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Translation Studies

Translation Studies. 9. The use of corpora in TS Krisztina Károly, Spring, 2006 Sources: Olohan, 2004; Tirkkonen-Condit, 2005. The use of corpora in TS research (Olohan, 2004). Starting point: translators attempt to produce fluent, transparent texts

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Translation Studies

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  1. Translation Studies 9. The use of corpora in TS Krisztina Károly, Spring, 2006 Sources: Olohan, 2004; Tirkkonen-Condit, 2005

  2. The use of corpora in TS research (Olohan, 2004) Starting point: • translators attempt to produce fluent, transparent texts • readers wish to see translations as though they were originals

  3. Theoretical and methodological approaches • earlier: prescriptive approaches • currently: descriptive focus (describing what translations and translators actually do, what they are like, etc.)

  4. Baker (2001): balancing objectivity and subjectivity  conduct credible academic research • recognition of the role of subjectivity in scientific research, • growing concern with methodology, • rejection of categorizations and idealized constructs, • recognition of the complexity inherent in all phenomena, • inter-/multidisciplinarity, questioning of normative approaches, • attention to human agency, • interest in ideology and ethics, • respect for qualitative (as opposed to quantitative) methods of research

  5. Chesterman’s (2000) models of translation for translation research: • Comparative: (with corpus methodology!) translation in correlation with STs or other texts  interpretive + descriptive hypotheses • Process: the translation process over time (TAP)  explanatory hypotheses • Causal: causes and effects of translation (textual, social, cognitive domains)  interpretive, descriptive, explanatory, predictive hypotheses

  6. Corpus-linguistic techniques in translation research Aim: describe language in use (not production process!)  Stubbs (2001): “what frequently and typically occurs” (p.151)

  7. General requirements in CL (Aarts, 1999): descriptive model • combination of quantitative and qualitative description of data • establish a relation between phenomena that are external to the language system + system-internal phenomena • describe full range of varieties (spontaneous/spoken  edited/written) • integrated description of syntactic, lexical, discourse features

  8. Corpus methods in TS: • descriptive study of Ts as they exist • L as used in the T product (as opposed to contrastive Lics: system-oriented, sense) • what is probable and typical in T, and through this, interpreting what is unusual • combination of quantitative and qualitative corpus-based analysis, focusing on lexis, syntax, discoursal features • application of methodology to different types of T (different socio-cultural settings, modes, etc.)

  9. Problem in TS that corpus-based techniques may solve Lack of consensus regarding the notion of laws/universals  corpus-based studies are useful as they reveal the “regularities of actual behaviour” (Toury)  conformance (or otherwise) to certain norms (that vary across+within cultures and across time). “If the frequent and typical can be studied, so can the unusual.” (p.20)

  10. Tirkkonen-Condit’s (2005) study Aim: • to compare frequency and uses of the clitic particle kin in translated and original Finnish in 5 genres • to test the hypotheses that unique items tend to be underrepresented in translated language RQ: • Do unique items make themselves scarce in translated Finnish?

  11. Tirkkonen-Condit’s study cont. Unique item • = has no Lic equivalent in other Ls • e.g., kin in Finnish (frequent in both written and spoken Finnish) Corpus • Corpus of Translated Finnish • 5 genres: fiction, children’s fiction, popular fiction, academic prose, popular science

  12. Results • average frequency of kin • in original Finnish = 6.1 per 1,000 words; • in translated Finnish = 4.6 • great variance by author and by translator

  13. Results cont. • the reason for its under-representation in translated Finnish: an English ST does not manifest any single linguistic element that would function as a stimulus for the translator to pick out kin as a translation equivalent • this research also supports the hypothesis on translation universals according to which translated language tends to be more schematic and to use the Lic resources of the language in a more limited fashion

  14. Results cont. • the influence of genre diminishes in translated Finnish • translators were also more alike in their use of kin than original writers: the original writers differed more in their use of kin than did translators. • This finding supports the hypothesis on translation universals according to which translated language tends to deviate less from standards and norms than original language. ***

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