Kleparski, Grzegorz A.

Pikor-Niedziałek, Marta

English

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182Z E S Z Y T Y  N A U K O W E   UNIWERSYTETU RZESZOWSKIEGO SERIA FILOLOGICZNA ZESZYT 47/2007           STUDIA ANGLICA RESOVIENSIA 4Grzegorz A. KLEPARSKI, Marta PIKOR-NIEDZIAŁEK  A NOTE ON PRAGMATICALLY AND STYLISTICALLY CONDITIONED SEMANTIC CHANGES – THE CASE STUDY OF NEWSWEEK POLSKA  Introduction The main purpose of this paper is to outline certain linguistic phenomena which  seem  to  be  cases  of  pragmatically  and  stylistically  conditioned semantic  alterations  that  are  frequently  implemented  by  translators  in  the process  of  rendering  English  language  articles  published  in  the  American weekly magazine Newsweek into Polish in its counterpart Newsweek Polska.The material that will be discussed seems to visualise the cases of translator-stimulated changes of semantic content of words, titles and longer stretches of text. It has become almost a truism in contemporary translation theory to say that a matter of primary importance in the process of translating is to make every  possible  attempt  to  determine  the  discourse  type  of  the  source  text, which,  in  turn,  implies  the  choice  of  appropriate  target  language  units conforming to the linguistic and cultural conventions of the receptor culture. At the same time, it should be emphasized that mass media publications seem to  presuppose  a  specific  kind  of  discourse  in  the  written  mode  of communication that is characterized by its semantic, pragmatic and stylistic peculiarities. From this it follows that there seem to emerge certain features which  distinguish  the  process  of  translating  newspaper  and/or  magazine articles  from  other  forms  of  mediated  bilingual  communication.  The  preliminary results presented in this paper have been obtained in the course of analysis  of  a  well-defined  corpus  comprising  original  articles  previously published in the American weekly magazine Newsweek and further translated into Polish for its corresponding local periodical Newsweek Polska. 183Semantic changes  and translation techniques Present-day  translation  practice  shows  that  in  a  number  of  articles translators  have  implemented  the  notion  of  the  so-called  interlingual synonyms. In short, the translation operation at issue presupposes the use of the target-language lexical item whose scope of meaning and usage does not seem to be exactly the same as the scope of meaning and usage of the source-language unit. Not infrequently, however, there emerges a better candidate for the status of equivalent characterized by a greater cross-linguistic correspondence with the original  target-language  unit.  In  such  cases  the  choice  of  an  interlingual synonym is most frequently motivated by either stylistic considerations, possible unfavourable homophonous effects or the  phenomenon of phonetic symbolism, to mention but a few factors (see Catford 1965).  Practice shows that in some troublesome cases translators either tend to coin a new lexical item or make use of a rare word in the course of rendering a text into  a  foreign  language.  For  instance,  in  the  article  titled  “No  Fellow  Too Strange” in Newsweek August 25/September 1, 2003 the semantically complex expression multiplex strategy was translated into Polish as kinowa strategia (see the paper titled ,,Guberminator” in Newsweek Polska 34/2003). By all means, the adjective kinowy ‘cinematographic; of, connected with, the cinema’ used to render the semantic content of the lexical item multiplex (a multiplex cinema shows  several  different  films  at  the  same  time  (see  Longman  Dictionary  of Contemporary English 2000) in the target text, firstly, drastically differs in its meaning scope from the possible Polish translation equivalents suggested by the same bilingual dictionary, such as, for example, wieloraki ‘multiple, multiplex’ (wielorakie kształty, funkcje, rola [...]), zło(ony ‘complex, complicated’ (zło(one słowo, zdanie, liczba […]) (see Stanisławski Dictionary 1964). Secondly, it must be stressed that the adjective discussed has a very much limited collocability, rather rare usage and lesser frequency compared to its Polish synonym filmowy(filmowy  aktor,  re(yser,  szkoła)  (see  Linde-Usiekniewicz  PWN  Oxford Dictionary 2004), conditioned mainly by the fact that the motivating noun kino had  not  been  characterized  by  declination,  hence  not  fully  adapted  by  the language, until recently.   Another interesting example of interlingual lexical substitution implemented in  the  process  of  translating  is  to  be  found  in  the  article  titled  “Too  Much Money” published in Newsweek August 18, 2003, where the author resorts to the following linguistic expression: The most hyped American Internet survivor is eBay […]. In the edition of Newsweek Polska 33/2003 (the article titled ,,￿wiat sk%pany  w  forsie”),  this  original  text  sequence  is  rendered  in  the  following manner:  Najsławniejszym  pogrobowcem  ameryka)skiej  internetowej  gor!czki jest serwis aukcyjny eBay. Thus, the noun survivor (He was the lone survivor of the crash, see Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 2000), which does 184not seem to have a one-word synonym in the Polish language was rendered by the translator by means of pogrobowiec, (dziecko urodzone po "mierci ojca, or figuratively  pogrobowiec  romantyzmu, see  Doroszewski  Dictionary  1980), which in Polish normally refers to a child who was born after his or her father had died. Of course, this lexical item is used in a purely metaphorical sense in the quoted extract of the target text.  