Zethsen, Karen Korning

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Karen Korning ZethsenExpressivity in Technical TextsFrom a Translation Theoretical Perspective1. IntroductionThe aim of the thesis - which was defended on 9 January, 1998 - has been toprovide linguistic evidence for the intuitive impression that many technicaltexts, instead of being almost exclusively informative, are meant to serve a va-riety of communicative purposes and that a multitude of stylistic expressivemeans are applied in order to get the intended messages through in the mosteffective way. Such evidence would have important consequences to the disci-pline of technical translation.The intuitive claim is based on three years of full-time translating - mainlyof texts within the technical area - and will, I am sure, not come as a surpriseto experienced translators working within that field. It is described in Chapters1 and 2 how translation scholars on the other hand have generally been oc-cupied discussing various kinds of equivalence between the source text and thetarget text and setting up rigid text typologies. Typologies using Bühler’s lan-guage functions not to describe the various functions of a text - as originallyintended - but as a basis for text classification according to dominant functionand by means of which the translator should be able to decide on a suitabletranslation strategy once a text had been placed in the typology. Translationscholars have mainly been interested in technical language from a termi-nological point of view. Textual strategies, textual meaning and expressivity (ifexistence was acknowledged at all) in technical texts were not consideredrelevant to the translator.The explicit and especially implicit expressive elements are often disre-garded as a result of the traditional focussing on terminology within this areaof translation. Consequently, the translation may be less effective/weaker thanthe original and in the worst case only part of the message - the purely refer-ential one - is passed on.The approach of the thesis is that of a translation scholar, i.e. the startingpoint is the various interests and problems of the translator. As advocated bySnell-Hornby (1988) I favour an integrated approach to translation studieswhere translational research is not considered a sub-discipline of applied lin-guistics, but as a research area in its own right, using and contributing to resultsobtained within relevant areas such as linguistics, psychology and philosophy. 2252. SummaryChapter 1 sets out the translation theoretical standpoint of the thesis, namelythat of the skopos theory1 as opposed to the equivalence-based approach totranslation theory which prevailed in the 1960s and 70s2. The functionalpurpose of a given translation - instead of the purpose of the source text - isconsidered the basis for a sound translation strategy.The chapter, furthermore, describes and evaluates Nord’s skopos-orientedapproach to textual analysis. Her model of analysis (i.e. her parameters) maynot deviate that much from other models; what is new and all-important is herview that textual analysis should be applied as a means of establishing the“function-in-culture” of a source text. This function must then be comparedwith the prospective function-in-culture of the target text in order for thetranslator to find out which source text elements have to be preserved, omittedor adapted in translation. In accordance with the skopos theory Nord thus seesthe source text as an extremely important basis for decisions regarding thetranslation of a given text, but not as the basis for an equivalent text in thetarget language.With the emergence of the skopos theory it was finally possible to reject theconcept of equivalence as a basis for determining translation strategies infavour of the fairly simple assumption that every translation has a skopos andthat it is this skopos and not the source text which should lead the way to asuitable translation strategy at the macrolevel. The skopos theory does not,however, provide (and does not claim to provide) solutions at the microlevel.It is of course possible to make certain generalisations about the microlevel,but eventually it is a question of context. Contrary to what is often believed ofthe skopos theory the source text is still considered very important as a tertiumcomparationis for possible omissions, additions or adaptations in the targettext. What the skopos theory offers us is simply awareness of the function ofthe translation as intended by the initiator of the translation, i.e. in most casesthe customer. The skopos theory is a theory, or rather an approach, which isrelevant to the translation scholar and which matches the reality of thetranslation profession of today.Chapter 2 discusses the traditional view of the translation scholar - and thepossible reasons for this view - on technical texts and consequently on tech-nical translation. The discussions of Chapter 2 are central to the main claim ofthe thesis that technical texts - like texts in general - serve various communica-tive purposes and are thus not only concerned with the transfer of facts. Apragmatic definition of a technical text seen from the professional translator’s2261 See e.g. Vermeer 1989, Nord 1991 and 1997.2 See Snell-Hornby 1988.point of view is provided. The traditional definition of a technical text as a textwithin a technical field containing specialised technical terminology is stillconsidered valid, but the very narrow traditional characterisation of the typicaltechnical text (informative function, prevailing syntactic features) is omittedand for present purposes a technical text is defined as a text which is writtenwithin a technical subject area and which contains such a degree of specialisedtechnical terminology that a technical translator