Meta 24 (2): 223-231. —. 1980. In Search of a Theory of Translation. Tel Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics. —. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Trosborg, Anna. 2000. “Translating Hybrid Political Texts.” In Analysing Professional Genres, edited by Anna Trosborg, 145–158. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Veisbergs, Andrejs. 1994. Latvian–English, English–Latvian Dictionary of False Friends. RƯga: SI. —. 1996. “False Friends Dictionaries: A Tool for Translators or Learners or Both.” In EURALEX ’96 Proceedings, edited by Martin Gellerstam, Jerker Järborg, Sven-Göran Malmgren, Kerstin Norén, Lena Rogström, and Catarina Röjder Papmehl, 627–634. Gothenberg: Gothenberg University. —. 2009. “Translation Language: The Major Force in Shaping Modern Latvian.” Vertimo Studijos 2: 54–70. Vilnius: Universito Leiydykla. —. 2011. “Latvian Language Policy, Translation, Impact on the Language Development.” In Language Policy in the Practice of Translating, edited by Stephen Kessler, and Marko Pantermöller, 65–82. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. —. 2012. Phraseological Borrowing. Berlin: Logos. Venuti, Lawrence. 1997. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. New York: Routledge. Vinay, Jean Paul, and Jean Darbelnet. 1958. Stylistique Comparée du français et de l'anglais. Paris: Didier-Harrap. Vrbinc, Marjeta. 2010. “Phraseological False Friends in English and Slovene and the Metaphors behind them.” In EURALEX Proceedings 2010, edited by Anne Dykstra, and Tanneke Schoonheim, 1242–1250. Afuk: Fryske Akademy. Weinreich, Uriel. 1953. “Languages in Contact. Findings and Problems.” Publications of the Linguistic Circle of New York 1: 148. Zauberga, Ieva. 2003. Tulkojumu veicinƗtƗs žanrisko un stilistisko stereotipu pƗrmaiƼas latviešu valodƗ. Linguistica Lettica 11: 167–183.

CHAPTER THREE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSLATION STUDIES IN LATVIA: THE LAST TWO DECADES JƖNIS SƮLIS VENTSPILS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LATVIA

Abstract The development of theoretical and applied translation studies in Latvia in the 21st century can be viewed as a genuine upswing of quantity and quality of translatology-related research publications. The author of the article has had a unique opportunity to be both an observer of and a participant in the development process of Translation Studies in Latvia as an academic staff member reading the study courses Introduction into Translation, Translation Theory, Research Methods of Translation Studies, as well as Theory and Practice of Translation Studies in Latvia, and developing Translation Study programs, a supervisor of a number of Bachelor, Master and Doctoral level research papers, an author of publications and monographs concerning the issues of Translation Studies, as well as a practising translator and interpreter. Although the views expressed by the author are based solely upon the previously mentioned experience and preliminary assessment of the contribution of some 50–55 authors to the domain of translatology in Latvia comprising around 250–280 publications (research articles, textbooks and monographs), this volume of data can serve as an introductory illustration of the translation theory problems and applied aspects of translation practice in this country. The brief survey conducted by the author during several previous years shows that starting with 1991 information on the contemporary West European, American and Asian schools of translation theory has become widely available to Latvian translatologists and, added to the publications

54

Chapter Three

of the Soviet and later of Russian translation theorists, this combined knowledge generated a stimulus for much more intensive research activities in the field of Translation Studies. Since 1991 research in Latvia has continued in several directions, starting with a large quantity of publications in the field of intercultural (cross-cultural) issues, translation and terminology, translation norms and standards of Latvian as a target language, etc. and ending with, for example, ethics and aesthetics of translation and interpreting. The article is an attempt to provide a subjective insight into the last twenty years of translation studies in Latvia, but the long-term goal of the author is to describe and typologically categorize all available translatological publications by Latvian researchers, as well as show their place in the global development of research in this discipline. Keywords: Cross-cultural/intercultural aspects, historiography, source and target language, theoretical and applied translation studies, translatability, translation criticism, translation equivalence, translatology.

1. Historiographical Research in Translation Studies Already in 2001 Susan Bassnett wrote in the Series Editor’s Preface to Edwin Gentzler’s second edition of his “Contemporary Translation Theories” (the first edition was published in 1993) that “Translation Studies has grown beyond all expectations in the last twenty-five years.” (Gentzler 2001: vi) In the same Preface, Professor Bassnett expressed a firm belief in the bright future of the discipline (ibid.). The author of the present article shares the optimism of colleagues in the academic world and admits this to be one of the reasons he presents his subjective view on the picture of development of the theoretical and applied aspects of translation studies in Latvia in the period from 1991 to 2012. This is the first attempt to survey the development of this interdisciplinary science in his native country; therefore, no methodology of describing the historical, or rather historiographical, aspect of translation studies specifically in Latvia has ever been developed (Sintija Blumberga’s Master degree research concerning a rudimentary and sporadic development of a more or less professional translation criticism in the period from 1945 to 1968, published as a monograph in 2008, focused mainly on popular science publications and polemic articles in press (see Blumberga 2008)). Historiography, which in the fairly recent past was still understood as the study of the methodology and development of history as a research

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

55

discipline (see, e.g., Baldunþiks and Pokrotniece 1999: 284), now is more widely interpreted as a totality of historical research on a specialized topic. Problems and shortcomings in the historiography of translation studies have already been discussed by Anthony Pym (1998), as well as several years later by Lieven D’hulst et al. (2001 and 2010). D’hulst proposes a list of questions, making a remark that “this list of questions does not constitute a research programme, neither does it want to be exhaustive, it wants to show what should be covered by historiography of translation and translation studies.” (2001: 31) In 2011 it is still admitted that historiographical research has “attracted surprisingly little attention to date in translation studies” (Baker, Saldanha 2011: 135). The significance of research in translation theory has been vigorously emphasized by Professor José Lambert—one of the founders of the discipline of Translation Studies and a recognized expert on historiography of translation studies (see Lambert 1988 and his views expressed in an interview to Scientia Traductionis in 2010). When answering a question on whether the history of translation theory has a role in the production of translation theory, he firmly said “my reply is yes!” (Lambert, Althoff, Fleuri 2010: 221). Lambert underlines the necessity of building a new kind of historiography of Translation Studies based on belief in the interdisciplinarity of this science. He is convinced that “when you deal with Historiography you make explicit in conceptual terms what your goals are.” (ibid.: 222)

2. Last Twenty Years of Latvian Translation Studies: A Subjective Insight Understanding the complexity and time-consuming nature of applying the principles and methods of high-quality historiography applied to the research and development of translation studies in Latvia during the last two decades and agreeing with Mona Baker’s warning that “translation scholars must recognize that no approach, however sophisticated, can provide the answer to all questions raised in the discipline nor the tools and methodology required for conducting research in all areas of translation studies” (1998: 280), the author of the present article does not propose definite methodological principles for the arrangement of the material in his historical survey, but plans to do that in a more fundamental publication—a monograph written in Latvian with a provisional title “Development of Translation Theory and Applied Translation Studies in Latvia: 1991–2014” (planned to be finished in the beginning of 2015). This is one of at least two possible approaches to

56

Chapter Three

examining the historical aspects of translation studies, the other one is publishing articles of the subject in specialized journals and presenting papers at congresses. José Lambert admits that neither of the two mentioned can be labelled as good or bad (Lambert, Althoff, Fleuri 2010: 211). Fully agreeing with Theo Hermans that “the claim to neutrality or objectivity is already an ideological statement itself” (1999: 36) and with José Lambert’s view that it is doubtful whether a distinction between evaluation and description exists at all (1991: 31), the author of the present article offers a subjective insight into the panorama of Latvian translation studies during the last 20 years, based on thematic grouping of 210 publications by 52 authors, starting with the themes having the largest number of publications and going on in a diminishing sequence. The author understands the weak points of this approach, but has to apply it due to the limited amount of time for presenting his study in the form of an article. In order to understand the rapid development of translation studies in a number of East European countries in the last 20 years, it may be useful to remember Edwin Gentzler’s words (2001: 202): “Most exciting work in the field today is being produced by scholars from ‘smaller countries’ and cultures in transition—Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Israel, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Northern Africa, the Philippines, China, Brazil and Quebec.” Gentzler’s observation is true also today. As far as Latvia is concerned, the quantitative intensity of publications in the domain of translatology increased already at the end of the 1980s when the country, still being one of the Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union, experienced the effects of liberalization of the authoritarian rule. These processes coincided with the doctoral research of Ieva Zauberga who wrote her Doctoral Dissertation on language dynamics in translations. The dissertation was defended at the Institute of Latvian Language and Literature of the Latvian Academy of Sciences in 1991 (Bankavs, Jansone 2010: 278).

3. Translation Studies in Latvia: First Sporadic Attempts of Translation Criticism The new tendencies in the last 23–25 years of development of translation studies in Latvia can be better understood in comparison with publications discussing translation problems in the previous 40 years from 1945 to 1985 (Paklons 1980; SƯlis 2007; Blumberga 2008).

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

57

The Soviet period, especially the first post-war decades, was characterized by strict Communist Party ideological supervision of translators, editors and the Publishing House staff (all the former “bourgeois” publishing houses of previously independent Latvia were closed and only one—the Latvian State Publishing House—was allowed to publish printed matter, including translations). Censorship was executed by the Glavlit institution (The Main State Literature Authority), and only those publications previously translated into Russian could be ideologically safe to be translated into Latvian and the languages of other Soviet republics (see also AvotiƼa 1967: 360–361). As most of Latvia’s population did not understand and speak Russian in 1945, the Bureau of the Communist Party of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR) made a decision “to assign the leaders of People’s Commissariats and departments to choose and send to translators’ courses appropriate candidates who, after finishing the courses, would be sent back to the institutions having sent them.” (BaltiƼš, Druviete, Veisbergs 2010: 27) Although it was constantly reminded that fiction translation had enormous political significance, and that translators’ duty was to support the ideological position of the Communist Party, translation criticism of the 1950s could not ignore issues genuinely important for translation quality—problems of the negative practice of word-for-word translation, mistakes in idiom translation, the importance of preserving the author’s individual approach and style; topical questions of terminology used in the translated texts, translation of poetry, quality of translation aids (mainly bilingual dictionaries), etc. were also recognized (see Abizovs 1954; Babchin 1966; Bauga 1952, 1953, 1954, 1954a; BeitƗne 1960; Birkerts 1954; LiepiƼš 1968; StulpƗns 1967 etc.). The Translation Section of the Latvian Writers’ Union was founded in the second half of the 1940s and soon it was working actively organizing seminars and meetings for (predominantly) novice translators. Here the quality of translations was evaluated. Often by translation quality the language quality of translations into Latvian was presumed. The first Doctoral (or Candidate of Philology Dissertation in Soviet research nomenclature) Dissertation on translation of Shakespeare’s plays was by Valda BeitƗne in 1959, under the title “Translation of Shakespeare’s Tragedies into Latvian” (Bankavs, Jansone 2010: 269). The author of the mentioned dissertation was a university lecturer and also a practicing translator, who took part in the translation of the collected works of William Shakespeare.

58

Chapter Three

4. 1968–1990: A New Stage in the Research of Translation Theory and Practice Problems A serious theoretical analysis of translation problems in Latvia started in 1968 when translator and linguist TamƗra ZƗlƯte proposed her Candidate of Philology Dissertation “Some Problems of Aesthetic Translation”, which was published in the same year and under the same title as a textbook for university students (ZƗlƯte 1968). In the middle of the 1970s, practical classes in translation were started at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, but there still were no theoretical lecture courses. A course of lectures under the title “Translation Theory and Practice” was started at the University of Latvia and was taught in Latvian at the Faculty of Philology by the experienced translator of fiction and university lecturer Ilga MelnbƗrde, then by Assistant Professor TamƗra ZƗlƯte and lecturer Maija Andersone (an excellent translator of fiction) at the Faculty of Foreign Languages. Major concepts of translation theory were discussed mainly in the light of the linguistic and literary critical approach, which were two dominant trends in the Soviet Union at that time. Only translation of fiction from a foreign language into Latvian was taken into consideration, no attention was paid to the so-called “technical texts” and interpreting. In 1981 TamƗra ZƗlƯte had to stop her academic activities because of health problems, and JƗnis SƯlis had to take over the part of the course taught by her. In 1983 Zaiga Ikere wrote her Candidate of Philology Dissertation “Translation Principles of Philosophic Terminology into Latvian (Terminology of British 17th and 18th Century Empiricism)” (Bankavs, Jansone 2010: 271), which was an innovative research because it was the first attempt in Latvian translatology to engage with translation problems in non-fiction texts. The author of this dissertation underwent the process of the so-called “nostrification” (in 1992 the former Soviet period research degrees were equated to the corresponding degrees of the independent Latvia) and was granted a Doctor of Philology degree. A textbook, “Basic Problems of Translation Theory”, for university students was published in Riga (SƯlis, ZƗlƯte 1984). The publication touched upon several issues such as, for example, translation in the modern world, the place and role of translation in world culture, translation genres (fiction, technical and scientific texts, journalism, advertisements, speeches and stage plays), the concept of equivalence,

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

59

problem of translatability, translation of vocabulary, phraseology and grammar, national peculiarities, the author’s system of metaphors, etc. In 1986 the course of Translation Theory and Practice was taken over by Ieva Zauberga. Soon she became professionally interested in theoretical problems of translatology and, as with a number of talented linguists coming from the academic world, became a very good interpreter. The next milestone in the development of TS in Latvia was the publication of Ieva Zauberga’s Doctoral Dissertation (Bankavs, Jansone 2010: 278) “Reflection of Language Dynamics in Translations” (Otrazhenyiye yazikovoy dinamiki v perevodah) in 1991. After a brilliant academic and research career, Ieva Zauberga made a decision to become a fully-employed interpreter in Brussels. At present she is the Head of the Latvian Language Translation Unit at the European Commission Directorate General for Interpreting.

5. Translation Studies in Latvia after Regaining Independence Years of political awakening in Latvia brought independence to the country in August 1991. The number of international contacts of Latvia grew explosively in the next few years, as the country set the goal of accession to the European Union in the shortest possible time (this aim was achieved in 2004). A need for greater numbers of qualified translators and interpreters arose, to cope with the amount of information that needed translation and oral rendering in a foreign language. In 1992 translator and interpreter training was started at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the University of Latvia, followed in 1997 by a four-year translator and interpreter training program at Ventspils University College. Other higher education establishments followed suit and in 2009 translators and interpreters in Latvia were trained at 16 study programs of 10 higher education establishments (3 universities and 3 university colleges funded by the government, as well as 4 private higher education establishments)— at 7 professional, 5 professional Bachelor and 4 professional Master programs. Master programs of the University of Latvia and Ventspils University College are included in the European Union’s EMT Network. Doctoral dissertations in translatology at present are written and defended in two of the 3 doctoral study programs in applied, comparative and contrastive linguistics (SƯlis 2009: 244). According to the data of 2011, provided by the Higher Education Quality Assessment Centre of the Republic of Latvia and the Council of

60

Chapter Three

Higher Education of the Republic of Latvia, the number of programs increased to 19 study programs at the end of 2011. It has been admitted in the Program of the Official (State) Language Policy adopted in 2005 and covering the period of 2005–2014 (from now on, the Program) that the only opportunity to maintain the sustainability of the Latvian language, its linguistic quality and competitiveness in the global market of languages is a thoroughly planned language policy, which would enhance the economic value of Latvian. Simultaneously, a legal compensation mechanism should be set up that would facilitate the introduction of amendments in the legal documents, as well as stimulate the creation of methodology for maintaining the competitiveness of Latvian on the global scale (State Language Commission n.d.). There are several tasks formulated in the Program that are relevant for translations done into Latvian: a) standardization of term lists of concrete branches of specialized activities, standardized term creation practice in all governing bodies, as well as provision of a regular exchange of information between Latvian and EU translation services concerning topical terms; b) provision of administrative and financial support in solution of translation problems in Latvian and EU institutions. These activities have to be coordinated by the State Language Centre, which in July 2009 overtook the functions of the public agency “Translation and Terminology Centre”.

6. Directions of Translation Studies since 1991 Since 1991 activities in translation studies have developed in more than a dozen directions, quantitatively the most productive being intercultural or cross-cultural issues, issues of “pure” (using Holmes’ formulation) translation studies (both theoretical and descriptive), target language translation norms and standards, as well as translation of terminology. Further on, the author would like to outline the main themes of theoretical and applied study starting with the highest quantity of research articles published and gradually going down to the domains of translation studies causing diminishing interest in the period of the last twenty years. For the sake of economy and conciseness, the author will include full references to concrete publications, but will just mention authors and problems they have examined, as this could be the task of an annotated

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

61

bibliography and/or a list of bibliographical sources in the monograph covering the development of translation studies in Latvia from 1991 to 2013. Intercultural issues were the most widely examined domain at the beginning of the 1990s. Ieva Zauberga has been one of the most productive authors to analyze the interaction of the national and international, conduct research on problems of transference of culture background in translations, as well as to pinpoint the culture imperatives of Latvian translation; she also wrote about the interaction of meaning and cultural transorientation in translation. During the second half of the decade, Ieva Zauberga became interested in the nature of translations as hybrid texts, viewing them as a natural consequence of crossing cultural barriers. Ieva Zauberga pointed out that hybridity is an inevitable feature of cross-cultural communication. She also displayed concern for the Latvian language when stressing the necessity for translation of marginalized literature into major languages, and showed that through translations into them major languages of the world assume the role of “gateways” for minor literatures. Zauberga pointed out that the receiving culture (target culture) is nowadays determining translation strategy; but the target culture must also be receptive to the otherness of the source culture. Ieva Zauberga was the first translatologist in Latvia to draw attention to translational norms in advertisement transfer. Analysis of cross-cultural problems found in translations of advertising and promotional materials was successfully taken over from Ieva Zauberga by Gunta Loþmele who presented a survey of trends in the development of the language of TV advertisements in Latvia, a case study of the misinterpretation of culture aspects in either SL or TL. In her later publications, the author discusses the reciprocal influence of translation and culture, as well as language economy and semantic compression as characteristic of advertisement language. Andrejs Veisbergs has explored the effect of language and culture contacts upon modern Latvian in a number of publications. He has analyzed the use of euphemisms in Latvian under occupation powers, Nazi and Soviet dysphemisms and euphemisms in Latvian, and raised the question of whether “translation pressure” is a loss or a gain for a small language. Andrejs Veisbergs has also examined the impact of the “Europeanization” of Latvian on translation and lexicography processes. JƗnis SƯlis has looked into the problem of cross-cultural issues in translation and localization of e-commerce websites and has commented upon cultural differences as stress factors in liaison interpreting. He also

62

Chapter Three

has examined translation of realia in Latvian folk-songs and has searched for a solution to problems of re-contextualizing the source text’s national realia and culture-specific items in the target text. Maija BrƝde has done research on means of phonetic expression in the source language and target language. The author has analyzed fiction translations and the attempts of translators to retain the same consonants and vowels in both the source language and target language to express the same shade of emotion, as well as preservation or creating anew an appropriate rhythmical pattern. In a similar way, Maija BrƝde has compared and contrasted sound imitative systems in source and target languages and detected differences in speech sound symbolism (or semiotics of speech sounds) in different cultures. Intercultural problems in translation have also been examined by Daina Krasovska (allusion transfer in Latvian translations, concentrating upon different allusion transfer strategies in some Latvian translations of the 1990s, and on how these strategies are influenced by the particular Latvian context of that period), Beate Paškevica (understanding of one’s own culture through foreign cultures, culture integration) and Ilze Plaude (observations that, in claiming some texts to be untranslatable, cultural relativity is overestimated, making all texts translatable). The considerable interest of Latvian scholars dealing with problems of translation studies is reflected in articles and textbooks on translation theory problems. (Here only themes discussed in research articles will be mentioned, information on textbooks will be displayed in Table 7-1 below.) Beate Pernitsa has analyzed the category of determinism in German and Latvian. Maija BaltiƼa in discussing relations of translation, text and the stylistic paradigm has written about the influence of stylistic factors upon interrelations between language levels in the process of translation. Ilga Brigzna has dealt with morphological and syntactic problems in the translation process. Ieva Zauberga has been rethinking translator’s reliability and has pointed out that translation is no longer regarded as a mere copy of the original, it is oriented towards its target audience; because of this a translator/interpreter is no longer a mere reproducer. This presentation made at the First Ventspils University College Conference, “Interpreting and Translation as Intercultural Communication: Theory, Practice, Instruction Methods” (October 29–31, 1998), created lively discussion, because so far it had been unusual to give a translator, and especially an interpreter, this degree of freedom. A separate article by Ieva Zauberga has provided an insight into the developments of translation theory at the end

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

63

of the 20th century (particularly the impact of feminism). Ieva Zauberga has also characterized the variables of quality assessment in interpreting. Aiga DukƗte (nee KramiƼa), during her doctoral research on translation as manipulation, has published articles concerning conceptualizing translational manipulation, manipulation and quality of translation; in one of the publications she has viewed translation as metaphor. Svetlana Koroƺova has characterized situation context analysis as a relevant component of translation process and translation assessment. Marina Platonova has examined relations between contrastive linguistics and translation theory. Ilze Plaude has defined translation as an intercultural practice between objectivism and realism; she has also looked into the perspectives of functional translation theory. JƗnis SƯlis has written about the translator’s faithfulness in Latvia in the 21st century. Andrejs Veisbergs has analyzed the lost dichotomy when “translation language” becomes the “real” one, expressed his views on identity and identification in language and translation, conducted research on pragmatic meaning in language, translation and interpreting, as well as identified occasional and systematic shifts in word-formation and idiom use in Latvian as a result of translation. At the beginning of the 1990s, a great deal of attention was paid to target language translation norms and standards in the context of Latvian language becoming part of the international and interlingual communication process and therefore suddenly being exposed to numerous external influences. In the context of contradictions between linguists and translation theorists advocating either linguistic purism or linguistic liberalism, a number of publications appeared dealing with the changes of the linguistic situation. Ieva Zauberga discussed convention shifts in contemporary Latvian translations and made a claim to liberalize the strict Latvian language norms in present-day translations. Andrejs Veisbergs wrote on language contacts, translation, their impact on modern Latvian, showing the ways in which translations affected the literary norm of Latvian in the 1990s; in this publication the author expressed his views on nationalism and purism, language contacts and other related problems. Gunta Loþmele wrote on interpreting norms in Latvia. Ilga Migla has presented a survey of norms and traditions in spelling Latvian street names and city names in the German language. Silvija Pavidis has described the problem of harmonization of the Latvian and European tradition in the translation of legal texts. Ieva Zauberga has published a very interesting article dealing with the Latvian language in the context of translation of the EU acquis communautaire.

64

Chapter Three

The regaining of national independence in 1991 was a vigorous stimulus for the revival of the Latvian language in the domains of politics, natural and social sciences, and humanities. The number of translations in these fields increased exponentially in the next few years. Translations of this type required numerous new terms, which the Latvian language was not able to develop in the Soviet period (1940 and 1945–1990) because almost all publications in these spheres were in Russian. Therefore, theoretical and practical problems of interrelations between translation and terminology have become extremely topical and remained so up to the present moment. To cope with these problems, both preserving quality and meeting the deadlines of translating an enormous amount of textual material in the preaccession period, the Centre of Translation and Terminology (or TTC) was established by the Government of the Republic of Latvia in 1996 with the main task of translating the entire body of the EU acquis communautaire into Latvian and translating Latvian legal acts into the official languages of the EU; additional tasks of the TTC staff were the translation of NATOrelated documents into Latvian and the translation of other international legal acts into Latvian, etc. It took about 10 years for the TTC to complete these tasks. Two handbooks on translation of the EU legal acts and translation of Latvian legal acts were published, touching upon, among other aspects, some of the issues of translation theory and applied translation studies. Gaida ZirdziƼa, then a Deputy Director of the TTC, published two articles on the translation of verdicts by the Court of Justice of the EU into Latvian and the position of legal translation between linguistics and jurisprudence. Already in 1983, Zaiga Ikere (Bankavs, Jansone 2010: 271) proposed her Doctoral (then—Candidate of Philology) Dissertation, “Translation Principles of Philosophical Terminology into Latvian (Terminology of British 17th and 18th Century Empiricism)”. Since 1992 she has continued to conduct research in this domain and characterized the terminological functions of Latvian terms “realitƗte”, “ƯstenƯba” and “tiešamƯba” in the context of translation, provided a historical survey of translations of Immanuel Kant’s term “Vernunft” into Latvian, considering the subjectivity in the translation and interpretation of philosophical terms when translating British empirical philosophers into Latvian, as well as the problems of translating philosophical technical terminology from English into Latvian. In these publications, categorial ambiguity is revealed and the layers of technical (a term used in this context by Zaiga Ikere) terms and everyday words are analyzed. One of the last publications of Zaiga

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

65

Ikere in the field of philosophical terminology is on the invariability of the original linguistic form of Heidegger’s Dasein in the philosophical texts. Marina Platonova has conducted research on language use in translation of English environment-related terminology, she has expressed her viewpoint on standards of textuality and translation of the environment-related terminology, semantic aspects of translation of business and legal terminology, as well as translation of English scientifictechnical terminology into the Latvian language. Together with Larisa Iƺjinska, Marina Platonova has examined technical term translation and pragmatic function, and together with Larisa Iƺjinska and Daina NƯtiƼa she has another publication concerning technical translation. JƗnis SƯlis has been conducting research on the creation of translation studies-related terminology in Latvian, opening a discussion about whether the Latvian name of the discipline should be “tulkojumzinƗtne” (Translation Studies) or “translatoloƧija” (translatology). Several other core Latvian terms have been examined in the article. In other articles, the author has touched upon the impact of English terminological patterns upon the formation of Latvian terms; there is also a publication on the historical aspects of the formation of the Latvian terminology of translation studies. After consultations with Andrejs Veisbergs and JƗnis SƯlis and suggestions made by these two translation scholars, the group of linguists and lexicographers, headed by the linguist and expert of terminological science ValentƯna SkujiƼa, included around 40 recently coined Latvian terms in the field of translation studies into the Explanatory Dictionary of Basic Linguistic Terms (see SkujiƼa et al. 2007). Nils Dannemark has provided a survey on translation from Norwegian into Latvian (actually, the title should have been “On Translation from Latvian into Norwegian”, because the author has discussed translation mistakes in Latvian texts when translating terminology—there have been cases when the translator has wrongly chosen a general (or even colloquial) language meaning instead of a terminological meaning). In that publication, Nils Dannemark insists that translators take into consideration the eventual negative impact of the source language’s (in this case, Latvian) syntax upon the target language’s (Norwegian) syntax. Articles by professional translators and interpreters Valija Broka and MƗra GraustiƼa have tackled the problems of the translation of “Euroterms” into Latvian. The subject has caused growing interest among a group of Latvian translation scholars, especially in the last 8–10 years, during which Latvia has become an EU member state (in 2004). A considerable number of master papers have been put forward at Ventspils

66

Chapter Three

University College (some of them at the University of Latvia and Riga Technical University), where concern over the growing gap between the terminology used in Latvian translations done in Latvia and in Brussels/Luxembourg was expressed. Some of the papers have appeared as articles in the two volumes of “Translation of Legal Texts” published by Ventspils University College. Translation strategies of rendering EU terminology into Russian have been analyzed by Svetlana Koroƺova from the University of Latvia. Valda Rudziša has performed a contrastive analysis of translations of limited liability company statutes, touching upon terminology translation problems. Anita Naþisþione has defended preservation of the metaphoric nature of terms when translating special language texts by asking an apt question—why kill the metaphor? Andrejs Veisbergs has conducted a very interesting contrastive analysis of political term definitions. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the problem of false friends has been at the center of attention of a linguist and translation scholar Andrejs Veisbergs, who in 1993 published a Latvian–English, English–Latvian Dictionary of false friends and several years later pinpointed the current problems of false friends dictionaries—types of these dictionaries were tailored to the needs of the present-day variety of target users. He has also provided the classification of false friends. Karsten Lomholt—a Danish translator, who for a number of years was a resident of Latvia—has conducted research of false friends in Latvian and Danish, characterizing these interrelations as semantic friendship, but stylistic deceit. Veneta ŽƯgure and Juris Baldunþiks have also looked into the problem of coping with false friends in the process of translation. The history of translation and interpreting in Latvia seems to be of a lesser interest to translation scholars. Thus, Ieva Zauberga has published an article on Latvian translations of Shakespeare done a hundred years ago and at the end of 1980s. As it was previously said, in 1991 Ieva Zauberga defended her Doctoral Dissertation on language dynamics in translations, where the historical dimension was of a considerable importance. Silvija PavƯdis has performed a survey of pragmatic aspects of the first translations of Martin Luther’s “Lieder” into Latvian, where factual information and interesting textual material are given for recording translation history in Latvia. Olga Erta in her article on the past and present of interpreting in Latvia and Andrejs Veisbergs in his article featuring the Latvian interpreting scene in the light of its present and future trends discuss the situation in the field of consecutive and simultaneous interpreting.

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

67

Ethics and aesthetics of translation and interpreting have been reflected in Aiga DukƗte’s article on ethical and aesthetic aspects of translation and interpreting. These aspects have not always been discussed in detail in translator and interpreter training courses in Latvia; therefore, the research could be a welcome first step in the given direction. User expectations in conference interpreting have been examined by Ieva Zauberga. Phraseology and translation have been the topic of interest for Andrejs Veisbergs and Anita Naþisþione (translation aspects of phraseological reiteration in discourse and translation of phraseological units in discourse). The field of sociolinguistics and translation is still to be examined by Latvian translation scholars in the future as a prospective direction of translation studies. So far, these problems have been dealt with in several articles of JƗnis SƯlis, who has mentioned certain sociolinguistic aspects of translation and interpreting, e.g. translation problems appearing in certain pairs of sociolinguistic correlations, written about the sociolinguistic aspects of translation studies as an interdiscipline and analyzed the social semantics of address forms in source and target texts. Gunta Loþmele has looked into the historical aspects of the interface between translation theory and sociolinguistics. The article is an attempt to find out whether linguistics and translation theory have had any interface in the same period of time. It is shown that there is a rather well detected interface between translation and the social aspects of language studies on a vertical axis and almost none on the horizontal one. Text Types and Translation have been a fairly popular area of study: publications of Raimonds AuškƗps, Gunta Loþmele, Silvija PavƯdis, BeƗte Paškevica, Valda Rudziša, JƗnis SƯlis, TamƗra ZƗlƯte, Ieva Zauberga and a number of authors of master papers can be mentioned here. The field of lexicography and translation is populated by a number of publications by Andrejs Veisbergs—the previously-mentioned dictionary of false friends, and an article on gender in monolingual and bilingual dictionaries; dictionaries of false friends are shown as a useful tool for translators or learners. Training of Translators and Interpreters is gradually becoming an important issue in those of Latvia’s institutions of higher education that have respective study programs. Svetlana Korolyova has assessed the composition of syllabus in teaching translation practice, and shown the role of text analysis and translation assessment in translating LSP texts. Lilita Zaƺkalne has described the Swedish model of translator/interpreter training. JƗnis SƯlis in two articles analyzes Ventspils University College’s experience of

68

Chapter Three

translator and interpreter training, and provides an overall picture of the training of translators and interpreters in Latvia. He has also conducted a long-lasting research on the acquisition of note-taking skills in consecutive interpreting in a translator and interpreter training program. MƗra LeitƗne has examined linguistic text analysis as a preparation stage for starting translatorial activities. Monta Farneste speaks about academic writing as a basis for written translation, and IngrƯda KramiƼa characterizes translation as a language skill. Larisa Iƺjinska, Daina NƯtiƼa, Marina Platonova and Ilze SiliƼa have provided a detailed description of the translator training study program, “Technical Translation”. Egita Proveja has conducted a study of rendering the vocabulary of technical terms in teaching translation skills. Ieva SproƧe has viewed translation as an aid to better acquisition of the second language. Gunta Loþmele has published a critical survey of translator training in Latvia, and Andrejs Veisbergs has explored the situation of computer use in training translators in Latvia, defining problems and proposing solutions.

7. Research Publications and Doctoral Research in Translation Studies: Vehicles of Successful Future Development The author of the present article strongly believes that textbooks, collections of research articles, specialized journals, more fundamental research covering different fields of translation studies and published in the monograph form, as well as research conducted on a doctoral level, are the decisive vehicles of maintaining the continuity and future of Translation Studies in Latvia. Therefore, he has decided to present information on these aspects in the form of several tables. Another reason for this format is that the number of textbooks, monographs and doctoral dissertations is considerably smaller than the number of research articles devoted to these domains of study. Similar to the presentation of factual material, only the author’s name, year and title of publication will be given.

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

69

Table 7-1: Textbooks and Monographs in Translation Studies (arranged in chronological order by publication year) Author’s Name

Year of Publication

SƯlis JƗnis, ZƗlƯte TamƗra

1984

Zauberga Ieva Zauberga Ieva VeisbergsAn drejs Zauberga Ieva

1994

Publication Type (Monograph or Textbook) Monograph that can also be used as a textbook Textbook

1996

Textbook

1998

Monograph

1999

Zauberga Ieva

2001

Zauberga Ieva Veisbergs Andrejs

2004

Monograph that can also be used as a textbook Monograph that can also be used as a textbook Textbook

VeisbergsAn drejs

2007

Blumberga Sintija

2008

Monograph that can also be used as a textbook Monograph that can also be used as a textbook Monograph

Iƺjinska Larisa, NƯtiƼa Daina, Platonova Marina Malašonoka NatƗlija

2008

Monograph

2009

Textbook

2005

Title

Basic Problems of Translation Theory A Concise Course of Translation Studies Translation Theory in Practice Phraseology and Translation Approaching Translation

Developing Translation Competence Theoretical Tools for Professional Translators Fundamentals of Interpreting Conference Interpreting

Translation Theory and Practice in Latvia in 1945– 1968: research articles, scientific popular publications, polemics in press. Meaning in Language: Linguistic and Extralinguistic Aspects

Practical Training in Translation (Latvian– English–Russian).

Chapter Three

70 SƯlis JƗnis

2009

Monograph

Ikere Zaiga

2010

Monograph

SƯlis JƗnis

2012

Monograph

Issues of Translation Studies. Theory and Practice Translating English Philosophical Terminology into Latvian: A Semantic Approach Latvian as a Source Language and Target Language in Language Contacts and Virtual Communication

Table 7-2: Collections of Research Articles and Conference Proceedings (either fully focusing on translation studies or containing some articles devoted to the given issue) Editor’s Name

Rudziša Valda SƯlis JƗnis

Year of Publication (Definite Year of Publication or Published Regularly) published regularly 1999

Publication Type (collection of articles/conference proceedings or a specialized journal)

Title

collection of articles

Translation of Legal Texts

conference proceedings

Interpreting and Translation as Intercultural Communication: Theory, Practice, Instruction Methods Language. Translation/Interpreting. Intercultural Communication Contrastive and Applied Linguistics The Proceedings of the 1st– 6th International Riga Conference on Pragmatic Aspects of Translation The Word and Aspects of Its Studies International Scientific Conference of Daugavpils University

SƯlis JƗnis, SkrƗbane Astra

2008

collection of articles

Veisbergs Andrejs Veisbergs Andrejs

published regularly published regularly

collection of articles

Laumane Benita Ikere Zaiga

published annually published annually

conference proceedings conference proceedings

conference proceedings

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

71

Table 7-3: Doctoral Dissertations in Translation Studies (proposed and/or defended in Latvia since 1945) Author’s Name ýerfase Lija

Place and Year of Defense Leningrad State University/Latvian State University (1950)

BeitƗne (Dolace) Valda

Vilnius State University, Latvian State University (1959)

ZƗlƯte TamƗra

Latvian State University (1969)

Celmrauga Imanta

Latvian State University (1970)

Ikere Zaiga

Vilnius State University (1983)

Zauberga Ieva

Institute of Language and Literature, Latvian Academy of Sciences (1991)

Title Translations in the Roman Literature of the Republic of Rome Translations of Shakespeare’s Tragedies into Latvian Some Aesthetic Problems of Translation Some Linguistic Parallels in Translation from German into Latvian (on the Material of a Novel by Erwin Schtrittmatter). Translation Principles of Philosophic Terminology into Latvian (Terminology of British 17th and 18th Century Empiricism) Reflection of Language Dynamics in Translations

Research Adviser -

Reviewers

Ariste Paul

Loja JƗnis, Egle KƗrlis, StengrƝvica Melita -

-

-

Soida EmƯlija

Ariste Paul, Tuldava Juhan

Blinkena Aina

CeplƯtis Laimdots, Naþisþione Anita

Blinkena Aina

CeplƯtis Laimdots, SƯlis JƗnis

Chapter Three

72 Bormane Žanna

University of Latvia (2007)

Anthroponyms in Translation of a Literary Text

DukƗte Aiga

University of Latvia (2007)

PolkovƼikova Svetlana

Daugavpils University (2010)

Manipulation As a Specific Phenomenon in Translation and Interpreting Verba dicendi in the Translations of Anton Chekhov’s Short Stories into Latvian

-

Jansone Ilga, Balode Laimute, Brigzna Ilga Veisbergs Ikere Andrejs, Zaiga, SƯlis von JƗnis, Bardeleben Baldunþiks Renate Juris

VulƗne Anna

Koškins Igors, KuzƼecovs Anatolijs, SƯlis JƗnis

Table 7-4: TS Doctoral Dissertations in Progress (2013–2016) (Ventspils University College, data of February, 2013) Name of the Author and HEI Represented Dreijers Guntars (Ventspils University College) VeckrƗcis JƗnis (Ventspils University College)

Estimated Year of Defense 2014

Blumberga Sintija (Ventspils University College)

2015

Pavlovska DiƗna (Ventspils University College)

2015

2014/2015

Title

Research Adviser

Baudelaire’s Grotesque in English and Latvian Translations Functional and Semantic Equivalents in Translations of Joseph Brodsky’s Poems into the Latvian and English Languages Translation Theory and Practice in Latvia (1844– 1990): Publications and Problems Impact of Sociolinguistic and Pragmalinguistics Factors upon Translation of Modern Business Letters from and into Latvian and Russian

SƯlis JƗnis

SƯlis JƗnis

Baldunþiks Juris

SƯlis JƗnis

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades Gaile Linda (Ventspils University College) Šamšuro Zane (Ventspils University College)

2016

Anticipation Strategy in Interpreting

SƯlis JƗnis

2015

Culture-specific Problems in Conference Interpreting: Coping Tactics Problems of Poetry Translation: Latvian Translations of Arthur Rimbaud’s Poems Latvian Diminutives in Translations

SƯlis JƗnis

Veisbuka Inese (Ventspils University College)

2015

Veidenberga Zane (Ventspils University College/University College of Economics and Culture)

2016

73

Vladimirska Jeƺena

Lele-RozentƗle Dzintra

8. The First Steps of Translation Studies Research in Latvia In 2007, the Centre of Applied Linguistics at Ventspils University College started a research project with the intended result of producing a survey of the development of Translation Studies research in Latvia, concentrating on the period from the end of World War II to our days (1944–2012/14). The first result was Sintija Blumberga’s aforementioned monograph covering the period of 1944 to 1968 (Blumberga, 2008). As can be seen from the title of her Doctoral Dissertation, mentioned previously, she is extending her survey up to 1990. After completion of the next research project in 2015, which will be conducted by the author of this article covering the analysis of translatological publications in the period of 1991–2014 (as it is planned to finish the project at the end of 2014 and publish its results in a book form at the beginning of 2015), hopefully there will be a fairly comprehensive picture covering the complete period of 1944–2014. The book will be published in Latvian with a detailed summary in English, but in case of external interest, it could later be translated and published in English. Some preliminary activities have already resulted in collecting a certain amount of data: the author has so far collected 210 publications by 52 authors. (The actual number of publications could be around 250 or more.) Therefore, the author of this article has at the present completed only a purely quantitative thematic investigation which by itself is of

Chapter Three

74

limited research value, but still can give an insight into topics of interest to Latvian translatologists. Here are some preliminary results: Directions of translation studies, 1991–2006 Quantitatively the most productive research in this period has developed in: 1) 2) 3) 4)

the intercultural aspect of translation “pure” translation theory—theoretical and descriptive research formulation of target language’s norms and standards translation of terminology.

Priorities (quantitatively measured) of research 6 years later (2007–2012): 1) 2) 3) 4)

general problems of translation theory the intercultural aspect of translation translation and terminology specific (concrete) translation problems.

Thus, at the moment, translation theory problems are the most popular among researchers in the domain of Translation Studies in Latvia. The intercultural aspect of translation, which was very topical during the first years of the international contacts boom at the beginning of the 1990s, has now moved to the second position; translation and terminology problems are in the third position; the fourth position is occupied by the analysis of concrete translation problems. The tendency has grown to publish one’s research results in Latvian, which underlines the need to address the local circle of target readers first and foremost. Quantitatively the most productive research has developed in: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9)

problems of translation theory—29.4% intercultural aspects of translation—15.2% translation and terminology—13.7% specific translation problems—12.7% translator and interpreter training—7.8% text types and translation—6.8% target language norms and standards in translations —4.9% history of translation and interpreting in Latvia—2.4% sociolinguistics and translation—2.4%

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

75

10) computer-aided translation—1.9% 11) phraseology and translation—1.9% 12) lexicography and translation—0.5%. problems of translation theory intercultural aspects of translation translation and terminology specific translation problems translator and interpreter training text types and translation target language norms and standards in translations history of translation and interpreting in Latvia sociolinguistics and translation computer-aided translation phraseology and translation lexicography and translation

Fig. 8-1: Directions of Translation Studies in Latvia (2007–2012)

9. Conclusion Historiographical research in Translation Studies in Europe and elsewhere in the world has already been going on for several decades. This publication, hopefully, is a further step in the research of Translation Studies in Latvia, comprising the period from 1991 to 2012. The difference from the previously completed research providing a survey of translatological publications in Latvia from 1945 to 1968 (Blumberga 2008), lies in the fact that here attention is not focused inter cetera on polemic press articles written in a scientifically popular language, but on theoretical and applied research in Translation Studies. This has been possible due to the rapidly increasing number of such publications in the field, starting from 1991 (which was a stark change from the first post-war decades). Another reason for continuing the historiographical survey of Translation Studies in Latvia is that a consistent record of translatological

76

Chapter Three

publications forming a definite tradition plays the role of an additional argument for recognizing Translation Studies as an independent branch of science, since in the nomenclature of the Latvian Academy of Sciences it still is considered to be part of applied linguistics and/or contrastive linguistics. Viewing this kind of research from a purely practical angle, it should be remarked that publications of such type could be useful not only for foreign scholars, informing them on the panorama of research in Translation Studies in Latvia, but also for Latvian translatologists and members of academic staff in translator/interpreter training programs; one should also not forget the students of these programs who could use the information provided here as additional material for their theoretical studies. Forums creating dialogue opportunities stimulate the exchange of professional viewpoints in the realm of Translation Studies. Thus, for example, translation studies-related presentations and discussions at the international scientific conference, “Meaning in Translation: Illusion of Precision” (organized by the Institute of Applied Linguistics of Riga Technical University in September 2012), revealed that research forums of this type are vital for the further global development of Translation Studies, as well as for strengthening the ties between theory and practice. Similar conference- or workshop-format discussions reveal the directions of further development. Much still has to be done due to certain deficiencies in mutual information exchange between the “old” TS centers of research and the “newly started” research activities in Eastern Europe (Latvia in particular). Moreover, one becomes aware of the information gap between translation theorists and representatives of highly competent translation and interpreting services, the latter being preoccupied by solving daily practical tasks and sometimes not being fully aware of what translation scholars are doing “in the next, neighboring building” and what the need is for and the role of translation theory as such. Looking back to the mentioned conference, sometimes it is felt that we, translation scholars, are mildly similar to enlightened and wise monarchs of a definite realm, having got used to the situation that we are justly and duly regarded and looked upon as authorities and experts in our field. It is only natural that in the last 50–70 years the world, and especially the European continent, has been utterly divided, almost completely sealing off the vital flow of information and knowledge from one side of the Iron Curtain to the other side of it. Therefore, the conference venue was not only a meeting of bright, inquisitive minds and expertise that is worthy of admiration, but also a place of the first tentative

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

77

steps toward bringing two, or even several, worlds of Translation Studies closer together, each of these worlds having their own history of coming into being, and different periods of growth and development as timeless as the history of translation and interpreting itself.

References Abizovs, Jurijs. 1954. “Par literƗriem tulkojumiem.” Padomju Latvijas komunists 11: 33–39. AvotiƼa, Daina. 1967. “PadarƯts ir daudz.” Literatnjra un MƗksla 7: 5. Babchin, Tatiana. 1966. “Act III of Byron’s Drama “Cain” in Rainis’ Rendering.” Oþerki po voprosu angl .filol., 96–112. Riga: LGU. Baker, Mona. 1998. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London: Routledge. Baker, Mona, and Gabriela Saldanha. 2011. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London, New York: Routledge. Baldunþiks, Juris, and KornƝlija Pokrotniece. 1999. SvešvƗrdu vƗrdnƯca. RƯga: Jumava. BaltiƼš, MƗris, Ina Druviete, and Andrejs Veisbergs, eds. 2008. State Language Commission Break-out of Latvian. A Sociolinguistic Study of Situation, Attitudes, Processes and Tendencies. RƯga: ZinƗtne Publishers. Bankavs, Andrejs, and Ilga Jansone. 2010. ValodniecƯba LatvijƗ: fakti un biogrƗfijas. RƯga: LU AkadƝmiskais apgƗds. Bauga, Anna. 1952. “Par sadarbƯbu.” Literatnjra un MƗksla 3: 4. —. 1953. “Ar gliemeža tempiem.” Literatnjra un MƗksla 2: 5. —. 1954. “AtbildƯba pieaug.” Literatnjra un MƗksla, 5: 5. —. 1954. “ParunƗsim par tulkojumiem.” Literatnjra un MƗksla 11: 2. BeitƗne, Valda. 1960. “PiezƯmes par tulkojumiem latviešu valodƗ.” Karogs 5: 132–139. Birkerts, Antons. 1954. “Rainis – krievu literatnjras tulkotƗjs.” In J. RaiƼa daiƺrade: Rakstu krƗjums, edited by JƗnis Niedre, 359–392. RƯga: LVI. Blumberga, Sintija. 2008. Tulkošanas teorija un prakse LatvijƗ: 1944– 1968. Ventspils: Ventspils Augstskola, LiePA. Delabastita, Dirk, Lieven D’hulst, and Reine Meylaerts, eds. 2006. Functional Approaches to Culture and Translation: Selected Papers by José Lambert. Amsterdam, Philadelfia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. D’hulst, Lieven. 2001. “Why and How to Write Translation Histories.” In Emerging Views on Translation History in Brazil, edited by John Milton, 21–31. Sao Paulo: Humanitas.

78

Chapter Three

D’hulst, Lieven, Yves Gambier, and Luc van Doorslaer. 2010. Translation History. Amsterdam, Philadelfia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Dolace (nee BeitƗne), Valda. 2010. “Translation of Shakespeare’s Tragedies into Latvian.” In ValodniecƯba LatvijƗ: fakti un biogrƗfijas, edited by Andrejs Bankavs and Ilga Jansone, 269. RƯga: LU AkadƝmiskais apgƗds. Gambier, Yves, Miriam Shlesinger, and Radegundis Stolze, eds. 2007. Doubts and Directions in Translation Studies: Selected Contributions from the EST Congress, Lisbon 2004 xii. Amsterdam, Philadelfia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Gentzler, Edwin. 2001. Contemporary Translation Theories. Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto, Sydney: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Hermans, Theo. 1999. Translation in Systems. Descriptive and SystemOriented. Approaches Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing. Ikere, Zaiga. 2010. “Translation Principles of Philosophic Terminology into Latvian (Terminology of British 17th and 18th Century Empiricism).” In ValodniecƯba LatvijƗ: fakti un biogrƗfijas, edited by Andrejs Bankavs and Ilga Jansone, 271. RƯga: LU AkadƝmiskais apgƗds. Kindzulis, ýeslavs. 1953. “LabƗko tulkotƗju pieredzi visiem.” LM 9: 3. Lambert, José. 1988. “Twenty Years of Research on Literary Translation at the Katolieke Universiteit Leuven.” In Die literarische Übersetzung und Perspektiven ihrer Erforschung, edited by Harald Kittel, 122–138. Berlin: Erich Schmidt. —. 1991. “Shifts, Oppositions and Goals in Translation Studies: Towards a Genealogy of Concepts.” In Translation Studies: the State of the Art, edited by Kitty M. van Leuven-Zwart and Ton Naaijkens, 25–37. Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi. Lambert, José, Gustavo Althoff, and Lilian Fleuri. 2010. “Interview with Joseph Lambert.” Scientia Traductionis 7: 207–234. Catarina: Universidade Federal de Santa. LiepiƼš, JƗnis. 1968. “Atdzejojumi un latviešu valoda. (Dažas piezƯmes.).” Karogs 7: 141–144. Paklons, JƗnis. 1980. Tulkošanas vƝstures un teorijas jautƗjumi. Daugavpils: Daugavpils pedagoƧiskais institnjts. Pym, Anthony. 1998. Method in Translation History. Manchester: St Jerome Publishing. Republic of Latvia Council of Higher Education. Accessed February 15, 2013. http://www.aip.lv/ESF_projekts.htm.

Development of Translation Studies in Latvia: The Last Two Decades

79

Republic of Latvia Higher Education Quality Assessment Centre. Accessed February 15, 2013. http://www.aiknc.lv. Republic of Latvia State (Official) Language Commission. Accessed February 15, 2013. http://www.valoda.lv/lv/valstsvalodaspolitika. SƯlis, JƗnis. 2007. “Tulkošanas loma latviešu valodas attƯstƯbƗ (1945.– 2006.).” “Latviešu valoda – pastƗvƯgƗ un mainƯgƗ”. Valsts valodas komisijas raksti, 3. sƝj., edited by Andrejs Veisbergs, 88–113. RƯga: Valsts valodas komisija; ZinƗtne. —. 2009. “Training of Translators and Interpreters in Latvia.” Mutatis Mutandis. Latin American Translation Journal. Pedagogica y didactica de la Traduccion.Vol. 2. (2): 263–281. SƯlis, JƗnis, and TamƗra ZƗlƯte. 1984. Basic Problems of Translation Theory. RƯga: LVU. SkujiƼa, ValentƯna, ed. 2007. ValodniecƯbas pamatterminu skaidrojošƗ vƗrdnƯca. RƯga: Valsts valodas aƧentnjra. StulpƗns, JeronƯms. 1967. “Lai mnjsu dzeja skanƝtu aiz robežƗm.” Karogs 5: 157–158. ZƗlƯte, TamƗra. 2008. “Some Problems of Aesthetic Translation.” In Tulkošanas teorija un prakse LatvijƗ: 1944–1968, edited by Sintija Blumberga, 126. Ventspils: Ventspils Augstskola, LPA LiepA. Zauberga, Ieva. 2010. “Reflection of Language Dynamics in Translations.” In ValodniecƯba LatvijƗ: fakti un biogrƗfija, edited by Andrejs Bankavs and Ilga Jansone, 278. RƯga: LU AkadƝmiskais apgƗds.

CHAPTER FOUR TRANSLATOR’S ROLE IN ADVERTISEMENT TRANSLATION IN LATVIA OF 1920S AND 1930S GUNTA LOýMELE UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA, LATVIA

Abstract Despite a relatively large amount of research into advertising, the role of the translator in the earlier stages of its development has not warranted sufficient attention. The paper considers translated advertisements in the medical field in the 1920s and 1930s in Latvia, comparing business-tobusiness advertisements with business-to-consumer advertisements as well as translated with originally produced advertisements for similar products, thus looking for the patterns and trends of translator’s work and establishing his role in the development of the Latvian language culture during the First Independence of the Republic of Latvia. The sources of the material are professional journals and consumer periodicals of 1920s and 1930s in Latvia. Considering the role of the translator, the paper focuses on the forms of translation applied in the analyzed period with an aim to find the ones used most often and determine the consequences of their application to the development of Latvian. Keywords: History of Latvian advertising, translation of advertisements, adaptation.

1. Introduction Advertising draws on the environment in which it acts. It becomes part of the environment, revealing and highlighting the peculiarities of the local culture and bringing the foreign into it. Language is part of the process.

82

Chapter Four

The interaction of cultures and languages provides for the context of a translator’s work. Research in translation of modern advertising has brought to the fore issues of multimodality (Kress and van Leewen 1996/2006; Millán-Varela 2004), compression of time and space (Cronin 2003), cross-cultural differences (Jettmarová 2004), strategies of translation in advertising (Jettmarová 2004; Torresi 2010, 2011), and competencies of a translator in advertising. Among specific competencies of a translator dealing with the transfer of advertisements, researchers have considered expert knowledge of intercultural communication (Fuentes Luque and Kelly 2000: 241), understanding of the situational and linguistic context of an advertisement (Adab 2000, 2001), knowledge of the media (Jettmarová 2004: 658), and of visual, social and geo-semiotics (Torresi 2010: 7). However, the role of a translator in the earlier stages of the development of advertising has not received sufficient attention. The present paper considers translated advertisements in the medical field in the 1920s and 1930s in Latvia, comparing business-to-business advertisements (adverts for doctors) with business-to-consumer advertisements (adverts for users) as well as translated with originally produced advertisements for similar products, thus looking for the patterns and trends of translator’s work and establishing his role in the development of the Latvian language culture during the First Independence of the Republic of Latvia. Where relevant, the findings are compared to modern approaches in the translation of advertisements in Latvia. The business-to-business part of the material (100 advertisements) is found in the journal “Latvijas Ɩrstu ŽurnƗls” of 1920s and 1930s. “Latvijas Ɩrstu ŽurnƗls” (LƖŽ) was a specialized journal for doctors publishing research articles in medicine. Business-to-consumer advertisements are taken from “Atpnjta”, a popular weekly magazine with a broad target audience, and periodicals “Kurzemes VƗrds” and “RƯts” of the same period. The business-to-consumer part of the material (100 advertisements) includes adverts for health-care consumer goods—hygiene products and drugs. According to Ira Torresi, the “trans-linguistic”, “trans-cultural”, “transmarket” transfer of advertisements in the 21st century takes place in the form of translation, adaptation, localization and trans-creation (Torresi 2010: 4). She applies the term “translation” in its narrow sense to written transfer of concepts from the source into the target language (ibid.). Adaptation is considered to be communicative translation: the text and/or picture are changed semantically, pragmatically and semiotically (Jettmarová 2004: 659). Localization is used similarly to adaptation,

Translator’s Role in Advertisement Translation in Latvia

83

mainly referring to advertisements, websites and software (Torresi 2010:4). Trans-creation is sometimes considered one of the results of adaptation and called rewriting (see, for example, Jettmarová 2004: 659). New creation, also applied to advertisement transfer, takes place in production of a new advertisement according to the brief; thus, it falls outside the scope of what is traditionally viewed as translation. However, translation in its broad sense can be applied to all aspects considered (Torresi 2010: 4–5). Considering the role of translator, the paper focuses on the forms of translation applied in the 1920s and 1930s with an aim to find the ones used most often and determine the consequences of their application to the development of Latvian.