In this particular example, however, this choice seems to be stylistically justified, although, one could think of the word relikt (English relic), as the closest  translation  equivalent  (relikt  –  pozostało"$,  for  example:  relikt glacjalny,  see  Linde-Usiekniewicz  PWN  Oxford  Dictionary  2004).  The translation  technique  employed  here  may  be  referred  to  as  the  change  of axiological polarity. Both the lexical element of the source language, that is survivor and that of the target language, that is pogrobowiec are characterized by the presence of a fair amount of expressive meaning. Nevertheless, while in the former case the axiological load must be qualified as positive, that is John is a survivor, in the latter, that is pogrobowiec one may point to a decisively negative  evaluative  charge  that  may  be  rendered  by  means  of  such semantically  related  lexical  units  as,  for  example,  orphan  (the  plight  of thousands of war orphans, see Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 2000), poor relative, etc.  Yet  another  technique  often  employed  in  the  process  of  translation  is making use of the so called equivalent collocations or pragmatemes. The term collocation introduced into language studies by Firth (1957) and then further elaborated  on  by  a  number  of  linguists  (see, for example, Greenbaum 1970, Sinclair 1987, etc.) is often defined as a characteristic word combination whose lexical constituents have developed an idiomatic relation based on their frequent co-occurrence.  Firth  (1957)  himself  advocates  the  use  of  two  terms,  that  is collocation  for  semantic  association  on  the  one  hand,  and  colligation  for syntactic association of lexemes on the other hand. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized  that  the  majority of linguists tend to implement the former as a general category that encompasses both lexical-semantic and formal-syntactic relationships between words.  Sometimes the source language collocations are translated literally into the target language by means of a calque (this technique is based on the literal translation of morphological constituents of compound lexical items, language-specific  collocations,  names  of  various  institutions,  etc.),  giving  rise  to  new metaphorical  uses  of  some  collocations  in  the  target  language.  Consider,  for example, the sentence Most of the zoning legislation has got the retailers by the throat taken from the article titled “Europe’s Big Land Grab” by Chris Sulavic in Newsweek August 11, 2003, which in the Polish target text was translated in the following manner: Legislacja dotycz!ca zagospodarowania przestrzennego chwyciła sieci handlowe za gardło (see the article titled ,,Unijny hipertłok” in 185Newsweek Polska 32/2003). Thus, the English collocation to have smb. by the throat was rendered by means of chwyci$ kogo" za gardło (to hold someone violently by a part of their body: They had him by the throat., see Longman Dictionary  of  Contemporary  English  2000).  The  Polish  translation  of  this particular fragment of the text, however, sounds slightly odd, certainly for some native speakers, or at least far from being innovative or – to say the least – it may give the impression of poor style. Another example of an attempt to translate a text fragment  by means of a collocational translation loan may be found in the aforementioned article titled “Unijny hipertłok” by Chris Sulavic in Newsweek Polska 32/2003 in which the English original sentence There are Safeway stores in this portfolio that will have directors of the other companies salivating (see the article titled “Europe’s Big  Land  Grab”  in Newsweek August 11/2003), was rendered into Polish as Dyrektorzy  innych  firm  "lini!  si￿  na  my"l  o  sklepach  Safewaya.  Thus,  the English verb to salivate (to have an (excessive) flow of saliva, or figuratively, to show great or excessive eagerness or excitement, for example, salivating at the prospect of great profits, see Dictionary of the English Language 1995), was translated by means of the expression  "lini$ si￿ na my"l o czym" which is, in fact, not a permissible collocation in the Polish language. The only existing (and similar in meaning) collocation in Polish cieszy$ si￿ na co", na my"l o czym"(Cieszył si￿ na to spotkanie, Doroszewski Dictionary 1980) could have been safely employed for the purpose of translation in this context. Corpus analysis has shown that the predominance of translating by means of  calques  and  collocational  translation  loans,  when  compared  to  other discourse types, is easily noticeable. This translation technique, in turn, gives rise  to  pragmatically  and  stylistically  conditioned  semantic  changes  in  the target texts. The major claim of this paper has been based on the assumption that Newsweek Polska articles appear within the framework of a specific kind of  discourse  in  the  written  mode  of  communication  characterized  by  its semantic, pragmatic and stylistic peculiarities. Hence, translating press articles unavoidably  differs  substantially  from  other  acts  of  mediated  bilingual communication.  