key terms in translation studies

TERMS IN TRANSLATIONS STUDIES BY BUHSRA TABASSUMUNIVERSITY OF GUJRAT

BORROWING:

• The use of source language item in the target language typically there are cultural items such as french Baguette or Russian rouble which do to exist in the source text or which are used to give a foreign character to the target text.

CALQUE:

• The process where by the individual elements of an source language item are translated literaly to produce target language equivalent e.g ministere des finances( ministry of finance)

CATAPHORA:

• The use of the linguistic item to refere forward to sub sequent element in the text for example: ( in his speech the king said…… )

Category shift:•A translation at a different rank in the target

language e.g (source text word by target text group)

COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS:

•A branch of linguistics which studies the role of such mental processes as inference in the reasoning necessary for processing text.

Coherence:•A standard which all well-formed texts must

meet and which stipulates that the grammatical and lexical relationships “hang together” and make overall sense as text.

ACCEPTABILITY:

• Acceptability is the text receiver attitude in the communication.

• Acceptability in the sense that text receiver accept a language configuration as a cohesive and coherent text capable of utilization.

• Sentences to be judged grammatically or ungrammatically.

COHESION:

•Cohesion is "the glue that sticks a sentence to another in a paragraph or a paragraph to another in a text."•Cohesion describes the way in which a text is tied together by linguistic devices, such as And so we see . . . , Additonally . . . , Therefore . . . , However . . . and On the other hand . . .

COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS:Breaking down of lexical items into their basic

meanings components.

Componential analysis is the analysis of words through structured sets of semantic features, which are given as “present”, “absent” or “indifferent with reference to feature”

For example : man = [+ male], [+ mature] or

  woman = [– male], [+ mature]

 boy = [+ male], [– mature]

 girl = [– male] [– mature]

  child = [+/– male] [– mature].

CONTEXT:

The multi-layered extra-textual environment which exerts a determining influence of the language used.

The ideology of the speaker on the other hand would form part of the context of culture. Whether the translation is in written form, orally done or as subtitling\dubbing etc.

It is divided into two parts.

Context of culture.

Context of situation.

CONTEXT OF CULTURE:

Cultural context looks at the society the characters live in and at how their culture can affect their behavior and their opportunities.

Think about where and when each text is set.

The most powerful forces in a society include religion, gender roles, attitudes towards sex and marriage, social status/class, job opportunities/emigration, (wealth/poverty), politics, authority figures, stereotypes/ethnic identity.

CONTEXT OF SITUATION:

The Context of Situation is the “environment in which meanings are being exchanged” and is comprised of three elements:

Field: refers to what is happening.

Tenor: refers to who is taking part.

Mode of Discourse: refers to what part the language is playing.

CO-TEXT:

The other lexical items that occur before and after a word.

Contrastive analysis:Analysis of two or more different languages with the

aim of identifying places.

CORPUS:

• An electronically readable database of naturally product texts (i.e text which have been written for genuine communicative purpose and not invented for analysis ) which can be analysed for word frequency, collocation, etc by computer.

CROSS-CULTURAL PRAGMATICS:

• The study of culturally different ways of using language , and of different expectations among different members of linguistics communities regarding how meaning is negotiated.

IDEOLOGY:

• A body of ideas that reflects the beliefs and interests of an individual, a group of individuals, a societal institution, etc and that ultimately finds expression in language.

Animate Agency:• Use of non-human agent or ‘doer’ of a process or action, e.g

Tears coursed down her cheeks.

INDIRECT TRANSLATION

• A precondition for the intelligibility of texts involving the dependent of one text upon another. Horizontal intertexuality involves direct reference to another text. Vertical intertexuality is more an allusion and can refer to mode of writing.

INTRALINGUAL TRANSLATION

• Translation with in the same language (e.g paraphrase or rewording)

Kinship terms:• Terms that are used to describe blood or family relations

with in a group.

LEVEL SHIFT:

• A shift between source text grammar and target text lexis, or vise versa.

Intertexuality:• A precondition for the intelligibility of texts,involving the

dependence of one text upon another. Horizontal intertexuality involves direct reference to another text. Vertical intertexuality is more an allusion and can refer to a mode of writing.

INTERLINGUAL TRANSLATION:

• Translation between two different languages.

Interpreting:• Spoken translation sometimes also called interpretation.

Pragmatics Meaning:The domain or purpose for which utterance are used in real contexts.

Procedure:It sees the translations procedure.

Process of translation:What happens as the translator works on a translation.

Product:The Finished TT resulting from the translation process.

Propositional Content:What is involved in saying something that is meaningful and can be understood.

Rank:Term used by Hallidayto refer to different linguistic units,namely morpheme word and sentence.

Reception:The reaction TT receives from its readers. Published reviews are one instance of reception in the SL culture.

Register:The set of features which distinguishes one stretch of language from another in terms of context,relating to language users .

Resemblance:The relationship between ST and TT segment achieved through adherence to relevant.

Re-Writing:Meta linguistics processes,including translation,which can be said to reinterpret,alter or generally manipulate text to serve a variety of ideological motives.

Purpose:The intention behind the production of a text.

Schema/Schemeta:A global pattern representing the underlying structure which accounts for the organization of a text. A schemata story for example,may consist of a number of episodes,each of which would include events and reactions.

Script:It’s a global pattern realized by units of meanings that consists of events and actions related to particular situations. For example, A text may be structured around the “restaurant script” which represents our knowledge of how restaurant work: waiters,waitresses,cooks,tables where customers sits,pursue menu and their meals and pay the bill at the end.

Semantics:Sees the meaning of words.