2. Business-to-Business Advertisement Translation A translator needs to have a birds-eye view of the advertisement in the cultural context, simultaneously seeing the situational context (the media, the closest environment in which it will function) and the necessary linguistic solutions for the advertisement to be noticed, perceived and to cause a desired action by the consumer. This chapter considers how this principle is observed in translated business-to-business advertisements in the period under research. The journal “Latvijas Ɩrstu ŽurnƗls” contains non-translated advertisements in German (for instance, an advert for Philips x-ray machine (LƖŽ 1929, No. 5/6)). Non-translation of them is determined by the situation: the journal has Latvian articles next to research publications in German and Russian that set the context for advertisements in foreign languages. Advertisements for experts contain non-translated elements: trademarks, brands. For instance, the headline of an advertisement for insulin AB produced in England consists of its brand name “Insulin AB”. Under the headline, a logo of the drug is placed together with a subtitle that serves as a caption to the logo and reads, “Brand” (the word is retained in English) (LƖŽ 1929, No. 9/10). The word “brand” has been used with this meaning in English only from the 1920s (OED). However, already in 1929, the meaning of “brand” in this advertisement—even non-translated—is understood by the Latvian doctors because of their knowledge of German, the language of science in Latvia until the second half of the 19th century. Both in English and in German, the noun “brand” initially denoted fire. However, by the middle of the 16th century, the word was used to denote a mark burnt by a hot iron, at the same time in High German dialect “brandmarken” similarly obtained the meaning “to burn a mark” (Kluge

84

Chapter Four

1891: 40). Non-translation as a strategy in advertisement transfer in this case has a cultural and historical reason. In general, translations that contain non-translated lexis are broadly used in advertisements for businesses and experts, for example, “Universal-uzliekama-Kamera “MIFLEX” (literally, Universal [retention of a non-adapted foreign element]-attachable-Camera “MIFLEX”) in an advertisement for ZEISS microscopes (LƖŽ 1939, No. 1/2)). The component “universal” in the attributive chain is retained in a non-translated form, whereas the rest of the chain contains translated words. The lack of a set standard in the language caused difficulty for translators to find appropriate Latvian forms even for internationalisms. Hyphenated attributive chains that in modern Latvian are viewed as a manifestation of the influence of English were used often in the 20s and 30s of the last century. Term synonymy is widespread. That points to term creation as a form of an active language development. Translators have a role in it. An advertisement for INJECTA syringes (LƖŽ 1939, No. 1/2) has several terms denoting the concept in Latvian: “kanƯle”/“kanƯla”/“injekciju adata”. Usage of them is determined by term synonymy in the source text: in German, both terms, “Kanüle” and “Injektionsnadel”, are used to denote a syringe. Modern Latvian has both “injekciju adata” and “kanƯle” with a variant “kanula” with differences in distribution (“injekciju adata” for performing injections in general, “kanƯle” for laparoscopic cannula (MƗjas Ɩrsts)). For denoting fish oil in the journal “Latvijas Ɩrstu ŽurnƗls” of 1929 (LƖŽ 1929, No. 5/6: 532), both the Germanism “trƗna” and a compound, “medicintrƗna”, are used, both derived from German “Tran”: fish oil. Internationalisms occur often: “franco” from Italian “porto franco” — freightage paid by recipient; “grƗtis” from Latin “grƗtƯs”, free of charge (LƖŽ 1929 No. 5/6: 532). The internationalisms in this case are used to raise the addressee’s interest in the product; retaining them in the translation is important due to the informative and pragmatic function they perform. Good language for advertising draws on the best examples of language culture, adding to the language new lexis that is absorbed into advertising at a particularly high rate. For instance, advertisements for medicines have many Germanisms: “roboranss” (for roborans), “tonikums” (for tonic) and others. At a time when German influence on the Latvian language was considerable, the presence of Germanisms in translations is widespread. The responsibility of preserving language culture in the Latvian language of advertising lies with the translator. Word-for-word translation of advertisements inevitably results in direct transfer of source language

Translator’s Role in Advertisement Translation in Latvia

85

sentence constructions that, from advertisements, enter other spheres of language use: “Šis darbs ir iznƗcis brošuras formƗ zem nosaukuma [...]” (LƖŽ 1929, No. 5/6) (from German “Diese Studie ist als Broschüre unter dem Titel”—“under the title”); “ŠƯs A. B. InsulƯna priekšrocƯbas atkarƗjas no tam, ka [...]” (LƖŽ 1929, No. 9/10) (from German “Diese A. B. Insulin Vorteile hängen davon ab”). Translated business-to-business advertisements of the time demonstrate the beginning of the trend of adapting them to the receiving culture. The significance of adaptation of advertisements is two-fold: it enhances their impact on consumers and it contributes to the quality of the Latvian language of translations. Business-to-business advertisements of the 1920s and 1930s in many cases contain adapted elements. Proper noun transfer overwhelmingly is a mixture of non-translation, transliteration and transcription (e.g. personal names like “profesors E. Poǎllsons” (LƖŽ 1929, No. 5/6: 532) contain elements of other languages: letter “ǎ”, double consonant “ll” that are not used in Latvian spelling. However, Latvian ending “-s” is added to the proper noun). New terms are coined. For instance, together with a widely used “angina pectoris” (LƖŽ 1939, No. 1/2) (more often referred to as “stenokardija” in modern Latvian), one finds new terms such as “tabakas angina” (LƖŽ 1939, No. 1/2), tobacco angina, a term introduced by French cardiologist Henri Huchard in 1899 to describe tobacco induced paroxysms of angina (Huchard 1899–1903). Some instances of adaptation, however, do not mean that the advertisements are fully adapted. Names of modern diseases undergoing clinical studies are retained (see “tabakas angina” above), thus loading them with pragmatic meaning. Advertisements have term variants—for example “asins circulacija” (LƖŽ 1939, No. 1/2) and “asiƼu cirkulƗcija” (LƖŽ 1939, No. 3/4) for blood circulation, which proves the role of a translator in the development and application of terminology. Globalization is usually described as a peculiarity of the 21st century. However, the move toward globalization can be traced down to translated advertisements of the 1920s and 1930s. Foreign producers offer their goods in different countries. Their advertisements are translated into the languages of these countries. The translations are kept in the producers’ offices with notes in the margins that indicate the target language. For instance, the right lower corner of the advertisement for Swiss product “Phytin” holds the indication of the target language in German—“Lett” (Latvian) (LƖŽ 1939, No. 5/6: 208) (Fig. 2-1).

86

Chapter Four

Fig. 2-1: LƖŽ 1939, No. 5/6

Moreover, glocalization, a modern approach when product values are adjusted to the specificity of a local market (a blend from “global” and “local”) (see Adab 2000: 224), can be found in the advertisements of the 1920s and 1930s. Local associations produced by the brands are employed: “CIBA” is the name of a Swiss company, an acronym from “Gesellschaft für Chemische Industrie in Basel”. It is written in capital letters at the beginning of an advertisement for “Phytin”. Further in the translated text it is spelt with an initial capital “C” using small letters in the remaining part of the word, thus causing associations with the Latvian word “ciba”, that, according to the dictionary of the Latvian language by K. MƯlenbahs un J. EndzelƯns, had two meanings at the time: a hen and a container (Mülenbachs 1923: 378–79). The translator’s role in such localizations cannot be underestimated. A recognized trend in the development of Latvian of the discussed period is the coinage of short equivalents for longer words, the shorter ones often being poetic. The material contains opposite cases as well, where shorter nouns are replaced by longer equivalents, thus causing term variation. For instance, “deva” for “dose”, Germ. “Dose”, in 1929 (LƖŽ

Translator’s Role in Advertisement Translation in Latvia

87

1929, No. 9/10) has an equivalent term “devums” in 1939 (LƖŽ 1939, No. 1/2), possibly a derivative of the verb “dƝvƗt” (to offer) (the verb recorded in Mülenbachs 1923). It seems that a translator in 1939 has chosen to persuade the reader with a longer, more impressive term in the text. The text states that the therapeutic effect of the drug is better and achieved in a short time if large doses are used for the treatment: “Terapija lieliem devumiem ƯsƗ laikƗ garantƝ maksimalu efektu un optimalu panesamƯbu.” (advertisement for ULIRON, LƖŽ 1939, 1/2) Non-translated fragments are repeated in a translated version to serve a specialist readership both in Latin, “Liquor ferri albuminati Grüning”, and in Latvian, “Dzelzs albuminats Grüning”, providing the name of the drug to be used among doctors and for patients (LƖŽ 1939, No. 1/2) (Fig. 2-2). Long, professionally translated descriptions that contain detailed specifications of the drug serve as a pragmatic tool for a specialist audience (Fig. 2-2).

Fig. 2-2: LƖŽ 1939, No. 1/2

Texts are predominantly written in a business-like manner, increasing their reliability for the audience. However, expressive elements are used as well, bringing spoken language elements (for instance, exclamations) into

88

Chapter Four

advertisements and adapting them to the way doctors would speak to the patients: “Aha! Sirds priekšiƼas vibrƗcija! Arrhythmia perpetua! TƗ tad kƗ pie visiem koordinƗcijas traucƝjumiem CADECHOLU” (literally, “Aha! Vibration in the heart! Well, like in all cases of coordination disorders—[I prescribe] Cadechol”) (LƖŽ 1929, No 7/8) (Fig. 2-3).

Fig. 2-3: LƖŽ 1929, No. 7/8

Adaptation is a prevailing approach in the translation of advertisements for professionals; however, an opposite trend, from adaptation to nontranslation, is noted as well. For example, the German product “Helpin” has almost identical advertisements in 1929 and 1939, though the representative of the company in Latvia has changed. The name of the brand is adapted to Latvian conventions by adding the ending “-s” in 1929—HELPINS” (LƖŽ 1929, No. 1/2)—but it is used without adaptation in 1939—“HELPIN” (LƖŽ 1939, No. 1/2). Similarly, the name of the company is translated in the same advertisement from 1929—“ƶƯmiska fabrika Grünau” (LƖŽ 1929, No. 1/2) —but it is not translated in 1939— “Chemische Fabrik Grünau” (LƖŽ 1939, No. 1/2). (The third difference between the two advertisements is the statement of Helpin’s excellence

Translator’s Role in Advertisement Translation in Latvia

89

over arsenic in 1929, which is omitted in the advertisement from 1939.) The increasing number of foreign brands (“LACARNOL”, “PADUTIN”, “INSULIN”, “DAVEGAN”, “ULIRON”) has influenced the creation of local brand names. They tend to copy the same pattern and deliberately stand out as foreign in the Latvian original advertisements: “Rektali: Digitotal tapiƼas” (LƖŽ 1939, No. 3/4). Thus, the doctors are persuaded that the quality of the drug is as good as that of the foreign brands. However, in the example above, a slight dissonance with a Latvian term for suppositories is caused: “Digitotal tapiƼas”, where a diminutive ending “-iƼas” is used (literally, “a small peg”). Similarly, the influx of foreign non-adapted brands causes a change in the way modern Latvian brands are used: for instance, the non-standard “Laima konfektes” instead of the standard Latvian “Laimas konfektes” in 2013. Compared to translated business-to-business advertisements, original Latvian business-to-business advertisements of the 1920s and 1930s make more use of testimonials by experts. The language of testimonials is closer to the way doctors speak. Such advertisements not only persuade doctors, but due to the clarity of the professional language, can be used by doctors as persuasive quotes for their patients. Original advertisements show a larger variety of language means and use Latvian lexis more. Persuasive clarity and quality of the language in the original business-to-business advertisements of 1920s and 1930s could have been a good reason for using them as parallel texts by translators. To sum up the findings about business-to-business advertisements in medicine from the 1920s and 1930s—they contain all the elements of modern advertisements except a slogan, they demonstrate a smaller variety of advertising methods compared to original advertising as they do not contain testimonials, a strong persuasive tool in original Latvian advertisements of the time. A growing trend to use adaptation is observed; however, an opposite trend in brand names, foreignization of the Latvian brands should be noted. No instances of new creation were found. Translation causes large terminological variation in the considered period.

3. Business-to-Consumer Advertisement Translation Business-to-consumer advertisements of the 1920s and 1930s are mainly adaptations. On a phonetic level, brands are even transcribed for Latvian users in order to ensure correct pronunciation: “Parfimerija ‘Vigny’ (Vinji) ParizƝ” (Perfumery Vigny in Paris) (Atpuhta 1929, No. 246: 18). Phonetic adaptation of that kind is not used in modern Latvian advertising translation; however, it is reported as a tool in Italian

90

Chapter Four

advertising where brands are sometimes registered separately in a transcribed version (Torresi 2010: 21–22). Adaptation of lexis for users is wide-spread: for instance, “MƗgas slimniekiem ieteicams Ưstais Barcellas mƗgas pulveris, ar augstu gremošanas spƝku.” (Literally, “For stomach patients, the genuine Barcella stomach powder with great digestive force is advisable”) (Atpuhta 1929, No. 247: 29). The noun “mƗga” (stomach) from German “Magen” is used for the advertisement to address a wider audience. “MƗga”was used in Latvian of the 1920s and 1930s more often than the more literal “kuƼƧis” that is used in specialized literature and occasionally in advertising, for example, in an advertisement for the mineral water “Franz-Josef” that is advised for improving digestion in patients suffering from the influenza (RƯts 1937, No. 354: 3). However, people are less familiar with the noun “kuƼƧis”, as even in 1941 in an announcement encouraging farmers to supply chicken for hospitals it is used by providing an equivalent, “mƗga”, in parentheses: “kuƼƧis (mƗga)” (AicinƗjums putnkopjiem 1941). Adaptation extends even to brand translation in the 1920s and 1930s. “Enkura-Pain-Expellers” (Atpuhta 1929, No. 253: 24) from German brand “Anker-Pain-Expeller”, which is adapted in English as “Anchor-PainExpeller”, is an example of a translated brand that became very popular in Europe and in the USA at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century. The translation of the brand name might have been one of the prerequisites for its success, as doctors now consider that Dr. Richter’s “Anchor-Pain-Expeller”, which was promoted as an excellent “remedy for backache, rheumatism and neuralgia, was probably turpentine.” (Botting 1999) Adaptation by adding Latvian endings to foreign brands, declension of them according to the Latvian language rules (“Aspirina tabletes”, “Barcellas mƗgas pulveris”, etc.) caused their gradual assimilation into the Latvian socio-linguistic context. That led to the need to protect the brands from forgeries. Bayer Aspirin, for example, faced a lot of competition in the world. Latvian advertisements for Bayer Aspirin also put an emphasis on how to be able to recognize a genuine Bayer Aspirin and tell apart fabrications: “Firmas Bayer marka krustveidƯgƗ zƯmƝjumƗ un sarkan-baltasarkana bandrole uz katra oriƧinƗla iesaiƼojuma apliecina viƼa pareizƯbu un sargƗ no viltojumiem.” (Atpuhta 1929, No. 235: 21) The translation alone would not have succeeded in describing the brand (literally, “A cross-like drawing of the company Bayer brand and a red-white and red banderole on each original packaging prove its genuine nature and protect against fabrications.”) The drawing of the brand in the advertisement compensates for the information loss in the translation, and a hand with pointing finger on the picture adds to the emotional load of the

Translator’s Role in Advertisement Translation in Latvia

91

advertisement (Fig. 3-1).

Fig. 3-1: Atpuhta 1929, No. 235: 21

Making an impact by “science” is a notable tool among lexical means in the translated business-to-consumer advertisements of the time. Terms such as names of diseases, sometimes with their explanations (“zobƝdis” (“kariess” in modern Latvian, tooth decay), “alveolas pioreja—zoba gultnes pnjžƼošana” (in modern Latvian, “alveolƗrƗ pioreja”, parodontosis), names of bacteria causing the diseases (“zobu spiroheta” (oral spirochete), “kokki” (cocci)) add to the pragmatic effect, for instance, in a translated advertisement for the Chlorodont toothbrush under the title “SevišƷi neglƯta zobu apsƝrƝjuma krƗsa ir pƯpƝtƗjiem” (“The ugliest color of plaque

92

Chapter Four

is found in smokers”), where the word “pƯpƝtƗji”, smokers, is underlined (Atpuhta 1929, No. 233, back cover). Thus, advertisements perform an educational function as well. In terms of the cohesion of translated advertisements for consumers, they often contain composite sentences, include several bullet-points that describe the reasons why the product should be purchased, or, in the considered Chlorodont toothbrush advertisement (Atpuhta 1929, No. 233, back cover)—the impact of smoking on one’s teeth. On the textual level, translated advertisements in Latvia demonstrate the popularity of testimonials that is noted in American advertising of the same period (Botting 1999). Testimonials by German consumers are preserved in the translated texts for greater reliability. The text may contain a note that the original of the quoted letter is preserved by the company’s notary (Atpuhta 1929, No. 245: back cover). The text of the testimonial can serve the audience both in Germany and in Latvia equally well: “Chlorodont-Mutesnjdens lietošana sevišƷi muti un rƯkli atsvaidzinƗ un piedod labu aromatu. Es pats personƯgi varu lepoties, ka pateicoties no jaunƯbas regulari piekoptai zobu kopšanai ar chlorodontu, vƝl vecuma gados esmu visu savu dabisko zobu Ưpašnieks, kas riekstu knaibƺu lietošanu man padara pilnƯgi nevajadzƯgu un zobu sƗpes manim ir pavisam nepazƯstams jƝdziens. Varburg Vestf. .... G. K.” (Application of Chlorodont Mouth wash makes mouth and throat particularly fresh and adds good aroma. I, personally, can be proud, that thanks to regular tooth care with chlorodont since I was young, even in my old age I am an owner of all my natural teeth, that makes a nutcracker a completely futile device for me and tooth ache an unknown concept).

Extralinguistically, pictures in translated advertisements can take on not only informative, but also pragmatic functions (see the example of the advertisement for Bayer Aspirin above). More frequent additions of persuasive pictures are found in advertisements for cosmetic products: the company “Peruin” places advertisements with drawings that show the effect of an advertised product using the “before and after” technique. They reinforce the linguistic message of the text in another semiotic system. In translated advertisements for consumer health care products, pictures are adapted occasionally by changing them to suit the target audience. For instance, two advertisements for Nivea toothpaste in two different publications, the magazine “Atpnjta” for women residing in towns (Atpnjta 1936, No. 602: 2) and “Kurzemes VƗrds” for women in Kurzeme region (Kurzemes VƗrds 1936, No. 148: 5), have the same headline.

Translator’s Role in Advertisement Translation in Latvia

93

However, the text and the picture have been changed. The woman in the advertisement from “Kurzemes VƗrds” is dressed in a folk costume of Kurzeme region, while the advertisement in the magazine “Atpnjta” features the smile showing bright white teeth (see Loþmele 2011: 52). The text of the Nivea toothpaste advertisement is rewritten for two different audiences. For the Kurzeme region audience, the text underscores the taste, the quality of ingredients of Nivea toothpaste and the outcome— healthy, strong, white teeth (Kurzemes VƗrds 1936, No. 148: 5). For the audience of “Atpnjta”, a longer text is offered with reference to the popularity of the toothpaste among ladies and children; it uses epithets like “pƝrƺu spožums” (pearl brightness), “brƯƼišƷƯgi aromƗtiska garša” (wonderfully aromatic taste), and refers to the qualities that women appreciate: preciousness of tooth enamel, as well as protection against tartar and strengthening of gums that the Nivea toothpaste provides (Atpnjta 1936, No. 602: 2). Translated advertisements occasionally contain errors—missing endings (for instance, the advertisement for Aspirin in Atpuhta 1929, No. 252: 29). However, such missing endings might be a deliberate omission of final letters in order to achieve a required format for the text, as words were abbreviated quite freely at the time. Original advertisements for drugs are less frequent. They often have the form of one sentence announcements: “Mag. A. SEMMEƹA HAELEVITS ilggadƯgi izmƝƧinƗts, ƺoti labs, spƝcinošs un nervus stiprinošs lƯdzeklis slimniekiem un bƝrniem.” (HAELVIT by Mag. A. Semmel has been tested for many years, is a very good, restorative, nerve strengthening remedy for diseased and children.) (Atpuhta 1929, No. 251: 30; No. 248: 31). They contain a variety of lexical and stylistic means. An advertisement for the drug “Latkola” (Atpnjta 1935, No. 581: 22) starts with a headline that contains a question outlining the problem, “Nogurums?” (Fatigue?), and immediately offers a solution in the form of an elliptical sentence, “... tad LATKOLA”. The text explains the efficacy of the drug by reiterating its brand name, the main problems it averts, and by means of antithesis introduces the benefits it provides. The picture contains informative and emotional components that are reiterated in the headline and in the text (Fig. 3-2).

94

Chapter Four

Fig. 3-2: Atpnjta 1935, No. 581: 22

In general, language in the original Latvian advertisements is richer in the stylistic devices used; however, some funny mistakes occur in the original ones more often. An advertisement for a cosmetologist’s service, due to an incorrect subordination reads, literally: “Dandruff disappears, hair grows even on egg-heads if they are taken care of.” (“Blaugznas znjd, mati ataug arƯ plikgalvjiem, ja tos kopj.”) (Atpnjta 1937, No. 648: 18). To sum up, translated business-to-consumer advertisements in the 1920s and 1930s are mainly adaptations; non-translation of advertisements is not used. Advertisements show instances of adaptation of lexis to the way consumers speak. Source text testimonies are preserved in translations to

Translator’s Role in Advertisement Translation in Latvia

95

provide authenticity and reliability, great culture discrepancies are not observed. The variety of expressive means is smaller than in original advertising. Some traits of rewriting are noted; however, it is not extensively used in advertisements for medical products. Interaction of different semiotic systems has been observed, the picture having informative, and sometimes pragmatic, load.

4. Conclusion Translated business-to-business advertisements of the time demonstrate the beginning of the trend to adapt them to the receiving culture. The significance of the adaptation of advertisements is two-fold: it enhances their impact on consumers and contributes to the quality of the Latvian language used. However, an opposite trend, from adaptation to non-translation, can be noted as well. The increasing number of foreign brands has influenced the creation of local brand names: they tend to copy the same pattern and deliberately stand out as foreign in the Latvian original advertisements. The trend can be viewed as a lack of confidence in having one’s own, distinctly Latvian name for the product. Translation with non-translated lexis preserved, hyphenated attributive chains, internationalisms and Germanisms are broadly used in advertisements for businesses and experts. Term synonymy is widespread as a form of an active language development in which translators have a role. The responsibility of preserving language culture in the Latvian language of advertising lies with the translator. Poor word-for-word translations of advertisements result in direct transfer of source language sentence constructions that from advertisements enter other spheres of language use. Compared to translated business-to-business advertisements, the original Latvian business-to-business advertisements of the 1920s and 1930s make more use of testimonials by experts, show a larger variety of stylistic devices and use more Latvian lexis. The beginnings of globalization are traced in translated advertisements of the 1920s and 1930s. Business-to-consumer advertisements of the 1920s and 1930s are mainly adaptations. Adaptation extends even to brand translation. Adaptation by adding Latvian endings to foreign brands, declension of them according to the Latvian language rules causes their gradual assimilation into the Latvian socio-linguistic context. That led to the need to protect the brands from forgeries. Making an impact by “science” is a notable tool among lexical means in the translated business-to-consumer advertisements of the time. Translated advertisements for consumers often

96

Chapter Four

contain composite sentences and/or several bullet-points describing the reasons why the product should be purchased. On the textual level, translated advertisements in Latvia demonstrate the popularity of testimonials. Pictures in translated advertisements, besides informative function, can perform a pragmatic function. In general, language in the original Latvian advertisements is richer in the stylistic resources used; however, some funny mistakes occur in the original ones more often. Translators have contributed to the creation of the observed wide variety of pragmatic means in the Latvian language of advertising.

References Adab, Beverly. 2000. “Towards a More Systematic Approach to the Translation of Advertising Texts.” In Investigating Translation, edited by Allison Beeby, Doris Ensinger, and Marisa Presas, 223–234. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. —. 2001. “The Translation of Advertising: A Framework for Evaluation.” Babel 47 (2): 133–157. “AicinƗjums putnkopjiem.” 1941. Kurzemes VƗrds 117: 6. Accessed July 11, 2013. http://periodika.lv/periodika2-viewer/view/index-dev.html# panel:pp|issue:/p_001_kuva1941n117|article:DIVL594|query:kuƼƧis|is sueType:P. Botting, Leon. 1999. Magic Elixir could “Cure” All. Accessed June 12, 2013. http://www.qconline.com/progress99/4remedy.shtml. Cronin, Michael. 2003. Translation and Globalisation. London, New York: Routledge. Fuentes Luque, Adrián, and Dorothy Kelly. 2000. “The Translator as Mediator in Advertising Spanish Products in English-Speaking Markets.” In Investigating Translation, edited by Allison Beeby, Doris Ensinger, and Marisa Presas, 235–242. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Huchard, Henri. 1899–1903. Traite Clinique des Maladies du Coeur et de l'Aorte, 3rd ed, Vol. 3. Paris: Octave Doin. Jettmarová, Zusana. 2004. “Linguistic Aspects of the Translation of Advertisements.” In Translation. An International Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, edited by Harald Kittel, Armin Paul Frank, Norbert Greiner, Werner Koller, José Lambert, and Fritz Paul, 655– 662. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter. Kluge, Friedrich. 1891. An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language. London: George Bell & Sons. Accessed July 2, 2013.

Translator’s Role in Advertisement Translation in Latvia

97

https://ia700504.us.archive.org/20/items/etymologicaldict00kluguoft/et ymologicaldict00kluguoft.pdf. Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. 1996/2006. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London, New York: Routledge. Loþmele. Gunta. 2011. “Development of the Latvian Interwar Period Translated and Original Advertising.” In Contrastive and Applied Linguistics. Research Papers, XI, edited by Andrejs Vesibergs, 46–52. Riga: Faculty of Humanities, Department of Contrastive Linguistics, Translation and Interpreting. MƗjas Ɩrsts, 2nd Part, Group 12, Card 79. Accessed June 12, 2013. http://issuu.com/avastgo/docs/majas_arsts-2. Millán-Varela, Carmen. 2004. “Exploring Advertising in a Global Context: Food for Thought.” The Translator 10 (2): 245–267. Mülenbachs, KƗrlis. 1923. K. Mülenbacha Latviešu valodas vƗrdnƯca, 1.burtnƯca, edited by JƗnis EndzelƯns. RƯga: IzglƯtƯbas ministrija. OED – Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed June 12, 2013. http://www.etymonline.com. Torresi, Ira. 2010. Translating Promotional and Advertising Texts. Manchester, Kinderhook: St Jerome Publishing. —. 2011. “Advertising.” In Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, edited by Mona Baker, and Gabriela Saldanha, 6–10. London, New York: Routledge.

CHAPTER FIVE TRANSLATION BETWEEN TYPOLOGICALLY DIFFERENT LANGUAGES OR THE UTOPIA OF EQUIVALENCE: 1 VS 1.ROUND, 1.LONG OR 1.NASTY BEING ANTONIA CRISTINOI UNIVERSITY OF ORLEANS, FRANCE

Abstract This paper explores the possibility of translation equivalence between languages that are typologically and culturally remote, dwelling on examples from Palikur, an Arawakan language spoken in French Guyana and Brazil. Its main aim is to analyze translation problems that arise when translating with an anthropological/ethnographical purpose, a context in which the translator must not only permanently bear in mind but also show the particular ways in which a language mirrors a view of the world (as language itself is the translation of culture into words). In order to do so, the paper will examine the presence of cultural elements in Palikur grammar, lexicon and discourse and their influence on equivalence when translating into languages like French or English. Keywords: Anthropological translation, classifiers, equivalence, language documentation.

1. Introduction Ever since St. Augustine, the concept of equivalence has been at the heart of theoretical debates about translation. While perfect equivalence (lexical, grammatical, pragmatic, discursive and cultural) is rather difficult to reach, even for languages that are typologically close, it becomes a real

100

Chapter Five

challenge between languages that are very different both typologically and culturally. The aim of this paper is to tackle the main translation problems that arise when translating between Palikur (an Arawakan language spoken in French Guyana and Brazil) and French/English in a context in which translation is both a language documentation and a culture-preserving tool, and to explore the limits and possibilities of equivalence from a particular angle, namely translation with an anthropological/ethnographical purpose. All the examples commented on below come from my field work in French Guyana, for a Palikur–French dictionary. The cornerstone of this discussion is the idea that language itself is a form of translation, the translation of culture into words, and, bearing this in mind, I shall examine the presence of cultural elements in Palikur grammar, lexicon and discourse and their influence on equivalence.

1.1. Palikur People and Language The Palikur are American Indian people who live in French Guyana and Brazil. Launay (2003) counts about 2000 speakers but the population is constantly growing. Even if their language and culture were severely endangered in French Guyana until a few years ago, due to factors like compulsory schooling in French and language contact in a really multilingual environment (where French, Creole, Brazilian Portuguese and Palikur are spoken), we can now see more and more signs of revival, both linguistic and cultural. Palikur people live mostly on natural resources from the forest (exploiting palm trees like the açaí palm tree Euterpe oleracea or growing crops, mainly cassava, through slash-and-burn techniques), fishing, hunting and, more recently, financial aids from the French and Brazilian governments. Palikur language belongs to the Arawakan family, quite widely spread in South America. Its grammar is extremely complex and possesses, among other interesting features, one of the most sophisticated classifier systems in the world (Aikhenvald & Green 1998) and a very rich morphology. The grammatical issue that I am going to address here to illustrate the relation between language and culture is numeral classifiers.

2. Grammatical Differences and Equivalence: Translating Palikur Numerals The presence of numeral classifiers in Palikur illustrates one of the most important grammatical challenges that a translator has to face when

Translation between Typologically Different Languages

101

translating between typologically different languages: the absence of symmetry in terms of grammatical categories, i.e., the absence/presence of a particular category in one language and its presence/absence in another language. Before going deeper into classifier translation, let us remember where classifiers stand from a linguistic point of view. Along with genders (also present in Palikur) and noun classes, classifiers are linguistic mechanisms which allow noun classification, i.e.: “The division of the nouns of a language into a limited number of classes with class membership formally taking effect on the noun itself and/or beyond the nouns in at least certain contexts.” (Wurzel 1986:77)

Classifiers “are generally defined as morphemes that classify and quantify nouns according to semantic criteria.” (Senft 2000: 21) and, most importantly, “the classifier that refers to a nominal referent may individuate the noun and then highlight a special (shade of) meaning which then extracts one special referent out of the sum of possible extralinguistic referents the noun can refer to if it is not specified by this classifier.” (Senft 2000: 36)

In conclusion, one of the most important roles of classifiers is to bring supplementary, extra-linguistic information about the referent of the noun they qualify. In addition to indicating quantity, numeral classifiers will provide information about the way people relate to or conceive an object, i.e., information about the way they see the world. Classifiers are thus a perfect tool for studying the way culture is encapsulated in language. The numeral classifiers I chose to study here are the classifiers corresponding to the English numeral one. From one speaker to another, we can record between 12 and 20 forms for one. Let us see some of these classifiers and the sets of nouns they can apply to: x x x x x x

paha—house, egg, nest, grave, mosquito net, hammock, basket pahak —paper, leaf, table, mushrooms, plate, linen, spoon pahakti —tree, plant, thorn pahamku —knife, axe, needle, nail, boat, car pahat—bottle, bow, fishing rod, rifle, banana, wave pahavu—woman, baby, bird, butterfly, fish, turtle, some insects, shrimp x pahavwi—man, mammals, evil spirits, flies, scorpion, moon, snake.

102

Chapter Five

If we look closely at these classifiers, we can (more or less easily) see the semantic core of each group of nouns (and some characteristics of the noun’s referent) associated with a given classifier: paha goes with round objects or conceived as such, which can be used as a shelter for other things; pahak applies to flat objects; pahakti is used with plants or plant parts; pahamku with tools; pahat is for long objects; pahavu for women, babies and nice, non-dangerous or edible animals (which is the contrary to Lakoff’s “fire, women and dangerous things” from Dyrbal); and finally pahavwi is used for men, mammals, a series of nasty dangerous beings and mythical creatures. But, interestingly enough, some nouns seem weirdly classified: the spoon goes with flat things; the banana with the waves and the rifle; the boat is in the tool class; and the moon is in man’s one. For the spoon and the banana, the explanation is simple: what counts is the dominant geometrical dimension (a contemporary spoon is flattish, and the traditional one, which is no longer used, is actually round and flat and a banana is a rather long fruit). As for the boat, one must know that Palikur people live near the rivers and the boat is their main means of transport (the word for a boat, umNJ, is also used to designate a car nowadays). The moon is a mythical male character. The conclusion we can draw from this is that the classifier system in Palikur encodes a particular way of seeing the world in which: x geometry or geometrical dimensions of objects (flat, long, round, etc.) play an important role x the way people exploit their environment and their relation to objects is present in language (tool class) x women are positively considered, which is actually the case in the real world as they play an important role in the society. Still, one more thing can be added on the way classifiers function in this language: the use of a given classifier with a given word is not compulsory, different classifiers can be used for the same noun, the result being either a change of referent or a change in the relation the speaker has with this referent (a thorn can be used as a nail or a needle and thus go in the tool class). Example (1): pahakti ã—one (plant) tree = a tree in the forest, alive, in normal conditions;

Translation between Typologically Different Languages

103

pahat ã—one (long object) tree = a tree which has been cut, in a horizontal position. Where does this lead us as far as translation is concerned? First of all, the translator is faced with a theoretical challenge, the presence in one language of a grammatical category that does not exist in the other one. If we look closely at French and English, we can notice that they have, for a given set of nouns, some structures that look like classifiers as far as number is concerned: a piece of information, une paire de lunettes, etc., but unfortunately that does not really help the translator’s case. He/she is left at best with two forms corresponding to the numeral one in English (one and a) and two forms in French (un/une). If in English the use of one instead of a can signify something (He cut one tree. [and not more] vs He cut a tree.), in French the use of only one of the two forms is mandatory and depends on grammatical gender. Textually speaking, we have no problem when translating from Palikur into English or French, as we can easily render the idea of one item in both languages. Example (2): pahakti puduku —a thorn —une épine pahavu tinõ —a woman —une femme, As Jakobson noted, “languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.” (Jakobson 1959 in Venuti 2000: 116)

Thus, if the translator does what he or she normally does, i.e., translates a text, or a piece of discourse with a rather domesticating approach (in Venuti’s terms), the meaning of the text is not altered at all and the translation is rather simple. However, if in a particular piece of discourse, a noun is used with a different classifier from the habitual one, like in Example (1) above, then the translator has to add some information that would account for the classifier change, in our case “cut/which has been cut”, which both in English and in French would result in a lexeme change: ã, which would normally translate as tree or arbre, will be translated as wood or bois, two words that both need a classifier when counted: a piece of wood or un bout de bois. The problem changes when translating from French/English into Palikur as, in order to choose the right classifier, some world/situation knowledge is absolutely required. In conclusion, one can thus rightly say that at a discursive level, equivalence is possible, even between languages with radically different

104

Chapter Five

grammatical structures, as the meaning of the translated text is not altered at all. However, all the cultural information and the world perception encoded in language will be irremediably lost, an issue that I shall discuss later on.

3. Lexical Issues: Polysemy and Specialized Wor(l)ds If the grammars of two or more languages can be structurally very close, almost identical, this is absolutely impossible as far as the lexicon is concerned, as even languages situated in a very similar cultural and geographical environment will not share the same vocabulary. Moreover, even if two countries share the same language (see, for example, Germany and Austria), the lexicon will not be exactly the same for the two of them. The most accessible lexical issue in a situation like the one that I am describing here (languages that are very different typologically and situated in radically different geographical and cultural contexts) would be the absence/presence of a series of culturally specific words in one language and their presence/absence in the other. However, theoretically speaking, these are not the most interesting cases and the issues addressed here will focus on: x polysemy in Palikur and more precisely cases in which polysemy encodes cultural information x series of words that can have an equivalent in English/French but which are “specialized” in a way that encodes information about a particular world perception. The first case to be studied is the polysemy of the word was that can mean: x a piece of land in the forest where the Palikur grow crops (especially cassava), translated into French as abattis, and into English as slash and burn crops x a palm tree in general (palmier in French) x an açaí palm tree (Euterpe oleracea), wassaï in French. The polysemy of this particular word is culturally relevant for different reasons. First, the slash and burn agriculture provides the major vegetal food source for the Palikur (cassava). Second, the açai palm tree is used both as food (the juice made from açai berries is highly appreciated) and as a medicinal plant. And palm trees in general are among the most

Translation between Typologically Different Languages

105

important vegetal resources in the Amazonian environment, used as food, medication and construction material. The main translation problem this situation leads to at a discourse level is ambiguity, which can be easily solved either by using the co-text or the global context or by morphology, as possessives can help disambiguate the term. Example (3): nuwasra —my land (where I grow crops) —mon abattis nuwasiy —my açai palm tree—mon (palmier) wassaï. Nevertheless, even if we can perfectly render textual meaning, we lose all the cultural implications of this kind of polysemy (the vital role that both concepts play in Palikur culture and life), and thus equivalence becomes impossible. The second interesting case study are specialized word series (with “specialized” not having here the technical meaning it usually has in English), which can be either derivative series (corresponding to English verbs like to wash, to clean, to cut or to adjectives like clean, empty, entire or even white) or series whose constitutive members are associated on the basis of a common core meaning (classifying prepositions like on, in etc.). In Palikur, the English verb to wash (laver in French) can be rendered by several words: x sukNJhavene—to wash the dishes, flat and round objects, boat x sukumbetene—to wash tissue objects, fruit in clusters, pieces of meat (grouped objects) x sukumtene—to wash the outside of round, square/cubic objects x sukumbohene —to wash flat squarish objects (table, knife) x sukuminene—to wash the outside part of cylindrical objects (bottle, bananas) x sukNJhekune—to wash the inside of hollow objects (bottle, box, fridge, house etc.). Once again, the world perception of the Palikur is encoded in language and their geometrical conception of the universe structures the lexicon. The translation difficulty associated with this phenomenon when translating from Palikur into English or French is that the object (not compulsory in Palikur as we can infer it from the context according to its shape) has to be named in the target languages. Semantic equivalence can thus be acquired either through lexical addition or through specific words

106

Chapter Five

having the same meaning but not the same cultural baggage. When translating from French/English into Palikur one has to know, for example, that as far as cleaning is concerned, a knife is conceived as a flat object (because the part of it that is usually cleaned would be the blade). However, in discourse all this geometric characterization of the world will be lost as there is no use (indeed, it would be even considered a perturbation for the reader) indicating for example the shape of a banana in languages like English or French. Palikur prepositions (which look very much like classifiers, actually) also illustrate a world view based on geometrical and tactile features (like hard, soft, liquid, etc.). Example (4): avew ã—on (vertical) tree amin ã—on (horizontal, long) tree. Example (5): ahakwa un—in (liquid) water avigku waik—in (long) river. In Example (4), the appropriate translation in English would be in a tree for the first case and on a tree for the second one, which actually illustrates the difference between the two meanings, and the same goes for French, where we find dans un arbre and sur un arbre, the use of the two prepositions in both languages implying that the position of the tree is vertical in one case and horizontal in the other one. Thus, equivalence can be achieved here merely on the lexical level, even though once again the information about the way people perceive their environment is lost, as the equivalent prepositions in English and French only indicate position but not how the object tree is perceived. Example (5) shows how the same position of an object (a boat, for example) can be expressed differently according to the point of view adopted. The translation, both in English and in French will not show the distinction, at least not at the prepositional level, as in English we shall find in the water, in the river and in French dans l’eau and dans la rivière. Nonetheless, at a higher level (clause or text) we can have equivalence in meaning.

Translation between Typologically Different Languages

107

4. Equivalence in Discourse Before going deeper into this subject, we need to clarify the meaning of discourse in this section. If in the previous sections discourse was used more in Saussure’s terms (as “parole”, i.e. language in use, opposed to “langue”, language as an abstract sign system), the term will be applied here not only to the text as a whole but also to the different strategies that people can use to build it. As Palikur is not exactly a written language (the only existing text is the Bible translated by American missionaries) what I will call a text or discourse in this context is actually a series of recordings of stories and myths. The comparison between an oral discourse and its written translation becomes somehow artificial because of the fundamentally different medium. What one can note, however, besides repetitions and hesitations, is the use of pronouns and anaphors that is quite different to the European, written one. Hence, as far as these aspects are concerned, the translator is faced with a tough choice: keeping the repetitions and the uncommon pronouns and thus creating a text that would be hard to read and unappealing to the reader, or rewriting the original so as to make its meaning more accessible to the target audience. In the first case, equivalence will be lost because the effect on the audience will definitely change and in the second, even if we manage to create the same effect (which in fact is highly unlikely) the text will be radically changed. One other example that would be worth studying as far as discourse is concerned is the use of spatial and geographical references in Palikur, but for the time being the discussion requires more field data than I can presently provide.

5. Conclusion To conclude, if one wants to know whether equivalence in translating between typologically different languages is possible or not, another essential question has to be answered first: Is translation the mirror of a world or the mirror of a text? In other words, what exactly does one translate and, even more than that, why and for whom or, in Vermeer’s terms, what is the skopos of translation? This question is particularly important in the context I am describing here as anthropological/ethnographical translation is quite different from “normal” translation.

108

Chapter Five

If the goal of the “normal” translator is to translate language in use and to communicate the message delivered by a text (either by domesticating or by foreignizing it), the aim of the translator/anthropologist is to go beyond speech, beyond discourse and translate language itself (“la langue” in Saussure’s terms), thus mirroring the way this particular language translates the world into words. Hence, even if languages have structurally different grammars and asymmetrical lexicons, the “normal” translator would still be able to find strategies for filling the gaps, which will help him/her re-code the meaning of a text and thus achieve semantic equivalence, as we could see in Sections 2 and 3, even if full textual equivalence is sometimes impossible (Section 4). Unfortunately, in this case almost all the underlying cultural elements specified above will be lost and cultural equivalence impossible to achieve. In anthropological/ethnographical translation (as an extreme form of foreignizing translation) language is an access gate to culture and in this context complete equivalence (semantic, textual and cultural) is impossible to achieve. Most of the times, the semantic coherence and the aesthetic dimension of the text will have to be sacrificed in favor of the culture-documenting aspect, which supposes strong and visible interventions of the translator on the original text, either through translations that seem “weird” to the average target reader or through the translator’s notes that constantly break the source text but provide the cultural information otherwise lost.

References Aikhenvald, Alexandra. 2000. Classifiers. A Typology of Noun Categorization Devices. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Aikhenvald, Alexandra, and Diana Green. 1998. “Palikur and the Typology of Classifiers.” Anthropological Linguistics 40 (3): 429–480. Comrie, Bernard. 1986. “Markedness, Grammar, People and the World.” In Markedness, edited by Fred R. Eckman, Edith Moravcsik, and Jessica R. Wirth, 85–106. New York: Plenum. Corbett, Greville. Gender. 1991. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. —. 2000. Number. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cristinoi, Antonia. 2003. “Comprendre et traduire: pour une translinguistique de l’inférence”. In Intercompréhension et inférences. Actes du Colloque Premières journées internationales sur l'intercompréhension européenne, edited by Eric Castagne, 117–134. Reims: Presses Universitaires de Reims.

Translation between Typologically Different Languages

109

—. 2005. “Aspects typologiques des problèmes de traduction”. In Comunicare profesionala si traductologie, Actes du colloque International Conference on Professional Communication and Translation Studies, 191–199. Timiúoara: Editura Politehnica. —. 2007. Analyse contrastive des indices morphosyntaxiques nominaux de genre et de nombre en vue d’une approche typologique de la traduction automatique. Applications sur le français, l’anglais et le roumain. Thèse de doctorat. France: Université d’Orléans. Green, Diana. 1994. “Palikúr Numerals.” Traduction de “O sistema numérico da língua Palikúr”. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi-CNPq 10 (2): 261–303. Belé: Universidade Federal do Pará. Grinevald, Colette. 2000. “A Morphosyntactic Typology of Classifiers.” In Systems of Nominal Classification, edited by Gunter Senft, 50–92. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jakobson, Roman. 2000. “On Linguistic Aspects of Translation.” In The Translation Studies Reader, edited by Lawrence Venuti, 113–118. New York: Routledge. Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal About the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Launey, Michel. 2003. Awna parikwaki: introduction à la langue palikur de Guyane et de l'Amapá. Paris: IRD. Venuti, Lawrence. 1995. The Translator's Invisibility. New York: Routledge. —. 2000. The Translation Studies Reader. New York: Routledge. Vermeer, Hans. 2000. “Skopos and Commission in Translational Action.” In The Translation Studies Reader, edited by Lawrence Venuti, 227–237. New York: Routledge.

CHAPTER SIX TRANSLATING EXAMPLES IN LINGUISTICS TEXTS ANNA DE MEO AND MARILISA VITALE UNIVERSITY OF NAPLES “L’ORIENTALE”, ITALY

Abstract This study tries to shed light on the role of examples in linguistics texts and on the problems related to their translation. In such a context, a verbal example is a metalinguistic sign that designates itself, and it is technically called an “autonym”. Although verbal examples play a fundamental role in linguistics texts, they seem to resist the translation process, and specialized translators frequently overlook them as well. An analysis has been conducted of three key linguistics texts of the 20th century, written in English and French, and on their translations in German and Italian, carried out by linguist-translators, in order to investigate whether any specific strategy has been applied to the transfer of examples from the source language to the target language. The results show that translators often underestimate the importance of identifying appropriate strategies for the rendering of autonyms in the target language, with the result of making linguistics texts opaque. Keywords: Autonym, linguistics text, metalinguistic function, translation of examples.

1. Introduction Specialized texts, strongly standardized ones in particular, such as scientific, regulatory or technical texts, but also moderately standardized ones, such as academic articles and textbooks, make large use of examples (Sabatini 1990, 1999), with different functions. Examples provide an

112

Chapter Six

explanation of a definition, an illustration of a description, support for a statement, verification of a hypothesis, etc., and they may assume different forms, e.g. figures, tables, graphs or verbal chunks. The information transmitted by examples in specialized texts is studied intently by readers, especially for technical documents, because they often contribute to the complete understanding of an argumentation as well as to the proper execution of a task (Paganelli, Mounier 2000). In linguistics texts verbal examples represent a particular exploitation of the metalinguistic function of the natural languages. The sentence “examples of herbivores include horses, deer and mice” may be used in a biology text to illustrate the classification of animals according to their feeding habits. It has a referential function and the words “horses”, “deer” and “mice” designate three common and well-known animal species. “Examples of plurals include horses, deer and mice” may be found in a grammar book to show the rules for forming plural in English. This sentence has a metalinguistic function and the three animal names designate the linguistic signs “horses”, “deer” and “mice”. This peculiar function has been called “autonymic function” and the corresponding linguistic sign is termed “autonym” (Rey-Debove 1978: 132).

2. Characteristics of Metalinguistic Examples While metalinguistic terms, such as phrase, subject, morpheme, are identifiable even if decontextualized, the conversion of a linguistic sign into an autonym can only be properly accomplished by contextualizing it in the act of speech and adapting it to the new function. A metalinguistic example or autonym is generally highlighted and separated from the rest of the text by visual markers (italics, quotation marks, punctuation). It may also be identified through different kinds of introductory sequences, such as (in all the reported examples, the introductory sequences will be underlined): x metalinguistic structures designating and naming the autonym The word farmer has an “agentive” suffix -er that performs the function of indicating the one that carries out a given activity, in this case that of farming (Sapir 1921: 83).

x elements having comparative function The element–ling is not so freely used, but its significance is obvious. It adds to the basic concept the notion of smallness (as also in gosling,

Translating Examples in Linguistics Texts

113

fledgling) or the somewhat related notion of “contemptible” (as in weakling, princeling, hireling) (Sapir 1921: 83).

x logonims (words for speech and communication acts) Time also is clearly felt as a relational concept; if it were not, we should be allowed to say the farmer killed-s to correspond to the farmer kill-s (Sapir 1921: 87).

Other than the metalinguistic terminology, it is impossible to create a dictionary of autonyms, since any linguistic sign can be converted into an autonym, regardless of the levels of analysis, grammaticality, morphosyntactic category, length, and even language. In fact, the metalinguistic example can be a single phoneme or a whole sentence, intentionally ungrammatical or invented for experimental purposes, and often written in a language other than that of the text. Autonyms often undergo the process of nominalization, regardless of their original morphosyntactic status. In addition, since the meaning of an autonym corresponds to the sign as a whole, some relations that normally hold in a language system are blocked. For example, with reference to the synonymy relation, two autonyms cannot be mutually substituted, since they designate two different referents only by naming two different signs (the so-called “blocage de la synonymie” (Authier-Revuz 2003: 79). As shown so far in this paper, the integration of autonyms from one language context to another can be quite challenging for the translator, so much so that they are either poorly translated or even overlooked. However, it is undeniable that autonyms play a fundamental role in linguistic discourse epistemology, thus, as suggested by Rey-Debove (2003: 37), experts need to make an extra effort to produce valid translations in order to achieve complete understanding of the nature of the autonymized signs (De Meo 2005).

3. The Study 3.1. The Corpus Since an inaccurate translation of linguistic examples can cause loss of textual transparency, with serious theoretical implications for the target reader, it is interesting to investigate whether any specific strategy has been applied to the translation of seminal twentieth-century books on linguistic thought.

114

Chapter Six

The present discussion will be based, therefore, on analysis of the Italian and German translations of the following three “key texts”: 1. Language by Edward Sapir (1921) 2. Language by Leonard Bloomfield (1935) 3. Éléments de linguistique générale by André Martinet (1961). The translators of the three analyzed volumes are all linguists. Sapir’s work was translated into German by Conrad P. Homberger (1961), and into Italian by Paolo Valesio (1969). Francesco Antinucci and Giorgio Raimondo Cardona edited the Italian version of Bloomfield’s work (1974), while the version in German was translated by Peter Ernst and Hans Christian Luschutzky (2001). Martinet’s work was translated into German by Anna Fuchs (1963) and into Italian by Giulio Lepschy.

3.2. The Analysis When facing the necessity of translating autonymized forms having metalinguistic functions, the translator may decide not to change them, but transfer them directly from the source text to the target one. This choice, which is apparently the most faithful to the original version, can determine text opacity; this is especially true when the examples require readers to have a high level of competence in the source language, sometimes in all its diatopic and/or diastratic varieties. Indeed, it is unlikely that a reader of the Italian version of Language by Bloomfield can share the opinion expressed by the American linguist on the supposed familiarity with the exemplified forms of English slang varieties: Gli esempi sono ben noti: guy ‘tizio’, gink, gazebo, gazook, bloke, bird per ‘uomo’, rod o gat per ‘pistola’, ecc. La forma di gergo può anche essere straniera, come loco ‘matto’, sabby ‘capire’, vamoose ‘andar via’ dallo spagnolo (Bloomfield 1974: 178).

In the original text, Bloomfield uses as autonyms several words belonging to marginal and poorly controlled spoken language varieties of English. He delimits these autonyms within the co-text through the use of italics and gives the meaning of the linguistic signs between quotation marks: Examples are familiar, such as guy, gink, gazebo, gazook, bloke, bird for ‘man,’ rod or gat for ‘pistol,’ and so on; the slang form may at the same time be foreign, as loco ‘crazy,’ sabby ‘understand,’ vamoose ‘go away,’

Translating Examples in Linguistics Texts

115

from Spanish (Bloomfield 1935: 154).

The Italian translators have interrupted the continuity of the autonyms sequence, separating guy from gink, gazebo, gazook, bloke, bird, and associating only the first sign to the meaning of ‘tizio’ (guy), while the remaining autonyms are referred to the generic ‘uomo’ (man). By contrast, the explanatory power of the autonymized forms chosen by Bloomfield for the ideal Anglo-American reader is kept in the German version, in which the following substitution strategy is applied: Beispiele sind wohlbekannt, wie Alter, Spezi, Type, Gauner für ‘Mann’, Kanone, Spritze für ‘Pistole’ usw.; die Slang-Form kann zugleich aus einer Fremdsprache kommen, wie logo ‘selbstverständlich’ aus dem Griechischen, super ‘sehr gut’ aus dem Lateinischen, cool aus dem Englischen (Bloomfield 2001: 199).

By keeping the meaning of “man” and “gun” unchanged, the German translators select slang German words, that are potentially well-known by the target reader. In the case of the three loan words from Spanish, a complete substitution of the examples was necessary, since it was not possible to find relationships in these two languages that were comparable to those chosen by Bloomfield. Contemporary German slang words (logo, super, cool) were used, which are etymologically related to classical languages, i.e. Greek and Latin, and to English. It is to be noted that there is non-indication of the meaning of the autonym cool, and this is probably due to the fact that the translators consider this word to be familiar to German readers. If the original texts use examples in languages different from the one in which the essay is written (e.g., German or French examples in an English text), the translation strategy of transfer can interfere with the correct interpretation of the argumentation. In Italian, for example, Bloomfield’s discussion on the inconsistencies that arise between the categorization of physical reality performed by the common lexicon and the categorization of science becomes opaque. This is probably due to the partial similarity of the signifiers, thus more easily understood by an English-speaking reader, whereas they remain unclear for the Italian reader: The whale is in German called a ‘fish’: Walfisch ['val-'fi³] and the bat a ‘mouse’: Fledermaus ['fle:der'maws] (Bloomfield 1935: 139-140). La balena, per la lingua tedesca, è un ‘pesce’: Walfisch ['val-'fi³], e il pipistrello è un ‘topo’: Fledermaus ['fle:der'maws] (Bloomfield 1974: 161).

116

Chapter Six

The phonetic transcription, given for the two German autonyms, is used in the original text to mark the similarity of the signifiers with the English forms, different in spelling but similar in pronunciation. The transfer strategy can lead to text opacity also when the translator does not properly integrate the examples, which provide, together with the autonym preserved in the source language, the meaning in the target language of the designated sign. Without this fulfillment, the metalinguistic analysis by the reader may be slowed down, or even hindered, as illustrated in the following passage, in which Bloomfield shows how interference can be caused by the creation of popular etymologies and neologisms: The Menomini, having only one (unvoiced) series of stops, interpreted the English term Swede as sweet, and, by mistaken loan-translation, designate the Swedish lumber-workers by the term [saje:wenet] literally ‘he who is sweet’ (Bloomfield 1935: 458).

The Italian translators do not intervene in the author’s choices and reproduce the English examples by using italics and without any integration. Thus, the reader is left doubtful as to why the Menomini indigenous population refers to Swedish lumber-workers as “il dolce” (“the sweet people”): Il menomini, che ha solo una serie di occ1usive (sorde), interpreta la parola inglese Swede come sweet e, con un calco errato, designa i boscaioli svedesi col termine [saje:wenet] letteralmente ‘il dolce’ (Bloomfield 1974: 537).

The German reader is, instead, guided by the translators to create the right connections between the autonyms by using simple annotations in the target language: Die Menomini fassten, da sie über eine (stimmlose) Plosivreihe verfügen den englishen Ausdruck Swede ‘Schwede’ als sweet ‘süȕ’ auf und bezeichnen in einer missverstandenen Lehnübersetzung den schwedischen Holzfäller mit der Ausdruck [saje:wenet], wörtlich ‘der Süȕe’ (Bloomfield 2001: 545).

However, transferring an example with integrative and explanatory textual extensions does not always ensure greater transparency and accessibility to the target text. For example, the Italian reader may easily interpret the first autonym blackbird of the following excerpt taken from the Bloomfield’s essay, but the examples blueberry and whitefish will not

Translating Examples in Linguistics Texts

117

be as readily understood due to the absence of adequate textual integration: blackbird ‘merlo’ non è un qualunque ‘uccello nero’: in questa combinazione il significato di black ‘nero’ è estremamente specializzato; lo stesso accade in blueberry ‘mirtillo’, whitefish ‘un tipo di salmone’, ecc. (Bloomfield 1974: 174).

The target reader, in fact, may not have the necessary language skills needed to segment, analyze and, consequently, understand the structure of the last two examples, since the identification of the color terms they contain is missing. The meaning of the English autonyms (‘mirtillo’ and ‘salmone’) is provided, but it may not be easy to understand that ‘mirtillo’ is a berry and it is blue, or that ‘salmone’ is a fish and it is white. The literal translation of the autonym may preserve the meaning of the sign, but may cause a change in the signifier, decisively affecting a definition, a description or a discussion within the text, e.g. Martinet’s description of the “moneme” is correctly exemplified in the French text: Dans l'énoncé dont nous nous servons ici [j'ai mal à la tête], il y a six monèmes qui se trouvent coïncider avec ce qu'on nomme, dans la langue courante, des mots: j' (pour je), ai, mal, à, la et tête. Mais il ne faudrait pas en conclure que “moneme” n'est qu'un équivalent savant de “mot”. Dans un mot comme travaillons: il y a deux monèmes: travaill- /travaj/, qui désigne un certain type d'action, et –ons /õ/, qui désigne celui qui parle et une ou plusieurs autres personnes (Martinet 1961 : 20).

Yet, it is inappropriate in the Italian translation: Nell'enunciato citato [ho mal di testa] ci sono monemi che coincidono con quelle che, nella lingua corrente, si chiamano parole: per es. mal, di, testa. Ma da questo non bisogna concludere che “monema” sia semplicemente un termine dotto per “parola”. In una parola come scriviamo sono due monemi: scriv- /skriv/, che designa un certo tipo d’azione, e -iamo /jamo/ che designa chi parla e una o più altre persone (Martinet 1966: 20).

The literal translation of the first example confuses the reader, since the Italian autonym testa can actually be analyzed into two monemes, test“head” and -a “feminine-singular”, differently from the original French, tête “head-feminine-singular”. On the contrary, in the second part of the excerpt, the French autonym travaillons “we work” is unnecessarily replaced by a structural equivalent in Italian, scriviamo “we write” (verb, first-person plural, present indicative),

Chapter Six

118

formed in the target language by two monemes comparable to those of the source language. A literal translation, lavoriamo “we work”, would have been just as effective. In the German version, a literal translation of the original French example is provided (ich habe Kopfweh), but the translator adapts the discussion to the features of the target language, appropriately selecting the two units, Kopf “head” and Weh “ache”, in order to highlight the wordmorpheme coincidence. Instead of translating the second autonym, travaillons, she reuses part of the first example, habe “have”, to show the morphological segmentation, thus creating a text even more cohesive than the original one: Die Äuȕerung [ich habe Kopfweh], die wir hier als Beispiel anführen, besteht aus Monemen, von denen einige (Kopf, Weh)mit dem zusammenfallen, was umgangssprachlich als Wort bezeichnet wird. Daraus darf man nicht etwa den Schluȕ ziehen, “Monem” sei nichts anderes als ein gelehrtes Äquivalent für “Wort”. Das Wort habe z.B. besteht aus zwei Monemen: hab-, /ha:b/, das “Besitz” bezeichnet, und -e, /e/, das sich auf den Sprechenden bezieht (Martinet 1963: 23-24).

