Syntax, Discourse Analysis, and Translation Studies

Babel ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Colina

Abstract The linguistics of the 60s and 70s did not prove to be of much help to translation and translation theory, due to the emphasis placed on languages as formal systems. However, newer directions of linguistics research which focus on the communicative function of language, such as text linguistics, discourse analysis, pragmatics, have much to offer to translation studies. This paper shows how discourse analysis can be applied to translation and highlights some of the benefits of knowledge of linguistics and discourse analysis for the translation teacher, the student and the professional translator. In addition, it joins recent literature on translation studies and linguistics (House and Blum-Kulka 1986; Hatim and Mason 1990; Neubert and Shreve 1992; Baker 1992) in calling for a more influential role of linguistics in translation studies and translation theory. Working within discourse analysis and, in particular, syntax in discourse, i.e. discourse functions of syntactic constructions, the present study examines the discourse functions of the passive in Spanish and in English. The paper first presents a contrastive description of the textual functions of the passive in English and in Spanish based on a corpus of original texts in both languages. Then a discourse-based explanation for the differences is provided. Finally, the author examines the solutions found in translation as well as the analysis' efficiency in predicting and/or explaining such solutions. Résumé La linguistique des années 60 et 70, période pendant laquelle la langue était conçue comme un système formel, ne se prêtait pas bien à la traduction et à sa théorie. La recherche portant sur la linguistique a depuis changé d'orientation; on reconnaît maintenant l'aspect communicatif de la langue. On accorde donc une importance particulière à la linguistique, à l'analyse du discours et à la pragmatique, entre autres, ce qui se prête beaucoup mieux au concept de la traduction. La présente étude démontre comment on peut appliquer l'analyse de la rédaction à la traduction et souligne quelques-uns des avantages qu'offre la connaissance de cette analyse et de la linguistique pour l'enseignant, l'étudiant et le traducteur professionnel. De plus, l'auteur se joint aux auteurs d'études récentes portant sur la traduction et la linguistique (House et Blum-Kulka, 1986; Hatim et Mason, 1990; Neubert et Shreve, 1992; Baker, 1992) en recommandant un rôle plus important pour la linguistique dans l'étude et la théorie de la traduction. A l'aide d'une analyse du discours, et plus particulièrement de la syntaxe, c'est-à-dire de la fonction de la syntaxe dans la rédaction, le rapport examine l'emploi du passif dans les langues espagnole et anglaise. On établit d'abord le contraste entre la fonction textuelle du passif dans la langue anglaise et celle dans la langue espagnole en étudiant un corpus de textes dans les deux langues. On explique ensuite la différence du point de vue de la rédaction. Enfin, l'auteur examine les solutions qu'apporte la traduction et l'efficacité de l'analyse pour prévoir et pour expliquer ces solutions.

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 107-113
Author(s):  
Orbodoeva Larisa M. ◽  
◽  
Sambueva Vera B. ◽  
Taraskina Yaroslava W. ◽  
◽  
...  

The article deals with the requirements for the Linguistics Bachelor’s thesis, the program of Translation and Translation Studies in the Buryat State University. At present the issue of correlation between the research topics of graduate papers and needs of the translation market is becoming relevant because it helps to improve the quality of future translators’ preparation. Bachelor’s thesis should solve real complex translation objectives. The purpose of this article is to justify the need for a practical orientation of the Bachelor’s thesis. The methodological basis of the study is a practiceoriented approach to learning. The material of the study is the Federal Educational Standard in Linguistics, Bachelor’s level; the Professional Translator Standard, Buryat State University students’ graduate papers of the past five years majoring in Translation and Translation Studies. Research methods are analysis of the translation theory and practice literature; study and analysis of legal documents regulating the process of obtaining Bachelor’s degrees in Linguistics, the method of summarizing pedagogical experience. The Professional Translator Standard’s introduction requires the revision of practice-oriented approach to training and to writing the Bachelor’s graduate papers, which changes the research tasks of the Bachelor’s thesis and the selection of the material of the thesis that would meet the market requirements. Keywords: linguistic education, translator’s competencies, graduate paper, bachelor’s thesis,practical-oriented approach, translation solutions


