scholarly journals Understanding translation as a site of language contact

Target ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Malamatidou
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Linguistic Development ◽  
A Site ◽  
Important Site

Abstract This paper begins by acknowledging translation as an important site of language contact and its primary aim is to reinterpret a theoretical framework from the field of language contact, namely Johanson’s Code-Copying Framework (1993, 1999, 2002a), with translation in mind. The framework is then systematically applied to empirical data and a corpus-based study is conducted, using the translation of popular science articles from English into Greek as a case in point, and in particular examining any change in the frequency of passive voice reporting verbs. The discussion and corpus analysis suggest that the Code-Copying Framework offers a new vantage point for understanding translation as facilitating linguistic development in the target language, and that translation studies can benefit from adopting it as a descriptive mechanism when comparing instances of contact through translation across languages.

scholarly journals Passive Voice and the Language of Translation: A Comparable Corpus-Based Study of Modern Greek Popular Science Articles

2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 411-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Malamatidou
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Translation Practice ◽  
Language Corpus

Little research has been conducted so far into the translation-specific features that are dependent on both the source and the target language. This study aims at examining whether Modern Greek translated popular science articles differ from non-translated ones by being closer to the source language, which is English, in terms of the frequency and the word order of the passive voice constructions. This is one of the few Modern Greek studies that use a comparable corpus in order to better understand the nature of the translation practice. The corpus analysed consists of Modern Greek popular science articles and is divided into two subcorpora: the translated language corpus and the non-translated language corpus. The study indicates that there is substantial evidence that Modern Greek articles employ some translation-specific features which are dependent on the source language, at least in terms of some passive voice features. More importantly, it suggests that the non-translated texts tend to be similar to the translated ones, which are in turn closer to the English source texts. Even though it is early to conclude that translation encourages the different usage of particular linguistic features in non-translated texts, the data provide indirect evidence that translation is a potential field of language contact with important consequences.

Quantity of target language contact in study abroad and knowledge of multiword expressions

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klara Arvidsson
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Repeated Exposure ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Linguistic Development ◽  
Multiword Expressions ◽  
Contact Information ◽  
Cloze Test

Abstract This study takes a Usage-Based approach to the learning of French multiword expressions (MWEs) in Study Abroad (SA). MWEs are conventionalized form-meaning mappings, for example du coup (‘and so’) and en fait (‘actually’), and are assumed to be learned through repeated exposure. Based on this assumption, the study adopted a pretest/posttest design to explore how quantity of out-of-class target-language (TL) contact predicted the development of MWE knowledge among 41 Swedish students during a semester in France. MWE knowledge was assessed by a modified cloze test based on transcriptions of informal language use (www.clapi.fr) and TL contact information was obtained through the Language Engagement Questionnaire (McManus, Mitchell, & Tracy-Ventura, 2014). Contrary to expectations, the findings showed that quantity of out-of-class TL contact did not predict gains in MWE knowledge and add further counterevidence for the role of sheer quantity of TL contact for linguistic development in SA.

Distribution and translation

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tong King Lee
Keyword(s):  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
First Order ◽  
Language System ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Distributed Language

Abstract Translation has traditionally been viewed as a branch of applied linguistics. This has changed drastically in recent decades, which have witnessed translation studies growing as a field beyond, and sometimes against, applied linguistics. This paper is an attempt to think translation back into applied linguistics by reconceptualizing translation through the notions of distributed language, semiotic repertoire, and assemblage. It argues that: (a) embedded within a larger textual-media ecology, translation is enacted through dialogical interaction among the persons, texts, technologies, platforms, institutions, and traditions operating within that ecology; (b) what we call translations are second-order constructs, or relatively stable formations of signs abstracted from the processual flux of translating on the first-order; (c) translation is not just about moving a work from one discrete language system across to another, but about distributing it through semiotic repertoires; (d) by orchestrating resources performatively, translations are not just interventions in the target language and culture, but are transformative of the entire translingual and multimodal space (discursive, interpretive, material) surrounding a work. The paper argues that distributed thinking helps us de-fetishize translation as an object of study and reimagine translators as partaking of a creative network of production alongside other human and non-human agents.

scholarly journals Cognitive restructuring in the multilingual mind: language-specific effects on processing efficiency of caused motion events in Cantonese–English–Japanese speakers

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Yi Wang ◽  
Li Wei
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Event Structures ◽  
Thinking For Speaking

Abstract The current study explores how multilingual speakers with three typologically different languages (satellite-framed, verb-framed and equipollent-framed) encode and gauge event similarity in the domain of caused motion. Specifically, it addresses whether, and to what extent, the acquisition of an L2-English and an L3-Japanese reconstructs the lexicalization and conceptualization patterns established in the L1-Cantonese when the target language is actively involved in the decision-making process. Results show that multilingual speakers demonstrated an ongoing process of cognitive restructuring towards the target language (L3) in both linguistic encoding (event structures and semantic representations) and non-linguistic conceptualization (reaction time). And the degree of the restructuring is modulated by the amount of language contact with the L2 and L3. The study suggests that learning a language means internalizing a new way of thinking and provides positive evidence for L3-biased cognitive restructuring within the framework of thinking-for-speaking.