An interesting example of literal translation, with negative effects on the comprehensibility of metalinguistic argumentation on the signifier, can be found in the Italian version of Sapir’s Language. In order to explain the arbitrariness of linguistic signs, the American linguist uses a series of words having an onomatopoeic origin, among which are the names of three birds that are familiar to the North American reader: the cuckoo, the killdeer and the whippoorwill. In both passages, the terms are introduced by the phrase “such words as”, which clearly shows the metalinguistic function assigned to them by the author: As such they [interjections] may be considered an integral portion of speech, in the properly cultural sense of the term, being no more identical with the instinctive cries themselves than such words as “cuckoo” and “killdeer” are identical with the cries of the birds they denote or than Rossini’s treatment of a storm in the overture to “William Tell” is in fact a storm (Sapir 1921: 5-6).

and a little further: Such words as “whippoorwill”, “to mew”, “to caw” are in no sense natural sounds that man has instinctively or automatically reproduced (Sapir 1921: 7).

Translating Examples in Linguistics Texts

119

The killdeer (charadrius vociferus) and the whippoorwill (caprimulgus vociferus) are two small birds, very common in North America, both characterized by a special song from which their names derive: a “loud piercing ‘kill-deer’” and “an emphatic ‘whip-poor-will’, with the accent on the first and third syllables and a tremolo in the second” are the descriptions of their cries provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website (The Cornell Lab of Ornitology n.d.). The cuckoo (cuculus canorus) is a migratory bird, diffused in all continents, with the exception of the Antarctica, whose song is described as “a fast rhythmic series of from two to five notes on the same pitch, with a brief pause between each set: ‘cu-cu-cu-cu, cu-cu-cu-cu’” (The Cornell Lab of Ornitology n.d.). Translating these names in other languages does not seem to be a very complex task, thanks to multimedia and multilingual databases developed by ornithologists and addressed to specialists, as Avibase, which contains three and a half million entries related to 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds that are popular around the globe. The identity of the designated referents, guaranteed by the Latin scientific names, comes in different forms in the different languages. The charadrius vociferus, called killdeer in English, is named Keilschwanz-Regenpfeifer in German, corriere Americano o piviere in Italian, pluvier kildir in French, chorlitejo culirrojo in Spanish, and so on. The caprimulgus vociferus, called whippoorwill in English, is Schwarzkehl-Nachtschwalbe in German, succiacapre vocifero in Italian, engoulevent bois-pourri in French, chotacabras cuerpo ruin in Spanish, etc. Only the cuculus canorus is frequently indicated by phonetically similar entries, with an onomatopoeic consonantal pattern which is a common characteristic of the different languages considered in this survey (cuckoo in English, cuculo in Italian, coucou in French, cuco in Spanish) and in languages genealogically distant, such as the Finnish kiiki, the Hungarian kakukk, the Turkish guguk, the Japanese kakkǀ, the Vietnamese chim cu cu, the Basque kuku, the Swahili kekeo. Sapir gives the reader the names of the three very common birds in the United States, autonymizing them through the use of quotation marks which, at the same time, highlights and delimits them. The choice is justified in English by the similarity of the natural sounds produced by the three birds with the three signifiers, but which is almost entirely lost in the Italian version. In the first quotation a literal translation is given: Come tali, esse [interiezioni] possono essere considerate parte integrale del linguaggio, nel senso specificamente culturale del termine, dato che esse non si identificano coi gridi istintivi, così come parole come “cu-culo” e “piviere” non sono identiche ai gridi di richiamo caratteristici degli uccelli

120

Chapter Six che esse denotano (Sapir 1969: 5).

In the second one, a transfer with amplification can be observed, due to the addition of a gloss suggesting the meaning of the English forms: Parole come whippoorwhill [‘succiacapre’], to mew [‘miagolare’], to caw [‘gracchiare’] non costituiscono in alcun senso dei suoni naturali che l'uomo abbia riprodotto istintivamente e automaticamente (Sapir 1969: 7).

Of the three bird names, only cuculo keeps its explanatory power, thanks to the onomatopoeic structure of the signifier that is comparable to that of the English sign. Piviere and succiacapre, instead, refer to their real or supposed behaviors: piviere comes from the Latin “pluvia”, ‘rain’, through the French “pluvier” (this bird comes in Italy during the winter, i.e. the rain season); the succiacapre “suck-goat” eats the insects flying around the goats and the ancient Romans believed that it used to suck goat milk. The German translator chooses, in this case, the avoidance strategy, omitting killdeer and replacing whippoorwill with Geplapper, “stuttering”, which has a different meaning but is adequate to perform the same function as the original metalinguistic autonym: In dieser Form kann man sie mit Fug und Recht zur Sprache rechnen, denn sie sind ja, wie die Sprache auch, Zivilisationsprodukt und mit den wirklich instinktiven Schreien so wenig identisch wie etwa das Wort “Kuckuck” mit dem Schrei des Vogels, der diesen Namen trägt (Sapir 1961: 15). Wörter wie “Geplapper”, “miauen”, “krähen” sind keineswegs etwa vom Menschen instinktiv oder mechanisch aus der Natur übernommen (Sapir 1961: 16).

Sometimes, the difficulty encountered in the rendering of the autonyms may lead the translators to cancel a whole sentence, as in the Italian translation of the following passage taken from Bloomfield’s Language, where the author discusses the narrowing of meaning caused by the context of usage: A bulb among gardeners is one thing and among electricians another. A glass is usually a drinking-glass or a looking-glass; glasses are usually eyeglasses (Bloomfield 1935: 151).

Translating Examples in Linguistics Texts

121

Because of the difficulties in the translation of the autonyms glass/glasses (It: ‘vetro’/‘occhiali’), the Italian translators omitted part of the original text, keeping only one autonym out of three: Un bulbo è una cosa per il giardiniere ed un’altra per l’elettricista (Bloomfield 1974:172).

The most effective translation strategy for the autonyms used in the linguistics texts seems to be substitution, especially in the cases where communication strongly depends on formal, semantic and/or cultural elements of the target linguistic signs. This operation requires a deep comprehension of the textual content and the ability to handle technical matters with expertise, since the translator often needs to partially rewrite the original text, in order to adapt it to the target language and culture, with the aim of keeping the effectiveness of the original in the passages where the object language is a sign of itself. For example, in the following excerpt, the autonym He married a lemon has been substituted with a functional Italian equivalent, Ho sposato un’oca (“I married a goose”), which required the rewriting of the subsequent discussion, where the original “marriage ceremony with a piece of fruit” became “matrimoni con animali” (“marriage ceremonies with animals”): He married a lemon forces us to the transferred meaning only because we know that men do not go through a marriage ceremony with a piece of fruit (Bloomfield 1935: 149). Ha sposato un'oca ci costringe a prendere il significato traslato, poiché sappiamo che non si celebrano matrimoni con animali (Bloomfield 1974:172).

4. Conclusions The analysis conducted on three key texts of linguistic thought of the 20th century and their translations, from English and French into Italian and German, has shown how difficult it is to render metalinguistic examples or autonyms, because of their peculiar semiotic nature, that of a metalinguistic sign designating itself in a mirror-like effect. Autonyms require the translator to carefully analyze the communicative function they perform in the source text, and to search for a functionally equivalent target example. In the analyzed corpus almost all translation strategies occur, such as literal translation, transfer, omission, amplification, but substitution seems to be the most suitable one.

122

Chapter Six

However, even expert linguists when engaged in a translation process are likely to underestimate the difficulties caused by examples, and the subsequent risk of the unnecessary overuse of substitution which, in turn, will inevitably lead to poor results. The effects of such an inadequate translation process are clearly shown by the following example taken from the Italian translation of Martinet’s Élements: dans le garçons a pris le verre, il y a six monèmes successifs, mais seulement cinq monèmes diffèrents (Martinet 1961: 30). in la cameriera ha preso la tazza ci sono sei monemi successivi, ma solo cinque monemi diversi (ibid.: 28).

The French le garçons a pris le verre (“the waiter has taken the glass”) becomes la cameriera ha preso la tazza (“the waitress has taken the cup”) in the Italian translation. The number of involved words remains identical, six in both French and Italian, but the number of monemes significantly changes because of the morphological structure of the two languages. While Martinet can argue in French that in this example there are six sequential monemes, of which only five are different, in the Italian version the translator causes him to commit a mistake. Indeed, the Italian sentence used as autonym is made up of eleven sequential monemes, not of six, and seven of these are different. Therefore, the choice to substitute the autonym without changing the rest of the discussion implies a complete distortion and misrepresentation of Martinet’s theory, with the inevitable result that the Italian reader will find it extremely difficult to understand the meaning of the term “moneme”. Unlike metalinguistic technical terms that are not a problem for the expert translator, but are often misunderstood by the non-expert reader, autonyms are generally considered a valuable aid for the understanding of a linguistics text. This, however, does not mean that their translation process is always smooth and, as shown in this paper, they can cause serious and unexpected problems if their difficulty is underestimated. Hence, translators need to identify appropriate translation strategies, especially considering that autonyms undoubtedly resist translation into a language different from that in which they were created and into a co-text other than the original one.

Translating Examples in Linguistics Texts

123

References Authier-Revuz, Jacqueline. 2003. “Le fait autonymique: langage, langue, discours. Quelques repères.” In Parler des mots: le fait autonymique en discours, edited by Jacqueline Authier-Revuz, Marianne Doury, and Sandrine Reboul-Touré, 67–96. Paris: Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle. Bloomfield, Leopold. 1935. Language. London: George Allen & Unwin. —. 1974. Il linguaggio. Translated by Francesco Antinucci and Georgio Cardona. Milano: Il Saggiatore. —. 2001. Die Sprache. Translated by Ernst Peter and Christian Luschutzky. Wien: Edition Praesen. De Meo, Anna. 2005. “I cugini non resistono a questo insetticida. Quando la traduzione degli esempi annulla la trasparenza ͒di un testo tecnico: il caso dei manuali di linguistica.” In La traduzione. Il paradosso della, edited by Augusto Guarion, Clara Montella, Domenico Silvestri, and Marina Vitale, 281–297. Napoli: Liguori. —. 2007. “All Grammars Leak. Usi e traduzioni di una metafora metalinguistica.” AION 29: 271–299. Martinet, André. 1961. Éléments de linguistique générale. Paris: Librairie Armand Colin. —. 1963. Grundzüge der Allgemeinen Sprachwissenschaft. Translated by Anna Fuchs. Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer. —. 1966. Elementi di linguistica generale. Translated by Giulio Lepschy. Bari: Laterza. Paganelli, Céline, and Evelyne Mounier. 2000. “Le repérage des exemples dans les documents techniques.” L’informatique documentaire, Bulletin du Centre de Hautes Etudes Internationales d’informatique documentaire (CID) 77 (2): 23–40. Rey-Debove, Josette. 1978. Le Métalangage. Etude linguistique du discours sur le langage. Paris: Le Robert. —. 2003. "Réflexions en forme de postface." In Parler des mots: le fait autonymique en discours, edited by Josette Authier-Revuz, Marianne Doury, and Sandrine Reboul-Touré, 335–341. Paris: Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle. Sabatini, Francesco. 1990. “Analisi del linguaggio giuridico. Il testo normativo in una tipologia generale dei testi”. In Corso di studi superiori legislativi 1988–1989, edited by Mario D’Antonio, 675–724. Padova: CEDAM. —. 1999. “‘Rigidità-esplicitezza’ vs ‘elasticità-implicitezza’: possibili parametri massimi per una tipologia dei testi”. In Linguistica testuale comparativa. In memoriam Maria-Elisabeth Conte. Atti del Convegno

124

Chapter Six

interannuale della Società di linguistica italiana, edited by Gunver Skytte, and Francesco Sabatini, 141–172. København: Museum Tusculanum Press. Sapir, Edward. 1921. Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. —. 1961. Die Sprache. Eine Einfürung in das Wesen der Sprache. Translated by Conrad P. Homberge. München: Max Hueber Verlag. —. 1969. Il linguaggio. Introduzione alla linguistica. Translated by Paolo Valesio. Torino: Einaudi. The Cornell Lab of Ornitology. Accessed April 9, 2014. http://www.birds.cornell.edu.

CHAPTER SEVEN RELATIVITY OF POETIC TRANSLATION NATALIA SHUTEMOVA PERM STATE UNIVERSITY, RUSSIA

Abstract The paper considers translation of poetry in two aspects, revealing its relativity. Firstly, poetic translation is studied in reference to the notion of poeticity, which is regarded as the typological dominant of the poetic text. Poeticity is defined as the essential quality of the poetic text, differentiating it from other types of text. The author analyzes how the source texts’ poeticity is represented in the target texts and distinguishes three types of poetic translation: consonant, consonant-dissonant and dissonant. Secondly, poetic translation is characterized in relation to target cultures where each type may be perceived consonantly, consonantdissonantly and dissonantly. Keywords: Relativity, poeticity, poetic translation, typological dominant.

1. Introduction As a kind of literary translation, poetic translation has a long history and enriches national cultures. In the general cultural context, it may be regarded as creative activity aimed at the representation of national artistic values in foreign cultures (Boutcher 2000; Ellis 2000; France 2000; Hale 2000; Weissbort 2000; Venuti 2004). At the same time, poetic translation has always been one of the most contradictory fields in Translation Studies because the type of text entails specific difficulties in representing the form and content of the source text (ST) in the target text (TT). The translator’s attempts to represent all peculiarities of the ST (e.g. its rhythm, imagery and ideas) leads to debates on whether there can be

126

Chapter Seven

equivalence in poetic translation or whether heterogeneity of languages, cultures and verse traditions makes equivalence in poetic translation hardly possible. As a result, there is a paradox of poetic translation: poetry is often thought to be untranslatable and the theory of poetic translation impossible, while the history of national literatures proves that poetic translation exists. As far as the type of text is one of the main factors which determine the specific character of poetic translation, we think that it would be reasonable to study it in reference to the properties of the poetic text. In my opinion, it is hardly possible to overcome all difficulties of translating poetry and to represent all properties of the ST in the TT in full. However, it is necessary to represent the essential, ontological, property of the ST in the TT. This essential property may be regarded in relation to the philosophical category of quality, which means the system of properties of an object, which defines the essence of this object and differentiates it from other types of objects. From this point on, I shall consider poetic translation in two aspects: in relation to this essential quality of the ST and in relation to target cultures (TC). Let me consider the first aspect of this issue.

2. Poeticity as the Typological Dominant of the Poetic Text “What is the essential quality of the poetic original?” was one of key questions in the practice of poetic translation in the 19–20th centuries, but this led to its rather intuitive interpretation. For instance, this quality was defined as “harmony”, “spirit”, “power”, “flavor” of the original, its “aesthetic influence”, “poetic truth”, etc. However, these terms seem to be too vague to define properties of the poetic text. How can one represent the “harmony”, “power” and “poetic truth” of the ST if he/she does not know what they are? As V. Fissore wrote about the traditional requirement “to remain faithful to the ‘spirit’ of the text and its poetry”: “I have so far not found successful attempts at defining what that ‘spirit’ is.” (2001: 52) Theory of translation used poetic texts to study the essence of translation and to work out methods of efficient translation, leaving the question “What to translate?” without an answer. In our research we regard the ontological quality distinguishing the poetic text from other types of text as its typological “dominant” (Jacobson 1987). To name it we use the term “poeticity” (Jacobson 1975, 1987, 2004), following traditions rooted, firstly, in poetics, which traces its history back to Aristotle, and secondly in theory and practice of literary translation.

Relativity of Poetic Translation

127

What is poeticity? In my opinion, the definition of this notion can be based on two criteria: 1) the activity criterion, which takes into account specific features of the artistic activity 2) the criterion of integrity of any work of art. The first criterion should be taken into consideration because poetry is generated during artistic process. The type of activity is one of the main factors that determine the properties of the text type. The character of artistic process is different from that of other kinds of human activity (e.g. from scientific activity during which scientific texts are generated) and determines the quality of poetic texts differentiating them from other types of text. Being a result of artistic activity, the poetic text is characterized with the integrity of any work of art (Graham 2005; Gutt 2000); therefore, the second criterion should be taken into account. Artistic process includes artistic imaginative cognition of the relation of “man and world” and aesthetic objectification, which is special for every kind of arts. On this basis, three main properties of any work of art may be pointed out: 1) artistic idea; 2) imagery; and 3) aesthetic form. As far as artistic idea and imagery are objectified in poetry by means of language, it is possible to distinguish the following properties of the poetic text: 1) poetic idea; 2) imagery; and 3) aesthetic linguistic (verse) form. We suppose that the system of these properties forms poeticity as the quality of the poetic text, which differentiates the poetic text from other types of texts. In the aspect of the first property, poeticity is an intellectual and emotional whole, generated during the process of artistic cognition of the relation between “man and world”. In the aspect of the second property, poeticity is the imagery of this artistic cognition. And finally, in the aspect of the third property, poeticity is aesthetic verbal (verse) objectification of the imagery of this artistic cognition. Including these properties, poeticity covers both deep and surface levels of the text and thus represents the poetic mode of thought both at the stage of generating poetic ideas and at the stage of their verbal objectification.

3. Types of Poetic Translation in Reference with the Typological Dominant of the Poetic Text Properties involved in poeticity allow the subject of poetic translation to be defined as an intellectual and emotional whole which is generated

128

Chapter Seven

during the artistic cognition of the “man—world” dichotomy, realized in images and objectified in the aesthetic verse form. The notion of poeticity regarded as the essential quality of the ST allows the aim of poetic translation to be defined as the representation of the poeticity of the original in foreign cultures. As far as languages, verse traditions and cultures are heterogeneous to this or that extent, as well as the minds of the ST author and the translator, changes to the ST poeticity are inevitable in the process of translation and may be metaphorically associated with the notion of “refraction” interpreted as the “refraction” of the ST poeticity through the translator’s mind. This “refraction” of poeticity in the translator’s mind may occur at both stages of translation: 1) during the process of understanding the ST and forming its mental model 2) during the process of verbalizing this model in the target text. Having studied the representation of the ST properties in the TT by means of comparative analysis, we think that in relation to the essential quality of the ST it is possible to differentiate three types of poetic translation: 1) the consonant type 2) the consonant-dissonant type 3) the dissonant type. In the consonant type of poetic translation, the TT represents the ST poeticity to a high degree, which may be metaphorically associated with a minimal degree of “refraction” of the ST poeticity in the translator’s mind at both stages of translation. It means that the main properties of the ST (poetic idea, imagery and aesthetic verbal form) are fully represented in the TT, probably because the translator achieved deep (consonant) comprehension and complete (consonant) transfer into the target text. As far as the TT poeticity does not contradict the ST poeticity, this type of translation may be called consonant. For instance, the translation of the ballad “Edward” into Russian, which was created by Alexey K. Tolstoy, may be characterized as consonant for the following reasons. Firstly, the translator represents the idea, emotion and imagery of the ST, which has the form of a tragic dialogue between a mother and her son.

Relativity of Poetic Translation

129

Table 3-1: The Translation of the Ballad “Edward” into Russian by Alexey K. Tolstoy 1. Why dois your brand sae drap wi bluid, / And why sae sad gang yee O? – O I hae killed my hauke sae guid, / And I had nae mair bot hee O. 2. Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, / My deir son I tell thee O. – O I hae killed my reid-roan steid, / That erst was sae fair and frie O. 3. Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair, / Sum other dule ye drie O. – O I hae killed my fadir deir, / Alas, and wae is mee O! 4. And whatten penance will ye drie for that? / My deir son, now tell me O. – Ile set my feit in yonder boat, / And Ile fare ovir the sea O. 5. And what wul ye doe wi your towirs and your ha, / That were sae fair to see O? – Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa, / For here nevir mair maun I bee O. 6. And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, / Whan ye gang ovir the sea O? – The warldis room, late them beg thrae life, / For thame nevir mair wul I see O. 7. And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir? / My deir son, now tell me O. – The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir, / Sic counseils ye gave to me O.

1. “ɑɶɟɣ ɤɪɨɜɢɸ ɦɟɱ ɬɵ ɫɜɨɣ ɬɚɤ ɨɛɚɝɪɢɥ? / Ɂɚɱɟɦ ɬɵ ɝɥɹɞɢɲɶ ɬɚɤ ɫɭɪɨɜɨ?” – “Ɍɨ ɫɨɤɨɥɚ ɹ, ɪɚɫɫɟɪɞɹɫɹ, ɭɛɢɥ, / ɂ ɧɟɝɞɟ ɞɨɛɵɬɶ ɦɧɟ ɞɪɭɝɨɝɨ!” 2. “ɍ ɫɨɤɨɥɚ ɤɪɨɜɶ ɬɚɤ ɤɪɚɫɧɚ ɧɟ ɛɟɠɢɬ, / Ɍɜɨɣ ɦɟɱ ɨɤɪɨɜɚɜɥɟɧ ɤɪɚɫɧɟɟ!” – “Ɇɨɣ ɤɨɧɶ ɤɪɚɫɧɨɛɭɪɵɣ ɛɵɥ ɦɧɨɸ ɭɛɢɬ, / Ɍɨɫɤɭɸ ɩɨ ɞɨɛɪɨɦ ɤɨɧɟ ɹ!” 3. “Ʉɨɧɶ ɫɬɚɪ ɭ ɬɟɛɹ, ɷɬɚ ɤɪɨɜɶ ɧɟ ɟɝɨ, / ɇɟ ɬɨ ɜ ɬɜɨɟɦ ɫɭɦɪɚɱɧɨɦ ɜɡɨɪɟ!” – “Ɉɬɰɚ ɹ ɫɟɣɱɚɫ ɡɚɤɨɥɨɥ ɦɨɟɝɨ, / ɂ ɥɸɬɨɟ ɠɠɟɬ ɦɟɧɹ ɝɨɪɟ!” 4. “Ⱥ ɝɪɟɯ ɱɟɦ ɬɹɠɟɥɵɣ ɢɫɤɭɩɢɲɶ ɬɵ ɫɜɨɣ? / ɑɟɦ ɫɵɦɟɲɶ ɬɵ ɫ ɫɨɜɟɫɬɢ ɧɨɲɭ?” – “ə ɫɹɞɭ ɜ ɥɚɞɶɸ ɧɟɩɨɝɨɞɨɣ ɦɨɪɫɤɨɣ / ɂ ɜɟɬɪɭ ɜɫɟ ɩɚɪɭɫɵ ɛɪɨɲɭ!” 5. “Ⱥ ɫ ɛɚɲɧɟɣ ɱɬɨ ɛɭɞɟɬ ɢ ɫ ɞɨɦɨɦ ɬɜɨɢɦ, / Ʌɚɞɶɹ ɤɨɝɞɚ ɜ ɦɨɪɟ ɨɬɱɚɥɢɬ?” – “ɉɭɫɬɶ ɜɟɬɟɪ ɢ ɛɭɪɹ ɝɭɥɹɸɬ ɩɨ ɧɢɦ, / Ⱦɨɤɨɥɟ ɢɯ ɜ ɩɪɚɯ ɧɟ ɩɨɜɚɥɹɬ!” 6. “ɑɬɨ ɠ ɛɭɞɟɬ ɫ ɬɜɨɢɦɢ ɫ ɞɟɬɶɦɢ ɢ ɫ ɠɟɧɨɣ / ȼ ɢɯ ɝɨɪɶɤɨɣ, ɛɟɫɩɨɦɨɳɧɨɣ ɞɨɥɟ?” – “ɉɭɫɬɶ ɩɨ ɦɢɪɭ ɯɨɞɹɬ ɡɚ ɯɥɟɛɨɦ ɫ ɫɭɦɨɣ, / ə ɫ ɧɢɦɢ ɧɟ ɫɜɢɠɭɫɹ ɛɨɥɟ!” 7. “Ⱥ ɦɚɬɟɪɢ ɱɬɨ ɬɵ ɨɫɬɚɜɢɲɶ ɫɜɨɟɣ, / Ɍɟɛɹ ɱɬɨ ɭ ɝɪɭɞɢ ɤɚɱɚɥɚ?” – “ɉɪɨɤɥɹɬɶɟ ɬɟɛɟ ɞɨ ɫɤɨɧɱɚɧɢɹ ɞɧɟɣ, / Ɍɟɛɟ, ɱɬɨ ɦɧɟ ɝɪɟɯ ɧɚɲɟɩɬɚɥɚ!”

Similarly to the original, the tension of this dialogue in the TT rises gradually reaching its peak twice and developing two main plot lines of the ST (crime and punishment). Secondly, the TT represents specific features of the ST verse form, in which these ideas are objectified (“mirror” composition, recurrency and gradation).

Chapter Seven

130

In the consonant-dissonant type of poetic translation, the TT represents the ST poeticity to an average degree, metaphorically associated with the average degree of “refraction” of the ST poeticity through the translator’s mind. It means that only two properties of the ST are represented in the TT; thus, the ST poeticity may be regarded as partially reduced. On the one hand, this reduction may result from incomplete (consonant-dissonant) comprehension of the ST poeticity. In this case, the translator forms a reduced model in his mind and recreates this model in the TT. The translator does not overcome the difficulty of comprehending the idea and emotivity of the text. On the other hand, the reduction of the ST poeticity may result from its deep and consonant understanding demonstrated by the translator rather than from his inability to verbalise this understanding in full. In this case, the translator understands all properties of the ST but cannot overcome the difficulty of representing one of them in the TT. Hence, the TT poeticity partially contradicts the ST poeticity and this type of translation may be called consonant-dissonant. Thus, the translation of the ballad “The Twa Corbies” by Alexander S. Pushkin may be regarded as consonant-dissonant because of partial reduction of ST poeticity in the TT. The Twa Corbies I was walking all alane, I heard twa corbies making a mane; The tane unto the t’other say, ‘Where sall we gang and dine to-day?’ ‘In behint yon auld fail dyke, I wot there lies a new slain knight; And naebody kens that he lies there But his hawk, his hound, and lady fair. ‘His hound is to the hunting gane, His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame, His lady’s ta’en another mate, So we may mak our dinner sweet. ‘Ye ’ll sit on his white hause-bane, And I’ll pike out his bonny blue enn; Wi ae lock o his gowden hair We ’ll theek our nest when it grows bare.

Relativity of Poetic Translation

131

‘Mony a one for him makes mane, But nane sall ken where he is gane; Oer his white banes, when they are bare, The wind sall blaw for evermair.’ (The Twa Corbies 1981: 26)

The translator represents the ST idea, emotion and imagery consonantly, but modifies the ST structure and thus the ST aesthetic form. ȼɨɪɨɧ ɤ ɜɨɪɨɧɭ ɥɟɬɢɬ ȼɨɪɨɧ ɤ ɜɨɪɨɧɭ ɥɟɬɢɬ, ȼɨɪɨɧ ɜɨɪɨɧɭ ɤɪɢɱɢɬ: ȼɨɪɨɧ! ɝɞɟ ɛ ɧɚɦ ɨɬɨɛɟɞɚɬɶ? Ʉɚɤ ɛɵ ɧɚɦ ɨ ɬɨɦ ɩɪɨɜɟɞɚɬɶ? ȼɨɪɨɧ ɜɨɪɨɧɭ ɜ ɨɬɜɟɬ: Ɂɧɚɸ, ɛɭɞɟɬ ɧɚɦ ɨɛɟɞ; ȼ ɱɢɫɬɨɦ ɩɨɥɟ ɩɨɞ ɪɚɤɢɬɨɣ Ȼɨɝɚɬɵɪɶ ɥɟɠɢɬ ɭɛɢɬɵɣ. Ʉɟɦ ɭɛɢɬ ɢ ɨɬɱɟɝɨ, Ɂɧɚɟɬ ɫɨɤɨɥ ɥɢɲɶ ɟɝɨ, Ⱦɚ ɤɨɛɵɥɤɚ ɜɨɪɨɧɚɹ, Ⱦɚ ɯɨɡɹɣɤɚ ɦɨɥɨɞɚɹ. ɋɨɤɨɥ ɜ ɪɨɳɭ ɭɥɟɬɟɥ, ɇɚ ɤɨɛɵɥɤɭ ɧɟɞɪɭɝ ɫɟɥ, Ⱥ ɯɨɡɹɣɤɚ ɠɞɟɬ ɦɢɥɨɝɨ, ɇɟ ɭɛɢɬɨɝɨ, ɠɢɜɨɝɨ. (ȼɨɪɨɧ ɤ ɜɨɪɨɧɭ ɥɟɬɢɬ 1981: 27)

A. Pushkin modifies the ST composition: the quantity of stanzas decreases in the TT, stanzas IV and V are not represented, stanza II is transformed into two stanzas, stanza III is transformed into final one. This leads to the dissonant representation and partial reduction of the ST form in the TT. In the dissonant type of poetic translation, the TT represents the ST poeticity to a low or even zero degree, which may be associated with the maximum and zero degree of “refraction” of the ST poeticity in the translator’s mind. The low degree means that only one property of the ST is represented in the TT, while a zero degree means that none of the ST properties are represented in the TT. The TT poeticity completely contradicts the ST poeticity as it does not represent the specific character

132

Chapter Seven

of the author’s way of thinking: his idea, emotions, imagery and the aesthetic verbal form in which the author’s model of the world was represented in the original. On this ground, this type of translation may be interpreted as dissonant. Dissonance may result from consonant, consonant-dissonant and dissonant comprehension of the ST poeticity and its dissonant reproduction in the TT. For example, the poeticity of M. Lermontov’s poem “Otchego” (“Wherefore”) is considerably reduced in translation by A. Pymen, who did not represent the ideas of inner contradiction, or the deeply pessimistic and tragic perception of life which are conveyed by means of “mirror” composition in the ST, where everything positive is expected to be inevitably replaced by something negative. And well I know: the light of rumour most untrue Will not forbear to mark your blooming youth with sorrow. For every hour of joy Fate will exact tomorrow, A toll of tears and pain that you alone must pay. (Translated by A. Pymen)

In contrast, the ST poeticity is consonantly represented in translation by E. Keyden, who followed the ST structure and thus represented the ST idea and emotion at a higher degree. I know their crafty rumors will pursue Your youth in flower, lying out of spite. For every shining hour and true delight Fate will demand in hurt and tears its pay. (Translated by E. Keyden)

These types of poetic translation represent the essential quality of the ST in foreign cultures to differing degrees. However, distinguishing these types, we think there is no strict boundary between them. Moreover, the representation of ST poeticity in the TT does not determine the way the latter will be perceived in a target culture.

4. How do Types of Poetic Translation Correlate with Foreign Cultures? As far as poetic translation involves the process of representing ST poeticity in foreign cultures, the types of poetic translation mentioned above should also be considered in the aspect of their perception in the

Relativity of Poetic Translation

133

target culture (TC). Regarding poetic translation from this point of view we come to these conclusions about the relativity of its types. 1. The consonant type of poetic translation may be consonant, consonant-dissonant or dissonant relatively to the TC. It means that the TT, which is consonant relative to the ST poeticity, may be perceived by the TC in different ways. Consonant perception implies that the ST poeticity is both represented in the TT and comprehended by the TC at a high degree. The TT poeticity, being consonant to the ST poeticity, finds minimal “refraction” in the mind of the recipients in the TC who grasp the ST properties in full. As a result, the essential quality of the ST is highly represented in the TC. Moreover, the TC acknowledges the aesthetic value of the ST. Consonant-dissonant perception means that the ST poeticity is highly represented in the TT but is partially rejected by the TC. In comparison with the consonant perception, the ST poeticity is “refracted” in the foreign reader’s mind to a greater degree. Thus, the ST poeticity, being consonantly transferred into the TT, is represented in the TC in a reduced way. Dissonant perception leads to a contradiction between maximal representation of the ST poeticity in the TT and its full rejection by the TC. It means that the ST idea, imagery, aesthetic form are consonantly transferred into the TT, but the aesthetic value of the ST is not acknowledged. Though the consonant type of translation may be consonant, consonant-dissonant or even dissonant relatively to the ST, it represents the essence of the ST in the TC and thus enriches national cultures promoting their interaction. 2. Similarly, a translation that is consonant-dissonant relatively to the ST, may be either consonant, consonant-dissonant or dissonant relatively to the TC. However, this type of translation represents the essential quality of the ST in the TC in a reduced way and thus enriches national cultures only partially. Consonant perception of this type of translation implies that ST poeticity is partially reduced in the TT; however, the latter is consonantly perceived and not rejected by the TC recipients. In this case, the TC considers the TT as having aesthetic value though it does not represent the ST essence in full. Consonant-dissonant perception presupposes both average degree of the ST poeticity representation in the TT and its partial rejection in the TC. Dissonant perception means that the ST idea, imagery and aesthetic form are represented in the TT partially reduced, but are strongly rejected

134

Chapter Seven

by the TC. As a result, though the ST essence is partially represented in the TC, the latter does not acknowledge the ST aesthetic value. 3. Translation which is dissonant relative to the ST also presupposes various types of perception. Firstly, though the ST poeticity is strongly reduced in the TT, the latter may be positively perceived by the TC, which means consonant perception of the dissonant translation. In this case, the ST may be regarded by the TC as having aesthetic value, but the real aesthetic value of the ST remains unknown because the ST poeticity is not represented in the TT. Secondly, a TT which is dissonant in relation to the ST poeticity may be partially acknowledged by the TC. Finally, the dissonant TT may be strongly rejected by the TC. As far as the ST essence remains unknown to foreign recipients, I think the dissonant type of poetic translation cannot enrich national cultures in their dialogue.

5. Conclusions The intermediary function of translation determines the necessity to study poetic translation with reference to the ST and the TC. The notion of poeticity allows for analyzing the ST in relation to the essential quality of the ST, which is regarded as the typological dominant of the poetic text and integrates the poetic text idea, imagery and aesthetic verse form. In relation to this quality, translation of poetry may be subdivided into three types. The TT may be either consonant, or consonant-dissonant, or dissonant to the ST. These types imply various degrees of representing ST poeticity in the TT. However, in the TC each type may be perceived in different ways. The TT may be highly appreciated by foreign readers or may be completely or partly rejected by them. In my opinion, only consonant and consonant-dissonant types of poetic translation can contribute to the dialogue of cultures.

References Boutcher, Warren. 2000. “The Renaissance.” In The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation, edited by Peter France, 45–54. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ellis, Roger. 2000. “The Middle Ages.” In The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation, edited by Peter France, 39–44. Oxford: Oxford University Press. France, Peter. 2000. “Translation Studies and Translation Criticism.” In The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation, edited by Peter France, 3–10. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Relativity of Poetic Translation

135

Fissore, Valerio. 2001. Translation: A Theoretical Approach. Torino: Trauben. Graham, Gordon. 2005. Philosophy of the Arts: An Introduction to Aesthetics. London, New York: Routledge. Gutt, Ernst-August. 2000. Translation and Relevance. Manchester, Boston: St. Jerome. Hale, Terry. 2000. “Romanticism and the Victorian Age.” In The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation, edited by Peter France, 64– 72. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jakobson, Roman. 2004. “On Linguistic Aspects of Translation.” In The Translation Studies Reader, edited by Lawrence Venuti, 113–118. New York, London: Routledge. Venuti, Lawrence. 2004. “Retranslations: The Creation of Value.” In Translation and Culture, edited by Katherine M. Faull, 25–38. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press. Weissbort, Daniel. 2000. “Poetry.” In The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation, edited by Peter France, 89–96. Oxford: Oxford University Press. “Edward.” 1981. Ⱥɧɝɥɢɣɫɤɚɹ ɩɨɷɡɢɹ ɜ ɪɭɫɫɤɢɯ ɩɟɪɟɜɨɞɚɯ (XIV – XIX ɜɟɤɚ). ɋɛɨɪɧɢɤ. ɋɨɫɬ. Ɇɢɯɚɢɥ ɉ. Ⱥɥɟɤɫɟɟɜ ɢ ɞɪ. ɇɚ ɚɧɝɥ. ɢ ɪɭɫɫɤ. ɹɡ., 22–25. Ɇɨɫɤɜɚ: ɉɪɨɝɪɟɫɫ, 1981. Lermontov, Mikhail Y. 1983. “Because.” ɂɡ ɪɭɫɫɤɨɣ ɩɨɷɡɢɢ XIX ɜɟɤɚ (ɉɭɲɤɢɧ, Ʌɟɪɦɨɧɬɨɜ, Ȼɚɪɚɬɵɧɫɤɢɣ, Ʉɨɥɶɰɨɜ, Ɍɸɬɱɟɜ, Ɍɨɥɫɬɨɣ, ɇɟɤɪɚɫɨɜ, Ɏɟɬ). ɇɚ ɚɧɝɥɢɣɫɤɨɦ ɹɡɵɤɟ, 138. Ɇɨɫɤɜɚ: Ɋɚɞɭɝɚ. —. 2009. “Wherefore.” ɇɟɬ, ɹ ɧɟ Ȼɚɣɪɨɧ, ɹ ɞɪɭɝɨɣ… = No, I’m not Byron, It’s my Role…: ɂɡɛɪ. ɩɨɷɡɢɹ = Poetical Works, ɫɨɫɬ. ɘɪɢɣ Ɏɪɢɞɲɬɟɣɧ, 159. Ɇɨɫɤɜɚ: ɐɟɧɬɪ ɤɧɢɝɢ ȼȽȻɂɅ ɢɦ. Ɇ.ɂ. Ɋɭɞɨɦɢɧɨ. “The Twa Corbies.” 1981. Ⱥɧɝɥɢɣɫɤɚɹ ɩɨɷɡɢɹ ɜ ɪɭɫɫɤɢɯ ɩɟɪɟɜɨɞɚɯ (XIV – XIX ɜɟɤɚ), edited by Ɇɢɯɚɢɥ ɉɚɜɥɨɜɢɱ Ⱥɥɟɤɫɟɟɜ, 26. Ɇɨɫɤɜɚ: ɉɪɨɝɪɟɫɫ. Ʌɟɪɦɨɧɬɨɜ, Ɇɢɯɚɢɥ ɘ. 1972. “Ɉɬɱɟɝɨ.” ɋɬɢɯɨɬɜɨɪɟɧɢɹ. ɉɨɷɦɵ. Ɇɚɫɤɚɪɚɞ. Ƚɟɪɨɣ ɧɚɲɟɝɨ ɜɪɟɦɟɧɢ, ɫɨɫɬ. ɂɪɚɤɥɢɣ Ʌ. Ⱥɧɞɪɨɧɢɤɨɜ, 167. Ȼɢɛɥɢɨɬɟɤɚ ɜɫɟɦɢɪɧɨɣ ɥɢɬɟɪɚɬɭɪɵ. Ɇɨɫɤɜɚ: ɏɭɞɨɠ. ɥɢɬ., Ɍ.93. əɤɨɛɫɨɧ, Ɋɨɦɚɧ Ɉ. 1987. Ɋɚɛɨɬɵ ɩɨ ɩɨɷɬɢɤɟ. Ɇɨɫɤɜɚ: ɉɪɨɝɪɟɫɫ.

PART II: TRANSLATION AND LEXICAL PRECISION

CHAPTER EIGHT TRANSLATION AND THE DYNAMICS OF UNDERSTANDING WORDS AND TERMS IN CONTEXTS RITA TEMMERMAN CENTRE FOR SPECIAL LANGUAGE STUDIES AND COMMUNICATION, ERASMUS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

Abstract Translators understand terminology in context. We believe that both text writers and translators go through a dynamic process of several types of contextual understanding (linguistic, cognitive, situational, cultural and metaphorical) of terminology. Examples are given of neology coining in situational and legal contexts in a multilingual and multicultural institutional world where translators are responsible for secondary term creation. We illustrate how the process of legal concept design can be studied in white papers and draft bills in which tentative wording, paraphrasing and use of variation are part of the process of creating a new legal reality. Looking at the dynamics of understanding in context from the translator’s perspective leads us to suggest new types of terminological dictionaries in which visualization of differences across languages and across legal cultures could be generated and could assist translators in their process of understanding. Keywords: Cognitive context, context in translation, dynamics of understanding, legal context, secondary term creation, terminology in context.

140

Chapter Eight

We will discuss the dynamics of understanding words and terms in context from the translator’s perspective, paying particular attention to terminology. Examples are taken from European texts1 in several languages and from IATE, the multilingual European terminological database. Translating a text written in one natural language (language A or the source language) is reformulating the information and message contained in this text in a text written in language B, i.e. the target language. In most cases, the translated text is supposed to have the same function within the target language community as the source text had in the community it was originally written for. Yet, depending on the domain a text is part of and on situational and cultural contexts, the translator’s options for producing a text in the target language may vary. The terminological analysis of the source text and the techniques applied for secondary term creation2 (Sager 1990; Temmerman 2011) will vary as well. A translator should have at least three competencies. In the first place, he needs to understand the message of the source text (cognitive competency). This implies good general comprehension skills in the source language. Moreover, in the case of specialized language translation, sufficient insight into the domain is required to allow for a good comprehension of the terminological paradigms (Collet 2004) contained in the text. In the second place the translator needs to reproduce the message he gathered from the source text in the target language (reproductive competency) using the creative skills required for language production. The third competency a translator needs is the capacity to interpret words and terms in contexts (contextual competency). In Section 1, the dynamics of terminological understanding are discussed in relation to vagueness and ambiguity and the implications for the translator will be illustrated. We take the communicative function of ambiguity (Piantadosi and Gibson 2012) and vagueness in language use into consideration. For translators, ambiguous terms and vague meanings may hold serious challenges. However, ambiguity is most of the time resolved by context. Language in context will allow for unambiguous understanding, except when vagueness is a prerequisite. In Section 2, we show how the process of understanding specialized terminology in texts is closely related to contextual awareness. A translator will be competent enough to understand texts in the source language and to formulate the same meaning in the target language in the process of a five-tiered contextual analysis.

Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts

141

In Section 3, examples are given of how the dynamics of existing and new terms in legal discourse have been studied from a multilingual and intercultural perspective by terminology researchers.

1. Ambiguity and Vagueness: Implications for Translators According to Ciprut (2008), a term is ambiguous if it offers latitude for more than one standing meaning. It is general if there are various more specific ways of referring to the properties the term expresses. It is context-sensitive if its contribution to what a speaker asserts can vary across occasions of use without any change in the term’s standing meaning in the language. Piantadosi and Gibson (2012) believe that within language as a cognitive system designed for communication, ambiguity is functional and can be rationally explained. They refer to Zipf’s statistical law of natural language that strikes a balance between the two opposing forces of unification and diversification, arriving at a middle ground with some, but not total, ambiguity. The balancing of these two forces can be observed, according to Zipf, in the relationship between word frequency and rank frequency. A vocabulary is “balanced” because a word’s frequency multiplied by its frequency rank is roughly a constant, a celebrated statistical law of language. Piantadosi and Gibson (2012) argue that ambiguity can be understood by the trade-off between two communicative pressures which are inherent to any communicative system: clarity and ease. They also state that there is no ambiguity when there is context. For them, ambiguity is a desirable feature of any communicative system when context is informative about meaning. This explains the pervasiveness of ambiguity in language, and shows how ambiguity likely results from the need for efficient communication. The benefits of ambiguity suggest that any system which strives for communicative or cognitive efficiency will naturally be ambiguous. Since inference is cheap and articulation expensive, the design requirements are for a system that maximizes inference. Language is not only ambiguous, it is also often vague. Ciprut (2008: 32) goes as far as claiming: “So pervasive is vagueness that it is nigh impossible to provide clear cases of non-vague predicates beyond the realm of mathematics.” The key feature of vagueness is that it leaves room for interpretation and communicative negotiation of the meaning of a word or expression. An example of a vague expression discussed by Engberg (2008):

142

Chapter Eight If without showing sufficient cause a party fails to comply with any order or directions of the tribunal, the tribunal may make a peremptory order to the same effect, prescribing such time for compliance with it as the tribunal considers appropriate. (Arbitration Act of England 1996, section 41, 5)

What is “sufficient cause”? This vague expression leaves room for interpretation. Vague expressions are part of the linguistic repertoire of all competent language users, who use them for specific communicative goals. As Engberg (2008) argues this is particularly true for discretion markers in legislative writing and especially in contexts like arbitration, where the flexible nature of proceedings depends on room for interpretation. Whereas ambiguous expressions call for precision, i.e. the receiver requires more knowledge for an adequate understanding of the sentence, vague expressions do not necessarily require precision to be adequately understood by the receiver. Indeterminacy reflects the ideal of the rule of law. Legal language needs to be vague and inclusive enough to cover a wide variety of different circumstances (Caliendo 2007: 378). What interests us in the context of this article is how to deal with ambiguity and vagueness in translation. Even though all texts written in a natural language will be to some degree ambiguous and vague, translators have to be aware of the consequences of their choices and should avoid introducing more ambiguity or vagueness into their translation. Multilingualism in the law can be effective only if citizens are guaranteed equality before the law, regardless of the language of the text. For this purpose, the equally authentic texts of a multilingual legal instrument (e.g. in Belgium, Finland, the European Union) are presumed to be equal in meaning, effect and intent. Therefore, translation, first of all, should not introduce ambiguity. There is always a risk of linguistic diversity and error when translation is involved. Some divergences and errors are harmless but others introduce ambiguity or are misleading, thus posing a threat to uniform interpretation and application. Translators should also be careful with synonyms. Words that are synonymous in general language may not be synonymous in legal language. Chroma (2008) (with reference to Šarþeviü (2000)) gives the example of proceedings, procedure and process. The three words are understood as synonyms in general English and sometimes treated as such by non-native lawyers, but they cannot be considered full, i.e. interchangeable, synonyms in English law, and therefore cannot be employed as synonyms in legal translation. Translators should also be conscious of the fact that the quality of a legal translation can be no better than the original. They must refrain from making any corrections and clarifying any ambiguities, even if they think they know

Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts

143

the intended meaning (Chroma 2008). Translators should also know that they should use source legal system terms in order not to introduce unnecessary ambiguity in their translations. Terms should be chosen which make it clear that their meaning is derived from the source legal system. They should use neutral terms instead of technical terms denoting concepts characteristic of the target language. If reference is made to a foreign concept, it is often better to borrow the foreign term than to translate it. Alternatively, a footnote could be used to clarify the reference of the ambiguous term (Šarþeviü 2000).

2. Understanding Words and Terms in Different Types of Context If—as Piantodosi and Gibson (2012) claim (see Section 1)—ambiguity can most of the time be resolved through context, and if specialists in legal translation warn translators about not introducing unwanted ambiguity in their translations, we may want to try to better understand what is meant by “context” and how translators can raise their contextual awareness. It is our intention to clarify and illustrate what understanding terminology in context implies for translators. A translator of specialized texts needs the competencies that allow him to interpret terminology in context. This implies that a translator should be capable of describing and paraphrasing his understanding of the source text message in the source language. The competent translator of texts pertaining to a specialized domain will use the same competencies for rewording the message in the target language. One prerequisite will be that the translator is knowledgeable in the specialized domain of which the text under translation is part and a second one that he has a high proficiency level in the target language. If both conditions are met, it will be possible to paraphrase the message. This implies that one has what it takes to formulate what is to be communicated in several ways, using a panoply of different formulations. In other words, one is competent in creating variation (see Kerremans, this volume). It may occur that a translator who has a high proficiency in the target language (level C1 or C2 in the Common European Framework of Reference) is not in a position to use domain-specific terminology. The reason may be that terminology occurring in a source text is not quite well developed in the target language because the categories referred to in the source text are new and have not been contemplated and discussed extensively yet in the target language. Since we are convinced that understanding is a dynamic and creative process, we also believe that a translator, who needs to reformulate his terminological understanding of

144

Chapter Eight

the source text, will have the capacity to implement all necessary creative procedures to find words to describe the meaning of the source text in the target language. The translator will know how to implement these procedures because he understands words and terms in context. We endorse Kecskes’ (2008) focus on the role of context in meaning construction and define context as a dynamic construct that appears in different formats in language use, both as a repository and as a trigger of knowledge. Any individual language user’s understanding of words is based on his encoding of prior contexts of experience and plays an important role in his meaning construction and term creation. For a translator, the repository of prior understandings of words and terms occurring in information on a particular subject may consist of his exposure to information and communication in the source language. It often occurs that the translator arrives at an understanding of new phenomena thanks to information available in foreign language texts. If the words are lacking to formulate this information in the target language, the translator will need the creative power to paraphrase his understanding which may lead to coining a term. Sager (1990) refers to the creation of a new term in a particular language based on the understanding of a new concept in a different language as secondary term formation.3 We distinguish between five types of dynamic context that may help translators understand terminology (Durieux 1995; Temmerman 2011): linguistic context, cognitive context, situational context, cultural context and metaphorical context. These five types of dynamic context can help explain why terminological variation (Section 3), but also vagueness and ambiguity (Section 1), are necessary to the process of understanding. What follows in this section is an attempt at distinguishing between five types of context that play a role in understanding languages and their terminology.

2.1. Linguistic Context The first type of context a translator needs to be familiar with is linguistic context. For all speakers of a language, words and terms in sentences and texts written in a natural language (e.g. French, Latvian, Chinese, Italian, Danish) can be understood and disambiguated in linguistic context. The following examples illustrate this. For a speaker of French, the string “suis” can be understood and differentiated without problems in the following phrases. a. Je suis partie en Italie pour me reposer. ((lit:*I am left) I went to Italy to relax));

Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts

145

b. Je pense donc je suis. (être =to be; first person: suis) (I think therefore I am); c. Je te suis partout. (suivre = to follow) (I follow you everywhere). Unlike computers that need explicit coding, humans who have at least intermediate proficiency of the French language understand and correctly interpret the same string “suis” that in the first phrase is the first person form of the auxiliary verb “être” (to be) in a present perfect, whereas in the second phrase it is the first person singular form of the simple present of “être” (to be) in its existential meaning, and in the third phrase it is the first person singular form of the verb “suivre” (to follow) in the simple present. Anybody with some proficiency in French is capable of distinguishing between these ambiguities because of what we refer to here as the linguistic context, i.e. the context of understanding a language as a rule system made up of grammar and lexical units. Similarly, in English the string “fund” is easily distinguished in the following phrases: a. Funds can be allocated for either short-term or long-term purposes; b. The government funds basic research in many areas; c. Thus, policymakers did not immediately recognize the increasingly important role played by financial institutions such as investment banks and hedge funds. A language user with at least intermediate proficiency in English will know the difference between fund (noun) in (a.) and fund (verb) in (b.). The meaning of both hedge and fund will be known by the competent language user who will be familiar with the compounding and in the situational context (see 1.3.) it will be possible to understand the metaphorical meaning of hedge fund (c.). By linguistic context is meant here that the language user needs to be knowledgeable about a language as a system in order to be able to understand a message expressed in that language. Some linguists have dealt with language as a static, fixed system of symbols organized into a grammar (e.g. in the generativist approach). This view has been challenged in sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics and pragmatics. As discussed by Beckner et al. (2009), research in the cognitive sciences has demonstrated that a language is a complex adaptive system (CAS). This CAS is functional in a cognitive, situational, cultural and metaphorical context (see 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5).

146

Chapter Eight

2.2. Cognitive Context In order to understand a term in a text, a translator also needs to rely on the cognitive context. Terms occurring in texts play a role in the cumulative construction (in the working memory of the mind) of understanding a message as a process. Terms in texts are part of lexical chains (Rogers 2007: 17). Such a lexical chain consists of “cohesive ties sharing the same referent, lexically rather than grammatically expressed”. Collet writes about terms as follows (2004: 104): “When used in a special text, it [i.e., the term] plays a dynamic and important part in the bringing about of text coherence and cohesion.” In the following example, the lexical chain in a fragment of four parallel language versions—English, Dutch, Spanish and French—of a text by the European Environment Agency4 is underlined by us. It shows that a lexical chain is not totally equivalent in all four languages as it can undergo shifts in the translation. EN The killer slug, known scientifically as Arion lusitanicus, is also called the 'Spanish slug' because it is native to the Iberian peninsula. The slug is hermaphrodite and can spread very quickly. More aggressive than the native black slug it eats weaker slugs. NL De killerslak, met de wetenschappelijke naam Arion lusitanicus, wordt ook wel 'Spaanse wegslak' genoemd, omdat hij een inheemse soort op het Iberisch schiereiland is. De slak is hermafrodiet en kan zich daarom razendsnel vermenigvuldigen. De Spaanse wegslak is agressiever dan de inheemse zwarte wegslak en eet zwakkere soortgenoten op. Esta babosa asesina (de nombre científico Arion lusitanicus) también se conoce como “babosa española” porque es originaria de la Península Ibérica.. Es hermafrodita y puede multiplicarse muy rápidamente. Más agresiva que la babosa negra autóctona, se alimenta también de babosas más débiles. La limace tueuse, dont le nom scientifique est Arion lusitanicus, est également appelée « limace ibérique » étant donné qu’elle est originaire de la péninsule ibérique. La limace est hermaphrodite et peut se reproduire très vite. Plus agressive que la limace noire indigène, elle mange les autres limaces plus faibles.

A translator needs to understand the cognitive context of words and terms as all information in a paragraph is mutually dependent (Durieux 1995) and all information given in a particular paragraph of a text could help to disambiguate ambiguities in a following paragraph.

Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts

147

2.3. Situational Context Terms are interpreted and understood in a linguistic (2.1) and cognitive (2.2) context but also in a situational context, and the communicative situation will add to the interpretation. An example is the political context within which, in a law proposal, terms need to be interpreted and understood with reference to the specific situation that is given shape in the text. Other examples are institutional context (e.g. terms in texts published by a particular institution) or professional context (e.g. articles published in medical journals to report on new discoveries). What is mentioned under “domain” in the European terminological database IATE is: an indication of the situational contexts in which the term may have a particular meaning. Yet, even within the same domain, different situational contexts may occur, depending on the actual text in which a lexical expression occurs. An example of different situational contexts for the same lexical expression is found for the English term transposition. The term is polysemous in a European institutional context. In IATE the term yields 52 hits (consulted on 8 February 2013). In the domain of administrative law transposition is defined in IATE as “process by which the European Union’s member states give force to a directive by passing appropriate implementation measures”. In a note it is explained that “transposition is typically done by either primary or secondary legislation. The European Commission closely monitors that transposition is timely, correctly done and implemented, so as to attain the results intended. The Commission may bring a case in the European Court of Justice against states which have not transposed directives adequately”. In the domain of electronics and electrical engineering, transposition is “the arrangement of the strands or laminations of a conductor or of the conductors comprising a turn or coil whereby they take different relative positions in a slot for the purpose of reducing eddy-current losses.” In the domain of communication, transposition can refer to: “a transmission defect in which, during 1 character period, 1 or more signal elements are changed from 1 significant condition to the other, and an equal number of elements are changed in the opposite sense”. Also in the domain of communication twist transposition system, twist system and rotations are equivalents. They refer to a “type of transposition in which the conductors of a group are arranged so that their positions form a square; they then pass successively from one corner of this square to an adjacent corner in a fixed direction.” In the domain of information technology and data processing: transformation is “a method of transformation whereby the normal order

148

Chapter Eight

of letters of plaintext is disarranged”, but also “the inversion of the order of consecutive letters, a common typing error”. The term transposition is a kind of “floating” or “empty” signifier (Barthes 1957). Barthes defines an empty signifier as a form that does not refer to one clearly delineated concept. Transposition can refer to a panoply of phenomena. The situational context will help the reader of a text, or the listener to spoken discourse, understand the meaning of transposition. By situational context it is meant that terms in a particular environment (e.g. a political context, an institutional context, a professional context) have specific meaning. The English floating signifier transposition takes a European sense when it refers to the transposition of a European directive into national or regional legislation (Kaeding 2007). At that point transposition becomes a monocultural (the European culture) designation for a European unit of understanding, as will be explained in the next section.