2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahir Wood

AbstractThis article is intended as a new departure in the theory of the constitution and comprehension of discourse. It begins by extending the notions, familiar in the field of text linguistics, of cohesion and coherence, in such a way as to explain the kinds of necessary relations that exist amongst texts to create larger bodies of discourse that are cognitively real, in just the way that texts are cognitively real. The theoretical approach that has been adopted for this purpose is the Cognitive Discourse Analysis approach of Teun van Dijk. It depends upon the constitutive role of propositions. I go on to claim that the potential in this approach for explaining the nature of texts, their relations within broader realms of discourse, and their subjective comprehension extends to some notoriously difficult areas of research, including the nature of the so-called abstract concepts. Furthermore, it seems that the hypotheses advanced here are eminently testable. What I find especially promising in an approach based on a theory of propositions and intertextual relations is that it potentially opens up the way to a foundational theory that is universally applicable to texts of all conceivable types. For example, where literature has been conceived of as existing in opposition to other non-literary genres, and therefore requiring a branch of theory all its own, the attempt here is rather to show that texts of all types are mutually implicated in interesting ways and that identifying a separate cognitive function of ‘literariness’ is not always and everywhere the best way to understand literature. In the later pages of this article I will attempt to show how narrative genres exemplify certain of the discourse processes I have in mind, particularly how narrative (macro) propositions supply meanings that can be nominalised as abstract nouns.


Target ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Schäffner

This article investigates the role of translation and interpreting in political discourse. It illustrates discursive events in the domain of politics and the resulting discourse types, such as jointly produced texts, press conferences and speeches. It shows that methods of Critical Discourse Analysis can be used effectively to reveal translation and interpreting strategies as well as transformations that occur in recontextualisation processes across languages, cultures, and discourse domains, in particular recontextualisation in mass media. It argues that the complexity of translational activities in the field of politics has not yet seen sufficient attention within Translation Studies. The article concludes by outlining a research programme for investigating political discourse in translation.


2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-155
Author(s):  
Georgia Kostopoulou

Abstract The communicative text-linguistic approach to the study of texts and their theoretical and methodological problems plays an important role in Translation Studies and in Translation Didactics. The need to use and utilise the textual factors in the translation process and teaching is apparent in various linguistic and translational theories given that Translation, an act of speech and communication, is not performed at the level of language, but at the level of the text and discourse, utilising both linguistic and extralinguistic devices. This paper examines one of the seven textual factors, according to the basic theory of de Beaugrande and Dressler, i.e., the factor of coherence. Given that coherence expresses the logical consistency of utterances in terms of content – and therefore the construction of meaning – concepts such as knowledge, patterns and types of knowledge, frames and scripts, memory, are crucial for describing and examining this factor when approaching and understanding a text. Moreover, the interconnection of text linguistics, translation and cognition is evident, considering de Beaugrande’s argument (1999) that “text linguistics has always had a resolutely cognitive orientation because the text must be described as both product and process.” Furthermore, we shall examine how teachers of translation courses may take into account these concepts and elements when choosing texts for translation purposes, and utilise the theory of high-coherence and low-coherence texts (D. McNamara) in order to assist translator trainees in enhancing their extralinguistic knowledge and in using their prior knowledge during the comprehension/decoding phase of the translation act.


1970 ◽  
Vol 22 (1(31)) ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Teresa Tomaszkiewicz

More and more interdisciplinary character of translation studies In this text the author presents the short history of translations studies and their evolution in the last 70 years. It has to be stressed out that during this period the relations between translation studies and linguistics were very closed. Even now when translation studies are recognised as an independent scientific domain at the universities they still have a strong relationship with many branches of linguistics. More over this interdisciplinary character of translation studies can be seen in the contemporary researches. In the article this theses is exemplified by the relations between translation, conversation analysis and semiology. Also it is underlying the role of the person of translator. The author’s postulate is to use in the description of this scientific field the appellation in plural: translation studies.