scholarly journals Working memory as a factor mediating explicit and implicit knowledge of English grammar

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Mirosław Pawlak ◽  
Adriana Biedroń
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Explicit And Implicit Knowledge ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This paper reports the findings of a study that investigated the relationship between phonological short-term memory (PSTM), working memory capacity (WMC), and the level of mastery of L2 grammar. Grammatical mastery was operationalized as the ability to produce and comprehend English passive voice with reference to explicit and implicit (or highly automatized) knowledge. Correlational analysis showed that PSTM was related to implicit productive knowledge while WMC was linked to explicit productive knowledge. However, regression analysis showed that those relationships were weak and mediated by overall mastery of target language grammar, operationalized as final grades in a grammar course.

Greek-Anatolian Language Contact and the Settlement of Pamphylia

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Skelton
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Linguistic Development ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
Large Numbers

The Ancient Greek dialect of Pamphylia shows extensive influence from the nearby Anatolian languages. Evidence from the linguistics of Greek and Anatolian, sociolinguistics, and the historical and archaeological record suggest that this influence is due to Anatolian speakers learning Greek as a second language as adults in such large numbers that aspects of their L2 Greek became fixed as a part of the main Pamphylian dialect. For this linguistic development to occur and persist, Pamphylia must initially have been settled by a small number of Greeks, and remained isolated from the broader Greek-speaking community while prevailing cultural attitudes favored a combined Greek-Anatolian culture.

scholarly journals FOREIGN WORDS: ON THE ISSUES OF FUNCTIONING AND TRANSLATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10(78)) ◽  
pp. 62-65
Author(s):  
Olga Grynko
Keyword(s):  
Popular Science ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Relevant Feature ◽  
Science Texts ◽  
Foreign Word ◽  
Stylistic Device ◽  
Individual Style

When used in the texts, foreign words often function as a stylistic device and become a relevant feature of the author’s individual style. The article looks at the issues of functioning and translation of foreign words with the focus on those not being “adapted”, that is preserving its original “foreign” form (unlike those being transcribed without morphological and syntactical changes). The work systematizes the ways these elements are introduced into the original text. It shows they can either be introduced with no explanation, relying on the reader’s general expertise and creating certain environment, flavour etc. or be accompanied by any kind of their meaning’s explanation). The article also offers the insights into the key functions of the foreign words in popular-science texts (specifically, they make the text sound more authentic and documentary, and also display author’s intelligence and competence). Further, the research finalizes the classification of the ways to translate/render the foreign words in the translated text in the view of the genre peculiarities of popular-science texts. Among other ways, such as preserving a foreign word with a translation of the author’s comment, transcription/transliteration, translator’s comments, actual translation into the target language, etc., such texts allow for science editor’s comments in translation.

scholarly journals The Irish Céilí: A Site for Constructing, Experiencing, and Negotiating a Sense of Community and Identity

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Foley
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Dance ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
A Site ◽  
Changing Role ◽  
Important Site

For over a hundred years the Irish céilí, as an ‘invented’ social dance event and mode of interaction, has played a significant and changing role. This paper examines the invention of this Irish dance event and how it has developed in Ireland throughout the twentieth century. From the Gaelic League's cultural nationalist, ideological agenda of the late nineteenth century, for a culturally unified Ireland, to the manifestation of a new cultural confidence in Ireland, from the 1970s, this paper explores how the céilí has provided an important site for the construction, experiencing and negotiation of different senses of community and identity.

scholarly journals Toward an Intercultural Rhetoric: Improving Chinese EFL Students’ Essay Writing through Outline Writing

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Fang Li ◽  
Yingqin Liu
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Intercultural Rhetoric ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Main Ideas ◽  
English Academic Writing ◽  
Chinese And English

This study explores the effects of teaching EFL students to use an outline in their English essays. The researchers maintain that using outlines can raise students’ awareness of different audience expectations embedded in the rhetoric of the target language (English) and culture and can improve their English academic writing. The study was based on a four-week long case study at a university in Xi’an, China, in which 24 Chinese EFL students at the College of Translation Studies participated. A discourse analysis was conducted by comparing the Chinese EFL students’ English essays produced at the beginning of the study with those produced at the end of the study after learning and practicing outlining for writing the English essays. Email inquiries were used for understanding the participants’ viewpoints on learning how to write English essay outlines. The findings reveal that teaching EFL students to use outlining in their English essays is an effective way to help them improve their essay writing. Not only can it enhance the students’ understanding about using the English thesis statements, but it can also help improve the use of related, logical, and specific detailed examples to support the main ideas in their essays. The email inquiries also revealed that the students believe that outline learning helped them to understand the differences between Chinese and English essay writing. The implications of the study for intercultural rhetoric are also discussed.

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