2.4. Cultural Context Technical texts are considered to be mainly informative and addressed at an international discourse community whose members share the same knowledge and values. Therefore technical translations are preferably unambiguous and potentially non-cultural (Aguado de Cea & Alvarez de Mon y Rego 2007). Contrariwise, vagueness and ambiguity are some of the key features generally attributed to legislative writing, as was demonstrated in Section 1. The experience of legal translators is dynamically constructed over a period of time. Whereas legal translators operating in the context of countries with several official languages (e.g. Belgium, Finland, Switzerland) work within “a shared legal system of reference” (Šarþeviü 2000: 68), legal translators working in the context of international organizations will have to cope with “cultural transposition” (Caliendo, 2007: 382), since not only several languages and cultures in general but also several legal systems are involved. Good cases in point are given by Whittaker ((forthcoming) and Roald & Whittaker 2011; see also Section 3.1) and by Peruzzo (2012) (see also Section 3.2). Whittaker refers to the UN convention on the rights of the child where the term ‘responsibility’ (responsabilité in the French version) is used to describe parents’ duties towards their children. In French legislation, however, the term autorité parentale [parental authority] is used. For Whittaker the French legislators’ choice of the term autorité can be viewed as reflecting a culturally bound perception of the role of

Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts

149

parents. Her example illustrates that the principles in the UN convention are broadly enough defined to allow for cultural adaptation. Peruzzo’s (2012) case deals with the specific subdomain of “victims in criminal proceedings and victims’ rights”. She discusses how existing terms are undergoing a Europeanization process in English as well as in Italian. Legal context is cultural context and, as shown by Fischer (2010), the European legal order as represented in a corpus of texts written in 24 official languages should be distinguished as a culture on its own. She analyzes the stages of multilingual primary and secondary term formation in the EU cultural context and points out that in an EU context, translation into and from the official languages ensures by regulation the “EU function” of those languages. As Fischer (2010) indicates, three communication levels need to be differentiated at the EU level: communication within EU institutions; communication between EU institutions and European citizens; and communication among the citizens of the EU. For each of these levels the cultural context of understanding is different. At the first level, multilingual primary term-creation is a simultaneous, multilingual activity aiming at the designation of one unit of understanding in several languages. As simultaneous drafting in 23 languages is inconceivable, translation of a first level document drafted in EURO-English or EUROFrench may be necessary. Since the text is only used for communication within the European institutions, the cultural context and legal order remain the same. In line with Fischer’s analysis, one could speak of an intracultural translation and intracultural terminology. At the second level, EU institutions address their citizens who are in this particular situation biculturals, i.e. they are European citizens and therefore belong to the European culture but they are also nationals of one of the member states and reside under their nation state’s cultural environment and legal order. A translator translating a European text aimed at a European citizen into (one of) this European citizen’s national language(s) produces an intercultural translation and will be confronted with intercultural secondary term creation.5 An example is the English term transposition in its European sense (see 2.3). At the third level, European citizens communicate with one another. Depending on the situational context (2.3), their European cultural adherence may not even come into play here. In cross-border communication, nationals of two different states may happen to share their first language (e.g. Belgium shares French with France). Agreements between the Belgian federal government or the Walloon regional government and French central or regional governmental bodies

150

Chapter Eight

will be in French but the terminology used in these bilateral agreements will need to be agreed on in a bicultural context. An example of intracultural European terminology creation is the term flexicurity. This means a welfare state model with a pro-active labor market policy. The model is a combination of easy hiring and firing (flexibility for employers) and high benefits for the unemployed (security for the employees). It was first implemented in Denmark in the 1990s.6 In some of the language versions,7 we find: DE: Förderung eines Gleichgewichts zwischen Flexibilität und Beschäftigungssicherheit („Flexicurity“) und Gewährleistung der Beschäftigungsfähigkeit von Arbeitssuchenden. FR: Promouvoir les principes de flexicurité et assurer l’employabilité des demandeurs d’emploi. NL: Bevordering van de beginselen van flexizekerheid en de inzetbaarheid van werkzoekenden. PT: Promover os princípios da «flexissegurança» e assegurar a possibilidade de emprego aos candidatos.

This is a clear example of the creation of an EU term in a two-step process: monocultural (European) primary term-creation for the dominant languages (English and French) followed by a secondary activity, an intracultural term-transfer for the other official European languages. Whilst, for primary terms, the process of conceptual thinking and designation is carried out by politicians, experts and civil servants (depending on the stage of decision-making), the translators/terminologists in EU institutions play an important role in secondary term creation.

2.5. Metaphorical Context In Temmerman (2011), we described how a seminal publication could reinforce a domain metaphor. The dissociation of invasion ecology from the rest of ecology began with Charles S. Elton in 1958 when he published The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants. The growing success of the domain metaphor ALIEN SPECIES ARE INVADERS THAT NEED TO BE ELIMINATED can be observed in discourse, with terms like noxious weeds, killer snakes, invasive pests, eradicating the NorthAmerican beaver, alien species that threaten ecosystems, etc. Depending on the position taken by researchers (in favor of, neutral towards, or against “introduced species” in a habitat where they do not naturally occur) term variants can be spotted like alien species, exotic species,

Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts

151

foreign species, introduced species, non-indigenous species, non-native species, etc. As a consequence of this invasion frame of thought, several neologisms have been created in invasion ecology that are reminiscent of warfare, invasion and eradication. The metaphorical term creation exists in English as well as in other languages. The metaphorical domain created by Charles Elton and his contemporaries remains productive and a translator who translates in this domain should be aware of this in order to maintain the metaphorical resonance of his translations. An example is the title of a parallel document in several European languages on “killer slugs” (see also 2.2). The English title reads as follows “Killer slugs and other aliens—Europe’s biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate.” The Dutch equivalent is “'Killerslakken' en andere vreemde gasten—De biodiversiteit van Europa verdwijnt in een alarmerend tempo”. “Vreemde gasten” is not the best translation equivalent for “aliens”, but it is reminiscent of “aliens that need to be fought or eradicated”. Further on we can read: […] the ‘killer slug’ is probably one of your personal enemies. The slug, which attacks your herbs and vegetables relentlessly, seems immune to control measures.

The translations of killer slug in 13 European languages (Fig. 2- 1) prove that the metaphorical undertone is kept in the naming of the species in all these language equivalents, except in Icelandic. EN: killer slugs

NO: mordersnegler

DA: dræbersnegle

SV: mördarsniglar

DE: Killerschnecken

PT: lesma assassina

FR: limaces tueuses

IS: Spanskir sniglar

IT: lumache assassin

PO: ĝlimaki-zabójcy

ES: babosas asesinas

SL: ubijalski polž slinar

MA: bugƫarwien qattiel

CS: zabijácký slimák

Fig. 2-1: Metaphorical names for the killer slug in 13 languages

152

Chapter Eight

3. Studying Term Creation in Context from a Multilingual and Intercultural Perspective Increasing interest has been seen in the role of neology creation and terminological variation in the dynamics of understanding in recent decades from the perspective of legal discourse studies in a globalizing and internationalizing world (see, e.g., Bhatia et al. 2008; Derlén 2009). The European Union’s democratic dynamic process towards harmonization (i.e. the creation process towards a European culture) offers interesting cases for a detailed analysis. The twenty-three official European languages are functional not only to describe the legal order and political reality of the 27 member states. They also exist in their EURO-variety to make document creation and oral communication and negotiation at the European level possible. The German language, for instance, is functional within the states of Austria, Germany and Belgium, and it is one of the 23 official European languages, where it gave rise to a EURO-German variety. In this section, we will illustrate how terminology researchers are setting up test case scenarios by selecting relevant documents in order to make a detailed analysis of units of understanding in a legal cultural context from a comparative point of view. Their intention is to contribute to a better insight in some of the mechanism underlying the dynamics of terminology in the creation of new content. We will first discuss Whittaker (forthcoming) and Roald & Whittaker (2011) who study legal terms and units of understanding from an international and national perspective. They came to realize that the formulation of new ideas emerging from dynamic processes in a changing world could be observed in White Papers and related documents (draft bills, green papers, draft proposals, etc.). Then we will briefly discuss Katia Peruzzo’s work on a unit of understanding from the domain of criminal law designated by “victim” and related terms in Italy, the UK and EU in Italian and English. Her analysis is based on close reading of texts taking the perspective of the translator. She also reflects on possible visualizations of the content of terms and units of understanding in different legal cultural contexts and on how terminological resources could provide visualized information for this matter. Both researchers are zooming in on “reflective text fragments” (Temmerman 2000) or “knowledge rich contexts” (KRCs) (Meyer 2001) for their observations and deal in an interesting way with bilingual terminology and understanding in different European contexts.

Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts

153

3.1. The Process of Terminological Dynamics Whittaker (forthcoming) reflects on how the process of terminological dynamics can be studied in legal texts. She observes that legal cultures in Europe are at present undergoing changes because of an increasing interaction between countries, organizations and individuals with different legal-cultural backgrounds. There are obligations for EU and EEA members (like Norway) to implement the EU law. Moreover, the existence of supranational courts of justice has led to a certain degree of harmonization of legal terms. Whittaker finds these developments interesting and challenging for legal experts and terminologists alike. In her article (forthcoming), she first discusses how variation in the degree of convergence of legal cultures may affect methodological choices in research on legal terminology. Studying the Europeanization of French and Norwegian law, she demonstrates that the interplay between national law and supranational law (and, as a consequence, between national and supranational legal concepts and terms) is highly complex. Given the fact that the three types of legislation she describes—i.e. EU regulations, EU directives and European and UN conventions—illustrate three different levels of harmonization, she believes that these three levels seem to call for different approaches to the study of harmonization of legal terminology. Texts pertaining to these three levels of harmonization can be used for terminological studies: a. EU regulations represent the deepest level of harmonization. As the texts exist in all the different EU and EEA languages, it is possible to compile parallel corpora that can be used for contrastive terminological studies. As the same content is expressed in all the different language versions, the regulations are a very useful source for the study of secondary term formation. One question of interest from a harmonization perspective is whether terms that already exist in the various national legal cultures are recycled in the regulations or whether new terms are coined and, in the latter case, whether the drafters/translators attempt to create terms with similar motivations in the different languages. b. EU directives can be written into already existing national legislation, or can give rise to new legislation. They can be written into both laws and regulations, depending on national preferences. It is possible to compile a corpus of comparable texts provided that both laws and regulations are included. These texts can be explored with a view to establishing whether the same content is present in the different national transpositions and, in the event of discrepancies, to identify the type of cultural factors that come into play.

154

Chapter Eight

c. There are no explicit references to UN and European conventions in national statutes, and there are no specific guidelines as to how the general principles laid down in these texts are to be implemented. In order to find out where legal concepts come from, we need to go behind the scenes and explore texts where these concepts are negotiated, in other words, texts documenting the process leading up to the passing of new legislation. The genesis of legal terms is closely linked to the legislative process. Whittaker proposes studying white papers describing the situation that requires regulation, commissioned from a group of specialists in the relevant field. The white paper contains a recommendation forming the basis for a draft law. White papers therefore contain a wealth of “reflective text fragments” (Temmerman 2000). These white papers can be exploited to identify new legal terms. She illustrates her point by taking the example of co-mother, starting from the Norwegian white paper “Farskap og annen morskap”, which deals with parenthood, and the need for the definition of new types of legal parents. In Norway, white papers in the form of a report commissioned by the government are available at the government’s website. As preparatory works contain discussions that shed light on how legal concepts come into being, they lend themselves well to analytical studies of discourse. An analysis of the reasoning behind both legal concepts and their linguistic expressions may yield interesting information on how legislators perceive cultural issues. One of the hypotheses underlying Whittaker’s study is that family law is subject to strong religious and political influences and that, as a consequence, the way individual countries regulate family matters will vary greatly. There is, in other words, a strong likelihood of finding culture-specific legal concepts is this particular legal area. Preparatory works such as white papers provide an insight into how legal concepts come about and thereby into the type of considerations legislators take into account when new legal concepts are introduced. Whittaker provides examples of how the study of reflective text fragments in white papers can yield interesting information about the reasoning behind legal concepts and their linguistic expressions. She shows how comparing the discourse in preparatory texts from different countries within a given legal area can give valuable insights into culturebound aspects of terminology. The socio-cultural background of the sender and receiver of information will have an impact on the choice of terminology and on the understanding thereof. The following example taken from legal terminology can illustrate this. The term “mother” in the legal situational context has undergone

Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts

155

changes in recent decades. Whereas before someone’s “mother” in the biological and legal sense could be defined as the “female person who gave birth to an individual (her child)”, new technological and medical developments have brought about a much more complex reality. Nowadays, in a legal context (a particular case of situational context and cultural context), a differentiation is needed between, for example, comother, surrogate mother, biological mother, legal mother, adoptive mother, stepmother, etc.

3.2. Towards Visualizations of Categorical Differences in Legal Terminological Resources for Translators The area of law under examination in Peruzzo’s (2012 and forthcoming) research is represented by the legal subdomain of victims of crime. Since her primary aim is to carry out a terminological analysis and the legal systems taken into consideration are the EU legal system and the British and Italian national legal systems, the languages involved in the study are English and Italian. The method of her study consists of two steps. First, she analyzes from a translational perspective the terminology used in EU documents within the area of law on victims of crime. Then she compares such terminology to that available in texts in the same legal area but referring to the English and Italian legal systems. Peruzzo (forthcoming) indicates that in the last decade EU legislators have been devoting greater attention to a specific topic within the criminal law domain, i.e. victims of crime and their rights. This has led to the publication of an increasing number of “victim-related texts”, of which a great part is nowadays available in the 23 official languages of the EU. She observes that although the supranational legal order and the national ones co-exist in and regulate the same judicial space, the terminology used within them is not shared by all the systems. The terminology used is bound to the legal system—and thus to the culture—it refers to. Therefore, in spite of harmonization attempts in this field, differences in the conceptualization of the legal orders analyzed can still be identified. Moreover, legal terminology is also characterized by a certain degree of dynamism, with legal notions and terms moving from one legal system to another. The differences and the dynamism observable in legal terminology are of the utmost importance, especially in those cases in which there is formal but no perfect conceptual correspondence between the EU and the national terminology. Due to the absence of a priori established equivalent terminologies, translators may find it difficult to

156

Chapter Eight

recognize and map legal concepts to the appropriate legal system. For this reason, her study highlights “the need for translation-oriented term bases in which multilingual legal data are accompanied by graphical representation tools that allow for the visualization of the links between the terms and the corresponding legal system and the relations among legal notions, so as to forewarn the translator on possible cases of partial or non-equivalence” (Peruzzo forthcoming).

Both Whittaker and Peruzzo contribute in a highly original way to research in the understanding of words and terms in context. Their findings are significant for the setting up of directives to teach translators how to approach this highly complex matter.

4. Conclusion We discussed the dynamics of understanding words and terms in context from the translator’s perspective, paying particular attention to terminology. In order to illustrate the role of indeterminacy, ambiguity and vagueness in cognition and communication, examples were given of neology coining in the situational and cultural (legal) context in a multilingual and multicultural institutional world. Specific emphasis was given to secondary term formation. It was suggested that communicators and translators need a five-tier contextual understanding in the process of drafting or translating a culture bound text, like a legal document. Examples were given of, on the one hand, research in the process of legal concept design by zooming in on reflective text fragments in text types (like white papers and draft bills) where tentative wording, paraphrasing and variation are part of the creation of a new legal reality. On the other hand, we showed research on dynamics of understanding in context from the translator’s perspective leading to suggestions of a new type of terminological dictionaries in which visualization of differences across languages and legal cultures could be generated and could support the process of understanding. In a globalizing world where everybody is on the move, literally and virtually, via internet communication, innovative research in the process of understanding words and terms in context and the search for a profound insight into the role of the translator in making communication optimal has never been more relevant.

Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts

157

References Aguado de Cea, Guadalupe, and Inmaculada Alvarez de Mon y Rego. 2007. “Cultural Aspects in the Translation of Texts in the Domain of Information Technology.” In Evidence-based LSP. Translation, Text and Terminology, edited by Ahmad Khurshid, and Margaret Rogers. Berlin: Peter Lang. Barthes, Roland. 1957. Mythologies. New York: Hill & Wang. Beckner, Clay, Richard Blythe, John Bybee, Morten H. Christiansen, William Croft, Nick C. Ellis, John Holland, Jingyun Ke, Diane LarsenFreeman, and Tom Schoenemann. 2009. “Language is a Complex Adaptive System: Position Paper.” Language Learning 59: 1–26. Caliendo, Giuditta. 2007. “Intercultural Traits in Legal Translation”. In Evidence-based LSP. Translation, Text and Terminology, edited by Ahmad Khurshid, and Margaret Rogers. Berlin: Peter Lang. Chroma, Marta. 2008. “Translating Terminology in Arbitration Discourse.” In Legal Discourse across Cultures and Systems, edited by Vijay Kumar Bhatia, Christopher Candlin, and Jan Engberg. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Ciprut, Jose, ed. 2008. Indeterminacy: The Mapped, the Navigable, and the Uncharted. Cambridge: MIT Press. Collet, Tanja. 2004. “What is a Term?” In The Translation of Domain Specific Languages and Multilingual Terminology Management, edited by Rita Temmerman, and Uus Knops, 99–112. Derlén, Mattias. 2009. Multilingual Interpretation of European Union Law. Alphen aan de Rijn: Kluwer Law International. Durieux, Christine. 1995. “Texte, Contexte, Hypertexte.” Cahier du CIEL (1994–95): 214–228. Engberg, Jan. 2008. “Vagueness and Indeterminacy in Law”. In Legal Discourse across Cultures and Systems, edited by Vijay Kumar Bhatia, Christopher Candlin, and Jan Engberg, 145–168. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Kaeding, Michael. 2007. Better Regulation in the European Union: Lost in Translation or Full Steam Ahead? The Transposition of EU Transport Directives across Member States. Leiden: Leiden University Press. Kecskes, Istvan. 2008. “Dueling Contexts: A Dynamic Model of Meaning.” Journal of Pragmatics 40: 385–406. Meyer, Ingrid. 2001. “Extracting Knowledge-rich Contexts for Terminography: A Conceptual and Methodogical Framework.” In Recent Advances in Computational Terminology, edited by Didier

158

Chapter Eight

Bourigault, Christian Jacquemin, and Marie-Claude L'Homme, 279– 302. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Peruzzo, Katia. 2012. “Secondary Term Formation within the EU: Term Transfer, Legal Transplant or Approximation of Member States’ Legal Systems?” The Journal of Specialised Translation 18: 76–186. —. (forthcoming). “Potential Translation Pitfalls in EU Legal Terminology: the Case of Victims of Crime.” In The Dynamics of Culture-bound Terminology in Monolingual and Multilingual Communication, edited by Rita Temmerman, and Marc Van Campenhoudt. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Piantadosi, Steven, and Edward Gibson. 2012. “The Communicative Function of Ambiguity in Language.” Cognition 122: 280–291. Roald, Jan, and Sunniva Whittaker. 2011. “The Formation of Legal Terms: a Case Study.” SYNAPS – A Journal of Professional Communication 26: 90–93. Rogers, Margaret. 2007. “Lexical Chains in Technical Translation: A Case Study in Indeterminacy.” In Indeterminacy in LSP and Terminology, edited by Bessey Edem Antiam, 15–35. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Sager, Juan Carlos. 1990. A Practical Course in Terminology Processing. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Šarþeviü, Susan. 2000. New Approach to Legal Translation. The Hague: Kluwer Law International. Temmerman, Rita. 2000. Towards New Ways of Terminology Description. The Sociocognitive Approach. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. —. 2011. “Ways of Managing the Dynamics of Terminology in Multilingual Communication.” SCOLIA Revue de linguistique de l’Université de Strasbourg 25: 105–122. Whittaker, Sunniva. (forthcoming). “The Harmonization of Legal Cultures, Concepts and Terms. Depth of Harmonization and Research Design.” In The Dynamics of Culture-bound Terminology in Monolingual and Multilingual Communication, edited by Rita Temmerman, and Marc van Campenhoudt. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Dynamics of Understanding Words and Terms in Contexts

159

Notes 1

The compendium of all EU legislation in force is available online, in all the official languages at EUR-Lex (http://eur-lex.europa.eu). 2 Sager states that “secondary term formation occurs when a new term is created for a known concept […] as a result of knowledge transfer to another linguistic community.” (Sager 1990: 80) 3 This phenomenon is well-known within the European Union. At the time of writing, “equally authentic” documents exist in 24 EU official languages. This implies that European legal documents are available in all these languages and that all language versions have the same authenticity and are not treated as translated texts. Yet, since it is not feasible to draft documents in 24 languages simultaneously many versions were of course translated from an original draft (most of the time in Euro-English nowadays, sometimes in Euro-French or EuroGerman). Translators who are responsible for the texts in, for example, EuroPolish, Euro-Italian, Euro-Dutch, Euro-Latvian, will make optimal use of the creative potential of their target language and will resort to secondary term creation. 4 http://www.eea.europa.eu. 5 In line with this we could say that Euro-English texts will have to be reformulated in a communication between the European institutions and British citizens. The terminology may need bicultural adaptations to prevent confusion between the European cultural context and legal order and the British cultural context and legal order. 6 http://europa.eu/abc/eurojargon/index_en.htm. 7 Promote “flexicurity” principles and ensure the employability of job seekers. COM(2011) 153 final 2011/0069 Proposal for a Council Decision.

CHAPTER NINE ILLUSION OF TERMINOLOGICAL PRECISION AND CONSISTENCY: A CLOSER LOOK AT EU TERMINOLOGY AND TRANSLATION PRACTICES KOEN KERREMANS CENTRE FOR SPECIAL LANGUAGE STUDIES AND COMMUNICATION, ERASMUS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

Abstract In the context of EU terminology and translation practices, adhering to the principles of terminological precision and consistency is difficult. This is clear from descriptive studies on the phenomenon of denominative variation. Denominative variation pertains to the possibility to express a given specialized concept by means of different terms. Despite many efforts in favor of terminological precision and consistency—mainly with a view to creating clear and transparent legal texts—denominative variation is a widespread phenomenon in EU terminology and translation practices. Related to the EU’s terminology practice, the article will look into the causes and treatment of denominative variation in the EU’s terminology base ‘IATE’. With respect to translation practice, a comparative study will be summarized on denominative variation in EU source texts and translations. Keywords: Denominative variation, terminology base ‘IATE’, translation practice.

162

Chapter Nine

1. Introduction EU guidelines on terminology use show that EU terminology policy is based on an idealistic view of the relationship between terms and concepts. This view—adopted in prescriptive terminology approaches (Wüster 1979; Felber 1984; Picht 1985)—advocates the principle of univocity, which means that a term can only be used to express one clearly delineated concept and, vice versa, that a concept can only be expressed by one term. The idealistic view implies a consistent and precise use of terminology that constitutes a specialized domain. In reality, however, specialized concepts can be expressed by means of different terms and terms can have multiple meanings (cf. Section 2). In the context of EU terminology and translation practices, adhering to the principles of terminological precision and consistency is difficult to maintain. This is clear from descriptive studies on the phenomenon of denominative variation. Denominative variation pertains to the possibility to express a given specialized concept by means of different terms. In Section 2, different views will be discussed with respect to denominative variation in specialized discourse. Despite many efforts in favor of terminological precision and consistency—mainly with a view to creating clear and transparent legal texts (cf. Section 3)—denominative variation is a widespread phenomenon in EU terminology and translation practices. Related to the EU’s terminology practice, the article will briefly look into the causes and treatment of denominative variation in the EU’s terminology base “IATE” (Section 4). With respect to translation practice, a comparative study will be summarized that has been carried out on denominative variation in EU source texts and translations (Section 5). The article primarily reports on descriptive findings with respect to the treatment of denominative variation. Based on these observations, we will suggest in the conclusive section some new possibilities for research (Section 6).

2. Terminological Precision and Variation: Idealistic vs. Realistic Views Terminology studies used to be carried out mainly from a prescriptive point of view (Wüster 1979; Felber 1984; Picht 1985). Such approaches created a practical framework for supporting clear (i.e. unambiguous) and efficient communication in specialized domains. The framework—which later became known as the General Theory of Terminology or GTT—

Illusion of Terminological Precision and Consistency

163

advocated the univocal relationship between a term and a (clearly defined) concept because it was believed that this was an important prerequisite for clear and efficient communication. In this respect, standardization of terminology is seen as “a way to combat the diversity of names and thus ensure communicative precision among specialists.” (Cabré et al. 1999: 194) Prescriptive terminology approaches pay little attention to the phenomenon of denominative variation. It is only allowed in cases of absolute equivalence, i.e. when two terms are used as labels for exactly the same concept in a specialized domain. This corresponds to the idealistic view in Figure 2-1 where a concept with clear-cut boundaries is referred to by one term in each language and some optional synonyms.

Fig. 2-1: Views on terminological precision and variation

Descriptive terminology approaches have jointly contributed, from the nineties onwards, to a more realistic view of the relationship between terms and concepts (Gaudin 1993; Cabré 1995; Condamines and Rebeyrolle 1997; Sager 1998; Diki-Kidiri 2001; Temmerman 2000). These studies have demonstrated that denominative variation is a natural phenomenon in special languages, as well as in domains that have undergone processes of standardization. This can be explained on different grounds. See, for instance, Freixa (2006) for a more elaborate discussion of possible causes of variation.

164

Chapter Nine

Cognitive studies, for example, show that our knowledge of a subject field is not built up by concepts with clear-cut boundaries but rather by flexible and dynamic “units of understanding” (see ). These units of understanding have fuzzy boundaries. They allow for prototypically structured understanding, i.e. fuzziness and, consequently, multiple ways of lexicalization. Cognitive studies also point out that terms not only have a referential meaning but may also trigger certain connotations. This may be a reason why in certain contexts one term is preferred over the other. Social studies stress the fact that denominative variation is the result of a negotiation process in which individuals in discourse communities interact with one another. They share views on different topics, use terms that reflect their understanding or propose new terms in case of new insights. They start discussions about the meaning of a term and its appropriate use in given communicative contexts. They use arguments against or in favor of certain term usage, etc. Partly due to these continuous discussions, the terminology of a domain is in constant change. The wider and more diverse these discourse communities are, the more variation will occur in the terms that are used to refer to specific units of understanding. Communicative studies identify several contextual factors that have an impact on term use and preference. The type of text (e.g. communication, legal act, scientific article, etc.), its communicative intention (e.g. to persuade a reader or to inform), the intended readership, the register, etc. are some of these determining factors. A multilingual perspective further adds to the complexity of the realistic model in Figure 2-1. Comparative linguistic studies show the difficulties in trying to find correspondences between terms from different language communities. Due to the reasons mentioned earlier, concept systems cannot simply be mapped from one community to the other. Finding an absolute equivalent is very often an illusion because the unit of understanding does not exist in the other language community or does not entirely have the same meaning. Cognitive differences between two language communities are only one way to explain why a one-to-one mapping between terms from different languages cannot be generalized. Translators always have to take into consideration several contextual factors when translating terms from one language into another: e.g. communicative, social, linguistic, textual, factors. The implication of these views is that denominative variation in source texts cannot simply be ignored by translators for the sake of terminological

Illusion of Terminological Precision and Consistency

165

consistency and precision. There may be reasons why authors introduced denominative variants in texts and it is up to translators to decide how to deal with those variants in their translations. Despite this insight, the impact of the idealistic model on EU terminology and translation guidelines is clear.

3. EU Guidelines on Terminology Use In the EU’s legal framework, precision and consistency in naming specialized concepts are important prerequisites for drafting clear and transparent legal texts in all the official languages of the EU (Williamson and Dewost 1997). EU translators and terminologists should follow specific guidelines and best practices with respect to proper terminology coinage and use. See, for instance, the interinstitutional style guide published by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities (European Union 2011). Other documents formulate general rules with respect to terminology in the EU legal setting. The Joint Practical Guide for Persons Involved in the Drafting of EU Legislation or JPG is such an example (European Communities 2003). It formulates guidelines with respect to the drafting of legislation within the EU. The JPG is used in conjunction with other more specific instruments published by EU legislative institutions. The Commission, for instance, has its Manual on Legislative Drafting (Williamson and Dewost 1997), the Council its Manual of Precedents (General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union—Directorate General for the Quality of Legislation 2010). Terminology consistency—i.e. the idea that the same term should be used to refer to the same idea and that synonyms or different expressions should be avoided—is expressed in all of the aforementioned guidelines. See, for instance, guideline 6 of the JPG: 6.2. Consistency of terminology means that the same terms are to be used to express the same concepts and that identical terms must not be used to express different concepts. The aim is to leave no ambiguities, contradictions or doubts as to the meaning of a term. Any given term is therefore to be used in a uniform manner to refer to the same thing and another term must be chosen to express a different concept.

The repetition of terms is considered useful and often indispensable for the sake of clarity. The Manual on Legislative Drafting or MLD adds to this that in case of amendments to a given act, “it will be necessary to

166

Chapter Nine

preserve phrases or expressions which are not affected by the amendment, even if some other solution would be more satisfactory from the stylistic or terminological viewpoint.” (Williamson and Dewost 1997: 44) Modifications of terminology are allowed as long as these are justified by the principle of clarity. Another important idea expressed in the guidelines—and that further builds on the idea of consistent terminology use—is that authors should not extend or restrict the meaning of a given term in one language or another. Terms that are used in everyday life or in other domains should be defined in the act so that the meaning is clear and precise, or they should be rephrased in order to avoid ambiguity. Terms of national law that do not seem to have a satisfactory equivalent in other Member States and which do not really correspond to a given notion or which only correspond to a more general notion, should be replaced by a new, more appropriate term, “even if it is perhaps less relevant” (Williamson and Dewost 1997: 104). The reason is that the act should not be perceived as a “translation” in a negative sense—but as a text which corresponds to a certain legislative style. Texts “peppered with loan words, literal translations or jargon which are hard to understand are the source of much of the criticism of Community legislation which is, as a result, regarded as alien.” (European Communities 2003: 19–20) Opinions about terms and concepts in these guidelines are very much inspired by the idealistic model (cf. Section 0). The Commission’s report on actions to improve the quality of translations by its translation department proposes several action points to better achieve terminological precision and consistency in translations. One such action point is to establish a better integration between IATE (cf. Section 0) and several (normative) translation memories (cf. action point no. 20). Another action point is the organization of tailor-made training sessions for translators who “are expected to enhance knowledge and expertise in specific domains and on upcoming legislative packages and improve terminological consistency.” (Directorate-General for Translation 2009: 14)

4. Denominative Variation in the IATE Database Despite these general guidelines and concrete action points in favor of terminological precision and consistency, denominative variation is a common phenomenon in the IATE terminology base. The database is used as a means to harmonize the usage of terminology between EU institutions. In combination with existing translation

Illusion of Terminological Precision and Consistency

167

memories such as Euramis, it should help translators to continuously use the same translation for a given term throughout their translations. In this respect, the database follows the ideas stated in the EU guidelines concerning terminological precision and consistency (cf. Section 0). Moreover, its concept-oriented structure relates to the idealistic view on terms and concepts (cf. Section 0). IATE’s best practice document states: Every entry should deal with one concept only (or a single proper name in the case of nomenclature) and all data relating to a given concept should be consolidated in one entry (Translation Section of the ICTI 2008: 6).

A closer examination of IATE shows that the reality is different. IATE contains many terminological records pointing to the same “concept”. As a result of this, there are also many denominative variants. This is because the database comprises data from existing terminology bases that were managed by different EU institutions. Each institution had its own proper terminology to denote a given concept and this could sometimes deviate from the terminology that was managed by another institution for the same concepts. When the different databases were merged into IATE in 2004, the terminological differences were simply carried over. IATE’s technical infrastructure also contributes to the further expansion of denominative variation in the database. EU translators and terminologists are able to keep the database “alive” and up-to-date through an interactive platform. They can propose new terms, merge duplicate terminological entries, validate terms, rate their reliability, add and verify definitions, etc. Despite several efforts to control as much as possible the proposed modifications by means of built-in validation procedures, it is clear that multiple user input leads to different (validated) terminological proposals. In a way, giving such responsibilities to the users of the database should contribute to the terminology harmonization process that is going on at the EU level. Users can propose provisional harmonized terms in order to prevent usage from varying too widely. But by doing so, more variation is added to the IATE database: Where an organization or an instrument does not yet have an official or definitive name or where no name is known, the terminologist must propose a provisional harmonized solution in IATE to prevent usage from varying too widely. In such cases it is important to explain the situation in the notes and to update the entry as soon as possible (Translation Section of the ICTI 2008: 11).

Chapter Nine

168

IATE provides facilities for users to account for this variation. Its term entry model features several data categories in which these different terminological proposals can be entered. Other data categories provide more information on specific features of the terminological forms (e.g. grammatical information or reliability status) or on their specific contextual uses. These three groups of data categories—Form, Features and Use—contribute to the general representation and description of denominative variation in IATE.

5. Denominative Variation in EU Source Texts and Translations A comparative study between source texts and translations was carried out in order to 1) examine how translators of specialized texts deal with denominative variation appearing in source texts, 2) find out whether certain patterns or tendencies can be derived from the comparative study and 3) reflect on how the results can be incorporated in multilingual terminological resources as a support for future translations. What follows is a discussion of the methodology of this research and some general observations drawn from the research data.

5.1. Corpus The research was carried out on a self-made multilingual, parallel corpus of EU texts originally written in English and translated into Dutch and French. The texts in this corpus deal with biodiversity loss, climate change, environmental pollution and invasive alien species. Table 5-1 shows in the first column the different sources. In the second column, it is indicated whether or not the text type belongs to the EU legal framework. The third column shows the text type and the fourth column the number of data lines retrieved for each text type. Table 5-1: Corpus Survey

Source European Commission (EC)

Legal framework No Yes No Yes

Text type

#data

booklet communication fact sheet green paper

393 3694 521 781

Illusion of Terminological Precision and Consistency

Yes

169

staff working document opinion

343

Yes

annual report briefing opinion

1303 498 503

Yes

opinion

380

Committee of the Regions (CoR)

Yes

European Environment Agency (EEA) Committee of the Regions (CoR) European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

No

503

A data line consists of a unique identifier for each unit of understanding (cf. Section 5), its corresponding English term retrieved from the source text, the Dutch and French translation equivalents extracted from the parallel text versions and additional contextual (e.g. source, legal status and text type) and linguistic information (e.g. lemmatized forms and morpho-syntactic structures of the terms).

5.2. Dataset: Clusters of Denominative Variants The starting point for the text analysis was the multilingual glossary of the European Environment Agency, also known as the Environmental Terminology and Discovery Service. The glossary was used to find occurrences of English terms in the corpus. Based on these occurrences, an initial list of English terms was compiled. In the next step, each term was assigned a unit of understanding tag or label. This is a unique label for each unit of understanding. An example is the label INVASIVE_ALIEN_SPECIES (cf. infra). Terms that carry this label appear in the same “cluster” of denominative variants. Variants are derived from analyses of lexical chains. According to Rogers (2007: 17), a lexical chain consists of “cohesive ties sharing the same referent, lexically rather than grammatically expressed”. This is illustrated by means of the following text sample taken from the Commission’s staff working document that contains several denominations for the unit of understanding INVASIVE_ALIEN_SPECIES: “Invasive Alien Species” are alien species whose introduction and/or spread threaten biological diversity [...]. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment revealed that IAS impact on all ecosystems [...]. The problem of biological invasions is growing rapidly as a result of increased trade

170

Chapter Nine activities. Invasive species (IS) [...] negatively affect biodiversity [...]. IS can cause congestion in waterways, damage to forestry, crops and buildings and damage in urban areas. The costs of preventing, controlling and/or eradicating IS and the environmental and economic damage are significant. The costs of control, although lower than the costs of continued damage by the invader, are often high (Commission of the European Communities 2008a: 2).

The lexical chain drawn from this text sample is: “invasive alien species—ias—invasive species (is)—is—is—invader”. These denominative variants will appear together in the cluster INVASIVE_ALIEN_SPECIES. To be able to compare the variation in an English lexical chain with the translations, the Dutch and French translation equivalents of each English term were extracted from the parallel text versions (cf. Section 5). This resulted in a dataset of roughly 16,800 translation pairs of which half were English-French and half English-Dutch. Only lemmatized forms were considered, which excluded all morphological variants from the analysis. Changes in a lexical chain were marked as “1”. A repetition of the same term was marked as “0”. Applied to the example of INVASIVE_ALIEN_SPECIES, the analysis of the English lexical chain looks like this: Table 5-2: Example of Analyzing a Lexical Chain

Term invasive alien species Ias invasive species Is Is Is Invader

Marked as… New lexical chain 1 1 1 0 0 1

The first occurrence is marked as the beginning of a new lexical chain and is therefore not taken into consideration. The second occurrence differs from the first one and is therefore marked as “1”. This is also the case for the third occurrence (which differs from the second), the fourth (which differs from the third) and the seventh (which differs from the sixth). The fifth and the sixth occurrences are marked as “0” because they match the fourth occurrence “is”.

Illusion of Terminological Precision and Consistency

171

5.3. Some Observations A first observation is that changes in the English lexical chains also tend to be reflected in the translations. Only those units of understanding were taken into consideration that occurred at least two times in a text: 952 lexical chains were retrieved from the corpus texts, of which 578 (61%) were extracted from texts belonging to legal framework and 374 (39%) from the other texts. In total, the lexical chains were comprised of 6,788 English terms that were marked as either “0” or “1” (cf. Section 5).

Fig. 5-1: Comparison of lexical chains

The tendency towards term consistency in the English texts is clear from the results in Fig. 5-1: 4521 English terms (i.e. 67%) were marked as “no change”. To a large extent, the patterns found in the English source texts with respect to term consistency are also reflected in the Dutch and French translations. For instance, in 80% of the cases where an English term in a lexical chain was marked as “0” (no change), a repetition of the Dutch term was also observed in the Dutch lexical chain. In 77% of the cases the French translations corresponded to the English “no change” (or consistency) pattern. A deviation from the consistency pattern—which occurred in 2,267 instances (or 33%)—was to a large extent also carried over in the translations: in 88% of the cases for both Dutch and French.

172

Chapter Nine

A second observation is the variation in the translation of English terms into Dutch and French. This can be derived from the fact that the number of English terms for each unit of understanding does not always correspond to the number of terms in French and Dutch. Results are shown in Fig. 5-2. In those cases where a unit of understanding was found at least two times in a text, the number of variants in one of the target languages corresponded more often to the number of variants in English. A total number of 545 instances were retrieved from the research data, of which 315 were taken from texts belonging to the legal framework and 230 from texts not belonging to the legal framework.

Fig. 5-2: Comparison of the number of terms found in each text for a given unit of understanding

The figure shows that in the legal texts, 53% of cases have the same number of terms in English and French for a given unit of understanding. In 57% of the retrieved data, the same number of English and Dutch terms was found for a given unit of understanding. These occurrences were marked as “S = T”. Cases where more terms in the source language (“S”) were found for a given unit of understanding as compared to the target language (“T”) were marked as “S > T”. Those cases where more terms were found in the target language were classified as “S < T”. In all four situations—legal and non-legal texts in Dutch and French—the “S > T” category has the lowest number of occurrences. The chance of finding units of understanding with a higher number of terms in the translations (as compared to the source texts) is more probable. This corresponds to the third general observation that more variation is found in the translations (see Fig. 5-3). In English, 864 unique nominal patterns were retrieved from the data to refer to a total set of 253 units of

Illusion of Terminological Precision and Consistency

173

understanding. This corresponds to 26% of the total number of unique nominal patterns. In French, 1,127 nominal patterns were detected (i.e., 35%) and 1254 for Dutch (i.e., 39%).

Fig. 5-3: Unique lemmatized forms (En-Fr-Nl)

Given the close intertextual relationship between a source text and its translation, it would seem reasonable to expect that a set of source language terms that designate a common object or conceptual structure would be replaced by a set of conceptually equivalent target language terms. However, due to different contextual parameters that need to be taken into account when translating a text, it is not always possible for translators to translate a term consistently, i.e. by means of the same translation equivalent (Rogers 2004). For instance, the most frequent French equivalent in the research data for the English term invasive alien species is espèce exotique envahissante. This equivalent appears in different texts and text types from all institutions covered by the corpus. The French equivalent espèce allogène envahissante is also found in the corpus but only in texts belonging to the legal framework. It was found in four different communications published by the European Commission and in one report published by the Committee of the Regions. The two French translations also occur in the Commission’s communication about the EU strategy on invasive species (Commission of the European Communities 2008b). In one context, the French translation espèces allogènes envahissantes

Chapter Nine

174

appears in the longer term inventaire paneuropéen des espèces allogènes envahissantes: x

Original context: The DAISIE project delivered the first panEuropean inventory of Invasive Alien Species. x Translation: Le projet DAISIE a débouché sur le premier inventaire paneuropéen des espèces allogènes envahissantes. (Commission of the European Communities 2008b: 8).

The French alternative espèce exotique envahissante is used in the context of the European Strategy on Invasive Alien Species: x

Original context: In 2003, the European Strategy on Invasive Alien Species was adopted under the Bern Convention. x Translation: La stratégie européenne relative aux espèces exotiques envahissantes a été adoptée en 2003 dans le cadre de la Convention de Berne. (Commission of the European Communities 2008b: 8).

Contextual parameters (such as text type, source, co-occurring words, etc.) can impose important restrictions on the use of specific terms or on the choice of specific translation equivalents. One could, for instance, hypothesize from the examples above that the French equivalent espèce exotique envahissante tends to be preferred over espèce allogène envahissante, when translating non-legal texts. This is something which obviously needs to be examined on the basis of a representative corpus. Another rule that may be postulated on the basis of the examples above is that invasive alien species should be translated into French as espèces exotiques envahissantes when it occurs in the context of the European Strategy on Invasive Alien Species. This claim is confirmed when comparing the number of times the patterns stratégie européenne relative aux espèces exotiques envahissantes and stratégie européenne relative aux espèces allogènes envahissantes were found via on-line search. In the case of the second pattern, no occurrences were found.1

6. Conclusion This article discussed the illusion of terminological precision and consistency in relation to the EU terminology and translation practices. The EU guidelines on terminology use mentioned in this article are very much inspired by the idealistic view on the relationship between terms and concepts, which emphasizes the importance of terminological precision

Illusion of Terminological Precision and Consistency

175

and consistency in specialized discourse. In reality, however, denominative variation is a widespread phenomenon in both terminology and translation practices within EU institutions. We described the causes and treatment of variation in the IATE database and also summarized a comparative study of denominative variation in EU source texts and translations. These findings and general observations provide a basis for new research into the phenomenon of denominative variation in the context of the EU. For instance, one might study the interactions at different levels of the EU legal drafting process in order to better understand the reasons for denominative variation. Earlier in this article, we mentioned the differences in terminology between EU institutions that jointly contribute to the drafting of legal acts. There are also the interactions between the EU and national authorities with a view to harmonizing legal concepts and terminology. In this respect, further research should be conducted on the impact of denominative variation on the EU’s harmonization efforts.

References AA.VV. 2008. IATE. Best Practice for Terminologists. Text submitted for approval to the Translation Section of the ICTI. Luxembourg. Cabré, Maria Teresa. 1995. “On Diversity and Terminology.” Terminology 2 (1): 1–16. Cabré, Maria Teresa, Juan C. Sager, and Janet Ann DeCesaris. 1999. Terminology: Theory, Methods, and Applications. John Benjamins Publishing Company. Commission of the European Communities. 2008a. Commission Staff Working Document—Annex to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions— Towards and EU Strategy on Invasive Species. Accessed June 12, 2013. http://www.eumonitor.nl/9353000/1/j9vvik7m1c3gyxp/vi7jgtaf39zq?st art_00g=10. —. 2008b. Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions—Towards and EU Strategy on Invasive Species. Accessed June 12, 2013. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasivealien/index_en.htm. Condamines, Anne, and Josette Rebeyrolle. 1997. “Point de vue en langue spécialisée.” Méta 42 (1): 174–184.

176

Chapter Nine

Diki-Kidiri, Marcel. 2001. “Méthodologie Pour Une Terminologie à Base Culturelle.” L’éloge De La Différence: La Voix De l’Autre, VIe Journées Scientifiques Du Réseau Thématique Lexicologie, Terminologie Et Traduction, 323–328. Beyrouth: Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie. Directorate-General for Translation. 2009. “Programme for Quality Management in Translation: 22 Quality Actions”. European Commission. Accessed June 15, 2013. http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/publications/studies/index_en.htm. European Communities. 2003. Joint Practical Guide of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission for Persons Involved in the Drafting of Legislation within the Community Institutions. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. European Union. 2011. Interinstitutional Style Guide. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Felber, Helmut. 1984. Terminology Manual. Paris: UNESCO and Infoterm. Freixa, Judit. 2006. “Causes of Denominative Variation in Terminology: A Typology Proposal.” Terminology 12 (1): 51–77. Gaudin, François. 1993. “Socioterminologie: Du Signe Au Sens, Construction D’un Champ.” Meta 38 (2): 293–301. General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union—Directorate General for the Quality of Legislation. 2010. Manual of Precedents for Acts Established within the Council of the European Union. SN 1250/1/10 REV 1. Accessed June 22, 2013. http://ec.europa.eu/translation/maltese/guidelines/documents/form_acts _en.pdf. Gerzymisch-Arbogast, Heidrun. 2008. “Fundamentals of LSP Translation.” MUTRA 2: 7–64. Picht, Heribert. 1985. Terminology: An Introduction. Guildford: University of Surrey, Department of Linguistic and International Studies. Rogers, Margaret. 2004. “Multidimensionality in Concepts Systems: A Bilingual Textual Perspective.” Terminology 10 (2): 215–240. —. 2007. “Lexical Chains in Technical Translation. A Case Study in Indeterminacy.” In Indeterminacy in Terminology and LSP, 8. Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice, edited by Bassey Edem Antia, 15–35. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Illusion of Terminological Precision and Consistency

177

Sager, Juan C. 1998. “In Search of a Foundation: Towards a Theory of the Term.” Terminology 5 (1): 41–57. Temmerman, Rita. 2000. Towards New Ways of Terminology Description: The Sociocognitive-Approach. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Williamson, David F., and Jean-Louis Dewost. 1997. Legislative Drafting —A Commission Manual. European Commission. Wüster, Eugen. 1991. Einführung in Die Allgemeine Terminologielehre Und Terminologische Lexikographie, 3rd ed. Würzburg: Ergon.

Notes 1

Last checked on January 30, 2013.

CHAPTER TEN STRIVING FOR PRECISION: BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS IN TERMINOLOGY MARINA PLATONOVA RIGA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, LATVIA

Abstract The theoretical issue which shall be explored in this paper concerns the analysis of terms based on allusion. Allusion has long been an interesting and controversial phenomenon to study, yet stereotyped as being typical only of literary texts. However, the advent of globalization, the need to approach emerging technical and scientific concepts from an interdisciplinary point of view and changes in the nature of their naming traditions and conventions have broadened the scope of application of this figure of speech. As a contribution to this question, the author provides contrastive data on terms based on Biblical allusions in English and Latvian, which have been taken from various texts1 belonging to different technical fields. With the focus on Biblical allusions in this paper, the author aims to investigate the mechanisms of the formation of terms based on allusion (incorporating analysis of the source, i.e. the Bible, setting a clear frame for the related terms and identifying the relevant lexical layers), pays special attention to their functions (establishing the inner and outer classifications to enable cross-referencing, synonymy, etc.), and studies their application and alignment across languages (investigating the key factors and analyzing their implementation in the given communicative settings). The author of the paper tends to focus on examples that might cause difficulties to translators/ terminologists/ terminographers/ field specialists when applying (i.e., using, contrasting, aligning) terms in English and Latvian.

180

Chapter Ten

Keywords: Terminology, types of allusion, biblical allusion, meaning precision, context, implicit/explicit reference, allusive term.

1. Introduction Different figures of speech are manifestations of the imagination of the writer, which are only comprehensible against the background knowledge, creative potential and, sometimes, even the sixth sense of the reader. These devices are not only used for the sake of economy of space, but also to attract the attention of the reader, make him think in some broader categories, activate his knowledge of the particular phenomenon—in other words, to make him approach the communication (both oral and written) creatively. Authors of contemporary scientific and technical texts enjoy a certain freedom in producing the texts, which are hybrid in terms of field, structure, organization, style, register and genre, thus supporting the active use and distribution of scientific and technical terms which are coined in contradiction to the norms of the traditional schools, as they are based on metaphors, metonymy, epithets, color-names and allusions. However, the dynamic promotion of such terms does not provide a solid foundation for their inter-lingual agreement. This is especially true of allusions, which are not yet lexicalized, or are lexicalized only in some languages, or which are contemporary textual allusions created by the author of the particular text ad hoc. If the author of the text chooses not to state the meaning of a concept in full, but rather alludes to a hidden message incorporated in the term, then he needs a reader who is able to decode the message precisely. However, “the more you load language with quotations or allusive matter, the more it subverts the meaning.” (Hartman 1977: 308 in Pasco 2002: 168) Allusions should unmistakably betray a certain concept, or even a set of concepts, which can be rooted in a famous event, based on a wellknown fact or be associated with a prominent person. By applying allusions we presuppose a certain meaning, rather than state it explicitly, and we rely heavily on intertextuality, which is required to complement everything what we did not want to express. Therefore, both a misleading component and deficiency of background knowledge are more or less incorporated in every allusion. The longer the chain of implicit related components encrypted within the term, the higher the likelihood of the failure of understanding. Allusions have always caused significant problems related to their interpretation and application, because of their manifold nature (a concept may incorporate allusion not

Striving for Precision: Biblical Allusions in Terminology

181

only to literature (poetry, sacred texts), but also to history (events, people, dates), music, art, etc.) and multi-layered structure (different levels of knowledge are required to understand and use allusion). On the other hand, the comprehension of all the layers of meaning hidden in a particular concept is not an obligatory prerequisite for the correct use of the term denoting the concept. This view is supported by Smith (1997: 9), who states that “allusion suggests how the new text stands in relation to pre-existing literature. Such a relationship between the new text and a previous text or texts does not necessarily imply merely an erudite demonstration of sophisticated poetry on the part of the later writer.”

This means that a person may be aware of the meaning of a term, but may lack knowledge of its origin, or may be aware of the suitable context of its application, but may not know its hidden meanings. There is not much work done in the contrastive analysis of terminology based on Biblical allusions in English and Latvian. The author of the present paper aims to test the assumption that when aligning terms based on allusions in general and on biblical allusions in particular, the number of functions a term represents/has to fit in/is based on is different in both linguistic domains. Moreover, not only the number of functions differs, but even the coinciding functions vary in their role and influence on the overall meaning representation in both languages. The author understands that the results might concur with similar research of contrasting terms which are based on biblical allusions in other pairs of languages, but she tends to accentuate the interesting possibility of SL term and TL term being different both in structure (formation pattern) and in functions, to be similar (if not identical) in their aim and the desired communicative effect. In Section 2, the author of the paper investigates the concept of allusion in detail, which is a key concept of the present article. Despite the fact that there are myriad definitions and answers to the question of what an allusion is, she advocates some of the approaches to frame the present research, providing a definition of terms based on Biblical allusions. Then the analysis of functions of Biblical allusions has been provided and the classification of the types of Biblical allusions, which may serve as the source of term formation, has been elaborated.

Chapter Ten

182

2. Notion of Allusion It is in the nature of humans to apply allusion in their everyday speech, because any “communication is impossible without some sort of allusion” (Pasco 2002: 7), as every sign we use is a direct or indirect allusion to physical things or figurative concepts. The notion of allusion is manifold and has been investigated by many prominent scientists (Kristeva 1969/1986; Ben-Porat 1976; Perri 1978; Abrams 1993; Lennon 2004; Hylen 2005, etc.), who have either named it differently or have linked it to notions of intertextuality, reference, imitation, echo, typology, plagiarism, etc. For instance, Wills (1996: 15) refers to the art of allusion as “how one text quotes, comments, corrects, integrates and rereads another text”. Hebel (1989: 8–13) refers to “a way of understanding how texts intersect, destabilize and transform one another ” as to the notion of intertextuality. Kristeva (1986: 37) believes any text to be a “mosaic of quotations [where] every text is the absorption and transformation of another text”. However, Hays (1993: 23) defines the notions of quotation, allusion and echo as “the points along a spectrum of intertextual reference, moving from the explicit to the subliminal”. This means that there are various levels of intertextuality, as the text under discussion may contain clear indications as to the external information: 1.

2.

which depends only on the reader’s personal experience and understanding of the material expressed in the text, and, thus, it may recall a variety of texts, which are more or less related to the theme under discussion which is embedded and even specifically stated in the given text and, thus, the understanding of it depends only on the fact whether the reader does or does not know and comprehend this information.

Michael Riffaterre (1980: 5–6 in Hylen 2005) has analyzed this phenomenon, stating that such “an intertext leaves in the text an indelible trace, a formal constant which plays the role of an imperative for reading and governs the deciphering of the literary message.”

Therefore, the formula of allusion is the threefold combination of the given text, the intertext and the referential/indicative relation between

Striving for Precision: Biblical Allusions in Terminology

183

them (cf. Kristeva 1986: 37; Paulhan 1970: 31), and you need all three to understand the meaning of an allusive term. However, the allusion is a lot more than simply “a device for the simultaneous activation of two texts” (Ben-Porat 1976: 107), as “allusions do not merely reiterate past texts, but use them to see new situations in light of the past.” (Hylen 2005: 68) Allusion is considered to be a set of many components layered at different levels of concept-perception, the process of recognizing and combining those components allows establishing a clear relationship between information stated in the given text and the intertext. Pasco (2002: xi) states that “allusion calls on texts outside the work in the reader’s hands, but it works internally, within and during the reading.” This means that allusion demands broad information to interpret the specific vehicle used to designate the concept standing behind, rather than just knowledge of one thing, text, phenomenon, concept, etc., as “in allusion, different texts—both the one in hand and those that are external— are integrated metaphorically into something new.” (Pasco 2002: 5) Ricks (2002: 85) supports the same view and believes that allusion “may be seen as one form that metaphor may take.” The author of the paper shares the same opinion and considers that allusions involve the understanding of a particular term which is expressed in metaphoric form, through the prism of another field. In this combination, the “alluding text functions like a ‘target’ domain of a metaphor, while the evoked text is the ‘source’.” (Hylen 2005: 67) Having analyzed a variety of approaches to denoting a notion of allusion, the author of the paper advocates the definition proposed by McMaster (1991: 2), who considers that “allusion is a word with several meanings, ranging over history from illusion, to word-play and puns, to symbolic reference or likening, or metaphor, to covert, implied, or indirect reference and passing or incidental reference.”

The main value of an allusion is that it contains a certain enigmatic component, which is transferred in the form of a metaphor and encourages the users of the term to guess all the shades of its meaning, evoking different associations and discovering even new contexts of its application, as “an allusion which is explained no longer has the charm of allusion. […] In divulging the mystery, you withdraw its virtue.” (Paulhan 1952: 31) The interpretation of allusion is dependent not only on its recognition and the level of intertextuality, but also on the recognition of the principles

184

Chapter Ten

of its effectiveness (pragmatic perfection) and its functions (semantic precision), as one “can indeed recognize in a mechanical way certain figures of speech, and can label them with names; but of their real nature, of the principles of which they are manifestations, he knows very little.” (Greene 1893: 432)

At this point the definition of what the author believes a term based on a Biblical allusion is should be given. Within the framework of the present research terms, Biblical allusions are defined as lexical items (both simple and complex), which have preserved a clear reference to the Bible and, irrespective of their structure (the formation pattern they are designed by), convey special meaning within the frame of the particular scientific domain and even beyond it.

When dealing with the issue of rendering the meaning of a particular scientific and technical concept based on a lexicalized and/or nonlexicalized Biblical allusion from one language to another, a translator frequently faces the question of what is supposed to be a prevailing aspect in aligning such a term: reflecting the true value and quality of the lexical item (focusing on its meaning) or communicating the required effect? The logical answer would be hidden in choosing the correct approach to rendering the terms based on allusions, which should be both objectoriented (focusing on the meaning constituents of the term and analyzing its functions) and situation-driven (exploring its meaning in use). With the focus on Biblical allusions in the present paper, the author aims to investigate the functions (establishing inner structure) of the terms based on Biblical allusions, pays particular attention to the mechanisms of their formation (analyzing their origin, setting a clear frame of the related terms, and identifying the relevant lexical layers), and considers some aspects of their application and alignment across the two languages.

3. Allusion: Functions and Classification in Contrastive Perspective There are only a few papers focusing on contrastive analysis of terminology based on Biblical allusions in English and Latvian. The author of the given paper aims to test the assumption that when aligning terms based on Biblical allusions, the number of functions a term represents is different in the source and target languages. It is interesting to note that not only the number of functions differs, but the role of the

Striving for Precision: Biblical Allusions in Terminology

185

matching functions in the meaning representation in both languages varies as well. The author of the paper gives credit to Lennon’s (2004: 236–238) interpretation of the functional domains of allusion and adjusts his 15 functions to the needs of her research: x x

x

x

x

The intratextual domain o Function 1: to attract reader’s attention. The inter(con)textual domain o Function 2: to achieve borrowed stylistic effects o Function 3: to achieve physical economy of expression o Function 4: to exploit the productive ambiguity of words and phrasal units o Function 5: to “mean” more than is “said”. The meta textual domain o Function 6: to evaluate new information against existing cultural values and vice versa o Function 7: to achieve ironic effects of ridicule or criticism o Function 8: to achieve humorously grotesque effects o Function 9: to convince by appeal to cultural values shared with the reader. The processing domain o Function 10: to ease the cognitive processing load for the reader and writer o Function 11: to cognitively challenge the reader and encourage him to read on. The interpersonal-affective domain o Function 12: to establish common ground with the reader o Function 13: to persuade the reader syllogistically by implicit analogy o Function 14: to impart aesthetic pleasure to the reader o Function 15: to display the writer’s world knowledge, beliefs, values and wit.