It remains highly debatable whether the fact of not implementing preexisting target-language collocations or pragmatemes instead of the actually used calque of the source-text linguistic expression should be regarded as a translation error. Notice  that  translation  loans  of  a  distinctly  metaphorical  nature  condition  a number of semantic changes emerging in the process of bilingual translation. Moreover, they seem to give the impression of stylistic innovation, which fits if not into the overall style of the discourse type at issue, then at least into that of American journalism of the genre in question. In sum, it is fairly obvious that the  semantic  changes  implemented  appear  to  have  a  broadly  understood pragmatic function, namely to draw the readers’ attention. 186Change of headings and word formation While  in  the  former  cases  one  may  speak  of  a  certain  alteration  of  the meaning content in the case of the changes in headlines there seems to take place a far-reaching shift of meaning guided – to a considerable degree – by  the translator’s desire to make the headlines of the articles as catchy as possible. One may try to formulate a general rule by saying that change of headings and/or subheadings in the translation of press articles may be employed for the purpose of putting special emphasis on the content of the message. For example, in the English edition of Newsweek  August 25, 2003/September 1, 2003 the article by Karen Breslau about Arnold Schwarzenegger running for governor of California has the following heading: “No Fellow Too Strange”. In contrast, the heading  in  the  Polish  edition  (Newsweek  Polska  34/2003)  is  the  following linguistic inovation ,,Guberminator”.  On closer inquiry, one finds out that the Polish heading ,,Guberminator” is a result of blending of two words, that is gubernator (governor in Polish) and terminator. One must say that this title is both informative and emphatic. On the one  hand,  it  makes  a  strong  implication  that  the  actor  who  once  played  in Terminator is currently running for the position of governor. On the other hand, it seems that the use of a newly-formed blending is intended to emphasize that the situation is far from being commonplace.  This  heading  which  has  been  subject  to  cultural  and  informational adaptation for the benefit of the target readership aims to clarify that: a) the person in question is Arnold Schwarzeneger; b) he is running for governor of California; and c) he played in Terminator. The English heading seems to be far less informative and, if translated literally, may happen to be not informative enough  for  the  prospective  Polish  readership.  It  seems  that  the  example discussed sufficiently illustrates the major tendencies that manifest themselves in  the  modification  of  headings.  It  should  be  noted  that  in  the  process  of translating practically every heading may be – and frequently is –  subject to some kind of change, varying from a mild alteration to a drastic far-reaching, sense/expressive load transformation. It goes without saying that this technique of  forming  new  words  has  cultural,  informative  and  pragmatic  function  of drawing the readers’ attention, at any cost. Conclusion Attempt has been made here to provide partial evidence that in the process of  translation  calque  or  translation  loans of a distinctly metaphorical nature frequently  condition  semantic  changes  and  give  the  impression  of  stylistic innovation, which fits into the overall style of the discourse type at issue. In 187sum, the semantic changes implemented seem to have mainly a pragmatic and stylistic function. Similarly, the technique of forming new words by means of blending  has  cultural,  informative  and  pragmatic  function,  the  driving  force behind which is to draw readers’ attention. References Catford, J. 1965.  A Linguistic Theory of Translation. London: Oxford University Press. Doroszewski, W. 1980. Słownik poprawnej polszczyzny. Warszawa: PWN. Firth, J. 1957. Papers in Linguistics 1934–1951. London: Oxford University Press. Greenbaum,  S.  1970.  Verb-Intensifier  Collocations  in  English:  An  Experimental  Approach. (Janua Linguarum. Studia Memoriae Nicolai Van Wijk. Series Mino. Nr. 86. The Hague & Paris: Moulton. Linde-Usiekniewicz, J. 2004.Wielki słownik polsko-angielski. Warszawa: PWN Oxford. Longman. 1995. Dictionary of the English Language. New York: Viking. Longman Group Ltd. 2000. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Spain: Longman. Sinclair,  J.  and  M.  Coulthard  1987.  “Collocation: A  progress  report”.  [In:]  Steele,  R.  &  T. Threadgold (eds). 319–331. Stanisławski, J. 1964. Wielki słownik polsko-angielski. Warszawa: PWN.  Source materials Breslau, K. 2003. August 25/September 1. “No Fellow Too Strange”. Newsweek. 26. Breslau, K. 2003/34. ,,Guberminator”. Newsweek Polska. 48. Miller, K. 2003. August 18. “Too Much Money’’. Newsweek. 32–37. Miller, K. 2003/ 33. ,,￿wiat sk%pany w forsie’’. Newsweek Polska. 62–64. Sulavic, Ch. 2003. August 11. “Europe’s Big Land Grab”. Newsweek. 40. Sulavic, Ch. 2003/32. ,,Unijny hipertłok”. Newsweek Polska. 60–61.   

A note on pragmatically and stylistically conditioned semantic changes : the case study of "Newsweek" Polska

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