Author(s):  
Majdi Haji Ibrahim

ملخص البحث: يهدف هذا البحث إلى عرض بعض الجوانب النصية المستقاة من لغويات النص في دراسات الترجمة الحديثة على المستويين النظري والتطبيقي. ويبدأ بتقديم أهم الأسباب والدوافع وراء تحول دراسات الترجمة الحديثة من الاعتماد على النظريات اللغوية التقليدية إلى الاعتماد على النظرية التأويلية التي تدعو إلى اعتماد النص وحدة الترجمة الأساسية، ثم ينتقل إلى الحديث عن أنماط النص في الترجمة للتأكيد على ضرورة استيعاب كمالية النص الأصلي من أجل خلق كمالية النص المترجم. وأخيراً، يقدم البحث المعايير النصية التي اعتمدها روجر بيل من أجل قياس جودة الترجمة. وجدت الدراسة أن النظرية التأويلية في دارسة الترجمة اليوم أثبتت جدارتها وتفوقها على النظريات اللغوية التقليدية، من منطلق أن الترجمة لا توجد قبل النص، وعلى هذا الأساس فإن النص في عملية الترجمة يجب أن يكون وحدة الترجمة، وليست الكلمات والجمل المنفردة، وأن نظرية الترجمة بحاجة إلى ماسة إلى النظرية التأويلية.   الكلمات المفتاحية: المدخل التأويلي- أنماط النصوص-القصد- المقبولية – البينصية.   Abstract: The paper aims to present theoretically and practically some of the textual aspects derived from text linguistics in modern translation studies. It points out the impetus that led translation studies to turn to textual unit as the focus after relying sometimes on traditional language theories. It discusses text types in translation to ensure the absorption of every aspects of the source text to produce its reflection in the target text. Another textual aspect touched by the paper is the standards of textuality which became a foundation in Bell’s assessment scheme for translation quality. The paper concludes that the hermeneutic theory had managed to gain considerably solid footing in translation studies over the traditional linguistic theories, since there will not be a translation without a text, therefore text should become the focus of translation theory no single words or phrases.   Keywords: Hermeneutic approach – Text types – Intentionality – Acceptability – Intertextuality.   Abstrak: Kajian ini menumpukan secara teoretikal dan praktikal terhadap beberapa aspek tekstual yang dirumuskan daripada bidang teks linguistik dalam kajian penterjemahan moden. Ia menjelaskan tentang sebab yang mendorong kajian penterjemahan moden untuk berpaling kepada teks sebagai unit tumpuan kajian setelah beberpa ketika memberikan perhatian kepada dapatan teori-teori bahasa tradisional. Ia membicarakan jenis-jenis teks dalam terjemahan untuk memastikan pencernaan setiap aspek tekstual teks asal untuk dilahirkan semula dalam teks sasar. Aspek tekstual lain yang dibicarakan dalam kajian ini ialah piawaian tekstual yang menjadi asas kepada skima penilaian kualiti terjemahan yang dicadangkan Bell. Kajian ini merumuskan bahawa teori takwili telah diberikan tumpuan yang lebih penting dalam kajian penterjemahan daripada teori bahasa tradisional memandangkan terjemahan itu sendiri tidak akan terhasil tanpa teks. Ini memberikan satu sebab untuk memberikan keutamaan kepada teks dalam terjemahan dan bukan perkataan atau frasa.   Kata kunci: Pendekatan takwili – Jenis-jenis teks – Tujuan teks – Penerimaan teks – Hubungan antara teks.


Target ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mira Kim ◽  
Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen

Discourse analysis has grown in applied linguistics since the 1970s and its application in translation studies became prominent in the 1990s (Munday 2012, 137). One of the topics in discourse analysis that has been given particular attention by translation scholars is the translation of choices within the textual metafunction, with particular focus on the role of Theme and its impact on thematic development in text. A number of studies have generated new insights into the translation of textual choices, for example concerning failures to recreate patterns of thematic progression. The growth of this area of research is a highly encouraging development since it had previously been largely neglected in translation studies (House 1997, 31). While these studies have focused on separate micro-issues in specific language pairs, the present article attempts to conduct a comprehensive review of existing studies on this topic in order to (i) highlight major topics addressed so far and (ii) make suggestions for further studies into this important area of translation from a systemic functional linguistic perspective.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-459
Author(s):  
Tatyana B. Barannikova ◽  
Fatimat N. Suleymanova

The topicality and novelty of this article, devoted to the device of stylistic contrast, are predetermined by its rather poor study, as well as by the approach to its investigation from the angle of translation theory and comparative linguistics. The material of the research includes the examples of stylistic contrast selected from literary texts in the Lezghin language and their translations into Russian, Russian-language literary texts and their translations into the Lezghin language. The work is based on the semantico-stylistic and comparative methods, the method of linguistic description of a literary text, elements of linguoculturological and conceptual analysis, as well as the specific methods of translation studies (comparison of the translation and the original, comparison of various translations, questionnaire of informants, educational translation, an experiment). The results of the research consist in clarifying the proceeding interpretation of stylistic contrast, as well as in identifying the difficulties that translators face when transmitting it in a literary text, and indicating the algorithm for overcoming them. They can be used in the courses of Stylistics, Text Linguistics, Translation Theory and Practice, etc., as well as in the development of the translation direction in the Dagestani linguistics, which needs practical developments and theoretical generalizations.


1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dick Leith

Abstract: To non-specialists, academic disciplines invariably seem homogeneous, even monolithic. But even a relatively young discipline such as modem linguistics is more diverse in its procedures and concerns than might appear to those working in other fields. In this paper I attempt to show how certain kinds of linguistic inquiry might be relevant to those whose primary concern is rhetoric. I argue that these practices are often opposed to what I call the dominant paradigm in modern linguistics, with its commitment to abstraction and idealization. I discuss first those strands of linguistics, such as discourse analysis, text-linguistics, and stylistics, which tend to take the social formation for granted; I end by considering recent trends in so-called critical language study. Finally, I offer some thoughts on how linguistics may proceed in order to achieve a more programmatic rapprochement with rhetoric.


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