Lennon (cf. 2004: 236) states that although there are fifteen functions listed in the classification, that does not mean that the list is complete, or that these functions do not overlap and are completely different. The number of functions may vary depending on the particular domain. The only thing that should be considered is that while the main function of the allusion is “to challenge the reader to solve the puzzle” (Leppihalme 1997: 33) hidden in the allusion, to be just “a puzzle is seldom its [allusion] main function” (intensification of word is original, ibid: 34). A few conclusions can be drawn about whether the functions present in the SL term are demanded in the same capacity to designate the same

186

Chapter Ten

concept in the TL. On the one hand, the terms are aligned with a desire to match their functional domains in two or more languages; on the other hand, the functions should not exactly match either in number or in their capacity, if the TL term achieves the same aim and creates the same effect. It is possible that a lower role of one of the functions is due to the: x lack of control for standardized terminology—creating another national analogue of the SL term, which is easier to use or which better fits generic conventions, national language standards or register requirements—in this case some of the functions are normally sacrificed for the sake of clarity, better comprehension and unambiguity. x lack of equivalence—there is no TL equivalent and it is quite difficult, if not impossible, to create a new/choose among the existing/tailor the existing term, which would share the same number of functions in the same capacity as the SL term. The logical question arises—is it really necessary to strive for such a perfect fit? x lack of proficiency—terms created on the spot may also bear semantic imperfections and even mistakes, which people from the TL community are unaware of and in case of back translation use these terms with their drawbacks, causing even deeper misunderstanding and ambiguity. In this case it would not be possible for the terms to have the same number of functions. x lack of time—frequently this is the case when a massive number of borrowings and internationalisms enter the TL, as a specialist/terminologist/terminographer/translator had to create a particular term on the spot. These terms may successfully compete with the officially adopted terms, sharing the same number of functions in the similar capacities, if not causing ambiguity or misunderstanding (e.g. they are not false friends, do not have strictly negative connotations, etc.). The problems that arise in the application and aligning of terms based on biblical allusions are complex not because these terms are functionally different, but because the different number of the functions used in different capacities should be used to achieve the same fundamental purpose of the term and its communicative effect, while it should also adjust to multiple contexts of application. Although the allusion is always applied intentionally, the writer rarely keeps all the functions in mind, rather just an effect he wants to achieve, as

Striving for Precision: Biblical Allusions in Terminology

187

the effect is “the other side of a coin” (Nord 1991: 47–48). It is the effect a reader faces first, and it is the effect a translator/terminologist/linguist has to consider primarily within the framework of interlingual communication, since frequently “equal effect has the priority over that of equal meaning” (Šarševic 1997: 73), and by achieving an equal effect we can attain the desired aims. The difficulty in achieving the equal effect is hidden in the fact that field specialists/linguists/translators/terminologists have to deal with terms based on allusions which are either non-lexicalized or are lexicalized only in the source language. It means that to apply a term, not only is knowledge of the metaphoric information encrypted in the allusion required, alongside fundamental proficiency in the selected subject field to map the concept, but also highly developed associative and even creative thinking as well as the ability to construct the meaning of a concept through the relay languages, and, sometimes, even incorporating its different manifestations (synonyms, antonyms, hypernyms, symbolic representations, if any, etc.). In order to be able to perform such a componential analysis, if required, the profound knowledge of what is “essential to each figure, to understand… the principle of effectiveness” and the ability to “recognize in… various manifestations of this [figure] one underlying principle” (Greene 1893: 433) are absolutely essential. To trace the key underlying principle of the particular allusion, establishing a clear connection between its functions and the effects it should produce, a classification of the allusions is required. There are a variety of classifications of allusion. They are aimed either at the analysis of the mechanism of allusion formation (cf. Leppihalme 1997: 55–68) or at the listing of the possible types an allusion may take (Kirillov 2003), but the author of the present paper tends to provide the classification of biblical allusions that would answer for practical purposes of explaining the mechanisms of allusive term formation within the particular type of an allusion. Biblical allusions constitute the complex type, as they refer not only to one particular concept in the Bible, but usually to the scope of related concepts, which requires additional knowledge to comprehend the term. Terms based on biblical allusions may incorporate a single reference to: x a particular feature—the most significant characteristic feature a person or event is known for x a particular virtue/vice—the resultant effect of the action a particular person has performed

188

Chapter Ten

x a particular iconic manifestation—the distinctive visual appearance of the particular concept, which acts as a symbolic representation. Or they may be based on extensive cross-referencing, incorporating knowledge of not only a particular thematic field, but rather of: x a map of related concepts—the map of the vertically (hierarchically) or horizontally (cross-referentially) related concepts. The author of the paper illustrates two forms/types of the allusions, i.e. allusion with a reference to a particular feature and with a reference to a particular virtue with the examples of the terms belonging to different scientific fields, such as electrical engineering, mathematics, flora, fauna, architecture, etc., from two working languages (English and Latvian).

4. Allusion to a Particular Feature The allusions containing a reference to a particular virtue frequently take the form of eponyms, as they are designated by the name of the person, who has been characterized as possessing such a characteristic feature. The biblical character Goliath became a synonym for a giant (A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. (1 Samuel 17: 4)2), and is extensively used in many scientific fields as a component of a compound expressing the virtue of being large. This principle is applied for naming the large species of a particular genera or subgenera, e.g. goliath frog (the largest living frog, which can grow to a length of 30 cm3), goliath beetle (may grow to a length of 20 cm4). A list of some faunal terms coined after this pattern is provided in Table 4-1.

Striving for Precision: Biblical Allusions in Terminology

189

Table 4-1: Complex Terms Containing the Component ‘Goliath’ Term in English

Definition

Term in Latvian

Comments

Goliath frog

The goliath frog (Conraua goliath) is the largest extant anuran on Earth

GoliƗtvarde5

The international component goliƗt- is preserved in the Latvian language (varde is the Latvian equivalent for frog).

Goliath beetle

The goliath beetle (Goliathus; Goliathus goliatus) one of the largest insects on Earth.

Karaƺu vaboleGoliƗfs7

The term used on many internet portals, e.g. www.latvijas.daba.lv, contains two elements denoting the supremacy of the specie, i.e. Goliafs/ GoliƗfs (Goliath) and Karaƺu (royal, king, etc.). The term is created borrowing the international component and applying the Latvian term denoting the specie (beetle—vabole). To render the virtue of being large the hypernym skarabej- is used to express the component, which designates the large size. Both parts of the term are substituted by the national equivalents, i.e. milzu putnuzirneklis (lit. huge bird’s spider), the virtue of being large is expressed applying the Latvian word milzƯgs (giant, huge), while the SL solid compound birdeater is substituted with the open compound bird’s spider.

They are members of subfamily Cetoniinae, within the family Scarabaeidae6.

GoliƗtvabole8

Skarabejvabole9

Goliath birdeater

The Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) is an arachnid, or spider, belonging to the tarantula family, Theraphosidae10.

Milzu putnuzirneklis11

Chapter Ten

190

Goliath heron

The Goliath Heron (Ardea goliath), also known as the Giant Heron, is a very large wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae12.

Tarantuls

The hypernym tarantuls is used to render the meaning of supremacy in terms of size.

Milzu gƗrnis13

The Latvian equivalent term is created applying the national equivalents for the both components, i.e. goliath/ giant— milzƯgs; heron—gƗrnis.

For detailed analysis of the functional domains, the author of the paper has chosen the following pair of terms: goliath birdeater (SL term) and milzu putnuzirneklis (TL term). These terms fit the function of the intratextual domain, i.e. they attract readers’ attention (function 1); however, they achieve it employing different components and thus activating different functions within other functional domains. The Latvian term milzu putnuzirneklis is coined following the principles of linguistic economy (function 3), but it lacks the stylistic effect and the productive ambiguity (no functions 2 and 4) of the SL term goliath birdeater, and, as a result, it does not actually mean more than what is expressed by the term itself (lacks function 5). At the same time, both terms incorporate the process of evaluating information against existing cultural values as the species denoted is untypical of both communities (function 6). It may be argued that the SL term creates, to some extent, both ironic and humorously grotesque effects, incorporating the allusion to the Biblical name of Goliath (functions 7 and 8), while the TL term does not contain that name and thus either lacks both of the functions or communicates them in a different (lesser) capacity. The created TL term appeals to the shared cultural values of the reader, losing the stylistic coloring of the SL term not simply explaining its essence, but also generalizing it (function 9 in lesser capacity; the term names species but avoids specifying essence, place in the chain), while the SL term requires from the reader some additional knowledge to comprehend the meaning (function 9 in lesser capacity; the term expresses the essence, but avoids naming the species). Application of the allusion to create the term establishes a different cognitive load (function 10) in the SL term (the cognitive load is extended) and the TL term (the cognitive load is limited), and thus either challenges the reader in the case of the SL term (both cognitively and

Striving for Precision: Biblical Allusions in Terminology

191

creatively) or simply encourages him to read more about the subject if it is required in the case of the TL term (function 11 in minor capacity). Using the SL term, the aesthetic pleasure is revealed and communicated to the reader, which is missing in the TL (function 14), the deductive approach to the term is also omitted in the TL, as there is no need for the reader to logically construct the absent information expressed by the embedded analogy (function 13). If in the case of the SL term it is possible to make conclusions about the author’s knowledge (background, encyclopedic, intertextuality) and the communicated values (humor, wit, intellect), then it is very difficult, if not impossible, to judge these factors for the TL term user (function 15), as the TL term communicates information in the understandable way (function 12), but largely fails to transmit any stylistic and aesthetic effects. This term creation pattern is also applied in the field of technology to name giant technological structures. For instance, the terms goliath crane (giant gantry crane), goliath locomotive (the part of a huge train), goliath tracked mine, Farman F.60 Goliath (huge airplane) have been created applying this pattern.

5. Allusion to a Particular Virtue There are a variety of biblical allusions which contain a reference to the action performed by a particular person. In literary texts, such allusions can contain even just the name of a person who has performed a particular action (e.g. Judas). However, as a principle of coining terms it is quite rarely applied. To illustrate this phenomenon, the following example is considered. In the Bible, the concept of a “Good Samaritan” is provided in the Parable of the Good Samaritan in the book of Luke (10: 25–37), in which it is explained that thieves attacked one man and left him at the side of the road and only a passing Samaritan helped take care of him. Nowadays, this concept is used to name anyone who is ready to help other people. This is a rather universal moral norm according to which people should not behave as bystanders in dangerous situations, but should rather assist and, if necessary, rescue those who need their help. This definition forms the basis for the so-called “Good Samaritan Laws”, which are “laws or acts offering legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated.”14 This term is used in the legal systems of many countries, e.g. the USA, Argentina, France, Canada, etc. In the majority of cases, a person providing help (even if it is not

192

Chapter Ten

optimal/best possible, etc.) should not face legal consequences, but intentional failure to provide help to a person who requires it is considered to be an offence in many countries (e.g. Germany) and draws legal consequences to a person.15 The term is also lexicalized in the Latvian language and is basically a word-for-word equivalent, i.e. “labƗ samarieša likums”. It is one of the rare cases when the SL term does not only preserve its initial structure (takes the form of allusion) and communicate the same aesthetic and stylistic effect, but also performs the same functions in a very similar (if not identical) capacity. The obvious difference would concern the evaluation of information against existing traditions and cultural values (function 6), as the stronger the traditions of applying the term in the community, the more associations the term evokes and, thus, the greater the number of meaning constituents and context variables that should be taken into account.

6. Conclusion For the sake of clarity and to harmonize and unify terminology across languages, a more general (being an umbrella term for many related phenomena), free of allusions (formulated following the guidelines of the traditional terminology definition) and univocal (unambiguous, preferably monosemic) term should ideally be chosen to designate a particular scientific concept and/or natural phenomenon. However, the authors of scientific and technical texts enjoy a certain freedom to promote the application of terms which are coined in contradiction to the norms of the traditional schools, as they are based on metaphors, metonymy, epithets, color-based terms and allusions. The application of religious allusions in general and biblical allusions in particular is one of the most frequent patterns of term creation due to the ability of such terms to portray symbols which, although they can be named differently in different cultures or can be rooted in different events, still establish a clear link to the sacred image of the universal character. However, such terms may still pose communication problems, due to the lack of lexicalized referential equivalence, intradisciplinary and even interdisciplinary polysemy, as well as complex/associative references encrypted in the term, which hinder the transfer of the metaphoric component of the meaning of the term into the target language. Interlingual alignment of such terms is based on complex compensation at all levels of its meaning. The ability of the TL term not just to express literally the same meaning, but rather to designate the same

Striving for Precision: Biblical Allusions in Terminology

193

concept precisely, activating the same associations and provoking the same effect, is achieved by balancing between the components which should be preserved and the ones which can be sacrificed. Therefore, detailed contrastive analysis of the functional domains is required both to better comprehend and to more precisely reconstruct the meaning of SL and TL terms. The empirical study of biblical allusive terms conducted within the framework of the present paper demonstrates that at present users of scientific and technical terms should possess a lot more than just a linguistic competence in both working languages, knowledge of a special subject field, and awareness of manifold nature of the context of application. They should establish a clear understanding of the mechanisms of the formation of terms based on allusion, their functions, principles of effectiveness, communication and alignment across the languages.

References Abrams, Meyer Howard. 1993. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 6th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Pub. Ben-Porat, Ziva. 1976. “The Poetics of Literary Allusion.” PTL: A Journal for Descriptive Poetics and Theory of Literature 1: 105–128. Calegari, Danny. 2003. “Problems of Foliations and Laminations of 3manifolds.” In The Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics, Vol. 71: 297–333. Costas, Orlando. 1982. Christ outside the Gate: Mission beyond Christendom. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. Gill, William Wyatt. 2004. Myths and Songs from the South Pacific. US: Kessinger Publishing. Goffman, Erwing. 1974. Frame Analysis. New York: Harper. Greene, Herbert Eveleth. 1893. “A Grouping of Figures of Speech, Based upon the Principle of Their Effectiveness.” PMLA, 8 (4): 432–450. Hays, Richard. 1993. Echoes of Sculptures in the Echoes of Paul. New Haven: Yale University Press. Hebel, Udo J. 1989. Intertextuality, Allusion and Quotation: An International Bibliography of Critical Studies. New York: Greenwood Press. Holy, Ladislav. 1999. “Contextualization and Paradigm Shifts.” In The Problem of Context, edited by Roy Dilley, 47–61. New York: Berghahn Books.

194

Chapter Ten

Hylen, Susan. 2005. Allusion and Meaning in John 6. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Kay, Arthur. 1933/1994. How to Study Your Bible. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. Kirillov, Andrey. 2003. “Allusions as a Means of Political Imaging in Modern Media.” ȼɟɫɬɧɢɤ ɮɚɤɭɥɶɬɟɬɚ ɢɧɨɫɬɪɚɧɧɵɯ ɹɡɵɤɨɜ ɋȽɉɍ 4: 102–111. Accessed January 14, 2013. http://samaraaltlinguo.narod.ru/works/kirillov004.htm. Kristeva, Julia. 1986. “Word, Dialog and Novel.” In The Kristeva Reader, edited by Toril Moi, 34–61. New York: Columbia University Press. Lennon, Paul. 2004. Allusions in the Press: An Applied Linguistic Study. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Leppihalme, Ritva. 1997. Culture Bumps: An Empirical Approach to the Translation of Allusions. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. McMaster, Rowland D. 1991. Thackeray’s Cultural Frame of Reference: Allusion in the Newcomes. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Press. Nord, Christian. 1991. Text Analysis in Translation: Theory, Methodology, and Didactic Application of a Model for Translation-Oriented Text Analysis, 1st ed. Translated by Christiane Nord, and Penelope Sparrow. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Pasco, Allan H. 2002. Allusion: A Literary Craft. Charlottesville: Rookwood Press. Paulhan, Jean. 1970. “Braque le patron.” In CEuvres completes, Vol. 5. Paris: Cercle du Livre Precieux. Perri, Carmela. 1978. “On Alluding.” Poetics 7: 289–307. Platonova, Marina. 2012. “Contemporary Technical Texts: ContextDependent Terms.” In The proceedings of the International Scientific Conference “VƗrds un tƗ pƝtƯšanas aspekti” 16 (2): 230–241. LiepƗja: LiePA. Ricks, Christopher. 2002. Allusion to the Poets. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Riffaterre, Michael. 1980. “La trace de l'intertexte.” La Pensée: Revue du rationalisme moderne 215: 4–18. Stern, Hans Heinrich. 1983/2003. Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Šarševic, Susan. 1997. New Approach to Legal Translation. The Hague: Kluwer Law International. Smith, R. Alden 1997. Poetic Allusion and Poetic Embrace in Ovid and Virgil. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press.

Striving for Precision: Biblical Allusions in Terminology

195

Wüstehube, Axel, and Michael Quante. 1998. Pragmatic Idealism: Critical Essays on Nicholas Rescher’s System of Pragmatic Idealism. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Zap, Jonathan. 2012. Crossing the Event Horizon: Human Metamorphosis and Singularity Archetype. Colorado: Steam Press.

Dictionaries and Online Sources www.atoptics.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk www.bible-topics.com/Clouds.html www.bible.cc www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/ www.crystalinks.com www.daneurope.org www.dictionary.com www.eur-lec.europa.eu www.eurotermbank.com www.greenvalleyhs.org/library/Documents/Allusions.pdf www.infoplease.com www.infoplease.com/dictionary/brewers/index-a.html www.kingjamesbibleonline.org www.latvijas.daba.lv www.letonika.lv www.liaa.gov.lv www.lv.finanzalarm.com http://oxforddictionaries.com www.rare.coleoptera-beetles.com www.termini.lza.lv www.videsvestis.lv www.vocing.com www.wordaz.com

Notes 1

The corpus comprises technical texts the staff of the Institute of Applied Linguistics of Riga Technical University has worked with (translated/analyzed/ edited/reviewed). 2 http://bible.cc/1_samuel/17-4.htm [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 3 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/goliath+frog?qsrc=2446 [accessed: January 12, 2014].

196

4

Chapter Ten

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/goliath+beetle?qsrc=2446 [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 5 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:039:0133 :01:LV:HTML [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 6 http://rare.coleoptera-beetles.com/category/family/cetoniinae [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 7 http://latvijas.daba.lv/scripts/ViesuGramata/vg.cgi?v=g&gLpp=6&atb=1&grupa =g810duzbuve&k=1 [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 8 http://www.videsvestis.lv/content.asp?ID=47&what=36 [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 9 http://lv.finanzalarm.com/details/Vaboƺu_kƗrta.html [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 10 http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Goliath_birdeater [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 11 http://www.apstulbis.info/t/2z9u13jtcykw9gw0.html [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 12 http://www.wordaz.com/Giant-heron.html [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 13 http://vocing.com/English-Latvian/heron [accessed: January 12, 2014]. 14 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934954.html#ixzz2LX55AZLk [accessed: January 11, 2014]. 15 http://www.daneurope.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=c09228f3-a745480b-9549-d9fc8bbbd535&groupId=10103 [accessed: January 13, 2014]

CHAPTER ELEVEN THE ROLE OF METAPHOR IN COMPREHENSION OF RAILWAY TERMINOLOGY JELENA TRETJAKOVA RIGA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, LATVIA

Abstract Metaphor has been studied since ancient times. It has long been perceived as a means of linguistic embellishment, the tool used for enriching an author’s literary style and a trope inherent solely in literature and poetry. Modern linguistics has changed such an approach to the use of metaphor and its perception. Nowadays, linguists study metaphor occurrences in various discourses: politics, economics, the military sphere, medicine, law, etc. Scientific discourse is of no exception. Metaphoric representation of terms has been analyzed by various scholars (Hoffman 1980; Knudsen 2003; Knowles, Moon 2005; Veisbergs 2007; et al.), and they support the idea of the appropriateness of metaphor in the scientific language. Metaphor in scientific language can be especially valuable for non-specialists. The modern world is rapidly developing, bringing us new technological wonders, and terminology is no longer a prerogative solely of specialists. Laymen have to operate specialized vocabulary in their daily life, too. Metaphor can serve as a mediator for a message recipient; it can be an agent for better term cognition and perception. The purpose of the given paper is to identify and analyze metaphorically presented terms in the dictionaries of railway terminology, to advocate their appropriateness and acceptability in scientific language and to detect the most common source domains for metaphor formation in the given technical field. Keywords: Metaphor, terminology, domain, comprehension.

198

Chapter Eleven

1. Metaphor in Scientific Language Linguists got involved in the study of terminology not so long ago. M. Teresa Cabre, in her work “Terminology: Theory, Methods and Applications”, states that it was first the prerogative of scientists to name their inventions and later engineers to specify all the innovations emerging and to create terms for easier communication within the specific scientific field. Linguists got involved in the process just in the 1930s with the introduction of E. Wuster’s doctoral dissertation in Vienna that he devoted to the problems of systematizing terms and where he tried to outline the main principles and methods that should be applied in terminology compilation (cf. Cabre 1998: 5). The role of metaphor in scientific language can be debated and it is still argued in the approaches to metaphoric representation as provided by various language scholars. In the conventional approach to the study of the role language performs in scientific communication it is ascribed a merely informative function as being the means of conveying the information from one participant to another in the most efficient way. Rita Temmerman challenges the principles of the traditional terminology, in which the metaphorically presented term is not preferable and should be replaced by its literal equivalent, and supports metaphoric representation in terminology placing it in the forefront of the process of lexicalization, i.e. making words to express concepts (Temmerman 2000: 156). Ford and Peat state that “a traditional view of language in science is that it plays a passive role, that it is simply the vehicle whereby meaning and information are conveyed from one speaker to another. Attempting to express a new scientific idea becomes merely a matter of “trying to find the right words”. Such an attitude is an extension of the common presupposition that the essential role of language is to transport a cargo which is variously described as meaning or content. In such a light, scientific writing has, as its objective, the conveying of scientific knowledge to the reader in a clear and economical way.” (Ford et al. 1988: 1233–1234)

The key point in such a definition is the efficiency and economy that the language has to provide in the implementation of its informative function. In the light of such an assumption, metaphor can become a stumbling block as it has long been stereotyped as a linguistic trope inherent solely in the language of prose and poetry.

The Role of Metaphor in Comprehension of Railway Terminology

199

2. Finding an appropriate term for any new phenomenon is undoubtedly a challenge. The interrelations of language and science should result in finding the most appropriate term, but this cannot always be implemented. The principle of the economy mentioned above is not always efficient, as it may lead to a lack of understanding in certain situations. In discussions of the problem with Russian-speaking railway specialists numerous problematic cases have been mentioned. For example, the term “ɩɨɥɡɭɧ” can cause misunderstanding since it denotes both a defect in the wheel and the detail; thus, comprehension of the term may be gained only through situational analysis. Certainly, such a pragmatic aspect is true for any type of vocabulary. D. Geeraerts specified four aspects of word meaning, namely: perspective of the meaning (viewing meaning as not just mere reflection of the world but as means of formation of the worldview); dynamics and flexibility of the meaning (flexibility and openness of language to acquiring new meanings); encyclopedic aspect and nonautonomy of the meaning (considering language as the reflection of our world perception, an integral part of our knowledge of the world and language as the absorbent of all the knowledge humans have of the world); and meaning as based on usage and experience (language as shaped through our experience) (see Geeraerts 2006: 1–6). Meanings in specialized languages are created with two purposes. First, it is meant for the service of specialists of certain fields, for the interexchange of knowledge and experience. Second, it is necessary for public use, for conveying the information from professionals to the general public. Thus, in some cases we may face doubled representation of terms, one of which can be represented metaphorically. Boyd (1993) distinguishes between so-called pedagogical and exegetical metaphors those that are used for educational or explanatory purposes and theoryconstitutive metaphors, and those that have appeared in order to express something where other literal terms have not been found and do not exist. Boyd characterizes the latter as an “irreplaceable part of the linguistic machinery of a scientific theory: cases in which there are metaphors which scientists use in expressing theoretical claims for which no adequate literal paraphrase is known.” (ibid.: 486) These metaphors, in Boyd’s assumption, deserve most attention from linguists as they are not mere analogies, but deliberate juxtaposition of particular objects or phenomena from one field of knowledge with those from another. As concerns the role metaphor bears in technical language, we assume that it provides better recognition and comprehension of terms. This might

200

Chapter Eleven

be due to the way we perceive metaphors as such. On receiving any message we are prone to visualize the whole picture, which would go far beyond the single piece of information received. If someone tells you that a man has crossed the ocean alone in a boat, you would subconsciously construct images, details of everything that might in any way refer to this information, i.e. the ocean, the boat, what equipment he might need for such an event, etc. These details are given by Ortony (1975) as “mental images”. He stated that “this process of filling in the details between the linguistic signposts present in the message I call ‘particularization’ and I take this to be an essential component in many normal instances of successful language comprehension.” (Ortony 1975: 47) The principle works successfully with metaphorically represented information, too. The metaphoric component in a metaphorically presented message creates an image in the mind of the information recipient, which would further lead to the juxtaposition of the objects or phenomena involved into metaphorization. This stage is also rather interesting for linguists as it provides the ability to see the grounds for metaphor formation. Successful juxtaposition would result in successful term comprehension. We can schematically summarize the assumption in the following way.

Metaphor

Visualization

Juxtaposition

Comprehension

Fig. 2-1: Stages of metaphor comprehension

Metaphoric utterance enters the stage of visualization at which our mind is able to create the image of the metaphoric term within the frames of the domain of the source object. Then we juxtapose the image from the target domain with that of the source domain and comprehension is achieved.

3. The analysis of metaphorically presented terminological units can be carried out in two directions. One is the study of scientific discourse in periodicals or specialized literature (the sphere of functioning), the second is the study of terms fixed in terminological dictionaries (the sphere of fixation) (see SkujiƼa 1993). The latter is the object of the present research. The issue of metaphorically presented terms in specialized

The Role of Metaphor in Comprehension of Railway Terminology

201

discourses is debated in the writings of various scholars (see Skorczynska 2006; Siqueira et al. 2009; Musolff 2009). The discourse is more open to figurative language and metaphor there can be used spontaneously. Metaphor in the discourse can be used by an individual with the purpose of language enrichment and it can stay in the specialized lexicon for a short or long period of time. In any case, metaphorically presented scientific information would need to undergo several stages before it becomes an accepted terminological unit of a certain scientific field. The sphere of fixation presents a different case. The arguable question here is whether the terms used metaphorically can be labeled as solely professional slang words or whether these are the terms accepted and rooted in the specialized lexicon of a certain field. In their research of medicine discourse for the presence of metaphorically represented lexical units, Lebedeva and Zubkova (2006) have introduced the notion of metaphor-term in reference to the terms used metaphorically among medical professionals. They state that there is a distinctive category of metaphor-terms, i.e. the lexemes emerging in the professional discourse and fixed as professional slang words. Metaphor-terms confine themselves just to the professional sphere they belong to. Such metaphor-terms, in their terminology, are opposed to the metaphors of the particular discourse that may easily travel across the terminological spheres. Thus, for example, the metaphorically presented term “boot” can be used in railway engineering (denoting the device for braking), in construction (meaning the chute of the drainage pipe), in transport (meaning the detail of the elevator). We agree that metaphor can be spontaneously created and consolidate the position in the professional discourse. On the other hand, if the terms used metaphorically have entered the layer of the professional lexicon and are introduced in dictionaries, we can analyze them as the inherent part of specialized vocabulary accepted by the branch. The object of our research would be metaphorically presented terminological units of the branch of railway engineering. We have tried to identify such terms first in the English language and then see if their equivalents in the Russian language present the same metaphorical component. Since the present report is part of a more substantial research project into transport terminology, we have selected the entries of the dictionary starting with letters A, B, C for the given analysis. The corpus analyzed so far comprises 12,798 terminological dictionary entries and 242 of them (2%) have been identified as metaphorically presented. The problem we faced in analyzing the terms is the difficulty in identifying metaphors in the selected corpus. In rendering metaphorical expressions in the discourse the method offered by the Pragglejaz Group named as Metaphor Identification

202

Chapter Eleven

Procedure (MIP) can work efficiently. Their approach to the identification of metaphors is presented through several stages. First, the selected text is scanned for the general meaning. Then the text is split into bits of lexical units, each of which is analyzed individually. The meaning of each lexical unit is checked against the presence of metaphoricity. For this purpose, each lexical unit is first provided its contextual meaning, the one presented in the particular context and then the core meaning, the one which might appear in other contexts apart from the selected one. The contextual meaning is then juxtaposed with the core meaning to see if the two differ in reference to the selected text. If the contextual meaning is presented in the text with any deviation from the core meaning, the lexical unit can be marked as metaphorical (see Pragglejaz group 2007: 3). For this analysis, however, we have combined the method of the Pragglejaz group with the task of identifying both the most common source domain applied in metaphorization and the aspect serving for metaphorical representation. The research results have shown that in many cases metaphorization is based on the principle of mere shape-to-shape or function-to-function resemblance. The theoretical background of metaphor study has convinced us that metaphor is a much deeper phenomenon than this. We, therefore, have agreed with the assumption of Gentner and Jeziorski (1993) who have distinguished the category of attributional metaphors—mereappearance matches, based on shared object descriptions and metaphors based on mixtures of object and relational commonalities (Gentner, Jeziorski 1993: 252). In all objectivity, we may say that the majority of our identified metaphors would most probably belong to this particular category. The aspect to be considered in rendering metaphorically presented terminological units is the source domain employed for metaphorical representation. The task is to trace what source objects have been used in the formation of a metaphorically presented term, and thus the following most common source domains have been identified in the studies: HUMAN BODY, FAUNA, HOUSEHOLD ITEMS, WEAR, FOOD. We will exemplify them with some most interesting cases to support the assumption. English is the source language of our research and we will also provide the Russian and if possible Latvian counterparts for the metaphorically presented terms as they appear in the dictionaries. We refer to Macmillan Dictionary for Advanced Learners for consulting the core meanings of the lexemes identified by us as metaphorical.

The Role of Metaphor in Comprehension of Railway Terminology

203

3.1. Case Study One: HUMAN BODY Angle rib. In its core meaning the term may both refer to the bending part of the rib, and a prominent line in this area, a little in front of the tubercle. The term in the terminological dictionary denotes a curved piece of metal that forms the frame of a boat, roof, etc., and makes it stronger. The metaphorization is based on the projection of the function of the human body onto the domain of the technical sphere of transport. The Russian counterpart provided is “ɭɝɥɨɜɨɟ ɪɟɛɪɨ”, and the Latvian counterpart does not appear in such a collocation, while separately the term “rib” is given as “riba”, “šƷautne”. It should be noted that the latter appears in almost all the collocations such as “gareniskƗ šƷautne” (“ɩɪɨɞɨɥɶɧɨɟ ɪɟɛɪɨ”); “koncentriskƗ šƷautne” (“ɤɨɧɰɟɧɬɪɢɱɟɫɤɨɟ ɪɟɛɪɨ”). This implies that in translating the term, the Latvian language will not introduce a non-metaphorical denotation. Metaphor is often researched alongside polysemy. The case of such overlap may encourage someone to doubt the presence of metaphoricity in certain terminological units, as the dictionary may provide a separate entry for the term. Ullmann, for example, states that “metaphor is so closely intertwined with the very texture of human speech that we have already encountered it in various guises as a major factor in motivation, as an expressive device, as a source of synonymy and polysemy, as an outlet for intense emotions, as a means of filling gaps in vocabulary, and in several other roles.” (Ullmann 1967: 212)

Knowles and Moon state that the majority of words comprising the English language lexicon are polysemous and, therefore, distinguishing of the core meaning, the one which is the oldest and most common, should be done. The language develops over time and new meanings appear in addition to the existing ones. It is especially topical for the language of any technical field, the language used for professional communication. “Some dictionaries combine some of these senses; others keep them separate and add further technical senses to do with mathematics, computing, and physics. (Note that very few modern monolingual dictionaries label senses as metaphorical, even where the metaphoricity is clear).” (Knowles, Moon 2005: 12) We agree on this point: the overlap of polysemy and metaphorical meaning is very common in the language of technical disciplines. G. Miller assumes that metaphor is largely referred to as the source of polysemy and presumably denoting any parts of a mechanical structure was not common to the English language (he provides the example of the word “leg” in reference to the part of the

204

Chapter Eleven

table). Nowadays, such terms belong to figurative language (see Miller 1993). This is the case with most terms that gained their denotation from the domain of the human body. Kövecses also argues for metaphor serving the platform for most polysemous lexemes saying that “meaning extension often takes place on the basis of conceptual metaphor and metonymy. These take as their source domains the more central senses of the words concerned. The metaphors and metonymies serve as cognitive links between two or more distinct senses of a word.” (Kövecses 2010: 254) Gibbs assumes that “metaphor […] plays a major role in our understanding of individual words, especially in making sense of how a single word can express a multitude of related meanings (i.e. polysemy).” (Gibbs 1999: 35) What is implied is that metaphor can draw the historical or relational perspective of how multiple meanings could have emerged. Coming back to the domain of HUMAN BODY used for projecting metaphors for the technical branch of railway transport, some other terms can be mentioned: x actuating arm—the Russian translation is ɪɵɱɚɝ ɢɫɩɨɥɧɢɬɟɥɶɧɨɝɨ ɦɟɯɚɧɢɡɦɚ; in Latvian the term appears as sviras izpildmehƗnisms, which means that the metaphoricity as it is implied in the English language has not penetrated into Russian and Latvian. x anchor arm—ɚɧɤɟɪɧɵɣ ɩɪɨɥɟɬ, enkurlaidums. It has to be mentioned that both lexical units in the collocation have been used metaphorically in the English language, and only the term anchor has been transferred into Latvian and Russian with the same metaphoricity, while the term arm has been given a neutral denotation. Another technical term including the word arm is axis arm—ɲɢɩ ɨɫɢ in Russian and ass tapa in Latvian. The word arm, used alone, is translated into Russian as ɩɥɟɱɨ ɪɵɱɚɝɚ and into Latvian as sviras plecs. The term denotes the perpendicular distance from the fulcrum of a lever to the line of action of the effort or to the line of action of the weight. Apart from visual resemblance of the mechanical part and the part of the human body the functional coincidence may also be found. The movement of the lever can be juxtaposed with the movement performed by a human at trying to lift something and the way the arm is used to do it. It should be noted, however, that both the Russian and English counterparts of the term have presented metaphoricity but with another lexeme (that can be translated as shoulder into English), which is nevertheless also derived from the source domain of the human body.

The Role of Metaphor in Comprehension of Railway Terminology

205

x angle of tongue—ɭɝɨɥ ɨɫɬɪɹɤɚ, asmens leƼƷis. The term tongue denotes the sharp edge of the starting element of the railway points. We see that metaphoricity is presented in the English language through the attributional metaphor with the aspect of shape. In the Russian language though the term gets another denotation which is hardly regarded being metaphorical, while the Latvian equivalent of the term presents metaphoricity through a different lexeme employed in the domain of HOUSEHOLD ITEMS. x bleed—ɫɩɭɫɤɚɬɶ ɜɨɞɭ, ɜɨɡɞɭɯ; izlaist njdeni, gaisu. The metaphorical transfer is quite obvious in this case, i.e. projection of the action of emptying the item of any shape out of the containing liquid. The Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary gives such an entry of the verb to bleed: “If you bleed a closed system such as a radiator or a brake, you remove air or liquid from it to make it work correctly.” The case of polysemy is obvious, but the grounds for metaphoricity are obvious, too. However, the term bleed has no metaphorical terminological reference to asins in Latvian or to ɤɪɨɜɶ in Russian under any circumstances, being most probably considered rather scientifically inappropriate. Thus, the English language has alone accepted the metaphoric component and let it enter the technical terminology while Latvian and Russian have both preferred more descriptive terms. x baby—ɦɚɥɨɦɨɳɧɵɣ; the Latvian counterpart has not been provided in the dictionary but we assume it would not adhere to the principle employed in the English language but rather that used in the Russian term formation and would sound as mazjaudƯgs. Some other terms that have been given metaphorical representation from the source domain of HUMAN BODY are as follows: angular tooth (ɯɪɚɩɨɜɵɣ ɡɭɛ); bearing rib (ɪɟɛɨɪɞɚ; uzmala); belly (ɭɬɨɥɳɟɧɢɟ; uzbiezƝjums); broad footed rail (ɪɟɥɶɫ ɫ ɲɢɪɨɤɨɣ ɩɨɞɨɲɜɨɣ); concrete footing (ɛɟɬɨɧɧɵɣ ɮɭɧɞɚɦɟɧɬ; betona pamats); cooling rib (ɨɯɥɚɠɞɚɸɳɟɟ ɪɟɛɪɨ; dzesƝtƗjriba); bottleneck (ɭɡɤɨɟ ɦɟɫɬɨ; sašaurinƗjums; contact tongue (ɨɫɬɪɹɤ ɫɬɪɟɥɤɢ; pƗrmijas asmens).

3.2. Case Study Two: FAUNA Another domain serving for metaphorical representation of railway terms is FAUNA. The examples are provided below:

206

Chapter Eleven

x angle fishplate—ɧɚɤɥɚɞɤɚ, uzliktnis. The term denotes the detail that fastens two rails together. The grounds for metaphoricity are quite vague as neither shape nor function provides a direct link towards metaphorical naming. On the other hand, it might be assumed that the shape could have been the motivation for metaphor as it could vary. x automated frog—ɚɜɬɨɦɚɬɢɱɟɫɤɚɹ ɫɬɪɟɥɤɚ, automƗtiskƗ pƗrmija. The term is presented metaphorically and the attributional metaphor is grounded in the shape resemblance. Alongside this, the Russian language presents a metaphoric component within another domain, i.e. of the graphic resemblance to the arrow used for showing direction. The Latvian language shows no metaphorical element. x camel-back truss—ɮɟɪɦɚ ɫ ɤɪɢɜɨɥɢɧɟɣɧɵɦɢ ɨɱɟɪɬɚɧɢɹɦɢ ɩɨɹɫɨɜ. The Latvian counterpart of the whole terminological collocation does not appear in the dictionary but we would assume that it would most probably follow the trend of the Russian language and give the descriptive denotation of the object. The shape has served for metaphorization. x caterpillar—ɝɭɫɟɧɢɱɧɵɣ ɯɨɞ; kƗpurƷƝžu. All the languages have allowed the metaphorically presented term to become part of the professional vocabulary. Metaphoricity is based on resemblance of function, i.e. the ability to crawl slowly by means of re-reeling the specific type of track. x crocodile clip—ɤɪɨɤɨɞɢɥ (ɬɢɩ ɡɚɠɢɦɚ). The Latvian term has not been provided by the dictionary, although the discussion with the specialists in the field has allowed us to conclude that the term would most probably retain a metaphorical element. x crocodiling—ɪɚɫɬɪɟɫɤɢɜɚɧɢɟ (ɩɨɜɟɪɯɧɨɫɬɢ ɩɨɤɪɵɬɢɹ). The Latvian counterpart is not found in the dictionary although our assumption is that it would be a descriptive non-metaphorical term. It is to be noted that two various aspects of the target object (i.e. the crocodile) have served for metaphor creation. If, in the former example, the function of the crocodile’s jaw implying and extremely sharp and strong grip of something has been the grounds for metaphor creation, in the latter example, it is the pattern of the crocodile’s shell that has been the source for metaphorization. Some other examples of metaphorical terms formed using the source domain of FAUNA include: crow’s nest (ɧɚɛɥɸɞɚɬɟɥɶɧɚɹ ɜɵɲɤɚ); crow-fly distance (ɪɚɫɫɬɨɹɧɢɟ ɩɨ ɩɪɹɦɨɣ); cat’s back (ɝɨɪɛ ɝɨɪɤɢ;

The Role of Metaphor in Comprehension of Railway Terminology

207

uzkalna virsotne); butterfly (ɜɨɥɱɨɤ, ɛɚɪɚɲɟɤ; spƗrnuzgrieznis;, bull’s eye (ɫɢɝɧɚɥɶɧɵɣ ɮɨɧɚɪɶ); bullnose (ɡɚɝɥɭɲɤɚ; noslƝgs); bullheaded rail (ɞɜɭɯɝɨɥɨɜɵɣ ɪɟɥɶɫ); bird eye gravel (ɦɟɥɤɢɣ ɝɪɚɜɢɣ); bird’s mouth joint (ɩɪɢɦɵɤɚɧɢɟ ɧɚ ɪɟɛɪɨ); birdsmouthing toe joint (ɫɨɩɪɹɠɟɧɢɟ ɩɨɞɧɨɫɚ ɫ ɛɚɥɤɨɣ).

3.3. Case Study Three: WEAR The source domain of WEAR has served in the formation of the following metaphorical terms: x apron—ɜɟɬɪɨɜɨɣ ɳɢɬɨɤ, vƝjaizsargs. The device is used for protection purposes like the apron, as a piece of specialized clothing, is used for protecting the clothes from any kind of dirty materials. x bearer sleeve—ɩɨɞɲɢɩɧɢɤ ɫɤɨɥɶɠɟɧɢɹ. The Latvian term is not provided. The term “sleeve” is used in a whole number of collocations and its basic meaning in the technical language is a tubular part (as a hollow axle or a bushing) designed to fit over another part. As opposed to the core meaning (part of a garment covering an arm), we may conclude that the object performs the same function as a sleeve, i.e. covering some other object for either protective or functional measures. Some other metaphorical terms sourced from the domain of WEAR include: belt fork (ɜɢɥɤɚ ɞɥɹ ɩɟɪɟɜɨɞɚ ɪɟɦɧɹ; —); belt lace (ɫɲɢɜɤɚ ɞɥɹ ɪɟɦɧɟɣ; —); boot (ɡɚɝɪɭɡɨɱɧɚɹ ɜɨɪɨɧɤɚ; ɛɚɲɦɚɤ; kurpe); adapter sleeve (ɩɟɪɟɯɨɞɧɚɹ ɜɬɭɥɤɚ; —); cable sleeve (ɤɚɛɟɥɶɧɚɹ ɦɭɮɬɚ; —); cable shoe (ɤɚɛɟɥɶɧɵɣ ɧɚɤɨɧɟɱɧɢɤ; —); cooling jacket (ɨɯɥɚɠɞɚɸɳɢɣ ɤɨɠɭɯ; —); copper-jacketed coil (ɤɚɬɭɲɤɚ ɫ ɦɟɞɧɨɣ ɝɢɥɶɡɨɣ; —).

3.4. Case Study Four: HOUSEHOLD ITEMS The source domain of HOUSEHOLD ITEMS as the provider of metaphorical mapping onto the technical terminology can be exemplified by the following terms: x absolute threshold (ɚɛɫɨɥɸɬɧɵɣ ɩɨɪɨɝ; —); bag (ɦɟɲɨɤ, ɫɭɦɤɚ; —); balcony (ɜɢɫɹɱɚɹ ɩɥɚɬɮɨɪɦɚ; —); battery jar (ɚɤɤɭɦɭɥɹɬɨɪɧɚɹ ɛɚɧɤɚ; —); bituminous carpet (ɝɭɞɪɨɧɨɜɚɹ ɨɞɟɠɞɚ; —); blanket (ɩɨɤɪɵɬɢɟ, ɩɨɜɟɪɯɧɨɫɬɧɵɣ ɫɥɨɣ; segums);

208

Chapter Eleven

buffer ring (ɛɭɮɟɪɧɚɹ ɬɚɪɟɥɤɚ; —); catch hook (ɨɬɤɢɞɧɨɣ ɤɪɸɤ; ƗƷis); catch pin (ɫɰɟɩɥɹɸɳɚɹ ɲɩɢɥɶɤɚ; tapskrnjve); chair (ɪɟɥɶɫɨɜɚɹ ɩɨɞɤɥɚɞɤɚ; paliktnis); concrete bed (ɛɟɬɨɧɧɵɣ ɮɭɧɞɚɦɟɧɬ; betona pamats); etc.

3.5. Case Study Five: FOOD Two terms have been identified as being provided metaphorically from the source domain of FOOD: x battery milk—ɤɢɩɟɧɢɟ ɚɤɤɭɦɭɥɹɬɨɪɨɜ ɩɪɢ ɨɤɨɧɱɚɧɢɢ ɡɚɪɹɞɚ. The Latvian term has not been found, but it would most probably be given a descriptive definition similarly to the Russian language. We can assume that the term got such naming due to the resemblance milk has to the substance that appears at the full charge of a battery. x banana pin—ɨɞɧɨɩɨɥɸɫɧɵɣ ɲɬɟɩɫɟɥɶ. The term denotes a simple device used across various branches of technology, and the aspect of the source object’s shape has led to the metaphorization.

4. Conclusion From the material analyzed so far we can conclude that metaphor is indeed present in terminology. Metaphorically presented terms have become part of the professional language. Being a linguist and not a specialist in the field, rendering the grounds for metaphoricity was a demanding task. As opposed to the traditional view of metaphor as an ornamental element of the language, it has been found out through the present research that, on the contrary, metaphor can provide a more precise understanding and facilitate the comprehension of the information implied in terms of particular branches of technology. Visualization as the stage of metaphor perception plays a crucial role in the formation of the object’s image with even minimal knowledge of the field. Thus, metaphor serves the purpose of facilitating communication at this level. It is also a mediator, a linking chain between the idea implied and its recipient. It is to be stated that metaphor in technical language is that of the attributional character in case it is built on the grounds of mere resemblance between the source and target objects in terms of shape or appearance, where the function is employed as the aspect of metaphorization, the case of relational metaphor is observed. Having performed the analysis of the source domains that are most common for terminology metaphorization, it

The Role of Metaphor in Comprehension of Railway Terminology

209

can be concluded that the most quantitatively exemplified source domains have been those of the HUMAN BODY and HOUSEHOLD ITEMS. The reasons for this are quite obvious. Since humanity had existed long before the world of technologies interfered in our life, it could be given as an axiom that in the attempt to find the most appropriate denotations for any newly formed, discovered, invented or developed items of technologies, a human looked to himself first in order to find correspondence in his own surroundings. The body and items around him would undoubtedly stand in the forefront when completing such a task.

References Boyd, Richard. 1993. “Metaphor and Theory Change: What is “Metaphor” a Metaphor for?” In Metaphor and Thought, edited by Andrew Ortony, 481–532. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ford, Alan, and Francis David Peat. 1988. “The Role of Language in Science.” Foundations of Physics, Vol. 18: 1233–1242. Geeraerts, Dirk A. 2006. “Rough Guide to Cognitive Linguistics.” In Cognitive Linguistics: Basic Readings, edited by Dirk Geeraerts, 1–22. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Gentner, Dedre, and Michael Jeziorski. 1993. “The Shift from Metaphor to Analogy in Western Science.” In Metaphor and Thought, edited by Andrew Ortony, 447–480. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gibbs, Raymond W. Jr. 1999. “Researching Metaphor.” In Researching and Applying Metaphor, edited by Lynne Cameron, and Low Graham, 29–47. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hoffman, Robert. 1980. “Metaphor in Science.” In Cognition and Figurative Language, edited by Richard P. Honeck, and Robert Hoffman, 393–423. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Knowles Murray, and Rosamund Moon. 2005. Introducing Metaphor. Taylor & Francis e-Library. Knudsen, Susanne. 2003. “Scientific Metaphor Going Public.” Journal of Pragmatics, 35 (8): 1247–1263. Kövecses, Zoltán. 2010. Metaphor: A Practical Introduction, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Miller, George A. 1993. “Images and Models, Similes and Metaphors.” In Metaphor and Though, edited by Andrew Ortony, 357–401. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Musolff, Aandreas, and Jörg Zinken, ed. 2009. Metaphor and Discourse. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.

210

Chapter Eleven

Ortony, Andrew. 1975. “Why Metaphors Are Necessary and Not Just Nice?” Educational Theory, 25 (1): 45–53. Pragglejaz Group. 2007. “MIP: A Method for Identifying Metaphorically Used Words in Discourse.” Metaphor and Symbol 22 (1): 1–39. Savory, Theodore H. 1953. The Language of Science: Its Growth, Character and Usage. Tonbridge: Tonbridge Printers Ltd. Siqueira, Maity, et al. 2009. “Metaphor Identification in a Terminological Dictionary.” Ibérica 17: 157–174. Skorczynska, Hanna. 2006. “Readership and Purpose in the Choice of Economics Metaphors.” Metaphor and Symbol 21 (2): 87–104. Temmerman, Rita. 2000. Towards New Ways of Terminology Descriptions. The Socio-cognitive Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Ullmann, Stephen. 1967. Semantics. An Introduction to the Science of Meaning. Oxford: Blackwell. Veisbergs, Andrejs. 2007. “Latviešu politiskƗ metafora.” AkademiskƗ dzƯve 44: 14–20. Ʌɟɛɟɞɟɜɚ, ɋɜɟɬɥɚɧɚ ȼ., Ɉɥɶɝɚ ɋ. Ɂɭɛɤɨɜɚ. 2006. Ɇɟɞɢɰɢɧɫɤɚɹ ɦɟɬɚɮɨɪɚ ɜ ɫɨɜɪɟɦɟɧɧɨɦ ɹɡɵɤɟ: Ɇɨɧɨɝɪɚɮɢɹ. Ʉɭɪɫɤ: ɂɡɞ-ɜɨ ɄȽɍ.

CHAPTER TWELVE PROBLEMS OF TERMINOLOGY IN TRANSLATING ISLAMIC LAW INTO LEGAL ENGLISH RAFAT Y. ALWAZNA KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract Legal translation is exercised more than authoring books and is practised in varied methods, as it is necessary for the formation of the globalized world. Without translation of law, business and diplomacy would never function (Bellos 2011: 224). Legal systems differ in terms of norms, history and procedures. Languages belonging to different legal systems have different terms (ibid: 227) with different concepts which pose crucial problems in legal translation (Schroth 1986; Benmaman 1992; Borja 2000). Sarcevic (1997: 232), lending credence to the aforementioned theme, points out that concepts are derived from legal systems and, therefore, the terminology of different legal systems is “conceptually incongruent”. Of particular importance is the difference in terminology between Islamic law and law originally written in English. There seems to be a clear “system gap”, as termed by Weisflog (1987: 188), between Islamic law and law originally written in English, particularly in terminology. Translators of Islamic texts encounter acute issues and complex problems when rendering these texts into legal English due to the absence of common legal concepts in the legal systems in question. Different translation methods and strategies have been resorted to in order to resolve these problems, albeit with significant translation loss. The present paper will argue that although there are crucial translation problems posed as a result of the difference in terminology between Islamic law and law originally written in English, certain translation

212

Chapter Twelve

strategies may be adopted to minimize translation loss with the meaning of legal terms conveyed acceptably in the TT. Keywords: Legal translation, terminology, concepts, translation strategy, legal systems.

1. Introduction In spite of the fact that legal translation is deemed amongst the most challenging and testing kinds of translation (Newmark 1988: 162), it goes without saying that legal translation is exercised more than authoring books and is practised in varied methods as it is necessary for the formation of the globalized world. Without translation of law, business and diplomacy would never function (Bellos 2011: 224; Wolff 2011: 232; Chroma 2004: 197). Legal systems differ in terms of norms, history and procedures. Languages belonging to different legal systems have different terms (Bellos 2011: 227; Sarcevic 1997: 231; Cornu 1990: 61-65) with different concepts, which pose crucial problems in legal translation (Schroth 1986; Benmaman 1992; Borja 2000; Obenaus 1995). This paper presents and analyzes an example of “terminological incongruency”, indicated by Sarcevic (1997: 229), between Islamic Law and law originally written in English. It starts by providing a relatively succinct account of the nature and methods used in translating legal texts. Definitions and concepts embraced by the term “terminology” will then be demonstrated with a brief discussion of the nature of legal terms and their senses. The paper then proceeds to its important theme, presenting the terminological incongruency between the Islamic term “mƗl” and the English term often employed as an equivalent for the Islamic term “property”. The paper will argue that functional equivalence, which advocates the reproduction of the right legal effect in the target language, is what should be adopted in legal translation. If adequate functional equivalent is not available between particular legal systems, specific translation strategies may be adopted to achieve the intended result of rendering a particular term from one legal system into another.

2. Some Pointers on Legal Translation In legal translation, form and content are of equal importance (Newmark 1988: 162). In other words, translators are required to reflect the letter of the law as well as convey the legal effect of the ST to the TT reader (Hatim and Mason 1997: 125; Hatim 1997: 14; Poon 2005: 316;

Problems of Terminology in Translating Islamic Law into Legal English 213

Hjort-Pedersen and Faber 2001: 379). A number of scholars believe that translators are required to stick to ST syntax and semantics unless there is a justifiable reason to do otherwise (Hatim 1997: 14). This literal approach had been mostly adopted in legal translation until late in the twentieth century (Sarcevic 1997: 233; Wolff 2011: 236). This was primarily founded on belief in the magical properties of the logos: “if the wording was changed, the incantatory force might be lost.” (Harvey 2002: 180) Other scholars’ views run contrary to the aforementioned approach; they are inclined to give translators some leeway with regard to the reproduction of the TT. Among those are Nida (1964), who favors dynamic over formal equivalence, Newmark (1981), who prefers communicative over semantic translation and Snell-Hornby (1988/1995), who advocates covert rather than overt translation. All those have unquestionably been influential figures in the area of legal translation practice (Wolff 2011: 228). There is no one-to-one correspondence between one particular law and another law (Legrand 2005: 30), especially within the context of legal terms. Absolute one-to-one equivalence is only found in cases where legal terms have been assigned the same concepts in two or more languages (Sarcevic 1997: 234). Indeed, legal texts generally demand adaptive transformation in order to be comprehensible by the target reader and carry the same legal force as that imparted by original texts (ibid.: 30; Stolze 2001: 302; Chroma 2004: 202; Wolff 2011: 229). Law can possess empirical identity, which can be removed from meaning which is deemed a crucial characteristic of a particular legal culture, and hence law can move from one legal culture into another (Legrand 2005: 33). This image is adopted by White (1990: 234) when viewing translation as transportation. He argues that meaning in translation can be removed from one language and culture and reproduced in another language and culture. Every existence of a law in a particular culture represents an example of the culture in question being acted out (Legrand 2005: 35). Law is viewed as an expression of the language and culture to which it belongs and an expression of the traditions from which it is derived (ibid: 37). A majority of de facto studies concerning legal translation deal largely with legal terminology (Bocquet 1994: ii; Sarcevic 1997: 229). However, a number of these studies view legal translation as a process of replacing textual elements of the source legal system with those of the target legal system (Sarcevic 1997: 229). Although there has long been a clear emphasis on the necessity of preserving the letter of the law in the case of legal translation, it remains evident that it is the text, not the word, which represents the main unit of translation. In legal translation, the text

214

Chapter Twelve

originates its sense from one or more legal systems; hence, legal translation is deemed a process of rendering legal systems (ibid.: 229). Therefore, source legal text and target legal text should lead to the same legal effect, practically (ibid.: 246; Hatim and Mason 1997: 125). This can only be achieved if the translator does not only assess one of the potential contextual meanings of the text, but also the appropriate legal sense of the text concerned (Engberg 2002: 378). In other words, the translator is required to reproduce the same legal meaning as the source text, as understood by the judge or legal practitioner from the source text (Wolff 2011: 238).

3. Terminology: Definition and Concept The term “terminology” conveys three different concepts: the methods and practices used for presenting terms; the arguments and theories used for clarifying the connection between concepts and terms which are deemed crucial for a well-structured activity stated in the aforementioned element and the lexicon specific for a particular field (Sager 1990: 3; Chroma 2004: 15). When a term is given a legal meaning which is totally different from its typical meaning in ordinary language, confusion may arise. A number of terms adopted in legal language often derive their generic senses from ordinary language, but are assigned specific legal senses by a particular legal system (Sarcevic 1997: 231). Conversely, there exist other legal terms which are exclusively employed in legal language; in other words, these terms are monosemous as they convey only one meaning (ibid.: 231; Chroma 2004: 26), though the majority of legal terms are generally known to be polysemous (Cornu 1990: 89–117; Alcaraz and Hughes, 2002: 162). Owing to the fact that a majority of legal terms acquire their legal meaning from a specific legal system, these terms are inherently congruent (Sarcevic 1997: 231). Nida (1975: 104) asserts that it is the linguistic and non-linguistic context in which a particular legal term is employed which clearly determines the intended result of the term in question. As known internationally, terminology related to a special field can only be standardized in several languages after the referents and concepts pointed to are standardized (Sager 1990: 114–128). This process may seem simple with regard to natural sciences as the same referent appears in almost all societies (Sarcevic 1997: 231–232). Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be the case with regard to the field of law as legal terms point to concepts, procedures, relationships and acts which are specific to a single legal system. The terminology characteristic of distinct legal

Problems of Terminology in Translating Islamic Law into Legal English 215

systems is ipso facto “conceptually incongruent” (ibid.: 232; Sarcevic 1989: 278; Arntz 1993: 6). At times a single legal term within one particular language may point to different concepts in different legal systems. By contrast, the same concept may be expressed by different legal terms in different legal systems, albeit within the same language. What is more, legal terms with concepts that have been transplanted into a different law acquire different legal meanings after these concepts have been adapted to the new legal system and the culture thereof (Sarcevic 1997: 232).

4. Problems of Terminology in Translating Islamic Law into English Equivalence, particularly within the context of legal terminology, has always been a thorny and important issue (Snell-Homby 1988: 106; Felber 1993: 38; Arntz 1993: 5–19). All legal systems possess many legal terms, which have no absolute correspondence in other legal systems (Sarcevic 1997: 233). These terms are known as system-bound terms, which designate concepts specific to a particular legal system (Sarcevic 1988: 455). These terms are deemed untranslatable, and they encompass technical terms and culture-specific terms (Sarcevic 1997: 233). One of these legal terms is the term “mƗl” in Islamic law, which is often rendered into legal English as “property”. The term “mƗl” is defined as “what you own of everything” (Al-MuতƯ৬ Dictionary 2003: 977). On the other hand, the term “property”, which is usually used as an equivalent for the Arabic term “mƗl”, is defined as “ownership, right to own something” (Dictionary of Law, 2000: 292). Having considered the definitions of the terms in question, there seems to be a close match between them. However, with special reference to the four sunnƯ schools of law relating to Islamic Law, particularly the ণanbalƯ School of Law, this is unlikely to be the case. According to the ণanbalƯ School of Law, “mƗl” refers to every item the benefit of which is under any circumstances permissible and the possession thereof without pressing need is also permissible. Hence, insects cannot be considered part of “mƗl” as insects are viewed by this law to have no value, and therefore they can never be the subject-matter of a sale contract (Al-BahnjtƯ 1636: 142). This runs contrary to the law originally written in English where insects can be viewed as part of somebody’s property, and therefore insects, at least in theory, can be the subject-matter of a sale contract. Moreover, “mƗl”, according to the ণanbalƯ School of Law, does not include items such as wine, swine,

216

Chapter Twelve

carrion and dogs as these are seen by this particular law to be prohibited to possess or use. Consequently, the aforementioned items can never be the subject-matter of a sale contract (ibid.). This again is repugnant to the law originally written in English where these items can be part of somebody’s property, and hence they can be the subject-matter of a sale contract. Clearly, the example above proves what Sarcevic (1997: 229) calls “terminological incongruency”, which is a known and complex problem in legal translation. Rosenne (1987), stressing the importance of terminological incongruency, argues that the most acute and greatest dilemma found in the process of translating and applying parallel legal texts can often be caused by terminological incongruency. The matter becomes even more problematic when legal translation needs to be exercised between two totally unrelated legal systems, such as Islamic Law and law originally written in English. This is lent credence by Holt (2004: 63), who points out that when translating Islamic texts into English, problems of intertextuality, rhetorical devices of which English readers are unaware and problems of Islamic terminology with their connotative and affective aspects arise. He adds that some Islamic terms carry different levels of connotative meaning (ibid.: 65), which is the case for the term “mƗl”. So, where does the translators’ task reside? It resides in choosing the terms that will lead to the intended results on the basis of their prediction of how these terms will be interpreted and implemented by courts (Sarcevic 1997: 229). In other words, they are required to employ the closest natural equivalent in the target legal system, which best and most precisely relays the legal sense of the term used in the source language (Mikkelson 1995: 202), and therefore leads to the desired result. This, with no doubt, is a formidable task that needs to be performed by legal translators (Sarcevic 1997: 235). In order for legal translators to perform their task properly, they need to possess an excellent command of legal terms specific to both SL and TL and continuously keep on sharpening their knowledge of these terms (Alcaraz and Hughes 2002: 153; Mikkelson 1995: 202; Arntz 1993: 5). Their choice of terms should be accurate, meticulous, concise and linguistically precise (Felber 1984: 181–182; Chroma 2004: 17). In fact, their choice of terms should be directly linked to the practical application of these terms, or what is known among legal translators as “legal effect”, as this criterion is what determines the acceptability and suitability of these terms for a particular legal text (Sarcevic 1997: 229). Having considered the above-mentioned information, what are the strategies available to render “mƗl” into English? Sarcevic (1997: 235–

Problems of Terminology in Translating Islamic Law into Legal English 217

236) argues that translators, when dealing with equivalence in the target legal system, should cope with this situation as if they were solving a legal problem. They should look closely into the problem in question and see how this very problem should be dealt with in the legal system of the target language. This should guide them to the concept that the term employed in the target legal system should have the same function as that used in the legal system of the source language. This technique in translation is strongly advocated by Weston (1991: 23), who claims that the use of functional equivalence is considered the ideal method of translation. The functional equivalent and the term used in the ST should be coordinate concepts. In other words, they should possess the same level of abstraction and should be both classified under the same superordinate concept (Felber, Galinski and Nedobity 1987: 13). However, it is evident that the above-mentioned information does not apply to the present situation as “property” does not have exactly the same function as that fulfilled by “mƗl”. Sarcevic (1997: 250, 252, 254) holds the view that when functional equivalence is inadequate for translating terms, lexical expansion, i.e. expanding or delimiting the meaning of the functional equivalent, may be employed. She goes on to suggest that one of the most effective and appropriate methods used in compensating for terminological incongruency from the legal point of view is to express the intended meaning of the ST term in a neutral form of language that can easily be comprehended by law specialists around the globe, using the method of descriptive paraphrases and definitions. This method is particularly relevant in the case of parallel texts derived from totally different laws implemented in different countries, such as Islamic Law and law originally written in English. Such definitions can be used for both ambiguous and technical terms and can either be stated in the main provisions or in the definition section. Within the same line of thought, Arntz (1993: 15–16) offers three different options to the translator in the case of terminological incongruency. First, the translator may employ loan words. Another option is coining a term in the TL. The last option the translator may resort to is paraphrasing the term in question. This paraphrase usually includes definition of the intended term. Akehurst (1972) believes that when there is no adequate functional equivalent at all, it is advised to use neutral terms, i.e. non-technical terms. Sarcevic (1997: 255), supporting the aforementioned theme, adds that if the sense of the neutral term is not clear enough, it can be followed by a definition to specify how this particular term should be interpreted and implemented in this particular legal situation and other related legal situations. Weston (1991: 26) takes

218

Chapter Twelve

the view recommended by linguists, which states that when there is no functional equivalent, the translator may adopt the method of borrowing, i.e. the ST term is transliterated using the alphabet of the TL. This method is strongly recommended by lawyers, who always demand the use of borrowing in legal translation (Sacco 1991: 19). Having considered the fact that the term “mƗl” and the term “property” are derived from totally two different laws and that they can never be regarded as complete functional equivalents, it seems appropriate that the ST term “mƗl” be transliterated using the TL alphabets, as strongly supported by Weston (1991), Sacco (1991), linguists and lawyers. After the ST term is transliterated, it should be followed by descriptive paraphrases and definitions to clarify the legal sense thereof, as advocated by Sarcevic (1997) and Arntz (1993). Doing so, the target reader will be able to identify the ST term and understand the legal sense thereof with all its denotative and connotative meaning. This will hopefully lead the target reader to arrive at the same legal effect as that reached by the ST reader, which is the end result required in any legal translation project.

5. Concluding Remarks It seems evident that legal translation is one of the most challenging tasks to translators as it is a translation between two legal systems. The task becomes far more complicated when the legal systems in question are significantly different, such as Islamic Law and law originally written in English. Terms pertaining to each legal system have concepts which share little in common, and ipso facto lead to terminological incongruency. Translators of legal texts should seek to find a functional equivalent in the target legal system that best relays the legal sense of the ST term and ultimately produces the same legal effect as that brought about by the term used in the source legal system. When terminological incongruency arises due to the difference in origins and norms between the source legal system and the target legal system, which is the case of Islamic Law and law originally written in English, important translation strategies should be considered. The Arabic term “mƗl”, which has no exact functional equivalent in legal English, can be rendered into English with the use of transliteration, descriptive paraphrases and definitions. Doing so, the English reader will be in a good position to identify the term concerned and understand the legal sense thereof, which unequivocally guides him/her to arrive at the right and intended legal effect of this term. Finally, transliteration, descriptive paraphrases and definitions should be employed in similar

Problems of Terminology in Translating Islamic Law into Legal English 219

legal translation situations where there is no exact functional equivalent between the source legal system and the target legal system.

References Akehurst, Michael. 1972. “Preparing the Authentic English Text of the E.E.C. Treaty.” In An Introduction to the Law of the European Economic Community, edited by Ben Atkinson Wortley, 20–31. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Al-BahnjtƯ, Manৢnjr ibn IdrƯs. 1636. Shar‫ ۊ‬muntahƗ al-irƗdƗt. Vol. 2. AlMadƯna: Al-Maktaba Al-Salafiyya. Alcaraz, Enrique, and Brian Hughes. 2002. Legal Translation Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing. Al-FayrnjzabƗdƯ, Muতammad. 2003. Al-Mu‫ۊ‬Ư‫ ܒ‬dictionary, 2nd ed. Beirut: DƗr IতyƗ‫ ގ‬Al-TurƗth Al-‫ޏ‬ArabƯ. Arntz, Reiner. 1993. “Terminological Equivalence and Translation.” In Terminology: Applications in Interdisciplinary Communication, edited by Helmi Sonneveld and Kurt Loening, 5–19. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Bellos, David. 2011. Is that a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything. London: Penguin Group. Benmaman, Virginia. 1992. “Legal Interpreting: An Emerging Profession.” The Modern Language Journal 76 (4): 445–454. Bocquet, Claude. 1949. Pour une methode de traduction juridique. Prilly: CB Service. Borja Albi, Anabel. 2000. “The Concept of Equivalence in Medical and Legal Translation.” International Journal of Translation 12 (1-2): 1– 14. Chroma, Marta. 2004. Legal Translation and the Dictionary. Tubingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag GmbH. —. 2004. “Cross-cultural Traps in Legal Translation.” In Intercultural Aspects of Specialised Communication, edited by Christopher Candlin, and Maurizio Gotti, 197–221. Bern: Lang. Collin, Peter H. 2000. Dictionary of Law, 3rd ed. London: Peter Collin Publishing Ltd. Cornu, Gérard. 1990. Linguistique juridique. Paris: Montchrestien. Engberg, Jan. 2000. “Legal Meaning Assumptions: What Are the Consequences for Legal Interpretation and Legal Translation?” International Journal for the Semiotic of Law 15: 375–388. Felber, Helmut. 1998. Allgemeine terminologia und wissenstechniktheoretische grundlagen. Wien: Term Net.

220

Chapter Twelve

—. 1984. Terminology Manual. Paris: UNESCO and INFOTERM. Felber, Helmut, Christian Galinski, and Wolfgang Nedobity. 1987. A Method for Controlled Concept Dynamics. Vienna: INFOTERM. Harvey, Malcolm. 2002. “What’s so Special about Legal Translation?” Meta 2: 177–185. Hatim, Basil. 1997. English-Arabic/Arabic-English Translation: A Practical Guide. London: Saqi Books. Hatim, Basil, and Ian Mason. 1997. The Translator as Communicator. London: Routledge. Hjort-Pedersen, Mette, and Dorrit Faber. 2001. “Lexical Ambiguity and Legal Translation: A Discussion.” Multilingua 20: 379–392. Holt, Mike. 2004. “Translating Islamist Discourse.” In Cultural Encounters in Translation from Arabic, edited by Said Faiq, 63–74. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Legrand, Pierre. 2005. “Issues in the Translatability of Law.” In Nation, Language and the Ethics of Translation, edited by Sandra Bermann, and Michael Wood, 30–50. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Mikkelson, Holly. 1995. “On the Horns of a Dilemma: Accuracy vs. Brevity in the Use of Legal Terms by Cort Interpreters.” In Translation and the Law, edited by Marshall Morris, 201–281. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Newmark, Peter. 1981. Approaches to Translation. Oxford: Pergamon Press. —. 1988. A Textbook of Translation. New York: Prentice Hall. Nida, Eugene. 1964. Toward a Science of Translating: With Special Reference to Principles and Procedures Involved in Bible Translating. Leiden: Brill. —. 1975. Language, Structure and Translation. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Obenaus, Gerhard. 1995. “The Legal Translator as Information Broker.” In Translation and the Law, edited by Marshall Morris, 247–259. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Poon, Wai Yee E. 2005. “The Cultural Transfer in Legal Translation.” International Journal for the Semiotics of Law 18: 307–323. Rosenne, Shabtai. 1987. “Conceptualism as a Guide to Treaty Interpretation.” International Law at the Time of Its Codification: Essays in Honour of Roberto Ago. Vol. 1, 417–431. Milan: Giufre. Sacco, Rodolfo. 1991. “Legal Formants: A Dynamic Approach to Comparative Law.” American Journal of Comparative Law 39: 1–34. Sager, Juan C. 1990. A Practical Course in Terminology Processing. Amsterdam: John Publishing Benjamins Company.

Problems of Terminology in Translating Islamic Law into Legal English 221

Schroth, Peler W. 1986. “Legal Translation.” American Journal of Comparative Law Supplement 34: 47–66. Snell-Homby, Mary. 1988. Translation Studies: An Integrated Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Stolze, Radegunde. 2001. “Translating Legal Texts in the EU.” Perspectives 9: 301–313. Šarþeviü, Susan. 1988. “Translation of Legislation—with Special Emphasis on Languages of Limited Diffusion.” In Translation, Our Future, XIth world Congress of FIT, edited by Paul Nekeman, 455– 462. Maastricht: Auroterm. —. 1989. Conceptual Dictionaries for Translation in the Field of Law. International Journal of Lexicography 2 (4): 277–293. —. 1997. New Approach to Legal Translation. London: Kluwer Law International. Weston, Martin. 1991. An English Reader’s Guide to the French Legal System. New York, Oxford: Berg. White, James Boyd. 1990. Justice as Translation: An Essay in Cultural and Legal Criticism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Wolff, Leon. 2011. “Legal Translation.” In The Oxford Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by Kirsten Malmkjaer, and Kevin Windle, 228–242. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN INTERPRETING LEGAL TERMINOLOGY: FROM INFORMATIVE TO NORMATIVE TRANSLATION KATJA DOBRIû BASANEŽE UNIVERSITY OF RIJEKA, CROATIA

Abstract Interpreting meaning in legal translation is a delicate task that is entrusted both to jurists and legal translators. There are syntactic and stylistic problems that a translator is confronted with and they differ from one language to another. In English one expresses obligation with the verb shall whereas in German one uses the verb sein in the third person singular and the zu-infinitive form. Difficulties also arise because legal norms and concepts do not correspond. The person who performs the duties of the British Lord Chancellor is one of the cultural concepts that are difficult to translate. The institution of the head of the judiciary branch exists in other systems and languages, but it differs in its application. Legal translators should aim both at textual and legal equivalence when translating legal texts. The latter especially applies to translating texts of a prescriptive nature (statutes, contracts etc.). The ways in which a translator should approach translating legal terminology will be dealt with in this paper with special emphasis on German, English and Croatian legal terminology. Keywords: Croatian, English, equivalent, general, German, informative, judicial, legal terminology, normative, translator.

224

Chapter Thirteen

1. Introduction Interpreting meaning in legal translation is a delicate task that is entrusted to both jurists and legal translators. When translating from one language to another, one compares two language systems, because what is expressed in one language in one way is often expressed in another language in a completely different way. Similarly, when one translates legal texts, one has to compare two or more legal systems. This is when difficulties arise, since there are concepts in one legal system that do not exist in another legal system. A legal translator must thus “possess not only language competence but also considerable legal competence.” (Šarþeviü 2001: 76) If one translates for informative purposes, one can describe the term. However, if a translator has to produce a target text that will be as legally binding as the source text, he or she has to take many issues into consideration, such as the country in which the translation will be binding, the law by which the translation should be regulated and the audience, i.e. people who are going to use the translation. The paper will address examples of three categories of translation which pose difficulties for legal translators, as well as ways of approaching such legal translations.

2. Translating for Informative Purposes According to Cao’s classification, legal translation for informative purposes only has informative value, not legal force. Such texts are translated so that target culture receivers can understand foreign jurisdictions, e.g. texts from Common Law translated for students for study and comparison purposes. Usually, legal translators are confronted with “legal system-bound words” (Cao 2007: 60), such as words relating to the legal profession, to particular areas of law or to the court structure. The word Anwalt in the German–English Wörterbuch für Recht, Wirtschaft und Poitik has several entries among them being “lawyer, counsel, solicitor and barrister”. In British English, there are two types of lawyers, whereas in both German and Croatian there is only one type, i.e. Anwalt in German and odvjetnik in Croatian. In the UK, one type is known as a solicitor and the other is known as a barrister. Apart from following different educational paths (if we disregard the LLB), these two types of lawyers have different powers. For example, a solicitor is allowed to represent his or her clients only in the first instance County Courts and a barrister is allowed to represent them in all courts of the land. If a legal translator wishes to cover the whole meaning of the terms barrister and

Interpreting Legal Terminology

225

solicitor, he or she will choose the descriptive method and therefore translate the first term as “bei allen Gerichten in Großbritanien zugelassener Anwalt” and the second one as “bei niedrigen Gerichten in Großbritanien zugelassener Anwalt”. The second option is to keep the original English terms in the target text since “to use foreign words when talking about a concept that stems from the respective foreign country is quite acceptable and unproblematic.” (Kischel 2009: 12) Apart from typical institutions of Common Law such as tort law or equity and trusts, this legal system has also categories of law such as contract law, which could in this system be regarded as a separate branch of law. This is the reason why common law contracts can be up to twentyfour pages long, whereas the German ones are quite shorter. Common law contracts, therefore, contain specific terminology, which is sometimes unkown in the legal systems of Continental Europe. The term precedent stands for “an adjudged case or decision of a court, considered as furnishing an example or authority for an identical or similar case afterwards arising or a similar question of law”, as cited by the Black’s Law Dictionary, and “an existing contract that a lawyer can use as a model for drafting another, similar agreement” (Mason/Atkins 2007: 207). If a legal translator encounters the first meaning, he or she should translate the term as Präzedenzfall in German, whereas if he encounters the second meaning, he should translate it as Vertragsmuster. It is often the case that a word has one meaning in ordinary everyday English, but when used as a legal term it has a completely different meaning. The word recital is defined in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as “(1) a public performance of music or poetry” and “(2) a spoken description of a series of events, etc. that is often long and boring”. If a translator is confronted with the following contract clause, neither of the above-mentioned meanings of the word recital is going to be of help: “RECITALS WHEREAS the Supplier is engaged in the manufacture and distribution of handmade furniture and various other household goods for sale and distribution to retailers WHEREAS the Buyer is a retailer who operates a chain of retail outlets around the UK and wishes to purchase a selection of furniture and other goods from the Supplier for sale to the public via said outlets WHEREAS the Supplier agrees to supply specified furniture and other goods to the Buyer subject to the terms and conditions set out in this Agreement.” (Mason, Atkins 2007: 216)

Obviously the term recitals is not to be translated as Rezitativ into

226

Chapter Thirteen

German but as, citing the Dictionary of Legal, Commercial and Poltical Terms, “einleitende Erklärung (eines Vertrags oder Beschlusses)”. The constant change of legal terms plays a large role in legal translation. One often encounters changes in legislative and judicial structures of a common law system and in professions practicing law in such systems. The term Lord Chancellor is by itself difficult to translate. In the Dictionary of Legal, Commercial and Political Terms one of the definitions offered is “Präsident des Oberhauses”. Since the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the role of the Lord Chancellor was significantly altered: “The office of Lord Chancellor continues in existence, following a Government defeat on this matter in the Lords. However, the office is no longer the official head of the judiciary and the creation of the Judicial Appointments Commission removes his responsibility for judicial appointments.”

The Lord Chancellor is currently a member of the “lower” House, the House of Commons. Therefore, prior definitions in the Dictionary of Legal, Commercial and Political Terms as “Präsident des Oberhauses” or the person whose tasks are “Ernennung der Richter und die Verwaltung der Gerichte” are to be modified according to the provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act, which have changed the meaning of the term Lord Chancellor (Parliament n.d.). Former colonies of English-speaking countries are also founded on the common law system. There are cases in which the meaning of a term in their “mother country” changed, whereas in the former colony it remained unchanged. This is because, by proclaiming their independence, their contact points with their “mother country” have diminished. Cyprus’ court system, for instance, still uses the term Assize court. This court existed in the UK up until 1971, but was replaced afterwards by the Crown court. Since Cyprus was a British colony until 1960, this term was borrowed before the time it went out of use in the UK. If one studies the powers of the past court of assize in the UK, one realizes that the court had jurisdiction over both civil and criminal cases. According to the Courts Act of 1971, the duty of deciding over criminal cases was assigned to the Crown Court, whereas jurisdiction over civil cases remained in the High Court’s jurisdiction. The Assize court in Cyprus, however, is the court of first instance for criminal cases. In practice, only criminal cases of which the sentence exceeds 5 years of incarceration are brought before the Assize Court (Supreme Court of Cyprus n.d.). Therefore, the student writing a seminar paper on the court system in Cyprus faces difficulties, since

Interpreting Legal Terminology

227

describing the term requires quite a long footnote about word etymology, land history and comparative study of law. The examples above show that a legal translator must carefully examine the meaning a legal term has in the source text and then try to find the equivalent in the target text. This is accomplished by comparing both language and legal systems, studying the history of the legal system and taking into account the constant change of law, which can lead to assigning different meanings to a legal term. Since “it is not possible for the words of one language to coincide with a given equivalent of another language” (Gemar 2001: 115), a legal translator must find ways to express those terms in the target text. That can be done either by using the descriptive method (that can make the target text sound awkward especially in cases where the description is too long) or by keeping the original terms in the target translation.

3. Translating for General Legal and Judicial Purposes The second category of translation according to Cao’s classification (Cao 2007: 11) is the type of translation that court interpreters are most familiar with. They receive a document that is to be translated from a foreign language into the official language of their country or vice versa, for the purpose of providing assistance in court proceedings. These translations have both informative and descriptive functions and are either used by parties who do not speak the language used in court or by lawyers who need to understand the original documents written in a foreign language. Contracts can also be included in this category, but only if the target translation of the contract is not binding. If a contract originally written in English is meant to be used in Croatia by a Croatian and a German party, it is to be translated into German so that the German party can understand it. Kocbek categorizes this type of translation as translating between two legal systems which are relatively related, (German and Croatian are both based on a civil law system) but using a lingua franca bound to a legal system (English bound to a common law system) (Kocbek 2009: 54). The person by whom the contract was drafted, however, may use terms that are typical of the common law system: “TABLE OF APPENDICES. Schedule 2 [(a)] Accounts. Schedule 8.1(h) Significant agreements. Schedule X Inventories” (An extract from a contract for purchase of

228

Chapter Thirteen shares between a Swedish and a Croatian party).

If one studies the above-mentioned example of a contract, one notices the word schedule. This term has several equivalents in the EnglishGerman Dictionary of Legal, Commercial and Political Terms, e.g. “Liste, Verzeichnis, Aufstellung, Tabelle, Anhang; Zeitplan, Terminplan, Arbeitsplan, Fahrplan”. Which of the above-mentioned equivalents should a translator choose if there is no context? The following statement from a contract contains the term schedule as well: “In consideration of the sum stated in paragraph 1 of the Schedule hereto to be paid by the Hirer to the Owner, the Hirer is hereby authorised to enter upon and use for the purpose only of holding a private social function between the hours and on the date set out in paragraph 2 of the Schedule hereto, the following rooms of the London Bridge Hotel together with the right of access thereto by the usual routes. The said rooms are hereinafter known as “the Hired Premises”. (Mason, Atkins 2007: 223)

In approaching the translation above, a legal translator would probably choose the equivalent only after comparing several common law contracts and after consulting the meaning of the term schedule in a monolingual legal dictionary. Consequently, he or she would realize that the word schedule (as the contract above suggests) in contract law refers to “a sheet of paper annexed to a statute, deed, deposition or other instrument, exhibiting in detail the matters mentioned or referred to in the principal document”, according to Black’s Law Dictionary. Despite the fact that the target translation is not legally binding, a translator who would choose the equivalent Verzeichnis or Liste in German, when the word schedule was only mentioned and not used in context, would produce a misleading translation, since schedule refers to the Anhang or attachment to the contract. Volker Triebel, however, argues that there are two types of attachments to a common law contract. One of them is an exhibit, which is a stand-alone document. The other is a schedule, a part of the contract that often contains long lists such as warranties and representation, which could actually be included in the main body of the contract, but is part of the schedule due to its length (Triebel 2009: 170). Therefore, the common law term schedule causes difficulties when it is to be translated into German for general judicial purposes. If one translates it as Anhang, the German person would understand it as Vertragsergänzung and not as the part of the contract containing provisions about Gewährleistungen, since they are in German contract law included in the main body of a contract.

Interpreting Legal Terminology

229

Other examples that could produce misinterpretation are positions of officers in a legal system, e.g. positions of police officers. In a criminal investigation against a Croatian citizen conducted in Germany (name and city are not named due to the duty of confidentiality), a report of criminal investigation was written by KOK. One realizes immediately that KOK does not refer to the name of the person, but to his position (The masculine pronoun his was used on purpose, since there is also the noun of feminine gender that refers to the same position, KOKin). If there were British or American participants in the court hearing that do not understand either Croatian or German, the abbreviation CCC (Chief Criminal Commissioner) would not be understood and it might even make the court hearing seem ridiculous. Therefore, the descriptive term should be used when translating acronyms and abbreviations that do not exist in the target language. Upon conducting research into the meaning of different positions in the German police system, one would translate KOK as High Criminal Commissioner, KK as Criminal Commissioner and KHK as Chief Criminal Commissioner, with a footnote explaining that police ranks in Germany are always abbreviated. A legal translator can also face difficulties when translating for general judicial purposes if the witness statement that he has to translate into the language of one of the parties includes some other professional terminology. An example would be a hearing involving contractor fraud and a construction expert witness testifying about the stages of constructing a property. In a hearing in which the situation described above occurred (the name of the court and the parties are not named due to data confidentiality), the expert witness used the Croatian term traverza, a term belonging to the corpus of civil engineering terminology. The court interpreter was supposed to translate the term into German so that the defendant could understand it. The court interpreter did not know the meaning of the term, so he decided to kindly ask the witness to explain it. Since he was not sure if the term in question was universal and if the correct equivalent in German was Traverse, he opted for the explanatory technique and decided to translate the term as “eine Art Verstärkung für die Wand”. The defendant could have complained that the interpreter did not translate the term properly, and according to Article 2 of the Directive 2010/64/EU on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings, “suspected or accused persons have the right to challenge a decision finding that there is no need for interpretation and, when interpretation has been provided, the possibility to complain that the quality of the interpretation is not sufficient to safeguard the fairness of the proceedings.”1 The question is, how could the legal translator get

230

Chapter Thirteen

appropriate education in order to avoid such uncomfortable situations? The Directive further states that “Member States shall request those responsible for the training of judges, prosecutors and judicial staff... to pay special attention to the particularities of communicating with the assistance of an interpreter so as to ensure efficient and effective communication.”2 Since neither the judges nor the prosecutors are trained to understand civil engineering terminology, the above-mentioned situation could not have been avoided, even if such training had been provided. The legal translator can only hope that none of the parties will complain about his translation and that asking the witness to explain the term will not result in his losing of credibility.

4. Translating for Normative Purposes Normative translation is the most challenging of all legal translations, because the translation has to have the same legal force as the original document. It is most often encountered within the context of the European Union as a supranational legal system, since there are currently 28 Member States, and since the legislation, which is binding for all Member States, should be properly translated into all official languages of the EU. In this context, the legal translator faces the most difficult tasks, since some linguistic features by means of which laws are expressed are language- and culture-specific. Legal documents should impose an obligation upon the persons they apply to. When translating EU texts, one realizes that there are different instruments for expressing obligation in different languages: “Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.”3 “Das Recht jedes Menschen auf Leben wird gesetzlich geschützt. Niemand darf absichtlich getötet weden, außer durch Vollstreckung eines Todesurteils, das ein Gericht wegen eines Verbrechens verhängt hat, für das die Todestrafe gesetzlich vorgesehen ist.”4

If one analyzes the excerpts above from Article 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, one realizes that obligation in English legal documents is expressed by the modal verb shall. This word is generally used in English to express future tense in the first person singular and plural, whereas in German, obligation is

Interpreting Legal Terminology

231

expressed either by present tense (wird geschützt) or by the zu-infinitive form: “Über jede mündliche Verhandlung ist ein vom Präsidenten und vom Kanzler zu unterschreibendes Protokoll aufzunehmen.”5

The English version of the preamble to the Convention is marked with here- and there- expressions as well: “The governments signatory hereto, being members of the Council of Europe...” “Considering that this Declaration aims at securing the universal and effective recognition of the rights therein declared.”

Hereto in the first example refers to “this Convention”, whereas therein refers to “this Declaration”, since there- words refer to something that was previously mentioned. Neither the German nor the Croatian version includes “hereto” since it is clear that it is the Convention that the governments had signed: “Die Unterzeichnerregierungen. Mitglieder des Europarats-”.6

The there- word, however, is expressed in German with the so-called erweitertes Partizip: “in der Erwägung, daß diese Erklärung bezweckt, die universelle und wirksame Anerkennung und Einhaltung der in ihr aufgeführten Rechte zu gewährleisten.”

In the Article on the Right to a Fair Trial, the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal is guaranteed to everyone. The term tribunal is a bit tricky, since it refers both to a court of justice and to a specialized court in Britain, e.g. an Employment Tribunal or Financial Services and Markets Tribunal that inquires into special matters. A person from the UK could interpret this as if the right to a fair trial is guaranteed only in specialized courts. It seems that court as a more general word would fit better into this context. Germans and Croatians use general terms, e.g. Gericht and sud. The legal translator, however, has to keep in mind that the text is translated within the supranational legal system of the EU, one of the working languages of which is English. Therefore, it should have no connotations evoking terminology used in the common law system despite the fact that the countries, which use the two

232

Chapter Thirteen

most common varieties (American and British English) of this lingua franca, are based upon the above-mentioned system. It is also important that the legal translator follows the principle of “terminological consistency” (Šarþeviü 2001: 86), which, in other words, means that although he may not find the term tribunal the best choice, he must use it in all subsequent translations containing the above-mentioned legal concept. Similarly, the use of the term judge can be debated, since in American English there is also the term justice. The Convention uses the more general term judge in Article 21 thereof: “The judges shall sit on the Court in their individual capacity.”

The term judge could be replaced by the term justice, since the latter refers to, as cited in Black’s Law Dictionary, “a judge, esp. of an appellate court or a court of last resort”. The European Court of Human Rights also falls under this category since it provides recourse for individuals who feel that their human rights have been violated under the Convention by the Member State. In German, there is no distinction between judges who sit on the lower courts and the ones who sit on the highest court in a jurisdiction, since there is only the term Richter. The examples above show the importance of legal language and terminological consistency in normative translation. In the context of the EU, laws and conventions are usually first drafted in English and afterwards in other official languages. The English version of these legally binding documents often differs from legal English used in the UK and the USA. Therefore, there are terms used in EU laws, which, when used in the above-mentioned English speaking areas, would produce another meaning. Once the terms have been used in official documents of the EU, their usage must remain unchanged, since such texts are not to be regarded as “mere translations of the law but as the law itself” (Šarþeviü 1997: 20).

5. Concluding Remarks Translation has always been, and still remains, a difficult task. Translators have to cope with problems such as having no existing equivalent terms in the source and target languages. Furthermore, legal translation is even more difficult in that it requires not only a good command of language, but also of the legal system involved. Even the most ordinary words, such as sentence, have a new meaning when used in a legal context. Legal translators have to be aware of the difficult task

Interpreting Legal Terminology

233

imposed upon them, particularly if their translation should have a legal force. Those who translate from or into English have to be extremely cautious, since some words can be common law system-bound. Terms used in global English, for instance, as one of the official languages of the EU, have to be neutral and applicable to the civil law system as well. Legal translators also have to keep in mind that there is a constant need to educate themselves and to keep up to date. Knowledge of legal terminology is not enough. One has to broaden the corpus into other professional terminologies that can occur in court proceedings. Following the changes to existing enforced laws is also extremely important since it can result in assigning a new meaning to a legal term. There is comfort in that there will always be a need for legal translation and interpretation. By means of words, laws and statutes come into existence. Furthermore, there are many cases where courts are asked to solve linguistic uncertainties and decide on the sense of the word used in a case. To conclude, legal translation plays an extremely important role nowadays, especially in the context of supranational organizations. This was best described by Milan Kundera who said that without translators, Europe would not exist. Thus, keeping this in mind, legal translators should always try to do their best to achieve the most authentic translation or, if possible, a translation that reads as if it were the original text.

References Black, Henry Campbell. 2004. Black’s Law Dictionary. St. Paul: West Publishing Company. Cao, Deborah. 2007. Translating Law. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Article 2. Accessed November 21, 2012. http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/005.htm. Dietl, Clara-Erik, and Egon Lorenz. 2000. Dictionary of Legal, Commercial and Political Term (Part I English-German). München: C.H. Beck’sche V erlagsbuchhandlung. —. 1992. German-English Dictionary of Legal, Commercial and Political Term (Part II German-English). München: C.H.Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the Right to Interpretation and Translation in Criminal Proceedings. Accessed November 21, 2012. http://eurlex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex:32010L0064.Gemar,

234

Chapter Thirteen

Jean-Claude. 2001. “Seven Pillars for the Legal Translator: Knowledge, Know-how and Art.” In Legal Translation Preparation for Accession to the European Union, edited by Susan Šarþeviü, 111– 139. Rijeka: Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka. Hornby, Albert Sydney, and Sally Wehmeier, eds. 2000. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. New York: Oxford University Press. Kischel, Uwe. 2009. “Legal Cultures-Legal Languages.” In Translation Issues in Language and Law, edited by Frances Olsen, Alexander Lonz, and Dieter Stein, 7–18. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Kocbek, Alenka. 2009. “Targeted Approach to Legal Translation.” In Legal Language in Action: Translation, Terminology, Drafting and Procedural Issues, edited by Susana Šarþeviü, and Lelija Soþanac, 43– 63. Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Globus. Mason, Catherine, and Rosemary Atkins. 2007. The Lawyer’s English Language Coursebook. Stanford: Cambridge University Press. Matuloviü, Miomir, and Berislav Pavišiü, eds. 2001. Dokumenti Vijeüa Europe. Rijeka: Pravni fakultet Sveuþilišta u Rijeci. Parliament. Accessed January 17, 2013. http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/briefings/s npc- 03792.pdf. Protocol on the Enlargement of the European Union, Article 33. Accessed January 30, 2013. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/de/treaties/dat/12001C /htm/C_2001080DE.004901.html. Schane, Sanford. 2006. Language and the Law. London, New York: Continuum. Supreme Court of Justice. Accessed November 21, 2012. http://www.supremecourt.go.cy/judicial/sc.nsf/DMALAcourt_en?DMLAcourt _en? Open&Document&print.

Šarþeviü, Susan. 1997. New Approach to Legal Translation. Hague: Kluwer Law International. —. 2001. “Translation Procedures for Legal Translators.” In Legal Translation Preparation for Accession to the European Union, edited by Susan Šarþeviü, 75–111. Rijeka: Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka. Triebel, Volker. 2009. “Pitfalls of English as a Contract Language.” In Translation Issues in Language and Law, edited by Frances Olsen, Alexander Lonz, and Dieter Stein, 147–182. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Interpreting Legal Terminology

235

Notes 1

Article 2 of the Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings 2 Article 6 of the Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings 3 Article 2 of the Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; See http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/005.htm, 21 November 2012 4 Article 2 of the Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; See http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/005.htm, 21 November 2012 5 Article 33 of the Protocol on the enlargement of the European Union, See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/de/treaties/dat/12001C/htm/C_2001080DE.004901.html, 30 January 2013 6 Article 33 of the Protocol on the enlargement of the European Union, See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/de/treaties/dat/12001C/htm/C_2001080DE.004901.html, 30 January 2013

CHAPTER FOURTEEN WHEN TERMS DO NOT MATCH: TRANSLATION STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH CONCEPTUAL MISMATCHES IN SURVEYING TERMINOLOGY EWELINA KWIATEK SWANSEA UNIVERSITY, UNITED KINGDOM

Abstract Conceptual mismatches occur when the concept systems of the source language and the target language differ, resulting in lexical gaps. This paper examines the nature of conceptual mismatches in surveying terminology in English and Polish and the factors that are responsible for their occurrence. The data for this investigation comes from the two monolingual termbases with translation equivalents that were compiled of surveying corpora designed for the purpose of this study. The corresponding concepts in English and Polish are established on the basis of concept names, definitions and semantic relations. In some cases, it is not possible to identify an obvious equivalent, which is typically the first sign of a conceptual mismatch. The paper attempts to classify translation problems that result from conceptual mismatches and to match these problems with translation strategies that help to find equivalents for the problematic terms. Keywords: Lexical gaps, conceptual mismatches, termbase, surveying concepts, translation equivalents, componential analysis, translation skopos.

238

Chapter Fourteen

1. Introduction This paper starts by defining conceptual mismatches (Section 2), with the aim of identifying such phenomena in surveying terminology. Section 3 describes the collection of surveying data—namely, the classification of the field, compilation of the corpora and extraction of terms from these corpora, followed by the creation of the termbanks that store terms representing concepts and describe terms semantically. Section 4 presents the methods of identification of conceptual mismatches in general, while Section 5 examines how they can be applied in two case studies. Section 6 summarizes the findings by presenting methods that are typically used for dealing with conceptual mismatches in surveying.

2. Definition of Conceptual Mismatches Conceptual mismatches occur when the concept systems of two languages differ. As a consequence of this variation, a target language expression differs in meaning from any corresponding expression in the source language. The terms “lexical gap” (Hann 2004; Lyons 1977; Janssen 2004) or “translation mismatch” (Prahl & Pretzolt 1997; Pause 1997; Kameyama et al. 1991) are used to describe cases where it is impossible to render the exact source text meaning in the target language. It is quite important to note that the latter designation has been used only in the context of machine translation, whilst the term “lexical gap” is used very widely and has been applied in technical translation (Hann 2004), in the context of multilingual lexical databases (Janssen 2004) and in semantics (Lyons 1977). Translators, in general, do not have a separate designation for this case and call it non-equivalence (Newmark 1988; Baker 1992). No matter what designation we use, it is evident that conceptual mismatches do result in problems with identifying equivalents. Sometimes it is not possible to find the exact equivalent in the target language, but it may also happen that a particular word may have no correspondence in the target language or may have more than one equivalent. Conceptual mismatches may be found both in general language and in specialized terminology, despite the assumption that the meaning of the term needs to be delimited so that each term has exactly one equivalent in the target language. This paper examines conceptual mismatches in surveying terminology. The next section discusses the collection of the data that was used to identify them.

When Terms do not Match

239

3. Collection of Data When developing the methodology for collecting data that can serve the identification of conceptual mismatches, I followed mainly Van der Vliet (2006), Sager (1990) and Cabré (1998). Van der Vliet (2006: 62) suggests that a system of concepts describing domain knowledge should be built by combining a top-down approach, which uses domain knowledge, and a bottom-up approach that uses a corpus. The terminologist should start by acquiring a good understanding of the particular domain, as it is the starting point for building a concept system for a particular field. Concepts need to be lexicalized as terms, so the terminologist has to use a corpus of relevant texts to extract candidate terms that can be linked to concepts. Sager (1990: 56) suggests combining onomasiological and semasiological approaches to terminology work. The onomasiological approach starts from concepts and looks for the names of these concepts, while the semasiological approach starts from words and looks for their meaning. According to Cabré (1999: 162), terminologists should typically start their work from concepts. In practice, however, terminologists typically start their work from a list of terms in a specific field, which is extracted from the electronic corpus. They describe terms semantically by means of definitions. When writing definitions, terminologists become aware of concepts, which are represented by terms, and semantic relations between concepts, such as hyperonymy or holonymy. The methodology I have developed for this project combines the approaches described above. I started from structuring the field of surveying (3.1), and then moved to the compilation of corpora (3.2). In the next step I extracted terms (3.3) in order to create a termbase with term records where terms are described semantically (3.4). The data compiled in the termbase was used to identify conceptual mismatches.

3.1. Classification of Surveying The field of surveying is quite broad, as such disciplines as geodetic surveying, cadastre, engineering surveying and satellite positioning systems are associated with this discipline. Therefore, it seems to be reasonable to focus on a few subfields of surveying rather than on the whole field when looking for conceptual mismatches. The problem with the field of surveying is that there is no standardized classification of surveying fields. The two main sources that include some sort of categorization of the field are general systems for classification of

Chapter Fourteen

240

knowledge and textbooks. I decided to examine the Universal Decimal Classification, abbreviated as UDC (UDC Consortium 2010), and the Encyclopedia Britannica (1986) classification, which are general classification systems, as well as classification in the surveying textbook by Bannister et al. (1998). The three classification systems were compared and contrasted. The outcomes of this analysis provided a basis for developing the classification of surveying that contains the following items: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Analysis and adjustment of errors Satellite positioning system Geodetic surveying Topographic surveying Cadastral surveying Hydrographic surveying Engineering surveying Photogrammetry Geographic information systems Cartography.

The next step in data compilation was the selection of fields for which the monolingual English and Polish corpora would be compiled. I decided to focus on three subfields: satellite positioning system, geodetic surveying and cartography. The first subfield is relatively young as its technology and instruments are developed mainly in the USA and China and a majority of documents are written in English, whereas the two other fields have long-established traditions both in the UK and in Poland and seem to have developed quite independently in these two countries.

3.2. Compilation of Corpora As there were no surveying corpora in English and Polish, I had to design and compile them myself. Although the design criteria for generallanguage corpora have been discussed extensively in corpus linguistics, less attention has been paid to the design of special language corpora. Ahmad and Rogers (2001: 736) claim that the criteria for the design of general corpora may in many cases apply to specialized corpora. However, the vocabulary used in special-language texts is much smaller than in general-language texts, and a highly specialized corpus of 100,000 words would be a good starting point for terminology management (Ahmad & Rogers 2001: 735).

When Terms do not Match

241

When designing a surveying corpus, I created two separate monolingual corpora: one in English and one in Polish. Since I decided to select three subfields of surveying for the further analysis, I created separate subcorpora for each of these subfields. Their size varies from 35,000 to 45,000 words depending on the availability of materials for the corpus. The texts used to build the corpora come from different sources: technical magazines, journals, websites designed for surveying students and teachers, software and hardware manuals and textbooks. The size of the samples varies from 500 words for an article to 14,000 words for a section in a textbook or a journal article. The average size of text samples is between 3,000 words and 4,000 words. The surveying corpora in my project were compiled through scanning and re-using materials which were already available in electronic format. The main sources of texts were textbooks, journals, technical magazines and websites. Most electronic texts could be copied directly from the websites and pasted into an MS Word document or a plain text file. However, quite a few journal articles were available in PDF format only, and required conversion to .TXT and .DOC formats, which could be used by concordance and term extraction software.

3.3. Term Extraction In my project, I used SDL MultiTerm, which is one of the two extraction tools offered by SDL. SDL MultiTerm uses a statistical extraction method to determine the frequency of appearance of candidate terms (SDL MultiTerm Extract: Tools Guide 2007). It extracts candidate terms, and a terminologist has to validate candidate terms. SDL MultiTerm Extract provides filters in the form of stop word lists (392 entries) and basic vocabulary for English (4,279 entries). Unfortunately, no stop word list and basic vocabulary for Polish have been provided. I used MultiTerm Extract to extract candidate terms from each subcorpus individually as the software encountered various errors while processing the whole corpus of approx. 120,000 words. After extracting candidate terms, I validated those candidate terms that were actual terms. I sorted the list of validated terms manually, deleted duplicates and provided canonical forms for terms if they were in other forms. There were 399 terms in the English surveying corpus in total. 43 of these terms occurred in two or more sub-corpora, resulting in approx. 11% overlap of terms. I deleted all duplicates and obtained a list of 356 terms in English. The total number of 490 entries in the English termbase was

242

Chapter Fourteen

acquired by using the onomasiological approach after the semasiological one. The term extraction procedure for Polish surveying terminology was very similar. It required more manual work, however, as Polish terms rarely occurred in their canonical forms and required changing endings so that they could be given in the nominative case and in a singular number (if nouns) or in the infinitive if verbs. There were 392 terms in the Polish surveying corpus with 51 terms occurring in more than one sub-corpus, which is interpreted as the 13% overlap. After removing duplicates, the number of terms in Polish in the three sub-disciplines was 341. The number of terms was increased to 459 by using the onomasiological approach.

3.4. Semantic Description of Terms I used MS Access to compile two monolingual termbases with foreign language equivalents: one for English terms and the second for Polish terms. Data categories in the English termbase include: (1) ID; (2) Citation form; (3) Abbreviation; (4) Part of speech; (5) Subject field; (6) Definition; (7) Source of definition; (8) Examples (x 3); (9) Source of examples; (10) Synonym; (11) Hyperonym; (12) Holonym; (13) Entity type; (14) Status; (15) Notes; (16) Author; (17) Date; (18) Equivalent. The Polish termbase looks very similar to the English termbase. The only difference between the two termbases is that the Polish termbase has one additional category, which is gender for noun and noun phrases. I decided on MS Access because its flexible and definable structure facilitates the addition and removal of data categories, change of data types within categories and establishment of relations between different data categories at any stage of terminological work. At this stage of terminological work, the fields in the termbase were completed. By writing up definitions and establishing hyperonyms and holonyms for the concepts in the termbase, the concept systems were determined and missing concepts represented by terms were added to the termbase. The next step was to find translation equivalents for terms.

4. Identification of Conceptual Mismatches The impossibility of finding an equivalent for the source language term in the target language is usually the first sign of a conceptual mismatch. The analysis of the concept systems both in the source and in target languages confirms whether the conceptual mismatch actually occurs and

When Terms do not Match

243

on what level in the concept structure it may be found. Componential analysis is one of the most common methods used to identify conceptual mismatches. There are many variations of this method, depending on the area in which it is used. In machine translation, Kameyama et al. (1991) propose using a componential analysis with a distributive lattice of infons, which is a lattice in which features of the related concepts are described by means of binary elements. Janssen (2004) uses a componential analysis in the design of Multilingual Lexical Databases (MLLDs), whose aim is to solve conceptual mismatches. Newmark (1988: 114) focuses on the role of componential analysis in translation, where it compares an SL word with a TL word with a similar meaning, but which is not an obvious one-to-one equivalent. It is achieved by indicating first the sense components they have in common and then their differing semantic features. Usually, the meaning of the SL word is more specific than the meaning of the TL word and, to produce a close approximation of the SL word meaning, a translator has to add a few TL features to the corresponding target language word.1

5. Case Studies: Problems and Solutions As I was working with geodetic surveying, cartographic and satellite positioning corpora, the case studies came mainly from these disciplines. The first case study to be discussed here was taken from the cartographic corpus and refers to the system of route classification. As it includes a number of legal concepts, I decided that its subject field specification would be cadastral surveying rather than cartography. The other case study is from the field of geodetic surveying and describes different conventions of referring to a surveying assistant in Poland and in the UK.

5.1. Case Study One: System of Route Classification in the UK and Poland The United Kingdom and Poland have very different systems for the classification of routes over which the public have right of way. The British system relies on legislation, while the Polish one is more oriented towards tourism and does not have a strong legal basis. The concept system of the British public rights of way relies on the following legal acts: (1) Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW Act 2000); (2) Countryside Act 1968; (3) Highways Act 1980. The term “highway”, which is used in general language as a synonym of motorway, in the context of rights of way is used interchangeably with

244

Chapter Fourteen

the term “public right of way” and is interpreted as a path that anyone has the legal right to use on foot and sometimes using other modes of transport. There are four main categories of highways (Ramblers 2011): x public footpaths, which are open only to walkers x public bridleways, which are open to walkers, horse-riders and pedal cyclists x byways open to all traffic (BOATs), which are open to all classes of traffic, including motor vehicles. However, they may not be maintained to the same standard as ordinary roads x restricted byways, which are open to walkers, horse-riders, and drivers/riders of non-mechanically propelled vehicles such as horse-drawn carriages and pedal cycles. The public rights of way are established on private land. The land under the path belongs to the landlord, while the surface of the path is the property of the highway authority. The law assumes that if the public uses a path for some period of time with no interference, it means that the owner had intended to dedicate it as a right of way. A right of way once established over a path does not cease. Public rights of way are signposted and waymarked in the field (Ramblers 2011). The waymarks indicate a line or direction of a path. They are placed on gates, stiles and posts and are based on a color system: yellow for a footpath, blue for a bridleway, red for a byway and purple for a restricted byway. Polish legislation on rights of way is not as well developed as its British counterpart. Its general approach is different. While in Britain the public right of way relies on the land law, in the Polish legislative system the right of way over the land is mainly concerned with environmental protection. Thus, Polish paths and trails are designated to avoid trespassing on fragile habitats of plants and animals. Furthermore, in England and Wales public rights of way are established over private land, while in Poland they are only determined over grounds that belong to the state. They may be designated in national parks and reserves, in city parks, in the countryside or over part or whole width of the road. There are very few legal acts in Poland which regulate the public right of way over paths and trails. Legislation on tourist trails is still under development. The most relevant document on the subject is Ustawa z dnia 16 kwietnia 2004 o ochronie przyrody (Legislation Act as of 16 April 2004 on Environmental Protection), which states that the public have right of way on foot, on a bicycle, on skis and on horseback only along trails and ski trails designated by the national park director or the person who is in charge of the national reserve. The act, however, does

When Terms do not Match

245

not provide any definition of szlak (trail) and does not specify types of trails. The websites of various national organizations, such as Polskie Towarzystwo Turystyczno-Krajoznawcze (Polish Association of Tourism and Countryside) and Lasy PaĔstwowe (State Forests) list the following types of trails and paths over which the public have right of way: x szlaki piesze (foot trails) x szlaki i ĞcieĪki rowerowe (bike trails and paths), i.e. cycle trails and paths x szlaki do jazdy konnej (horse trails) x piesze ĞcieĪki (footpaths). There are no standardized definitions of these types of tourist trails available in any legal document, but there is a general understanding of what these concepts mean in Poland. The difference between szlak pieszy (foot trail) and ĞcieĪka piesza (footpath) is their width and marking. The trail is wider than the path and better marked. There are trails of different levels of difficulty, which are marked with different colors from yellow (the simplest one) to black (the most difficult one). The only right of way the public have over foot trails and footpaths is on foot. Szlaki and ĞcieĪki rowerowe (cycle trails and paths) are those over which the public have been granted right of way on a bicycle, but usually one may also walk along these tracks. They are signposted with the symbol of a bicycle and an arrow showing a direction. The signposts also include information about destination and distance and a cycle trail/path name or number. Szlaki do jazdy konnej (horse trails) are those over which the public have right of way on horseback or leading a horse, in addition to right of way on foot. The sign used to indicate horse trails includes an orange dot and a horse symbol and shows destination and distance in hours. The discussion of the concept systems of public rights of way in the UK and Poland highlights various differences, which give rise to conceptual mismatches. Although there is a concept of a national trail in English, it is not practical to interpret the English concept system in terms of trails. The national trail is defined as a long distance route for walking, cycling and horse riding through the finest landscapes in England and Wales (National Trails 2011). It is also stated that national trails have been created by linking existing local footpaths, bridleways and minor roads and by developing new ones where there were gaps. The definition of national trail is based on public rights of way, so interpreting the system of rights of way in terms of trails would lead to circularity.

Chapter Fourteen

246

5.1.1. Solution There are no straightforward solutions when translating terms referring to rights of ways from English to Polish. It is important to note that the problem of conceptual mismatches within the area of public rights of way may be approached from two different perspectives depending on the translation skopos. If the purpose of translation is to translate a tourist brochure, a translator does not have to look at the ownership of the land, but simply to find the nearest equivalent terms. When using this perspective, the English terms related to public rights of way may be translated as follows: byway open to all traffic—szlak turystyczny (tourist trail); restricted byway—szlak konno-rowerowy (horse and cycle trail); bridleway—szlak do jazdy konnej (horse trail); footpath—ĞcieĪka piesza (footpath).

The strategies used to find equivalent terms involve the omission of the legal side of these concepts and focus on the way they are used by the general public. Thus, only the tourist dimension of these concepts is considered. The translation strategies used in this case encompass cultural equivalence and omission. Correspondingly, the Polish terms referring to rights of way may be translated by through-translations as such forms as cycle path or horse trail are recognized in English. If the translation skopos is translating a legal contract, ownership of the land is a crucial aspect. In this case, English concepts may be translated into Polish by paraphrasing. Finding an indirect link, such as a legal concept which exists in both languages and which could be used to explain the meaning of English concepts that do not have correspondences in Polish, may be a solution to the problem. This indirect link, which facilitates the transition between the English and Polish concept systems, is the concept of easement that is present in English and Polish. A private right of way is an easement in English when it is a right over land for the benefit of other land. The right must be attached to a particular piece of land and cannot be used by the public generally (Sydenham, 2001: 5). An easement may be established for the class of roads known as occupation roads, which are laid out for the use of the occupier of particular lands. The concept of easement is well established in the Polish legal tradition, where sáuĪebnoĞü drogi koniecznej (easement of essential road), grants a driveway access to the owner of a lot that has no street front and who is allowed to use a particular segment of a neighbour’s land to gain access to the road. By adopting this concept and referring to the

When Terms do not Match

247

definitions, English concepts for public rights of way may be translated as follows: x byway open to all traffic—sáuĪebnoĞü gruntowa ustanowiona w celu wyznaczenia szlaku turystycznego (easement of private land established for the purpose of creating a trail for tourists, i.e. a route along which the public have a right of way for vehicular and all other kinds of traffic) x restricted byway—sáuĪebnoĞü gruntowa ustanowiona w celu wyznaczenia szlaku konno-rowerowego (easement of private land established for the purpose of creating a trail for horses and bikes, i.e. a route along which the public have a right of way on foot, on horseback or leading a horse and on a pedal cycle) x bridleway—sáuĪebnoĞü gruntowa ustanowiona w celu wyznaczenia szlaku konnego (easement of private land established for the purpose of creating a trail for horses, i.e. a route along which the public have a right of way on foot, on horseback or leading a horse) x footpath—sáuĪebnoĞü gruntowa ustanowiona w celu wyznaczenia szlaku pieszego (easement of private land established for the purpose of creating a foot trail, i.e. a route along which the public have a right of way on foot only). When translating Polish terms into English, direct translations may be provided as the paths and trails have only a tourist dimension and belong to the state.

5.2. Case Study Two: Surveying Assistant vs. Chainman In Polish, there is a single concept of pomiarowy (measuring man), i.e. a surveying assistant, who supports the surveyor in his work by performing a wide range of duties, e.g. holding a chain, shading the surveyor with an umbrella, making readings with an instrument. In English, a distinction is made between different types of surveying assistant roles, which is reflected in different names. In Table 5-1, I collected various concepts related to a surveying assistant.

248

Chapter Fourteen

Table 5-1: Surveying Assistant vs. Chainman

Term Surveying Assistant Chainman

Staff Person/Rod Person

Tape Person

Definition

An assistant in the process of measuring the length of a line with a chain. An assistant in the process of levelling whose task is to hold a level rod plumb on the correct monument or turning point to give the correct reading. An assistant in the process of taping the length on the ground, who holds either the beginning or the end of the tape.

Instrument Man

An assistant who makes readings using the instrument.

Umbrella Man

An assistant who holds the umbrella over the instrument in order to shade it.

5.2.1. Solution Polish has a single concept for a surveying assistant, which is pomiarowy, while English has a wide range of terms such as chainman, staff person, tape person, instrument man, and umbrella man, depending on the role the surveying assistant plays during the survey. Therefore, I may say that there are lexical gaps in Polish. These gaps can be filled relatively easily, however, as in the Polish termbase it is sufficient to generalize any of the English terms and refer to a surveying assistant only. When any of these English terms occur in a text that is translated into Polish, the translator will use the hyperonym and when necessary a definitional attribute that specifies the surveying assistant’s role. For example, a staff person is translated into Polish as asystent geodety trzymający áatĊ (surveying assistant who holds staff). The Polish term “pomiarowy” is translated into English as surveying assistant, as the direct equivalent exists.

When Terms do not Match

249

6. Summary Conceptual mismatches pose a problem both in translation and in terminology. I identified 32 conceptual mismatches among 490 entries in the English termbase and 30 conceptual mismatches in the Polish termbase of 459 entries. Conceptual mismatches were signaled in the equivalent field by putting an asterisk before the actual equivalent and by providing an explanation in the notes field (if there are more than two equivalents possible they were both entered in the equivalent field with two or more asterisks, respectively). Although I worked on corpora referring to such fields as satellite positioning system, geodetic surveying and cartography, I also noticed that mismatches may occur in other surveying fields, e.g. cadastral surveying. I was able to discuss only two case studies in this paper in detail; however, it is possible to indicate the significance of certain translation strategies for dealing with lexical gaps that occur as a result of conceptual mismatches. Case study 1 indicates the importance of translation skopos in translation of the conceptual mismatches. The legal dimension of the concept system referring to rights of way makes translation complex. It results from the differences in the legal systems of Poland and the UK. Concepts such as footpath or bridleway do not have matching concepts in Polish legal (cadastral) terminology and, therefore, the obvious translation method seems to be paraphrasing their English definitions in Polish. However, finding an indirect link, such as easement, a concept that is known in both languages, may be a solution to the problem. When the legal side of the concept system may be disregarded, as in the case of a tourist brochure, translation is more straightforward and may be done using such methods as cultural equivalence, omission (of the legal data) and throughtranslation. Case study 2 demonstrates that English has more specific concepts than Polish as only surveying assistant is lexicalized in Polish as pomiarowy. Therefore, when translating concepts that are not lexicalized such as chainman or staff person, a hyperonym should be used and when necessary a definitional attribute may be added, signaling the role of the surveying assistant. The two case studies have indicated that translation by functional and descriptive equivalents, paraphrasing a definition, and specialization and generalization of meaning are the most common translation strategies used for dealing with conceptual mismatches. The role of translation labels may also be significant, especially if the concept occurs many times in the text. Conceptual mismatches with a legal dimension may often be solved

250

Chapter Fourteen

through other legal concepts that are well established both in the source and the target language.

References Ahmad, Khurshid, and Margaret Rogers. 2001. “Corpus Linguistics and Terminology Extraction.” In Handbook of Terminology Management, edited by Sue Ellen Wright, and Gerhard Budin. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Bannister, Arthur, Raymond Baker, and Stanley Baker. 1998. Surveying, 7th ed. Harlow: Longman. Cabré, Maria Teresa. 1999. Terminology: Theory, Methods and Applications. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Countryside Act 1968. Accessed June 25, 2011. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/41/pdfs/ukpga_19680041_en. pdf. Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Accessed June 25, 2011. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/37/contents. Goetz, Philip W., and Margaret Sutton, eds. 1968. Encyclopaedia Britannica. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica in 32 Volumes, 15th ed. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica (UK). Hann, Michael. 2004. A Basis for Scientific and Engineering Translation: German-English-German. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Janssen, Maarten. 2004. “Multilingual Lexical Detabases, Lexical Gaps, and Simullda.” International Journal of Lexicography 17(2): 137–154. Kameyama, Megumi, Ryo Ochitani, and Stanley Peters. 1991. “Resolving Translation Mismatches with Information Flow.” In Proceedings of the 29th Meeting of the Association of Computational Linguistics, 193– 200. Berkley: Association for Computational Linguistics. Lyons, John. 1977. Semantics. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. National Trails. 2011. British National Trails. Accessed August 15, 2011. http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/text.asp?PageId=2. Newmark, Peter. 1988. A Textbook of Translation. New York: Prentice Hall. Pause, Peter E. 1997. “Interlingual Strategies in Translation.” In Machine Translation and Translation Theory, edited by Susanne Heizmann, and Christa Hauenschild, 175–192. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Prahl, Birte, and Susanne Pretzolt. 1997. “Translation Problems and

When Terms do not Match

251

Translation Strategies Involved in Human and Machine Translation: Empirical Studies.” In Machine Translation and Translation Theory, edited by Christa Hauenschild, and Susanne Heizmann, 123–144. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Ramblers. 2011. Access for Walkers in Britain. Accessed August 10, 2011. http://www.ramblers.org.uk/info/britain/access-for-walkers-inbritain.htm. Sager, Juan C. 1990. A Practical Course in Terminology Processing. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. SDL MultiTerm Extract: Tools Guide 2007 [Computer Program]. Sydenham, Angela. 2001. Public Rights of Way and Access to Land. Bristol: Jordan. UDC Consortium. 2010. Universal Decimal Classification (UDC). Accessed June 25, 2011. http://udcc.org/. Kancelaria Sejmu. 2004. Ustawa z dnia 16 kwietnia 2004 o ochronie przyrody Warszawa. Accessed June 25, 2011. http://www.sejm.gov.pl/Sejm7.nsf/InterpelacjaTresc.xsp?key=390C99 97 Van der Vliet, Hennie. 2006. “Combinatorics for Special Purposes.” In Terminology, Computing and Translation, edited by Pius Ten Hacken, 57–72. Tübingen: Narr.

Notes 1

I adapted Newmark’s strategy to identify conceptual mismatches in surveying terminology. The whole project involved studying eight case studies in detail but in this paper, due to space restrictions, I will discuss two selected case studies.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN COMPOUND VERBS FORMED BY MEANS OF BACK-FORMATION: SEEKING LEXICAL ENRICHMENT IN BILINGUAL DICTIONARIES ENN VELDI UNIVERSITY OF TARTU, ESTONIA

Abstract Back-formation is a word-formation method whereby a new lexeme results from the removal of an affix, usually a suffix. While backformation is characteristic of English, where it is an economical synthetic means of creating new lexemes, it need not be typical of other languages. For this reason, analysis of the lexicographic treatment of back-formations in bilingual dictionaries can reveal important cross-linguistic differences. The present study shows that back-formations are often neglected and undertreated in English-Estonian bilingual dictionaries. At the same time, it is possible to establish the range of possible translation equivalents, which in most cases are multi-word combinations. It is argued that inclusion of the established translation equivalents will contribute to the lexical enrichment of bilingual dictionaries. Keywords: Back-formation, bilingual dictionaries, cross-linguistic differences, lexical enrichment, translation equivalents.

1. Introduction Back-formation is a word-formation method whereby a new lexeme results from the removal of an affix, usually a suffix. According to Esko V. Pennanen, a Finnish linguist who carried out a comprehensive

254

Chapter Fifteen

diachronic study of English back-formations, back-formation became productive in the 19th century (Pennanen 1966: 87). Similarly to conversion, back-formation is an economical method of creating new synthetic lexemes, especially new verbs, in English. Pennanen (1966: 44–86) divided English back-formations into six types. Type 1 comprises verbs that were back-formed from agent nouns or instrument nouns, e.g. chain-smoke verb < chain-smoker noun; steamroll verb < steamroller. Type 2 represents verbs that were back-formed from action nouns, e.g. brainwash verb < brainwashing noun; dry-clean verb < dry cleaning noun. Type 3 includes verbs that were back-formed from adjectival words (present or past participles), e.g. breast-feed < breast-fed, breast-feeding; mass-produce verb < mass-produced. Type 4 represents instances where a noun was back-formed from an adjective, e.g. greed noun < greedy adjective. Type 5 comprises those cases where an adjective was back-formed from an abstract noun, adverb, or another adjective, e.g. difficult adjective < difficulty noun. Type 6 is reserved for the possibility that a noun was back-formed from its derivative, e.g. prizefight noun < prizefighter noun. While back-formation is characteristic of English, where it is an economical synthetic means of creating new lexemes, it need not be typical of other languages. For this reason, analysis of the lexicographic treatment of back-formations in bilingual dictionaries could reveal important cross-linguistic differences. It is especially true of backformations belonging to Pennanen’s first three types, which include a considerable number of compound verbs and seem to be more productive. The purpose of the present study is to analyze the lexicographic treatment of a set of English back-formations in an English-Estonian bilingual dictionary. The analysis will focus on the coverage and trustworthiness of the provided translation equivalents. In those cases where a back-formation is not listed, attempts will be made to establish a range of suitable translation equivalents that could be included in future dictionaries. The findings enable further lexical enrichment of bilingual dictionaries and enhanced symmetry between the two sides of bilingual dictionaries.

2. Lexicographic Analysis of Back-Formations in a Bilingual Dictionary The analysis of the lexicographic treatment of back-formations in a bilingual dictionary focuses on three types of back-formations. Two analyzed examples represent back-formations from action nouns (brainwash

Compound Verbs Formed by Means of Back-Formation

255

verb < brainwashing noun; window-shop verb < window shopping noun). Then follows the analysis of the lexicographic treatment of two backformations from agent nouns (spell-check verb < spell-checker noun; ghost-write verb < ghost-writer noun) followed by an example where a compound verb was derived from an adjective (mass produce verb < mass-produced adjective). The analysis of the lexicographic treatment is based on the fourth edition of the “English-Estonian Dictionary” by Johannes Silvet (SILVET 4), which is generally regarded as the most comprehensive EnglishEstonian dictionary. On the one hand, the present study is an attempt to analyze the present situation with regard to the treatment (non-treatment) of such lexemes in bilingual dictionaries and to show some factors that contributed to this situation. On the other hand, the present study is an attempt to find solutions to existing problems. For this reason, possible cross-linguistic equivalents will be suggested. These translation equivalents could be regarded as candidates for inclusion in future dictionaries. (1) SILVET 4 brainwashing s peam Am ajuloputus One can see that the dictionary lists the action noun brainwashing and provides its translation equivalent. As a side note for the reader, the geographic label peam Am “mainly American” is outdated for a dictionary published in 2002. However, the verb to brainwash is not listed at all in this dictionary. This state of affairs is not uncommon; in fact, it is rather characteristic of bilingual dictionaries. Thus, a lexicographer is faced with the challenge of some research, which, if successful, could lead to new lexicographic material for future dictionaries. In order to come up with good Estonian-language equivalents, one could recommend a search method that combines the use of both secondary and primary data. The use of secondary data implies consulting the existing monolingual lexicographic resources, especially the “Explanatory Dictionary of Estonian” (EKSS = Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat, available online at www.eki.ee/dict/ekss/). This dictionary is the most important descriptive resource for Estonian. One of its strengths is that it may provide useful synonyms, as well as example phrases and sentences, which could save time by comparison with studying primary data. In our case, it includes a useful synonym, ajupesu, for “brainwashing”, which is not provided in SILVET 4. On the other hand, although a good monolingual dictionary is an important generalization by comparison with primary lexicographic

256

Chapter Fifteen

data, its material is nevertheless of limited value for the purpose of bilingual dictionaries, and primary data (i.e. authentic texts) are needed to improve the coverage. This is especially true of collocations (multi-word combinations). For example, while EKSS does include such collocations as ajuloputust tegema and ajupesu tegema “lit. to do brainwashing”, another useful equivalent, ajusid loputama “lit. to wash brains”, could be established as a result only of web searches. Thus, after some research one can come up with a set of cross-linguistic equivalents for the verb to brainwash. (2) brainwash verb ajusid loputama, ajuloputust tegema / korraldama, ajupesu tegema Another important point to make is that once reliable translation equivalents have been established, they can be used for reversing a dictionary, which leads to enhanced symmetry in bilingual dictionaries. The next example for analysis is the verb to window-shop, which is defined as “look at the goods in shop windows, especially without intending to buy” (COED 12). In this case, the back-formation is listed in SILVET 4 as a de-nested entry. (3) SILVET 4 window-shop v i kaupluste vaateaknaid vahtima Here, the dictionary user is faced with the problem of the trustworthiness of the translation equivalent provided in the dictionary. The author of the present article, who regards himself as an expert dictionary user, felt that the provided equivalent needs checking with regard to the suitability of the verb vahtima “look” in this multi-word equivalent and cannot be accepted at face value. The research procedure was the same as for the previous example, that is, a combined study of secondary and primary data. Once again EKSS, a useful monolingual dictionary, suggested a useful synonym vitriinaken for vaateaken, both meaning “shop window”. Similarly to the first example, the provided collocations and example sentences in the monolingual dictionary could not solve the problem of finding an appropriate verb, and one had to use primary data for this purpose. The web searches showed that the best Estonian-language equivalent is vaateaknaid silmitsema “lit. to eye shop windows”.

Compound Verbs Formed by Means of Back-Formation

257

The next two examples selected for analysis represent verbs that are back-formed from agent nouns. As can be seen, SILVET 4 provides the noun spell-checker but ignores the back-formed verb to spell-check. (4) SILVET 4 spellchecker info õigekirjakorrektor, speller (= spelling checker) Out of the two equivalents, õigekirjakorrektor is cumbersome and too long. The Estonian-language noun speller could be regarded as a recent borrowing of the clipped form of the English spellchecker, which is listed, for example, in COED 12. However, for those people who are less familiar with English, it could be a potential false friend because usually the English-language word means either “a person of a specified spelling ability” or, in North America, “a book of teaching spelling” (COED 12). Once again, the monolingual dictionary EKSS was of limited value when searching for suitable equivalents as it does not offer any relevant examples. Therefore, one has to select the range of equivalents from among web examples. The suggested entry is as follows: (5) spell-check verb (spelleri abil) õigekirja kontrollima The verb to ghostwrite is another example of a back-formation that is derived from an agent noun. A ghostwriter is “a person employed to write material for another person, who is the named author” (COED 12). (6) SILVET 4 ghostwriter s variautor, teise nimel kirjutaja As is often the case, SILVET 4 provides the noun but not the backformed verb. Interestingly enough, the first equivalent, variautor “lit. shadow author”, is not listed by EKSS. The second equivalent, teise nmel kirjutaja “lit. a writer under someone else’s name”, cannot be regarded as a cross-linguistic equivalent. Rather, it is an explanation showing the meaning of the first equivalent. Under the circumstances, the use of primary data is the only way to establish cross-linguistic equivalents for the verb to ghost-write. The findings suggest that the respective two-word equivalent in Estonian-language texts is variautorina kirjutama “lit. to write as a ghost author”; thus, the dictionary entry could look as follows: (7) ghostwrite verb variautorina kirjutama

258

Chapter Fifteen

The final example concerns the verb to mass-produce, which was back-formed from the adjective mass produced. SILVET 4 lists the noun mass production as a nested entry in the dictionary article mass but does not provide the verb to mass-produce. (8) SILVET 4 mass II 1 s mass, kogu, hulk; füüs mass; atrib massiline, massi-; 2 v t & i koguma, kuhjama; kogunema (ka mil), kuhjuma • ~ marketing lausturustus, massiline turustamine; • ~ meeting massimiiting; • ~ number füüs massiarv; • ~ production mass-, hulgitootmine; • ~ storage info massmälu; • in the ~ ühes massis, üheskoos, tervikuna, üldiselt; • the ~es massid, (laiemad) rahvahulgad As can be seen, the use of nested entries may help to save space in paper dictionaries. Their main drawback, however, is that nested entries generally suffer from lexicographic undertreatment. In the present case, the back-formed verb to mass-produce cannot be found in the dictionary and one has to establish its cross-linguistic equivalents. The monolingual dictionary EKSS is of no help either, apart from the fact that it provides the synonyms masstootmine and hulgitootmine for “mass production”, which is similar to SILVET 4. Thus, one has to establish the range of equivalents by analyzing web examples. The findings, however, present some additional interest from a cross-linguistic perspective. Namely, it appears that in this case, apart from the two-word equivalents massiliselt tootma and hulgi tootma “lit. to produce in large quantities”, one can also find the Estonian verb masstoot/ma (-ma being the infinitival ending), which, in fact, is a back-formation from the action noun masstootmine. Thus, a suggested dictionary entry could look as follows: (9) mass-produce verb masstootma, massiliselt tootma, hulgi tootma This case indicates an interesting point of convergence between English and Estonian. Sometimes it is possible to find an Estonian backformation as a possible equivalent for an English back-formation. In Estonian, back-formation is a recent method of word-formation. It emerged as a result of conscious efforts by language planners to increase syntheticity (use of single-word lexemes) in Estonian-language terminology (for an overview and examples see Vare 2003 and Toome 2011). Generally speaking, at present the use of Estonian back-formed compound verbs is restricted to some grammatical forms in LSP texts (e.g.

Compound Verbs Formed by Means of Back-Formation

259

peenhäälestama “to fine-tune”, kuivsoolama “to dry-cure”). Thus, the main problem at present is whether the actual use of back-formations is still too restricted or already sufficiently established in order to be included in general dictionaries. In the case of masstootma one can find both impersonal and finite forms of this verb; thus, it could be regarded as a suitable candidate for inclusion. However, it seems that from a crosslinguistic perspective such an equivalent is usually presented in a bilingual dictionary as one possibility along with multi-word equivalents.

3. Conclusions The previous analysis of the lexicographic treatment of back-formed compound verbs in a bilingual dictionary was instructive in a number of ways. First, the analysis has shown that back-formations tend to be neglected and undertreated in bilingual dictionaries, nor does the use of nested entries favor their inclusion. In fact, back-formations deserve lemma status, which would grant sufficient space for their adequate lexicographic treatment. Second, the study has clearly shown that it is possible to find suitable translation equivalents with the help of monolingual target-language resources, that is, monolingual dictionaries and web resources. However, research is needed to establish suitable equivalents, and this research is time-consuming. The findings of the study also show that monolingual dictionaries could be of limited value, especially with regard to the coverage of collocations and multi-word combinations. For this reason, primary data are invaluable and should always be used. While backformations represent an economical synthetic method of word-formation, the corresponding translation equivalents tend to be analytic multi-word combinations. In fact, there can be some cases where the corresponding translation equivalent is a back-formation; however, even in those cases the range of available synonyms also includes some multi-word combinations. Third, the inclusion of the established translation equivalents of backformations will result in the lexical enrichment of bilingual dictionaries. Upon reversing a bilingual dictionary, the English-language backformations will be included in a language X – English dictionary, which will enhance the degree of symmetry in bilingual dictionaries.

260

Chapter Fifteen

References COED 12 = Concise Oxford English Dictionary. 12th edition, revised, on CD-ROM (v. 1.0) (2011). OUP. EKSS = Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat. 2009. Edited by Margit Langemets et al. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus. Accessed February 15, 2013. www.eki.ee/dict/ekss/. Pennanen, Esko V. 1966. Contributions to the Study of Back-Formation in English. Tampere: Acta Academiae Socialis. SILVET 4 = Silvet, Johannes. 2002. English-Estonian Dictionary, 4th ed. Tallinn: TEA. Toome, Merli. 2011. Eesti liitverbide ja pöördmoodustiste analüüs ÕS 2006 materjali alusel. Master’s Thesis. Tartu. Vare, Silvi. 2003. “Back-formation of verbs in Estonian.” In Languages in Development, edited by Helle Metslang, and Mart Rannut, 123–132. Munich: Lincom-Europa.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN FRENCH TRANSLATIONS OF SWEDISH NN COMPOUNDS: WITH SPECIAL FOCUS ON TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES MARIA ROSENBERG UMEÅ UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN

Abstract This study examines Swedish NN compounds and their French translations in a bidirectional parallel corpus. A total of 1,741 Swedish NN compounds were attested and 81% corresponded to N or to N A or N de (Det) N constructions in French. The frequency of Swedish NN compounds differs depending on whether the text is source text or target text as well as on text genre (fiction vs. non-fiction) and the style of the author or translator. This work has also classified 1,027 French translations of Swedish NN compounds based on their translation technique. Established equivalent was by far the most frequent technique followed by Generalization. The remaining techniques, such as Modulation, Transposition, and Explicitation, were rarely used. A conclusion drawn from this work is that it is difficult to maintain a strict division between translation studies and contrastive linguistics in an analysis of word formation and translation techniques. Keywords: Compounds, French-Swedish, parallel corpus, source text, target text, translation techniques.

262

Chapter Sixteen

1. Introduction The translation of Swedish compound nouns into French is a complex research area given the ease with which Swedish permits compounding compared to French, which has to use other word formation options (Tegelberg 2000:170). Therefore, investigating Swedish N(oun)N(oun) compounds and their French translations in a parallel corpus is something that merits attention. The scope of this paper falls within corpus-based translation studies but is not entirely oriented toward the translated text (cf. Pym 2004, Biel 2010:6). The objective of this paper is two-fold. First, it seeks to provide some general data for how the Swedish NN compounds are distributed in different parts of the parallel corpus such as source text (ST) and target text (TT). Second, it seeks to analyze French translations of the Swedish NN compounds with respect to formal structure and translation technique. The paper is organized as follows. The parallel corpus and its compilation are addressed in section 2. Section 3 presents data on the frequency of NN compounds in the corpus. Section 4 discusses the notion of translation techniques, and Section 5 contains the analysis of the classification of the identified techniques in relation to formal structure. Concluding remarks follow in Section 6.

2. The Parallel Corpus The data derive from a parallel, bidirectional translation corpus that includes ten Swedish STs along with their French TTs and ten French STs along with their Swedish TTs. The corpus seeks to respect the two important factors of balance and selection (McEnery et al. 2006). It contains an equal number of fiction and non-fiction texts, and all texts are contemporary (published after 1985) and written by native speakers of the respective languages. Moreover, the texts have been selected so as to provide a wide variety of authors and translators. The corpus is limited to the first 2,800 tokens in each of the Swedish texts and the corresponding parts of the French texts, as shown by Table 21.

French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds

263

Table 2-1: Distribution of the 119,703 Tokens in the Parallel Corpus

Swedish ST: 5 fiction + 5 non-fiction TT: 5 fiction + 5 non-fiction

Tokens 28,000 tokens (23.4 %) 28,000 tokens (23.4 %) 56,000 tokens (47 %)

French TT: 5 fiction + 5 non-fiction ST: 5 fiction + 5 non-fiction

Tokens 33,932 tokens (28.3 %) 29,771 tokens (24.9 %) 63,703 tokens (53 %)

It follows from Table 2-1 that French TTs contains a higher number of tokens compared to French STs. Note also that the French tokens in the corpus constitute 53% of all tokens in the corpus, whereas the Swedish tokens constitute 47%. According to the corpus data, French uses more words than Swedish to express a similar content, which confirms a previous observation made by Eriksson (1997). The S-universal of Chesterman (2010:41) stipulates that TTs will tend to be longer than STs, and this is also confirmed by the French part of the corpus (S-universals concern potential differences between STs and TTs).

3. Swedish NN Compounds in the Parallel Corpus In the parallel corpus, 1,741 manually selected Swedish NN compounds were analysed. These words constituted 3.1% of the total number of Swedish tokens (Tables 3-1 and 3-2). An interesting difference between the texts is that Swedish NN compounds are more common in Swedish STs than in Swedish TTs (Table 3-1). Table 3-1: Swedish NN Compounds in the Parallel Corpus and Their Distribution in STs and TTs

Parallel corpus All Swedish texts Swedish STs Swedish TTs

n tokens 56,000 28,000 28,000

n NN compounds 1,741 (3.1%) 1,027 (3.7%) 714 (2.6%)

This result seems to point to the existence of interference effects with respect to word formation, NN compounding in this case. In other words,

Chapter Sixteen

264

because there are fewer NN compounds in the Swedish text that is translated from French than in the Swedish ST, it appears that the French language structure interferes with that of Swedish. The claim made by Tegelberg (2000), namely that the risk of interference between source language and target language is low at the word level, is not corroborated by the results shown here. Alternatively, the data in Table 3-1 might be seen as support for the view that translated texts constitute a “third code” (cf. Frawley 1984). Table 3-2 shows that Swedish NN compounds are more frequent in non-fiction text compared to fiction text. It thus seems plausible to conclude that text genre is also related to the frequency of Swedish NN compounds. One possible explanation for this result is that non-fiction text needs to use precise and well-defined terms and that NN compounding is appropriate for such a purpose. Table 3-2: Swedish NN Compounds in the Parallel Corpus and Their Distribution in Fiction and Non-fiction Text

Parallel corpus All Swedish texts Swedish fiction texts Swedish non-fiction texts

n tokens 56,000 28,000 28,000

n NN compounds 1,741 (3.1%) 695 (2.5%) 1,046 (3.7%)

Additionally, the data show that there are large differences between different Swedish authors regarding their use of NN compounds. In Table 3-3, the light grey shaded rows correspond to non-fiction authors and the white rows indicate fiction authors. Table 3-3: NN Compounds in Swedish STs Related to Author Style

Swedish Author

NN compounds

% of 2,800 tokens

Froman

148

5.3

Johannisson

146

5.2

Tidholm & Lilja

141

5.0

Allén & Espmark

132

4.7

Bergman

99

3.5

French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds

Broberg

94

3.4

Larsson

89

3.2

Ekman

75

2.7

Fredriksson

58

2.1

Enquist

45

1.6

Total

1,027

3.7 (of 28,000 tokens)

265

Likewise, Table 3-4 shows that there are considerable differences between Swedish translators of French with respect to their use of NN compounds. In conformity with Table 3-3 above, the light grey shaded rows indicate non-fiction texts and the white rows are fiction texts in Table 3-4. Table 3-4: NN Compounds in Swedish TTs Related to Translator Style

Swedish translator/French author

NN compounds

% of tokens

2,800

Backelin/Roudinesco

119

4.2

Bodegård/Houellebecq

99

3.3

Sandin/Braudel

85

3.0

Levay/Juillard

82

2.9

Englund/Bourdieu

65

2.3

Ekelöf/Carrère

65

2.3

Bjurström/Tournier

63

2.2

Björkman/Gavalda

62

2.2

Brunkrona/Le Clézio

40

1.4

Runnqvist-Vinde/Kristeva

34

1.2

Total

714

2.6 (of 28,000 tokens)

Chapter Sixteen

266

In accordance with the results shown in Tables 3-3 and 3-4, it seems plausible to conclude that the frequency and use of NN compounds in Swedish are linked to the individual preferences or styles of specific authors and translators. The overall conclusion that can be drawn from these results is that the relative frequency of NN compounding is not stable in Swedish.

4. Translation Techniques Vinay & Darbelnet (1977) dealt with translation issues from a comparative point of view and developed a classification of “procédés techniques de la traduction” (translation techniques) that has had a great impact on research in this area. The present paper attempts to evaluate Molina & Hurtado Albir’s (2002) slightly revised techniques compared to those of Vinay & Darbelnet. Molina & Hurtado Albir (2002) emphasize the importance of conceptually and terminologically separating translation techniques from translation methods and translation strategies. Translation methods (e.g. literal, free, or philological) and translation strategies (e.g. conscious/unconscious and verbal/non-verbal problem solving mechanisms) are part of the translation process, but translation techniques are part of the translation result and can be used to classify different types of translation solutions. Molina & Hurtado Albir propose the following five characteristics of translation techniques (2002:509): x x x x x

they affect the translation’s result they can be classified by comparison with the original they affect textual micro-units they are discursive and contextual by nature they are functional (they do not evaluate the correctness of the translation)

These characteristics, especially the first three, motivate a study of French translations of Swedish NN compounds with respect to translation techniques. Molina & Hurtado Albir (2002) criticize Vinay & Darbelnet’s (1977) proposal of translation techniques that in their opinion

French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds

267

“led to a confusion between language problems [i.e. contrastive linguistics] and text problems [i.e. translation studies]. Their work was based on comparative linguistics and all the examples used to illustrate their procedures were decontextualized”. (Molina & Hurtado Albir 2002:507)

They try to improve Vinay & Darbelnet’s classification and also aim at a strict translation studies approach without including contrastive linguistics (cf. Fawcett 1997). However, although the intention of Molina & Hurtado Albir (2002) is reasonable, their labels and definitions of the techniques are very similar to the ones of Vinay & Darbelnet (1977); they only diverge in a few instances. Table 4-1 compares the two classifications in order to show their similarities. Note that only techniques that could possibly be relevant to this study are included. All of them, except Calque, are found in the texts used in this study. Vinay & Darbelnet (1977) described seven basic techniques operating on three levels of style: lexis, distribution (morphology and syntax), and message. Three of the techniques are classified as literal or direct translations, and four of the techniques are classified as oblique (see Table 4-1). Molina & Hurtado Albir (2002) describe almost the same seven techniques but with some exceptions. Vinay & Darbelnet distinguish between Literal translation, word for word translation including units that can be longer than a word, such as phrases, and Equivalence, concerning, for example, proverbs or idiomatic expressions where the same concept is translated by an entirely different phrase. Instead, Molina & Hurtado Albir discriminate Literal translation, where a phrase is translated into another, from Established equivalent, that is translations of only one term or expression into another. They emphasize (2002:510) that their technique of Established equivalence corresponds to both Literal translation and Equivalence of Vinay & Darbelnet. Thus, neither of the descriptions of Literal translation are relevant to this study. Keeping in mind that a Swedish NN compound counts as one word, the Established equivalent technique of Molina & Hurtado Albir appears to be more appropriate for the data presented in this study. The other techniques in Table 4-1 all come in opposing pairs. They have the same definitions in the two classification systems, although their labels differ in some cases. For example, Vinay & Darbelnet’s Explicitation vs. Implicitation pair is labelled as Amplification vs. Reduction by Molina & Hurtado Albir. This study will use the terms of Vinay & Darbelnet to avoid the potential confusion caused by Molina & Hurtado Albir using the Amplification vs. Reduction pair and then also

Chapter Sixteen

268

using the Linguistic amplification vs. Linguistic compression pair without explaining what they mean by “Linguistic”. The analysis of the data began through application of the last two pairs in Table 4-1, Dissolution vs. Concentration and Amplification vs. Economy, but these were then removed. This was partly because they are on a different level than the other techniques—they bring in the Saussurean distinction between Langue and Parole—and partly because they appear in combination with other techniques. The last two pairs would, for example, mostly go hand in hand with the pair Explicitation vs. Implicitation that was already included in the analysis. Furthermore, the pair Dissolution vs. Concentration (which appears to correlate with Molina & Hurtado Albir’s Linguistic amplification vs. Linguistic compression pair, although this is not explicitly stated) would always appear in combination with those cases where a Swedish NN compound is rendered by a phrase in French containing two or more words; something that is often the case in the texts examined here (cf. Table 5-1 below). Therefore, the techniques used in this analysis are shown with light grey shading in Table 4-1. Table 4-1: Translation Techniques Relevant to the Analysis of French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds Vinay & Darbelnet (1977)

Basic techniques

Literal techniques

Oblique techniques

Molina & Hurtado Albir (2002)

Definition

Borrowing

Borrowing

Pure or naturalized

Calque

Calque

Literal translation of foreign word or phrase

Literal translation

Literal translation

Word for word translation

Established equivalence

Term or expression recognized by dictionaries or other sources as equivalent

Equivalence

French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds

Other techniques

269

Modulation

Modulation

Shift in point of view, e.g. abstract for concrete or cause for effect

Transposition

Transposition Shift in word class

Adaptation

Adaptation

Explicitation

Amplification Introduce details that are not in the ST

Implicitation

Reduction

Generalization

Generalization Use a more general term

Shift in cultural environment

Suppress ST information

Particularization Particularization Use a more precise term Langue

Parole

Dissolution

Linguistic amplification

Use more words

Concentration

Linguistic compression

Use less words

Amplification

-

Use more words

Economy

-

Use less words

5. Analysis of Translation Techniques in the Data Table 5-1 shows that Swedish NN compounds are most frequently translated by an N in French, followed by N de N, N A(djective), and N de Det(erminer) N sequences. These four French types account for 81% of the Swedish compounds, and these translations would be the most adequate according to Toury’s (1995) concept of norms. A number of studies highlight the fact that in order to express combined concepts French and English prefer lexicalized phrases, whereas German and Dutch prefer compounds (cf. Booij 2009; Bücking 2009; Van Goethem 2009).

Chapter Sixteen

270

Needless to say, Swedish behaves like German and Dutch. However, the data only partly confirm the assumption that French prefers phrases in those cases where Swedish has compounds because a Swedish NN compound is most often translated by a French N.

3 22

1 9

1

2

5

14

15

1

2

1 61 4

1 10

1 3 2 4 1 1 1 298 231 183

2 1 118

69

52

33

15

10

18

Total

124 1 12 25

33

N en N

52

Ø

3

N à (Det) N

NN

100

NA

XP

Established equivalent Generalization Modulation Transposition Explicitation Implicitation Particularization Borrowing Adaptation Total

N de N

155 201 153

N

N de Det N

Translation technique

AN

Table 5-1: Translation Techniques Applied in the French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds in the Parallel Corpus

726 129 72 61 13 10 8 5 3 1,027

In addition, Table 5-1 shows that Established equivalent is by far the most frequent translation technique (71%). This is not too surprising because this study is mostly dealing with stable concepts expressed through an established NN compound in Swedish and through another type of established expression in French in which N de N constructions predominate. Note further that all French N N and A N translations are Established equivalents. The second most frequent technique is Generalization (13%), and a majority of the French translations using this technique correspond to an N. Another interesting piece of evidence is that when a Swedish NN compound is translated by a French N, the most frequent technique is Established equivalent, not Generalization. Modulation and Transposition are the third and the fourth most frequently used techniques (7% and 6%, respectively). The remaining techniques— Explicitation, Implicitation, Particularization, Borrowing, and Adaption— account for less than 4% of the French translations. The following sections provide examples of different translation techniques from the corpus. It is important to note that the following

French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds

271

translation techniques were not required of the translators and simply represent the techniques chosen by the translators in these particular instances. Additionally, a translated item can involve more than one technique. As Newmark notes, “There is […] usually a choice of translations” (Newmark 1988:66). Subscript numerals are used to indicate the order of the two constituents in the Swedish compound in relation to its French translation, where the word order is often reversed. For example, “car engine” in Swedish is the N1N2 compound bil1motor2 and this is translated into the French N2 de N1 compound moteur2 de voiture1. If the notion of “morphological head” is considered, Germanic compounds, such as Swedish, are right-headed while Romance compounds, such as French, are left-headed, (cf. e.g. Lieber 1992).

5.1. Established Equivalent As mentioned, the most frequent translation technique in this study is Established equivalent. The French translations included here could be found in a bilingual dictionary but are of various linguistic forms as shown in examples 1–9 below. Most frequently, the Established equivalent of a Swedish NN compound is a French N de N construction, as in example 1. In contrast, it is rare that a Swedish NN compound corresponds to a French NN compound as in example 6. Although NN compounding is productive in both Swedish (cf. Josefsson 2005) and French (cf. Fradin 2009), it is considerably less frequent in French. Note also that the delimitation in French between an N N phrase, formed by syntax, and an NN compound, formed by morphology, is complicated (cf. Corbin 1992; Fradin 2003). Therefore, “N N sequence” is used as a cover term for both types in the French data. Examples 2 and 3, where a Swedish NN compound is translated by a French N, constitute a regular case in the data in this study. Here, the French N is complex and often corresponds to a suffixed derivation. This morphological complexity goes hand in hand with a semantic complexity in so far as the derived N is able to capture the semantics of both Ns of the Swedish compound. Swedish 1. N1N2: fårskinn 2. N1N2: getstall 3. N1N2: kindknota 4. N1N2: atombomb 5. N1N2: järnindustri 6. N1N2: klockradio 7. N1N2: sonson

French N2 de N1: peau de mouton N1+2: chèvrerie N1+2: pommette (apple+diminuative) N2 A1: bombe atomique N2 de Det N1: industrie du fer N2 N1: radio-réveil AN2: petit-fils

‘sheepskin’ ‘goat shed’ ‘cheek bone’ ‘atomic bomb’ ‘iron industry’ ‘clock-radio’ ‘grandson’

Chapter Sixteen

272 8. N1N2: silverskrin 9. N1N2: ormgrop

N2 en N1: coffret en argent N2 à Det N1: fosse aux serpents

‘silver box’ ‘snake pit’

5.2. Generalization vs. Particularization Generalization, the second most frequently used technique, almost exclusively concerns cases where a Swedish NN compound is translated by a French N. Note that either the head, N2, such as in examples 10 and 11 (e.g. järn1produktion2 vs. production2), or the non-head, N1, such as in examples 12 and 13 (e.g. regn1droppar2 vs. pluie1), of the Swedish compound is rendered by the French N. This result is interesting and merits further study. Swedish 10. N1N2: järnproduktion ‘iron production’ 11. N1N2: anställningsperiod ‘period of employment’ 12. N1N2: regndroppar ‘rain drops’ 13. N1N2: medlemsland ‘member country’

French N2: production ‘production’ N2: période ‘period’ N1: pluie ‘rain’ N1: membre ‘member’

Particularization, the opposite of Generalization, is used considerably less in the data, only eight times. In example 14, arbetskraft ‘manpower’ in Swedish is translated by the more limited term forgerons ‘smiths’ in French. Another instance of this technique is prismotivering ‘prize motivation’ in example 15 where the French translation, motif d’attribution du prix ‘motive for awarding the prize’, adds a term and, consequently, becomes more specific. Swedish 14. N1N2: arbetskraft ‘manpower’ 15. N1N2: prismotivering ‘prize motivation’

French N: forgerons ‘smiths, iron forgers’ N2 (de N) de Det N1: motif d’attribution du prix ‘motive for awarding the prize’

5.3. Modulation Modulation, the third most frequent technique, indicates a shift in point of view. In example 16, the French translation alters the interpretation of the Swedish compound; to keep the connotation of the Swedish compound, a translation such as fête des jeunes ‘young people’s party’

French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds

273

would have been better. The French translation in example 17 could be due to a misreading of the Swedish compound. This is perfectly understandable considering that the heat is normally worse in the afternoon than in the morning. Because the analysis in this work concerns the final result of the translation, nothing can be said about the translator’s intention here. Thus example 17 is analysed as a case of Modulation. The compound in example 18, théblad ‘tea leaves’, refers to the product but is translated by pincée de thé ‘pinch of tea’, which refers to a measure of the product. Generally, it seems as if the attested French translations, classified as Modulation, keep the semantics of one N in the Swedish compound but alter the meaning of the other N. Swedish 16. N1N2: ungdomsfest ‘young people’s party’

French N2 de Det N: fête de la jeunesse ‘youth festival’ N2 de Det N: chaleur de l’après-midi ‘afternoon heat’ N de N1: pincée de thé ‘pinch of tea’

17. N1N2: förmiddagshetta ‘morning heat’ 18. N1N2: théblad ‘tea leaves’

5.4. Transposition The Transposition technique, a shift in word class, is the fourth most frequent technique seen in this study. Here, the French translations classified as Transposition are all XPs (where X stands for an arbitrary lexical category). Hence, they constitute a homogenous category of different kinds of paraphrases used to translate Swedish NN compounds. Example 19 involves an entire sentence, whereas in example 20 the Swedish compound is simply translated by a verb in French. In example 21, the first N of the Swedish compound flyttförbud ‘move-interdiction’ is transposed to an infinitive (the French translation is analysed as an NP, taking a P and an infinitive V). However, example 21 could also be classified as Particularization because the French infinitive narrows the semantics from the general “move” to the more precise “emigrate”. Swedish 19. N1N2: det hade varit skolavslutning ‘it had been end of school’

French XP/S: à l'école1 ils avaient fêté la fin de l'année ‘in school they had celebrated the end of the year’

Chapter Sixteen

274 20. N1N2: tyngdpunkt

‘(centre of gravity) main focus’ 21. N1N2: flyttförbud ‘ban on moving’

VP: se concentra concentrate’

‘will

NP: interdiction2 d’émigrer ‘ban on emigration’

5.5. Explicitation vs. Implicitation Explicitation and Implicitation are rarely used in the data in this study. The French translations in examples 22–24 are classified as Explicitation because they add linguistic material that is not present in the Swedish NN compounds. Swedish 22. N1N2: svensk faktatext ‘Swedish fact text’

23. N1N2: géléhjärtan ‘jelly hearts’ 24. N1N2: Vasakung ‘Vasa king’

French NP: texte2 sur l’histoire des fêtes et traditions suédoises ‘text about Swedish festivities and traditions’ NP: friandises en forme de cœur2 ‘sweets in form of a heart’ NP: roi2 de la dynastie des Vasa1 ‘king of the Vasa dynasty’

There are ten instances in the corpus where the Swedish NN compound is simply omitted in the French translation, such as in examples 25 and 26. These are all classified as Implicitation. In contrast to other techniques, such as Generalization or Transposition, the translation contains no trace whatsoever of the semantic information conveyed by the Swedish compound: Swedish 25. NN: gått ut på balkongen för att genom parets öppna balkongdörr höra ‘walked out on the balcony to through the open balcony door listen to

26. NN: selen och fotremmarna stramade ‘the harness and the foot belts felt tight’

French Ø: était sortie sur le balcon et avait écouté ‘had walked out on the balcony and had listen to’ Ø: le harnais se tendit ‘the harness felt tight’

French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds

275

5.6. Borrowing Borrowing only occurs five times in the corpus; one of them is smörgåsbord in example 27. Another is folkhemmet in example 28, which also involves Explicitation. Both translations are pure borrowings because the spelling of the source language is kept (as opposed to naturalized borrowing where the spelling adjusts to the target language). Swedish 27. N1N2: smörgåsbord ‘smorgasbord’ 28. N1N2: folkhemmet ‘the people’s home’

French N: smörgåsbord N: folkhemmet, le foyer de tout le peuple ‘folkhemmet, the home of the entire people’

5.7. Adaptation Adaption is also rarely found in the data. Only three uses are identified, such as the one in example 29. Here, the compound stands for a wellestablished Swedish concept without any exact French correspondence. It is, therefore, translated by the closest culturally equivalent concept (and expression) in French. Swedish 29. N1N2: barnbidrag ‘child benefit’

French N A: allocation familiale ‘family allowance’

6. Concluding Remarks According to the data from the parallel corpus, Swedish NN compounds are more frequent in STs than in TTs as well as in non-fiction texts compared to fiction. The frequency of the attested Swedish NN compounds is, however, not only affected by potential interference effects from French language structure and text genre but also by author and translator style. Furthermore, the data show that Swedish NN compounds are most often translated by morphologically complex Ns in French, followed by N de N, N A, and N de Det N constructions. If we relate translation technique to formal structure, we see some patterns. For example, nearly all French translations included under Generalization are Ns, and all French N N and N A sequences, being translations of Swedish NN

276

Chapter Sixteen

compounds, correspond to Established equivalent. Otherwise, for the most frequently used technique, Established equivalent, there are no clear relations to formal structure, although N de N sequences constitute the most frequent type. Finally, this study has tried to show that some of the definitions and labels of translation techniques are problematic because there is still confusion between the phenomena of contrastive linguistics (obligations of language structure) and those of translating studies (textual options). However, an alternative view would be to assume that such a dividing line between the disciplines is perhaps impossible to draw. In a future study, it would be interesting to examine the data from the parallel corpus to try to provide empirical evidence in support of potential translation universals (cf. Baker 1993; Chesterman 2010).

References Baker, Mona. 1993. “Corpus Linguistics and Translation Studies. Implications and Application”. In Text and Technology: In honour of John Sinclair, edited by Mona Baker et al., 233–250. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins. Biel, Lucja. 2010. “Corpus-Based Studies of Legal Language for Translation Purposes: Methodological and Practical Potential”. In Reconceptualizing LSP: Online Proceedings of the XVII European LSP Symposium 2009, edited by Carmen Heine, and Jan Engberg. Aarhus: Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University. Accessed November 14, 2013. http://bcom.au.dk/lsp2009/. Booij, Geert. 2009. “Compounding and Construction Morphology.” In The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, edited by Rochelle Lieber, and Pavol Štekauer, 201–216. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bücking, Sebastian. 2009. “How do Phrasal and Lexical Modification Differ? Contrasting Adjective-Noun combinations in German.” Word Structure 2 (2): 184–204. Chesterman, Andrew. 2010. “Why Study Translation Universals?” In Kiasm. Acta Translatologica Helsingiensia (ATH), 1, edited by Ritva Hartama-Heionen, and Pirjo Kukkonen, 38–48. Helsingfors: Helsingfors universitet, Nordica. Accessed November 14, 2013. https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/24319?show=full. Corbin, Daniele. 1992. “Hypothèses sur les frontières de la composition nominale.” Cahiers de grammaire 17: 25–55. Eriksson, Olof. 1997. Språk i kontrast. En jämförande studie av svensk och fransk meningsstruktur. Göteborg: Akademiförlaget.

French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds

277

Fawcett, Peter. 1997. Translation and Language: Linguistic Theories Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome Pub. Fradin, Bernard. 2003. Nouvelles approches en morphologie. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. —. 2009. “IE, Romance: French.” In The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, edited by Rochelle Lieber, and Pavol Štekauer, 417– 435. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Frawley, William. 1984. “Prolegomenon to a Theory of Translation.” In Translation: Literary, Linguistic and Philosophical Perspectives, edited by William Frawley, 159–175. London: Associated University Press. Josefsson, Gunlög. 2005. Ord. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Lieber, Rochelle. 1992. Deconstructing Morphology: Word Formation in Syntactic Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. McEnery, Anthony, Richard Xiao, and Yukio Tono. 2006. Corpus-Based Language Studies: An Advanced Resource Book. London, New York: Routledge. Molina, Lucía, and Amparo Hurtado Albir. 2002. “Translation Techniques Revisited: A Dynamic and Functionalist Approach.” Meta 47 (4): 498– 512. Newmark, Peter. 1988. A Textbook of Translation. London, New York: Prentice Hall International. Pym, Anthony. 2004. “Localization from the Perspective of Translation Studies: Overlaps in the Digital Divide?” In ELDA. Accessed November 14, 2013. http://www.elda.org/en/proj/scalla/SCALLA2004/Pym-2.pdf. Tegelberg, Elisabeth. 2000. Från svenska till franska. Kontrastiv lexikologi i praktiken. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Van Goethem, Kristel. 2009. “Choosing Between A+N Compounds and Lexicalized A+N Phrases: The Position of French in Comparison to Germanic Languages.” Word Structure 2 (2): 241–253. Vinay, Jean-Paul, and Jean Darbelnet. 1977 [1958]. Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais. Paris: Didier.

Parallel Corpus Allén, Sture, and Kjell Espmark. 2001. Nobelpriset i litteratur. En introduktion av Sture Allén och Kjell Espmark. Stockholm: Svenska Akademien genom Norstedts.

278

Chapter Sixteen

—. 2008. Le Prix Nobel de littérature. Une introduction par Sture Allén et Kjell Espmark. Translated by Françoise Sule. Stockholm: Svenska Akademien genom Norstedts. Bergman, Ingmar. 1991. Den goda viljan. Stockholm: Norstedts. —. 1992. Les meilleures intentions. Translated by Carl Gustaf Bjurström and Lucie Albertini. Paris: Gallimard. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1998. La domination masculine. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. —. 1999. Den manliga dominansen. Translated by Boel Englund. Göteborg: Daidalos. Braudel, Fernand. 1985. La dynamique du capitalisme. Paris: Les Éditions Arthaud. —. 1988. Kapitalismens dynamik. Translated bu Gunnar Sandin. Möklinta: Gidlunds Bokförlag. Broberg, Gunar. 2006. Carl von Linné. Stockholm: Svenska institutet. —. 1999. Carl von Linné. Translated by Lydie Rosseau. Stockholm: Svenska institutet. Carrère, Emmanuel. 2000. L’Adversaire. Paris: P.O.L. —. 2001. Doktor Romand. En sann berättelse. Translated by Susanne Ekelöf. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag. Ekman, Kerstin. 1993. Händelser vid vatten, Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag. Ekman, Kerstin. 1995. Crimes au bord de l’eau. Translated by Marc de Gouvenain and Lena Grumbach. Arles: Actes Sud. Enquist, Per Olov. 1999. Livläkarens besök. Stockholm: Norstedts. —. 2000. Le médecin personnel du roi. Translated by Marc de Gouvenain, and Lena Grumbach. Arles: Actes Sud. Fredriksson, Marianne. 1994. Anna, Hanna och Johanna. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. —. 1999. Hanna et ses filles. Translated by Anna Gibson. Paris: Éditions Ramsay. Froman, Ingmarie. 2000. Sverige och Belgien. La Suède et la Belgique. Translated by Brigitte Parez. Stockholm: Svenska institutet. Gavalda, Anna. 2004. Ensemble, c’est tout. Paris: Le Dilettante. —. 2005. Tillsammans är man mindre ensam. Translated by Maria Björkman. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers förlag. Houellebecq, Michel. 2001. Plateforme. Paris: Flammarion. —. 2002. Plattform. Translated by Anders Bodegård. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag. Johannisson, Karin. 1989. Levande lärdom. Uppsala universitet under fem sekler. Uppsala: Uppsala University Press.

French Translations of Swedish NN Compounds

279

—. 1989. Le savoir vivant. Cinq siècles d’histoire de l’université d’Upsal. Translated by Christiane Lander. Uppsala: Uppsala University Press. Julliard, Jacques. 1994. Ce fascisme qui vient..., Paris: Éditions du Seuil. —. 1994. Fascism i antågande. Translated by Simon Levay. Tollarp: Studiekamraten. Kristeva, Julia. 1988. Étrangers à nous-mêmes. Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard. —. 1991. Främlingar för oss själva. Translated by Ann Runnqvist-Vinde. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur. Larsson, Stieg. 2006. Flickan som lekte med elden. Stockholm: Norstedts. —. 2006. La fille qui rêvait d’un bidon d’essence et d’une allumette. Translated by Lena Grumbach, and Marc de Gouvenain. Arles: Actes sud. Le Clézio, Jean-Marie Gustave. 1992. Étoile errante. Paris: Gallimard. —. 1995. Vandrande stjärna. Translated by Ulla Bruncrona. Stockholm: Norstedts. Roudinesco, Elisabeth. 1993. Jacques Lacan. Esquisse d’une vie, histoire d’un système de pensée. Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard. —. 1994. Jacques Lacan. En levnadsteckning, ett tankesystems historia. Translated by Eva Backelin, and Per Magnus Johansson. Stockholm: Brutus Östlings: Bokförlag Symposion AB. Tidholm, Po, and Agneta Lilja. 2004. Det ska vi fira! – svenska traditioner och högtider. Accessed April 5, 2011. http://www.sweden.se/otherlanguages/otherlanguages/otherlanguages/ 3738/Swedish/Det-ska-vi-fira-Svenska-traditioner-och-hogtider/. —. 2004. Festivités à la suédoise – traditions et fêtes. Translated by Lydie Rousseau. Accessed April 5, 2011. http://www.sweden.se/fr/Accueil/Style-de-vie/Festivites-a-lasuedoise/. Tournier, Michael. 1985. La goutte d’or. Paris: Gallimard. —. 1987. Gulddroppen. Translated by Carl Gustaf Bjurström. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH AND ARABIC BINOMIALS BY ADVANCED AND NOVICE STUDENT TRANSLATORS REIMA AL-JARF KING SAUD UNIVERSITY, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract This study examined English and Arabic binomials, identify the similarities and differences in their semantic and syntactic features and semantic relations between the members of binomials. It also investigated translation students’ ability to comprehend and translate binomials from English to Arabic and vice versa. Analysis of a corpus of English and Arabic binomials showed3 binomials categories: Binomials that exist in English but have no equivalents in Arabic; those that exist in Arabic but have no equivalents in English; and those that exist, i.e., are similar in both languages. In addition, some binomials are culture-specific. A sample of translations students translated a sample of English and Arabic binomials. Responses were analyzed to find out problematic areas and strategies they use in translating binomials, especially those with a cultural content. Results are reported and recommendations for teaching and learning how to translate binomials are given. Keywords: Arabic binomials, binomial corpus, English binomials, translation difficulties, translation students.

1. Introduction A binomial is a formulaic expression consisting of two or more words of the form x and/or y, where the paired items belong to the same word

282

Chapter Seventeen

class (grammatical category), are syntactically coordinated, semantically related and often appear in a preferred linear order. Binomials are also called contrastive lexical couples. They are common in all languages. For example, “black and white” in English is "ξϴΑ΃ϭ ΩϮγ΃" in Arabic, “blanco y negro” in Spanish, and “Preto e Branco” in Portuguese. In most cases, the binomial is irreversible. Thus, “black and white” is a binomial, whereas “white and black” is not (Malkiel 1959; Mellinkoff 1963; Gustaffson 1984; Carvalho 2006; Gorgis & Al-Tamimi 2005). Structurally speaking, binomials may contain an abbreviation or initial letters such as R and R, P and P, and may combine rhyming words as in hustle and bustle, ΰϤϟϭ ΰϤϫ”. They can be joined by prepositions and conjunctions as in hit or miss, give and take, ήϓϭ ήϛ, ΏϮϠϐϣ Ύϳ ΐϟΎϏ Ύϳ, may combine: a noun + noun as in law and order, ήϓϭ ήϛ ˬ΍ήΤΑϭ ΍ήΑ; adjective + adjective as in safe and sound, ϞρΎΑ ϞρΎϋ; verb + verb as in rise and shine, ήΒϛϭ ϞϠϫ; preposition + preposition as in ups and downs, ifs and buts ˬ ϰϟ· Ϧϣ ϰδϋϭ Ϟόϟ. Paired elements in binomials are also semantically related. They can be synonymous as in bits and pieces, ˬϰϓΎόϣ ϰϓΎθϣ; near synonyms as in peace and quiet, null and void,ˬΐδϨϟ΍ϭ ˬϝΎΟϭ ϝΎλ ˬ΍έΎϬϧ ΍έΎϬΟ ΐδΤϟ΍; antonymous as in take it or leave it, back and forth, ˬήϓϭ ήϛ ˬέΰΟϭ Ϊϣ ˬϞρΎΑϭ ϖΣ; complementary as in bread and butter, shoot and kill, ΓέϮγϷ΍ ˬϕΎγϭ ϡΪϗ ϰϠϋ ΢Ϡϣϭ ζϴϋ ˬϢμόϤϟ΍ϭ; subdivision as in head and toe, ϪγΎδϟ Ϫγ΍έ Ϧϣ; consequence as in shot and killed, ΏΎϘόϟ΍ϭ ΔϤϳήΠϟ΍; worthless doubling as in force and effect, ϲϧΎϣ ϻϭ ϲϧΎϛ ϻ; and/or useful binomials as in full faith and credit, ΓΩ΍ϭίϭ ΓΩ΍ί. Binomials can be specialized. Examples of Islamic binomials are ˬ ϡ΍ήΤϟ΍ϭ ϝϼΤϟ΍ ϞρΎΒϟ΍ϭ ϖΤϟ΍ ˬέΎϨϟ΍ϭ ΔϨΠϟ΍, biblical binomials (lo and behold, saints and sinners), legal binomials (null and void, authorize and empowerˬϦϴϧ΍ϮϘϟ΍ϭ ΢΋΍ϮϠϟ΍ ˬβϴϳΎϘϤϟ΍ϭ ΕΎϔλ΍ϮϤϟ΍). Some have an idiomatic meaning such as rough and ready, leaps and bounds in English, and ϪϤΤθΑ ϩΪϳΪϗϭ ϩΪϘΑ ˬϞΑΎϨϟΎΑ ϞΑΎΤϟ΍ ˬϪϤΤϟϭin Arabic. Some binomials are culture specific as in dollar for dollar, nickel and dime, nuts and bolts, bread and butter, nip and tuck, wine and dine, cloak and dagger, cops and robbers, fish and chips, ladies and gentlemen, horse and carriage, ragtag and bobtail in English, and ˬϩΪϳΪϗϭ ϩΪϘΑ ˬϦϴΠόϟΎΑ Ϧϴτϟ΍ ςϠΧ ˬΪϴΒϋϭ Ϊϳί ˬΝήϣϭ Νήϫ ˬΎϔθϟ΍ϭ ΎϨϬϟΎΑ ˬήϓϭ ήϛ ˬϝϻί ϝϼΣ ˬΐδϨϟ΍ϭ ΐδΤϟ΍ ˬϞΑΎϨϟ΍ϭ ϞΑΎΤϟ΍ ήΒϛϭ ϞϠϫ in Arabic. Since Arabic is a diglossic language (has a standard form and a nonstandard colloquial form, with different dialects used across and within Arab countries), binomials are common in both Standard as well as colloquial Arabic. For example, ϼϫ ˬϢΘϜΑ ϢΘϜγ ˬϪϴτΨϳϭ Ϫϴϓ ˬϝίΎϧ ϊϟΎρ ˬϱ˷ήϣ ϱ˷ήγ

Translation of English and Arabic Binomials

283

ˬϼϏϭare colloquial, whereas Νήϫ ˬήϓϭ ήϛ ˬΐδϨϟ΍ϭ ΐδΤϟ΍ ˬϞΑΎϨϟ΍ϭ ϞΑΎΤϟ΍ ˬϩΪϳΪϗϭ ϩΪϘΑ ˬΪϴΒϋϭ Ϊϳί ˬΝήϣϭare used in Standard Arabic. Binomials play several roles in the language. They add “precision and all-inclusiveness” (Bhatia 1993), are “a convenient linguistic device for adding weight to the end of the sentences”, and constitute “a distinct style marker” in legal English (Gustafsson 1984). In legal English, binomial expressions are needed for technical accuracy, precision and unambiguity (Gustafsson 1984). They are essential for the normal use of language, because they are frequently encountered in fiction, films and the everyday use of the language (Jasim 2009).

2. Literature Review Binomial expressions have received considerable attention from researchers such as: Mellinkoff (1962); Bhatia (1993); Malkiel (1959); Bolinger (1962); Cooper and Ross (1975); Benor and Levy (2006); Lambrecht (1984); and others. For example, Gustafsson (1984) classified English binomials according to four syntactic parameters: thematic structure, clausal structure, sentence elements, and parts of speech. She found that the syntactic behavior of binomials does not differ significantly as an adverbial in the rhematic part of the sentence. On the other hand, Lambrecht (1984) classified them into: (a) lexicalized and irreversible; (b) novel but semantically motivated; and (c) semantically unmotivated but pragmatically constrained. In German, Lambrecht (1984) analyzed formulaic binomial expressions of the form N+N and found that the absence of determiners, along with other morphosyntactic and semantic anomalies, makes these phrases non-compositional and thus similar to idioms. They differ from fixed idiomatic expressions, however, in that their structural pattern can be productively used for the creation of new pairs. These bare binomials are complex word-like expressions, comparable to nominal compounds and can be described by lexical rules. In Arabic, Gorgis & AlTamimi (2005) compared 150 binomial expressions in Iraqi Arabic with their counterparts in Jordanian Arabic. Nominals were found to have the highest frequency (75.33%). Paired adjectives (Adj), mostly obligatorily conjoined by “and”, accounted for 13.33%. Verbs (V) made up 6.0%, and adverbs (Adv) 4%. No instances of a prepositional pattern were found in either dialect. A second line of research investigated specialized binomial expressions in legal documents in English and Portuguese. Dámová (2007) examined a sample of legal documents to identify their stylistic markers and functional style and their distribution within sentences according to the principle of

284

Chapter Seventeen

functional sentence perspective. She also explored four semantic relations of binomials: opposition, homoeosemy, complementation and hyponymy. Likewise, Carvalho (2006) studied binomials in the English legal language and determined their translation equivalents in Brazilian Portuguese. Since the ordering of binomials exhibits a considerable amount of variation, a third line of research has attempted to find out what determines the order of paired lexical items in binomials. Cooper and Ross (1975) found that this order is not random, but is based on linguistic and extra-linguistic ordering principles. Semantic, metrical, and frequency constraints contribute to ordering preferences in binomial expressions (Benor and Levy 2006). The frequency of the two words in spoken English determines which word comes first (Golenbock 2000). Phonology plays a major role in the ordering of binomial lexical pairs as well (Saaed 2010). In Iraqi Arabic, the ordering of irreversible binomials is governed by linguistic, cultural and pragmatic constraints, as well as social beliefs, wishes, ideas, values and norms (Hamdani 1997). A fourth line of research has focused on investigating the frequency of binomial occurrence in monolingual and bilingual dictionaries as in Hamdan & AbuGuba (2007) and Hussein & Lingwood (2011). A fifth line of research has focused on L2 students’ ability to comprehend and translate binomial expressions. In a study by Jasim (2009), two groups of Iraqi students (one majoring in English and literature and the other majoring in translation) were given a test of irreversible binomials and were interviewed after completing the test. The test was aimed at determining the subjects’ mastery of binomials at the recognition and production levels and required the subjects to provide equivalent phrases in English to those underlined in Arabic. Although the students were exposed to various aspects of language and literature, and to various registers such as legal, scientific, political and literary, the test results showed that advanced learners of English and translation had real difficulty in comprehending, producing and translating irreversible binomials from Arabic into English. In another study, Hamdan (2002) investigated how freshman and senior EFL Jordanian college students interacted with binomials. The data were elicited through a written task that consisted of 30 binomials selected from 90 items, compiled from ELT materials, which the subjects encountered in their coursework. Results showed that both freshman and senior students had considerable difficulty supplying the missing members of the target binomial. Only 47.5% and 68.8% of the attempts of both groups were successful. Similar results were obtained by Hussein & Lingwood (2011), who investigated English major M.A. and

Translation of English and Arabic Binomials

285

undergraduate Jordanian students’ ability to translate English binomials into Arabic and the strategies used in their translation. Results revealed that the subjects’ general performance on the translation test was unsatisfactory. The percentage of correct answers on all items for all subjects was about 44%. The subjects used several strategies in translating English binomials into Arabic, such as contextualized guessing, avoidance, literal translation, incomplete translation and semantic approximation, respectively. At the College of Languages and Translation (COLT), King Saud University, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, there is a need for Saudi students majoring in translation to acquire binomial expressions and be able to translate general and specialized English binomials into Arabic and vice versa. Therefore, the present study investigates mastery of binomial expressions in English and Arabic by advanced and novice student translators and aims to: (i) compare English and Arabic binomials in the collected samples to find out the percentages of English binomials that have an equivalent Arabic binomial, Arabic binomials that have an equivalent English binomial, and those that exist in English only or Arabic only and have no equivalents in the other language; (ii) compare novice and advanced translation students’ ability to comprehend and translate English binomial expressions into Arabic and Arabic binomials into English; (iii) establish a hierarchy of difficulty in comprehending and translating English and Arabic binomials; and (iv) identify the strategies that students utilize in the faulty translations of binomials. Binomial expressions are essential for the normal use of language, because they are frequently encountered in general, as well as specialized, use of English and Arabic, as in legal and Islamic texts. Ability to understand and render the correct meaning of English and/or Arabic binomials is a necessary requirement for translation students, as it reflects translation competence. Lack of attention to Arabic irreversible binomials might prevent student translators from accessing a rich potential source of rapid and competent development in translation. Since translation students at COLT take 2 vocabulary building courses, 3 grammar courses, a dictionary skills course and several Arabic language course, the results of the present study will shed light on aspects of English and Arabic binomial expressions that need to be acquired by translation students at COLT, those with which they have difficulty, and aspects that need to receive more attention in the vocabulary, grammar, dictionary skills and Arabic language courses that the students take.

286

Chapter Seventeen

3. Subjects A total of 193 translation students (73 students in semester 6 and 120 students in semester 9 of the translation program) at the College of Languages and Translation (COLT), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia participated in the study. Students in semester 6 constituted the novice translators’ group, those in semester 9 constituted the advanced translators’ group. The subjects in both groups completed 4 listening, 4 speaking, 4 reading, 4 writing, 3 grammar and 2 vocabulary building courses in the first four semesters of the translation program, in addition to several Arabic language courses (morphology, syntax and rhetoric). In semester 5, they took linguistics (2 hours), semantics (3 hours), text linguistics (2 hours), and 3 interpreting courses (6 hours). Students in semester 6 completed 2 specialized translation courses in the following subject areas: physical sciences and the humanities (2 hours each). Those in level 9 have completed 14 specialized translation courses in the following subject areas: physical sciences, humanities, medicine, engineering, media, Islamic studies, military, administration, sociology, education, security, commerce, politics and computer science (2 hours each). As for binomial expressions, students in both groups studied a sample of English binomials in the second vocabulary course.

4. The Binomial Data A sample of 250 English and another of 450 Arabic binomials were collected from various online, paper resources and Arab informants (See examples in the Appendix). The Arabic binomial sample was verified by two professors at the Arabic Department to make sure that the sample included binomial expressions only and did not include proverbs, sayings or collocations. The majority of the Arabic binomials are common in Standard Arabic with few from different Arabic spoken dialects.

5. Comparing English and Arabic Binomials Each English binomial was translated into Arabic and each Arabic binomial was translated into English. The percentages of English binomials that have an equivalent binomial in Arabic, Arabic binomials that have an equivalent binomial in English and binomials that exist in one language and are absent in the other were computed. The translations and

Translation of English and Arabic Binomials

287

comparisons of English and Arabic binomials were verified by two professors of English-Arabic translation.

6. The Binomial Test At the beginning of the semester (Fall 2012), the subjects in both groups were given one of 4 versions of a binomial test, as the students took the test in different class sessions. Each version of the binomial test consisted of 20 English and 20 Arabic binomial expressions that were randomly selected from the English and Arabic binomial samples collected. Binomial expressions were presented in isolation as presenting them in context would help students infer their meaning. The test instructions specified what the items were. The subjects were asked to translate English binomial expressions into Arabic and Arabic binomial expressions into English. They were not allowed to use a dictionary. No time limit was imposed on the test session.

7. Data Analysis The subjects’ written responses to the binomial test were marked by the author. To be marked as correct, each English and Arabic binomial had to be translated correctly, either by an equivalent binomial or by an explanation if equivalents are absent. To find out the strategies that the subjects used in translating binomials, mistranslations were compiled and subjected to further analysis. The binomial translation error corpus consisted of 1,793 incorrect responses for both groups. Quantitative and qualitative data analyses of the binomial error data are reported. Since it was not possible to use parallel forms, split-halves, or re-test the students two weeks after the first administration of the test, reliability of the test scores was calculated using the Kuder-Richardson Formula 21, which estimates the internal-consistency of the test items from a single administration of the test. The reliability coefficient of the binomial test scores was .71 for the novice translators’ group and .74 for the advanced group. Inter-scorer reliability was also calculated by appointing a colleague, who taught translation, to mark a sample of the answer sheets and by comparing both scores. There was a 93% agreement between the two scorers in identifying those binomials available in both English and Arabic and those that are available in one language only, and classifying the faulty responses into translation strategies. Disagreements were solved by discussion.

Chapter Seventeen

288

8. Results 8.1. Translation Equivalence in English and Arabic Binomials Analysis of the meaning equivalence of English and Arabic Binomials has shown that 40% of the binomials in the English sample have equivalent Arabic binomials and 20% of the binomials in the Arabic sample have equivalent English binomials. Examples of binomials that exist in both English and Arabic with identical wording are: x sooner or later ϼΟ΁ ϡ΃ ϼΟΎϋ x back and forth ΎΑΎϫΫϭ ΔΌϴΟ ˬ ΎΑΎϳ·ϭ ΎΑΎϫΫ x scratch and win ΢Αέ΍ϭ ςθϛ΍ x do’s and don’ts ϞόϔΗ ϻϭ Ϟόϓ΍ x no more no less κϗΎϧ ϻϭ Ϊ΋΍ί ϻ ˬϞϗ΃ ϻϭ ήΜϛ΃ ϻ x up and down ϝίΎϧ ϊϟΎρ x skin and bone Ϣψϋ ϰϠϋ ΪϠΟ x flesh and blood ϡΩϭ ϢΤϟ x ebb and flow έΰΟϭ Ϊϣ x over and over (again) ΍έ΍ήϜΗϭ ΍έ΍ήϣ x needle and thread ΓήΑϹ΍ϭ ςϴΨϟ΍ x give and take Ωέϭ άΧ΍ ˬ ˯Ύτϋϭ άΧ΍ x laugh and cry ϲϜΒϣ ϚΤπϣ Examples of binomials that exist in both English and Arabic that have the same meaning but different wording are: x x x x x x x

Bread and butter ΢Ϡϣϭ ζϴϋ Safe and sound ϢϧΎϏ ϢϟΎγ win or lose ΏϮϠϐϣ Ύϳ ΐϟΎϏ Ύϳ Pick and choose ϰϨϤΗϭ ΐϠρ΍ peace and harmony ΕΎΒϧϭ ΕΎΒΛ ϲϓ ins and outs ϪΗΎϨϜγϭ ϪΗΎϛήΣ make it or break it ϪΨϣ ήδϜΗ Ύϳ ϪΨτΗ Ύϳ

Examples of binomials that have similar wording in both languages but different meanings are cats and dogs and έΎϔϟ΍ϭ ςϘϟ΍: give and take and ςϋ΍ϭ άΧ. Examples of binomials that exist in English but have no equivalent binomials in Arabic are: rise and shine, rough and ready, sick and tired, wear and tear, wet and wild, wheeling and dealing, aches and pains, cats

Translation of English and Arabic Binomials

289

and dogs, nuts and bolts. Examples of Arabic binomials that have no equivalent binomials in English are: ˬΐδϨϟ΍ϭ ΐδΤϟ΍ ˬςϳήϔΗ ϻϭ ρ΍ήϓ· ϻ ˬΰϤϟϭ ΰϤϏ ϦδΣ ˬεΎΑ εΎϫ ˬϝϻί ϝϼΣ ˬϞΑΎϨϟΎΑ ϞΑΎΤϟ΍ ˬϼϏϭ ϼϫ ˬϼϬγϭ ϼϫ΃ ˬϞρΎΑ ϞρΎϋ ˬήϓϭ ήϛ ϢϜΤϟ΍ϭ ϢμΨϟ΍ ˬϦδΑ

8.2. Analysis of Students’ Responses Analysis of the subjects’ responses to the English and Arabic binomial tests showed that advanced as well as novice translation students had considerable difficulty in translating English binomials into Arabic and Arabic binomials into English. The advanced and novice translation students’ group gave a total of 1,738 and 824 responses to the test items, respectively. Both groups left 5,158 items (or 67%) blank. The typical advanced and novice translation students responded to 35% and 32.5% of the binomials at the test, respectively. Less than 20% of the attempts, i.e. test items they responded to, were correct (See Table 8-1). Table 8-1: Mean, Median, Range and Total Number of Correct and Incorrect Responses to the Binomial Tests

Group Advanced

Binomials N

Arabic English Novice Arabic Translators English

120 120 60 60

Mean #Items 6.5 8.0 7.4 6.3

Median

Range

Sum % #Items % #Items 32.4% 6 30% .00-19 776 40.1% 8 40% .00-19 962 37.2% 7 35% .00-20 446 31.5% 6 30% .00-15 378

No significant differences were found between advanced and novice translation students in the total test scores (T=.21; p>.67), the Arabic binomial test scores (T=1.7; p>.61), nor the English binomial test scores (T=2.2; p>.57). However, results revealed significant differences between the English and Arabic binomial test scores for the advanced group (T=3.4; p>.01), but no significant differences between the English and Arabic binomial test scores for the novice translation students’ group (T=1.8; p>.76). This means that advanced students have slightly more difficulty in translating Arabic binomials than English binomials, whereas novice translation students have comparable difficulty in both. A positive correlation was found between the subjects’ English and Arabic binomial test scores (r=.37; p>.01), i.e. students’ ability to translate English binomials into Arabic and vice versa. This means that competence in

Chapter Seventeen

290

translating English binomials is related to that of translating Arabic binomials, and that weakness and/or improvement of one results in weakness and/or improvement in the other. Results also showed that about 62.5% of the English binomials included in the test were left blank by all the subjects. Fewer than 20% of the English and Arabic binomials were translated correctly, as in the following examples: x x x x x x x

ϪγΎδϟ Ϫγ΍έ Ϧϣ > head to toe ϼΟ΁ ϡ΃ ϼΟΎϋ> sooner or later κϗΎϧ ϻϭ Ϊϳ΍ί ϻ> no more no less bread and butter > ΢Ϡϣϭ ζϴϋ scratch and win > ΢Αέ΍ϭ ςθϛ΍ first and foremost > ήϴΧϷ΍ϭ ϝϭϷ΍ do’s and don’ts > ϞόϔΗ ϻϭ Ϟόϓ΍

Qualitative data analysis of the error data showed that binomials with an idiomatic meaning were found to be more difficult than those that are more transparent. The fact that 80% of the Arabic binomials in the corpus have no equivalent binomials in English, and that 60% of the English binomials in the corpus have no equivalents in Arabic, makes the acquisition of the former more difficult than the latter. The findings of the present study are consistent with the findings of prior studies by Jasim (2009), Hamdan (2002) and Hussein & Lingwood (2011) conducted invloving Iraqi and Jordanian students, which showed that L2 and translation students have difficulty in comprehending and translating binomials regardless of their proficiency levels. In Hamdan’s (2002) study both freshman and senior students had considerable difficulty supplying the missing members of the target binomial, and only 47.5% and 68.8% of the attempts of both groups were successful. In Jasim’s (2009) study, advanced learners of English and translation had real difficulty in comprehending, producing and translating irreversible binomials from Arabic into English. Similarly, Hussein & Lingwood’s (2011) study revealed that the subjects’ general performance on the translation test was unsatisfactory. The percentage of correct answers on all items for all subjects was about 44%. The findings of the present study are also consistent with the findings of other studies conducted by Yemeni and Jordanian students that revealed semantic errors in English (Al-Shormani & Al-Sohbani 2012), difficulty comprehending and translating different types of English compounds (Al-

Translation of English and Arabic Binomials

291

Kharabsheh 2003), and difficulty translating Arabic lexical collocations (Abdul-Fattah 2011) and idioms (Mahmoud 2002). As in the present study, Hamdan (2002) found that the order of binomial acquisition was determined by a combination of transparency, frequency and cultural specificity. Transparent pairs seem to be acquired as multi-word units before opaque or idiomatic ones, as they are easier to retrieve. The percentage of correct translations of the English and Arabic binomials in the present study seems to be far below those of the Jordanian and Iraqi students in the studies mentioned earlier.

8.3. Strategies Used in Translating Binomials No significant differences between the advanced and novice translation students’ groups were found in the strategies they utilized in translating English and Arabic binomials. Those strategies were as follows: 1) Avoidance constituted the most common strategy, as 67% of the test items were left blank by all subjects. 2) 3) Literal translation. The subjects tended to translate binomials word-for-word, i.e. as consisting of two single words, not as a unit, despite the fact that Arabic equivalent binomials exist, as in the following faulty responses: x ΊτΨϳϭ ΐϴμϳ> right and wrong x bread and butter > ΓΪΑίϭ ΰΒΧ x black and blue > ϕέί΍ϭ ξϴΑ΍ x high and dry > ϑΎΟϭ ϒϴψϧ x milk and honey > Ϟδϋϭ ΐϴϠΣ x make or break > ήδϛ΍ϭ ϊϨλ΍ x loud and clear > ΢ο΍ϭϭ ϲϟΎϋ In translating binomials that exist in both languages but differ with respect to part of speech, the subjects transferred the makeup of the source binomial to the translational equivalent, although the target binomial belongs to a different part of speech. Thus, the English binomials wash and wear, give and take that consist of verbs were translated into verbs βΒϟ΍ϭ ϞδϏ΍, ςϋ΃ϭ άΧ , although the equivalent Arabic binomials consist of nouns. 4) Explanation. In some cases, some students explained the meaning of the binomial, although an equivalent binomial existed, as in:

Chapter Seventeen

292

x x x x x x x

ϥϮμϟ΍ϭ φϔΤϟΎΑ > keep it very well Ϟδϋ ϰϠϋ ϦϤγ> fine relationship ϲϓΎόϣ ϰϓΎθϣ> O.K., fine ϦϴΠόϟΎΑ Ϧϴτϟ΍ ςϠΧ> mix things ϪϋϮΑ Ϧϣ ϪϋϮϛ ϑήόϳ ϻ> he does not know anything ϢϜΑ Ϣλ> can’t hear or speak ΔϋΎρϭ ΎόϤγ> Yes Sir, Yes.

5) Contextualized guessing. Odds and ends was translated ΕΎϳ΍ΪΒϟ΍ ΕΎϳΎϬϨϟ΍ϭ. Here, the student knew the meaning of “ends” but not “odds”, so she used “beginnings” as an opposite of “ends”. Other examples are as follows: x salt and vinegar > ΢ϟΎϣϭ ξϣΎΣ x ϥ΍έϭΩϭ ϒϟ > going around in circles x ήϓϭ ήϛ> hit and run 6) Partial translation. Here the subjects translated part of the binomial and left the other part blank as in: x ΐϴμϨϟ΍ϭ φΤϟ΍> luck x ΪϘόϟ΍ϭ ϞΤϟ΍> the solution x clean and tidy > ΐΗήϣ x fair and square > ϝΩΎϋ 7) Use of synonyms as in: x back and forth > ΎϋϮΟέϭ ΎΑΎϫΫ instead of ΎΑΎϳ·ϭ ΎΑΎϫΫ x win or lose > ήγΎΨϟ΍ϭ ΢Α΍ήϟ΍ , ήδΧϭ ίΎϓ x in whole or in part > Δ΋ΰΠΘϟ΍ ϭ΃ ΔϠϤΠϟΎΑ instead of ϭ΍ ΎϴϠϛ ˬϪϠΟ ϭ΍ ϪϠϛ Ύϴ΋ΰΟ x ϼΟ΁ ϡ΃ ϼΟΎϋ> now or later instead of sooner or later 8) Reversal. In some cases, the subjects reversed the order of the lexical items comprising the binomial. For example, black and white was translated as ΩϮγ΃ϭ ξϴΑ΍, not ξϴΑ΃ϭ ΩϮγ΃. 9) Confusing the binomial with similar common phrases, such as confusing “up and down” with “upside down” as in the following example: x up and down > ΐϘϋ ϰϠϋ Ύγ΃έ x ΎϫΎΤοϭ Δϴθϋ ϦϴΑ > overnight

Translation of English and Arabic Binomials

293

10) Inventing their own binomials. For example, ϝΎϗϭ Ϟϴϗ was translated as “say and said”; and ϚϨϴϋ ϲϨϴϋ as “eyes by eyes”; ΪϴΒϋϭ Ϊϳί as “Bush and John”. Here, again, the subjects resorted to literal translation. 11) Extraneous translation. Some subjects did not know what a binomial means, so they just gave any phrase that they knew, without checking the accuracy of the meaning, as in: x ϞϤΟ ϻϭ ΎϬϴϓ ϲϟ ΔϗΎϧ ϻ > I have no choice x ΏϮϠϐϣ Ύϳ ΐϟΎϏ Ύϳ > either me or you x ϕΰϟ ςΒΧ>copy paste x ϖΑΎδϟ΍ϭ ϖΣϼϟ΍> winner or loser x ΓήϤϟ΍ϭ ΓϮϠΤϟ΍ ϰϠϋ > sickness and health x back and forth > ΔϣΪϘϤϟ΍ϭ ΓήΧΆϤϟ΍ ˬ ϙΎϨϫϭ ΎϨϫ x dollar for dollar > ΪϳΪΤϟ΍ ϻ· ΪϳΪΤϟ΍ Ϟϔϳ ϻ x sick and tired > ΐόΘϣϭ ϖϫήϣ x one to one > ήΧϵ΍ ϮϠΗ ΍ΪΣ΍ϭ x on and off > Ίϔτϳϭ Ϟϐθϳ ˬϖϠϐϣ ϭ΃ Ϟϐθϣ The strategies that translation students in the present study applied in translating binomials are similar to those used by Jordanian, Iraqi and Portuguese students in prior studies. Carvalho (2006) found that Brazilian translators tended to translate all the elements of a binomial literally. In Hamdan’s (2002) study, the subjects used several strategies: sense relations, particularly synonymy and antonymy; semantic approximation; reiterating the given member of the binomial; overgeneralization and abandonments. They did not try to conjoin a noun with a verb or an adjective with an adverb. In Hussein & Lingwood’s (2011) study, Jordanian students used contextualized guessing, avoidance, literal translation, incomplete translation and semantic approximation, respectively. In AlKharabsheh’s (2003) study, the subjects resorted to calque translation, literal translation, idiomatic translation, omission, contraction, transposition, transliteration, expansion, explanation, Naht and blank. The strategies that the subjects used in their mistranslations reflect insufficient knowledge of English and Arabic binomial expressions and what they mean, and inadequate ability to comprehend, match and transfer the meaning of binomial expressions from one language into the other. As Al-Kharabsheh (2003) indicates, the subjects’ poor linguistic competence, their poor contrastive translation competence, the varying degrees of opaqueness in binomial expressions, as well as lack of sufficient experience and practice in English and Arabic binomials are factors that

294

Chapter Seventeen

give rise to a wide range of mistranslations. Failure to provide the missing member of a certain binomial was not due to the absence of the whole binomial as a multi-word unit, but to the learners’ inability to activate the passive knowledge of the binomial (Hamdan, 2002). Furthermore, students’ difficulty with binomial expressions may be due to inadequate instruction. Teachers of translation, as well as English and Arabic language instructors, do not seem to provide sufficient information about binomials and sufficient practise in translating them. The instructors seem to pay more attention to grammatical correctness, fluency and accuracy of expression in oral and written language tasks.

9. Conclusion The findings of the present study show that novice and advanced translation students at COLT had considerable difficulty in translating English and Arabic binomials, especially those with an idiomatic meaning. To help students master English and Arabic binomials, the present study recommends that binomials be directly and explicitly taught in English and Arabic language courses offered to translation students at COLT. It also recommends that English and Arabic language and translation instructors raise students’ awareness of the similarities and differences between English and Arabic binomials, the idiomatic meaning of some binomials, and how to translate binomials that exist in one language but not in the other. Providing students with language and translation activities can help enhance their knowledge of this aspect of language learning (binomials) and develop their ability to transfer the meaning of binomial expressions from English into Arabic and vice versa.

References Abdul-Fattah, Hussein. 2001. “Translatability of Collocations: A Constant Challenge to EFL Learners.” Jordan Journal of Educational Sciences 7 (2): 209–219. AI-Kharabsheh, Aladdin. 2003. The Translation of Different Types of Technico-scientific Compounds from English into Arabic. Ph.D Thesis. UK: University of Salford. Al-Hamdani, Saeed. 1997. Binomial Expressions in Iraqi Arabic with Reference to English: A Phonological Approach. MA Thesis. Iraq: University of Mosul. Al-Shormani, Mohammed, and Yehia Ahmed Al-Sohbani. 2012. “Semantic Errors Committed by Yemeni University Learners:

Translation of English and Arabic Binomials

295

Classifications and Sources.” International Journal of English Linguistics 2 (6): 120–139. Benor, Sarah Bunin, and Roger Levy. 2006. “The Chicken or the Egg? A Probabilistic Analysis of English Binomials.” Language 82 (2): 233– 278. Bhatia, Vijay K. 1993. Analyzing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman. Bolinger, Dwight. 1962. “Binomials and Pitch Accent.” Lingua 11: 34–44. Carvalho, Luciana. 2006. “Translating Binomial Expressions in Legal Agreements: A Corpus-Based Study.” In 2nd European IAFL Conference on Forensic Linguistics/Language and the Law. Barcelona. http://www.tradjuris.com.br/media/files/Barcelona.pdf Cooper, William, and Ross, John. 1975. “World Order.” Chicago Linguistic Society 11 (2): 63–111. Dámová, Petra. 2007. A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on Lexical (Binomial) Expressions. PhD Thesis. Czech Republic: Masaryk University. Golenbock, Janice. 2000. Binomial Expressions—Does Frequency Matter? Unpublished manuscript, Carnegie Mellon University. Accessed February 10, 2013. http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/76451/ golenbock. html. Gorgis, Dinha T., and Yasser Al-Tamimi. 2005. “Binomials in Iraqi and Jordanian Arabic.” Journal of Language and Linguistics 4 (2): 135– 151. Gustafsson, Marita. 1975. Binomial Expressions in Present-Day English: A Syntactic and Semantic Study. Finland: Turun yliopisto. —. 1975. Some Syntactic Properties of English Law Language. Publication No. 4. Turku: University of Turku, Department of English. —. 1984. “The Syntactic Features of Binomial Expressions in Legal English.” Text: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse 4 (1–3): 123–142. Hamdan, Jihad. 2005. “Interacting with Binomials: Evidence from Jordanian EFL Learners.” Poznan Studies of Contemporary Linguistics 40: 135–156. Hamdan, Jihad M., and Mohammad Nour AbuGuba. 2007. “The Treatment of Binomials in Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries.” International Journal of Arabic-English Studies (IJAES) 8: 105–122. Hussein, Riyad F., and Richard Lingwood. 2011. “Strategies Used in Translating English Binomials into Arabic.” Babel 57 (2): 168–184.

296

Chapter Seventeen

Jasim, Basim Yehya. 2009. “Investigating the Advanced Iraqi EFL Learners’ Mastery of Using English Irreversible Binomials.” Adab AlRafidayn 53: 1–30. Lambrecht, Knud. 1984. “Formulaicity, Frame Semantics, and Pragmatics in German Binomial Expressions.” Language 60 (4): 753–796. Mahmoud, Abdulmoneim. 2002. “Interlingual Transfer of Idioms by Arab Learners of English.” The Internet TESL Journal 8 (12). Malkiel, Yakov. 1959. “Studies in Irreversible Binomials.” Lingua 8: 113– 160. Mellinkoff, David. 1963. The Language of the Law. Oregon: Eugene Resource Publications. Saaed, Saeed. 2010. “Phonological constraints on binomials in Iraqi Arabic with reference to English.” Essex Graduate Student Papers in Language and Linguistics 12. Accessed February 10, 2013. http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/publications/egspll/volume_12/ PDF/ Saaed.pdf.

Appendix A Sample of 150 English Binomials aches and pains, alive and kicking, all or nothing, authorize and empower, back and forth, bed and breakfast, bigger and better, bit by bit, bits and pieces, black and blue, black and white, body and soul, bow and arrow, bread and butter, bride and groom, bright and sunny, brother and sister, cats and dogs, chalk and cheese, checks and balances, clean and tidy, cloak and dagger, cops and robbers, crash and burn, cut and dried, dead or alive, death and destruction, dollar for dollar, dos and don'ts, duly and validly, ebb and flow, fair and square, fast and loose, first and foremost, fish and chips, flesh and blood , flesh and bones, foot and mouth, for and against, fruits and vegetables, give and take, give or take, goods and services, ham and eggs, hand to mouth, hands and knees, hard and fast, head and shoulders, head over heels, heads or tails, hearts and flowers, hem and haw, here and there, high and dry, high and low, hit and miss, hit and run, hit or miss, home and dry, horse and carriage, hot and heavy, hot and spicy, huff and puff, hugs and kisses, hustle and bustle, ifs and buts, in whole or in part, ins and outs, kick and scream, kiss and make up, kith and kin, knife and fork, ladies and gentlemen, laugh and cry, law and order, leaps and bounds, life and death, life and soul, life and times, little by little, lo and behold, long and short, loss and gain, lost and found, loud and clear, love and peace, make or break, man and wife, meet and greet, milk and honey, needle and thread, nickel and dime, nip and tuck, nook and

Translation of English and Arabic Binomials

297

cranny, now and then, now or never, null and void, nuts and bolts, odd and even, odds and ends ,on and off, on and on, one to one, open and shut, out and about, part and parcel, peace and quiet, pick and choose, pins and needles, plug and play, pots and pans, prim and proper, pros and cons, rack and ruin, rags to riches, ranting and raving, rise and fall, rise and shine, rock and roll, rough and ready, rough and tough, safe and sound ϭsaints and sinners, salt and vinegar, scratch and win, shake and bake, show and tell, sick and tired, sink or swim, skin and bone, slowly but surely, soap and water, sooner or later, surf and turf, sweet and sour, take it or leave it, thick and thin, through and thorough, tooth and nail, toss and turn, trial and error, true and false, up and down, ups and downs, wash and wear, wear and tear, wet and wild, win or lose, winners and losers, wit and wisdom.

A Sample of 200 Arabic Binomials ˬΕέϮϧ΃ϭ Εήϔγ΃ ˬϮΟ νέ΍ ˬϞρΎΒϟ΍ϭ ϖΤϟ΍ ˬ˯΍ϮΣϭ ϡΩ΍ ˬ˯Ύτϋϭ άΧ΍ ˬΩέϭ άΧ΍ ˬςϴΧϭ ΓήΑ· φϔΤϟΎΑ ˬέΎϨϟ΍ϭ ΪϳΪΤϟΎΑ ˬ΍ήΧ΁ϭ ϻϭ΃ ˬϼϬγϭ ϼϫ΃ ˬήΑΩ΍ϭ ϞΒϗ΍ ˬήΒϏ΍ Κόη΍ ˬϢμόϤϟ΍ϭ ΓέϮγϷ΍ ˬϪϤΤϟϭ ϪϤΤθΑ ˬ΍ήΤΑϭ ΍ήΑ ˬϮΟ ήΑ ˬΔϳΎϬϨϟ΍ϭ Δϳ΍ΪΒϟ΍ ˬΎϔθϟ΍ϭ ΎϨϬϟΎΑ ˬνήόϟ΍ϭ ϝϮτϟΎΑ ˬϥϮμϟ΍ϭ ΏΫΎΠ˷Θϟ΍ ˬΪϋήΗϭ ϕήΒΗ ˬΎϫΎΤοϭ Δϴθϋ ϦϴΑ ˬΎϧΎϣϭ ΎϧΎΣ ϦϴΑ ˬϥΎϣήΤϟ΍ϭ αΆΒϟ΍ ˬϩΪϳΪϗϭ ϩΪϘΑ ˬΕ΍ήϴϐΘϤϟ΍ϭ ΖΑ΍ϮΜϟ΍ ˬΏΎϘόϟ΍ϭ Ώ΍ϮΜϟ΍ ˬΕΎΒϧϭ ΕΎΒΛ ˬήϴϣΰΗϭ ϞϴΒτΗ ˬΕΎΒΜϟ΍ϭ ϝϮΤΘϟ΍ ˬή˵ϓΎϨ˷Θϟ΍ϭ ˬΩήΒϟ΍ϭ ήΤϟ΍ ˬϮϠΣ ξϣΎΣ ˬΩέΎΑ έΎΣ ˬϞΑΎϨϟ΍ϭ ϞΑΎΤϟ΍ ˬΎΑΎϫΫϭ ΔΌϴΟ ˬ΍έΎϬϧ ΍έΎϬΟ ˬϼϴμϔΗϭ ΔϠϤΟ ϖΤϟ΍ ˬΐϴμϨϟ΍ϭ φΤϟ΍ ˬϦδΑ ϦδΣ ˬΐδϧϭ ΐδΣ ˬέΰϓ έΰΣ ˬΔϟ΍Ϊόϟ΍ϭ ΔϳήΤϟ΍ ˬϪΗΎϨϜγϭ ϪΗΎϛήΣ ˬΕϮϣ ϭ΃ ΓΎϴΣ ˬΎϫήϣϭ ΎϫϮϠΣ ˬϡ΍ήΤϟ΍ϭ ϝϼΤϟ΍ ˬϝϻί ϝϼΣ ˬΪϘόϟ΍ϭ ϞΤϟ΍ ˬςΑήϟ΍ϭ ϞΤϟ΍ ˬϞρΎΒϟ΍ϭ ΄τΨϟ΍ ˬϢϜΤϟ΍ϭ ϢμΨϟ΍ ˬϕΰϟ ςΒΧ ˬϊΒλϷ΍ϭ ϢΗΎΨϟ΍ ˬκϴΑ κϴΣ ˬϙΎ˷ϴΑϭ ϙΎ˷ϴΣ ˬΕϮϤϟ΍ϭ ΓΎϴΤϟ΍ Ύοήϟ΍ ˬΎΑΎϳ·ϭ ΎΑΎϫΫ ˬΓήΧϷ΍ ϭ ΎϴϧΪϟ΍ ˬ˯Ύτόϟ΍ϭ ήϴΨϟ΍ ˬήθϟ΍ϭ ήϴΨϟ΍ ˬϝΩήΧϭ ϞΧ ˬΏ΍Ϯμϟ΍ϭ Ρ΍Ϊγ ˬϢϧΎϏ ϢϟΎγ ˬΐΟϮϣϭ ΐϟΎγ ˬϖΣϼϟ΍ϭ ϖΑΎδϟ΍ ˬϦϴηϭ Ϧϳί ˬΪϴΒϋϭ Ϊϳί ˬϕήΑϭ Ϊϋέ ˬϝϮΒϘϟ΍ϭ ˷ςη ˬϚΘΨΑ ϚΘΨη ˬΐϳΎϋϭ ΐϳΎη ˬϢϠϘϟ΍ϭ ϒϴδϟ΍ ˬΔϋΎρϭ ΎόϤγ ˬΐϬϧϭ ΐϠγ ˬϢΘϜΑ ϢΘϜγ ˬΡ΍Ϊϣ ˬΔΠϟϭ ΔΠλ ˬ΢ϟΎτϟ΍ϭ ΢ϟΎμϟ΍ ˬϝΎΟϭ ϝΎλ ˬΩέ΍ϭϭ έΩΎλ ˬΎϋϮοϮϣϭ ϼϜη ˬ΢τϧ ΢τη ˬ˷ςϣϭ ΔϨλ ˬϡϮμϟ΍ϭ Γϼμϟ΍ ˬϢϜΑ Ϣλ ˬϻϭΰϧϭ ΍ΩϮόλ ˬϞϳϮόϟ΍ϭ ΡΎϴμϟ΍/Υ΍ήμϟ΍ ˬΔϴϓΎϋϭ ΔΤλ ˬϝίΎϧ ϊϟΎρ ˬϢ˴ ϟϭ Ϣ˴ ο ˬΔόϤγϭ Ζϴλ ˬΡΎϴϧϭ ΡΎϴλ ˬΕϻϮΟϭ ΕϻϮλ ˬ΄τΨϟ΍ϭ Ώ΍Ϯμϟ΍ ˬΔϧέϭ ϭΪόϟ΍ ˬϞρΎΑ ϞρΎϋ ˬΏίϻ ΏίΎϋ ˬϼΟ΁ ϡ΍ ϼΟΎϋ ˬέϮϨϟ΍ϭ ϡϼψϟ΍ ˬϡϮϠψϤϟ΍ϭ ϢϟΎψϟ΍ ˬϢϏ ΐρ Ϧγ ϰϠϋ ˬΔόδϟ΍ϭ ΐΣήϟ΍ ϰϠϋ ˬΓήϤϟ΍ϭ ΓϮϠΤϟ΍ ϰϠϋ ˬίϮϜ˷ Α ίϮϜ˷ ϋ ˬΔΣϭέϭ ΓϭΪϋ ˬϖϳΪμϟ΍ϭ ˬϦϴϤδϟ΍ϭ Κϐϟ΍ ˬϚϨϴϋ ϲϨϴϋ ˬϚϨϴϋ ϚϨϴϋ ˬΎϧΎϴΑ ΎϧΎϴϋ ˬϝΎ˷τΑ ϰϠϋ ϝΎϤ˷ ϋ ˬϕΎγϭ ϡΪϗ ϰϠϋ ˬ΢ϣέϭ ˬΔϋΎϤΠϟ΍ϭ Ωήϔϟ΍ ˬΡήΘϟ΍ϭ Ρήϔϟ΍ ˬξϴϓ Ϧϣ ξϴϏ ˬήϘϔϟ΍ϭ ϰϨϐϟ΍ ˬΰϤϠϟ΍ϭ ΰϤϐϟ΍ ˬϝΎλϵ΍ϭ ϭΪϐϟ΍ ϲλΎϘϟ΍ ˬϪϟΎΣήΗϭ ϪϠΣ ϲϓ ˬϥϮμϟ΍ϭ φϔΤϟ΍ ϲϓ ˬΔψΤϠϟ΍ϭ ϮΘϟ΍ ϲϓ ˬϥϼϋϭ ϥϼϓ ˬΔϠϳΫήϟ΍ϭ ΔϠϴπϔϟ΍ κϗ ˬΐϴμϧϭ ΔϤδϗ ˬϢϠϘϟ΍ϭ αΎρήϘϟ΍ ˬϕΎγϭ ϡΪϗ ˬϡΫϭ ΡΪϗ ˬξϓήϟ΍ϭ ϝϮΒϘϟ΍ ˬΪϋΎϗ ϢϳΎϗ ˬϲϧ΍Ϊϟ΍ϭ Ζϴ˷ϔϛ ˬήϓϭ ήϛ ˬήϴΜΑ ήϴΜϛ ˬϝΎϗϭ Ϟϴϗ ˬϞόϓϭ ϝϮϗ ˬΎΒϟΎϗϭ ΎΒϠϗ ˬέΎϔϟ΍ϭ ςϘϟ΍ ˬέΪϗϭ ˯Ύπϗ ˬϖμϟϭ ϻϭ βϴϧ΃ ϻ ˬϞϗ΍ ϻϭ ήΜϛ΍ ϻ ˬςϳήϔΗ ϻϭ ρ΍ήϓ· ϻ ˬΏΩϭ ΐϫ Ϧϣ Ϟϛ ˬΓΩέ΍ϭϭ ΓΩέΎη Ϟϛ ˬΖϴ˷ϓϭϭ ϻϭ Ϊ΋΍ί ϻ ˬΖϴϣ ϻϭ ϲΣ ϻ ˬϞρΎΑ ϻϭ ϖΣ ϻ ˬήΒΧ ϻϭ βΣ ϻ ˬϥΎΒϘΑ ϻϭ ϥ΍ΰϴϤΑ ϻ ˬβϴϧϭ ϻϭ Ϊϳΰϳ ϻ ˬςΑήϳ ϻϭ ϞΤϳ ϻ ˬϲϧΎϣ ϻϭ ϲϧΎϛ ϻ ˬΏϮϠϐϣ ϻϭ ΐϟΎϏ ϻ ˬϖϳΪλ ϻϭ ϭΪϋ ϻ ˬκϗΎϧ

298

Chapter Seventeen

ϻϭ ϞϜϳ ϻ ˬήΧΆϳ ϻϭ ϡΪϘϳ ϻ ˬϊϔϨϳ ϻϭ ήπϳ ϻ ˬΩήϳ ϻϭ Ϊμϳ ϻ ˬέϭΎϨϳ ϻϭ ήϳΎδϳ ϻ ˬκϘϨϳ ˬήΒϨϋϭ Ϛδϣ ˬέΰΟϭ Ϊϣ ˬέΎϬϧ Ϟϴϟ ˬϥ΍έϭΩϭ ϒϟ ˬέ΍Ωϭ ϒϟ ˬϰδϋϭ Ϟόϟ ˬϦΠϋ ϭ Ζϟ ˬϞϤϳ ϪγΎγ Ϧϣ ˬϰϟ· Ϧϣ ˬϝϮμϔϣ ωϮτϘϣ ˬΓϻ΍ϮϤϟ΍ϭ ΔοέΎόϤϟ΍ ˬήϤΤϣϭ ήϤθϣ ˬϰϓΎόϣϭ ϰϓΎθϣ ˬΕ΍ήϔϟ΍ϭ ϞϴϨϟ΍ ˬΔψϘϴϟ΍ϭ ϡϮϨϟ΍ ˬ΍έΎϬΟ ΍έΎϬϧ ˬΐϟΎδϟ΍ ϭ ΐΟϮϤϟ΍ ˬΏϮλϭ ΏΪΣ Ϟϛ Ϧϣ ˬϪγ΍ήϟ ΎϨϫ ˬΰϤϠϟ΍ϭ ΰϤϬϟ΍ ˬϢϏϭ Ϣϫ ˬήΒϛϭ ϞϠϫ ˬϼϏϭ ϼϫ ˬϚθΑ Ϛθϫ ˬβϧ βϫ ˬΝήϣϭ Νήϫ ˬεΎΑ εΎϫ ˬΏϮϠϐϣ Ύϳ ΐϟΎϏ Ύϳ ˬΖΑΎλ Ύϳ ΖΑΎΧ Ύϳ ˬΐϴΨΗ Ύϳ ΐϴμΗ Ύϳ ˬ˯΍ήΒϟ΍ϭ ˯ϻϮϟ΍ ˬϢϠΤϟ΍ϭ ϊϗ΍Ϯϟ΍ ˬϙΎϨϫϭ ϦϴϤϳ ˬέΎδϴϟ΍ϭ ϦϴϤϴϟ΍ ˬΓήδϳϭ ΔϨϤϳ ˬέϭΪϳϭ ϒϠϳ ˬΡήϤϳϭ Ρήδϳ ˬΪϋήϳϭ ΪΑΰϳ ˬϝϮΘϘϣ Ύϳ ϞΗΎϗ Ύϳ .ήθΒϳϭ ήηΆϳ ˬέΎδϳϭ

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN SELF-REPORTED PRACTICES OF PROFESSIONAL CURAÇAOAN PAPIAMENTU TRANSLATORS AND WRITERS: A WINDOW ON THEIR INFLUENCE ON PAPIAMENTU STANDARDIZATION1 COURTNEY PARKINS FERRÓN ROVIRA I VIRGILI UNIVERSITY, SPAIN

Abstract This paper is part of a larger study concerning the phenomenon of lexical transfer and its influence on the standardization of one Caribbean creole—Curaçaoan Papiamentu. The quantitative results from the analysis of the responses obtained from 205 Papiamentu translators and writers are the focus of this paper. Hypothesis testing involves the variables of lexical transfer, formal training, professional experience, economic reward, and text status. The results therefrom indicate that Papiamentu translators and writers reported that they tend to transfer lexical items from English into Papiamentu but not all to the same extent, not in all the same cases or for all the same reasons. Keywords: Creole standardization, creole translation, lexical transfer, lexifier source language, Papiamentu, Papiamentu standardization, Papiamentu translation, Papiamentu translator, Papiamentu writer, translation agency.

1. Introduction I have noticed the profuse attention that creoles have received in certain fields of study, such as linguistics and literature, and also felt the

300

Chapter Eighteen

neglect of their investigation in Translation Studies. As with all modern languages, translation is a part of the reality of creoles. Its role in this reality is vibrant and translators’ and writers’ practices frequently reveal unexpected outcomes. One such practice is that of transferring lexical items from a source language not related to the creole target language undergoing standardization. In linguistic and literary studies, stories have been told about the creoles. However, the creoles, too, have their own stories to tell. Thus, it is necessary to pull into sharp focus the translation practices concerning these languages and let them speak for themselves within the sphere of Translation Studies.

1.1. Definition of Creole For the purpose of this study, the term “creole” refers to those Caribbean languages (not people) that have been lexified in part by at least one European language, owing to the fact that Africans came into contact with Europeans involved in colonial expansion and the Atlantic slave trade. The particular creole under study is Curaçaoan Papiamentu used on the island of Curaçao.

1.2. Why an Unrelated Lexifier Language? Historically and linguistically, Papiamentu has derived most of its lexicon from two Romance languages—Spanish and Portuguese. Therefore, I refer to these two as the inherent or related lexifiers of Papiamentu. They are, however, not the focus of this study. As related as English and Dutch are to each other (in that they are both Germanic languages), they are neither linguistically nor historically related to Papiamentu. Yet, they happen to exist synchronically with it in Curaçao where efforts to maintain Papiamentu as the country’s official first language have been successful even as further measures are taken to limit in it the use of Dutch and English. Despite such measures, English seems to prevail as the main unrelated Papiamentu lexifier, thereby showing evidence of influencing the standardization process of this creole.

1.3. The Aim of the Study This paper is part of a larger lexical transfer and its influence Papiamentu. However, the focus estimate this influence. Rather, it

study concerning the phenomenon of on the standardization of Curaçaoan of the present paper itself is not to is the quantitative results of a survey

Practices of Professional Curaçaoan Papiamentu Translators and Writers 301

involving 205 professional Papiamentu translators and writers in order to determine whether certain factors about their translation and/or writing professions varied with their practice of transferring lexical items from English into their Papiamentu texts. This determination is of significance as it could, in theory and practice, imply an overlooked involvement of translation in the Caribbean creole standardization process facilitated by translators on the “frontline”, where they function as vibrant and possibly innovative users of the lexical items they transfer. This research focus is in keeping with Liu’s (2011:51) observation that “understanding translation practitioners is a mission of Translation Studies itself.” (see also Chesterman and Arrojo 2000)

2. Papiamentu Translators and Writers 2.1. Papiamentu Translators For the purpose of this study, a professional Papiamentu translator is strictly any person who for payment expresses the ideas of an English source text in the creole target language (Papiamentu), thus producing a corresponding written text (the Papiamentu target text), also called a Papiamentu translation. The Papiamentu translator also allows for constraints that include culture, context, the grammar rules of the source and target languages, their writing conventions, and their turns of phrase. By this definition, this research is restricted to written translation. On the island of Curaçao I discovered that the set of all Papiamentu translators does not only engage in translation. There are translators who only translate (exclusive translators: T), translators who also write (writing translators: wT), writers who also translate (translating writers: tW), and also people who write and translate on just about an equal level (writers/translators: WT). Thus, these four groups (T, wT, tW, WT) make up the set of all Papiamentu translators. The set of all those who do both, that is, write and translate are wT, tW, and WT (Table 2-1). I refer to them as translators-and-writers. The common denominator among all four groups (T, wT, tW, WT) is that they work into Papiamentu. It is important to note here that for the purpose of this research, the term “exclusive” refers only to the translator’s restriction to translation and to the writer’s restriction to writing; it does not refer to any quality of eliteness or elegance. The Papiamentu translators in this research are all the respondents to the questionnaire concerning translation into Papiamentu and the transfer of lexical items from English into it.

Chapter Eighteen

302

2.2. Papiamentu Writers This study would not be meaningful if Papiamentu translators were discussed without considering Papiamentu exclusive writers (W), particularly because translators commonly work with materials that writers create. These professionals may be journalists, editors, publishers, book developers or novelists. Like the professional Papiamentu translator, the professional Papiamentu exclusive writer writes for payment and allows for constraints that include culture, context, grammar rules, writing conventions, and turns of phrases concerning Papiamentu and the source language (here English). By this definition, the Papiamentu exclusive writer produces written work originally in Papiamentu, not by way of translation. I refer to this Papiamentu work as a Papiamentu nontranslation. Table 2-1: Types of Papiamentu Translators and Exclusive Writers Symbol T wT WT tW W

Type Exclusive translator Writing translator Writer/Translator Translating writer Exclusive writer

Description A translator who strictly translates and does not engage in writing. A translator who also writes but engages more in translating than in writing. A person who engages in both writing and translating on an equal level. A writer who also translates but engages more in writing than in translating. A writer who strictly writes and does not engage in translating.

3. Research Questions, Hypotheses and Variables 3.1. Research Questions The central question which this research addresses is as follows: When Papiamentu translators and writers prepare written texts in Papiamentu, is their practice of using English expressions in them influenced by factors, such as their training, years of experience, payment for their work, and the status of the text? This question takes into account the possibility that Papiamentu translators-and-writers (wT, WT and tW) may function in their translating

Practices of Professional Curaçaoan Papiamentu Translators and Writers 303

capacity differently from how they do in their non-translating (writing) capacity.

3.2. Research Hypothesis The main research hypothesis is formulated as follows: The self-reported lexical transfer activity of Papiamentu translators and writers varied with respect to their formal training, professional experience, economic reward, and text status. In this study, I posit that formal training in translation and/or writing, professional experience, economic reward, and the status of a source text are all significant factors in Papiamentu translators’ and writers’ practice of transferring lexical items from English into Papiamentu. I believe that this proposition is vital because a positive correlation between the selfreported lexical transfer activity could be due to any of these variables and any other variable that researchers may find testable in future research.

3.3. The Research Variables The variables which are formally part of the central hypothesis are as stated above. Thus, I will now turn to discuss how I have operationalized each of them. 3.3.1. Lexical Transfer Activity By “lexical transfer” I mean: 1) the use of vocabulary items without any morphological change whatsoever in Papiamentu (for example, the use of the English words “playoff”, “stakeholder”, “self-service” in Papiamentu texts); 2) the use or transcription of a lexical item in the form of a morphological translation (for example, “playoffnan” for “playoffs” or “workshopnan” for “workshops”, where the suffix –nan is a plural marker in Papiamentu); 3) morphophonetic translation (for example, “peperclep” for “paperclip”, “dèshbòrt” for “dashboard”, “wikpòint” for “weak point”) or syntactic imitation (for example, the rendering of “no wòri” for “don’t worry”) (see Dijkhoff 1994; Ratzlaff 1995; Fundashon pa Planifikashon de Idioma 2009). The lexical transfer variable is discrete and dependent as it is taken to be a function of the other five. Thus - from self-reported data based on a 5-point Likert scale where 1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = occasionally, 4 = frequently, and 5 = always - the frequency with which

304

Chapter Eighteen

the Papiamentu translators and writers transfer lexical items into their Papiamentu translations or non-translations was estimated (see also Lewis 1997). 3.3.2. Formal Training The formal training variable refers to whether the questionnaire respondents have had formal training in translation and/or writing. This variable is independent and discrete, taking only two values: 1 for “yes” and 0 for “no”. Where the answer is “yes”, the type of training is noted. 3.3.3. Professional Experience The professional experience variable refers to the length of time in years of translation or writing experience of the respondent. However, this variable is accounted for in a two-part response. One part is an expression of the estimated length of time as follows: “less than one year”; “between 1 and 5 years inclusive”; “between 6 and 10 years inclusive”; “between 11 and 15 years inclusive”; and “more than 15 years”. The other part tells the frequency of the translation and/or writing activity in which the respondent has the reported years of experience as follows: “every day”, “once a week”, less than once a week”, “rarely” and “other”. This way of measuring the respondents’ experience is necessary since the experience of someone with 15 years of experience and who rarely translates is not likely to be comparable to someone with 15 years of experience of someone who translates every day. Thus, values of length and frequency are paired for the overall measurement of the respondent’s reported professional experience. Additionally, each level of experience carried a value that ranked the experience, so longer experience received a higher rank. Similarly, with regard to the frequency of the activity generating the experience, the greater the frequency, the higher the value attached to it. This variable is independent, discrete and is operationalized as described here through self-reported questionnaire data. 3.3.4. Economic Reward I wanted to find out whether the survey participant based their decision to engage in the transfer of lexical items from English to Papiamentu on any of the following situations: 1) the payment which they receive for their translation and/or writing tasks; 2) the guarantee of payment; 3) the guarantee of future translation and/or writing assignments; and 4) whether

Practices of Professional Curaçaoan Papiamentu Translators and Writers 305

the end-user’s demand for the translation and/or non-translation is affected by the use of English expressions in it. This variable is independent, discrete and measured by self-reported questionnaire data based on a 5point Likert scale from 1 = never to 5 = always. 3.3.5. Text Status By this variable I wanted to determine whether the survey participants based their decision to engage in lexical transfer on any of the following situations where the Papiamentu text: 1) has to meet regulatory requirements; 2) is related to safety precautions; 3) is highly academic; and 4) is the respondent’s. This variable is independent, discrete and measured by self-reported questionnaire data based on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 = never to 5 = always.

4. Statistical Methodology 4.1. Partitioned Hypotheses The research hypothesis tested by inferential statistics was that the selfreported lexical transfer activity of Papiamentu translators and writers varied with respect to their formal training, professional experience, economic reward, and text status. Accordingly, it was partitioned into 12 lower-level null hypotheses proposing that no systematic relationships (for example, differences or associations) exist among the observed data based on the variables collected by the questionnaire.

4.2. Choice of Statistical Tests Parametric statistics (for example, means and standard deviations) cannot be used to analyze the quantitative data collected in this study because such statistics assume that the variables are measured at the interval level. That means there is an equal distance between each successive unit, and they are normally distributed. The responses to questions using a five-point scale were not measured at the interval level because it could not be assumed that the respondents perceived that the intervals between successive points on the prescribed response scale (for example, “never” and “rarely”, or between “frequently” and “always”) were equal (Long et al. 2003). Only non-parametric null hypothesis significance tests (NHST) could be justified to analyze the ordinal and nominal variables collected in this study, including Chi-square (Ȥ2) tests, Z

306

Chapter Eighteen

tests for the comparison of proportions, and Kruskal-Wallis tests for the comparison of grouped medians (Agresti 2007). The methods used in this study followed the SPSS (version 18) protocols described by Field (2009). Details about the solicitation of respondents, administration of the questionnaire and response rates are found in the Appendix.

5. Results The inferential statistical tests were computed at the .005 level of significance to compare the lexical transfer activity of Papiamentu translators and writers (see Parkins Ferrón 2013). The results are presented systematically in the order of testing the 12 lower-level null hypotheses and provided evidence to conclude the following.

5.1. Lexical Transfer by Formal Training H01: English-to-Papiamentu lexical transfer is not associated with whether the respondents have had formal training. The cross-tabulations of the 205 respondents by formal training versus lexical transfer activity are presented in the Appendix: Tables 1 and 2. A significant association at Į = .005 between the lexical transfer activity and formal training was found when the respondents were divided into translators and exclusive writers (Total Ȥ2 = 68.314, p15 years. It was not possible to partition further how often the exclusive writers reported that they wrote. The Z test for the comparison of two proportions (.78 versus .60) provided evidence to reject the null hypothesis at Į = .005 with respect to those with >15 years of

308

Chapter Eighteen

experience (Z = 2.81, p = .0025). The null hypothesis was, however, not rejected at Į = .005 with respect to those with 15 years, but not when it was 15 years (Appendix: Table 6). The one-tailed Z test for the comparison of two proportions (.78 versus .51) provided evidence not to reject the null hypothesis Į = .005 with respect to those with ”15 years of experience (Z = 2.77, p = .997). The null hypothesis was, however, rejected with respect to those with >15 years of experience (Z = 3.44, p = 15 years, but not when it was