is needed for its trans-lation.The addition is justified by the fact that due to the technical element of somany texts to be translated today the technical translator is assigned a largenumber of texts dealing with technical subjects and containing technical termi-nology, but which are so heterogeneous in nature that classifying them as tech-nical texts and assigning them to the category of informative texts with a limit-ed number of stylistic conventions does not help the translator in the leastwhen laying down a relevant translation strategy. The extention is not a helpwhen trying to classify technical texts, but is necessary for pragmatic reasons.Though it has been deemed necessary for present purposes to define what ismeant by a technical text I generally do not consider a rigid definition of tech-nical texts to be of any use. All texts should first and foremost be consideredtexts - the fact that a text is written within a certain knowledge area may meanthat it possesses certain text type characteristics. However, this is only one im-portant piece of information among many factors relevant to the translator. Asconcluded in Chapter 2 texts containing technical language are of such a variednature that translation-oriented text typologies can only be regarded as one toolamong others when laying down a suitable skopos-oriented translationstrategy.As pointed out by Newmark (1988:160) terminology only constitutes a mi-nor part of a technical text, “the rest is language”. LSP is deeply rooted in com-mon language. For this very reason the discipline of textual analysis is not onlyneeded for non-LSP texts, but for all texts to be translated. Instead of the artifi-cial boundaries between various areas of translation, any text to be translatedshould be considered a communicative transaction, as stated by Hatim &Mason (1990:2), and focus should be on the intended function of that trans-action.Finally, a text purpose model is presented outlining the non-referentialpurposes of technical company texts to be translated. Chapter 3 suggests that the non-referential purposes are often fairly subtlein technical texts and manifest themselves by means of expressive features.These purposes may be elicited by means of textual analysis and subsequentcontextual interpretation of the expressive features found. The informative and227the expressive language functions are defined for present purposes and it ispointed out that expressivity is not only found at the level of lexis, but alsosyntactic stylistic devices are potentially expressive. What is meant by ex-pressive features is explained and illustrations from a mini-corpus of technicaltexts are provided. One lexical expressive feature - that of isotopy - is dealtwith in detail in the semantic analyses of Chapter 9. Furthermore, it is em-phasised that it is the sum and interplay of these elements that carry the effectand that the expressive value of each element in isolation may be very insig-nificant and hard to determine. This is yet another argument for a textualapproach to translation-oriented text analysis. It is, furthermore, acknowledgedthat there is a group of hard-core technical texts which are almost exclusivelyinformative. This group is presumably not quantitatively very significant inview of the very competitive environment of the modern company.Finally, some of the aspects of lexical choice are discussed and the impor-tance of connotations for the elicitation of the non-referential meaning of a textis emphasised.In Chapter 4 we leave the area of technical texts for a while in order to ex-plain some of the central ideas and concepts of structuralism, especially theBritish branch, represented by John Lyons. Lyons (see e.g. 1977) has shownhow the search for structure in language has resulted in certain patterns beingdiscovered notably within the area of paradigmatic relationships. Patternswhich are important for our understanding of the way the referential meaningof lexemes can only be determined by means of their sense relations. It is ar-gued in Chapter 3 that a writer’s choice of lexis is central to the translator whentrying to elicit the intention of a text which is why the domain of lexical se-mantics is highly relevant to the thesis.Chapter 5 explains and criticises Trier’s structuralist field theory3. Contraryto the thoughts of Trier gaps and overlaps exist between fields, but though fieldtheory may not hold as a general theory it does not detract from its descriptivevalue and, furthermore, there is some evidence that semantic fields constitutea psychological reality. Wittgenstein’s concept of “blurred edges” is intro-duced as central to the criticism of field theory. However, most fields have arelatively well-established nucleus on which there is general agreement. Thestudy of fields is important to understand the lexical choices of a writer andthus his lexical strategies, however, the important factor (from a pragmaticpoint of view) of context - linguistic as well as extralinguistic - is not consid-ered by the field theory.Chapter 6 discusses and criticises traditional componential analysis. Com-ponential analysis was developed in the post-Saussurean structuralist tradition2283 See e.g. Lyons 1977.and has many affinities with field theory and in a way presupposes field theorythough it was developed independently. In Chapter 6 the theory of prototypo-logy4 is introduced as a feasible alternative to the rigid classical Aristotelianway of categorising on which some parts of field theory and componentialanalysis rest. Prototypology makes use of the notion of semantic componentsfor the description of prototypical features, i.e. features which may but neednot be there in order to include a particular lexeme in a semantic field. That is,prototype theory does not claim to be able to provide an exhaustive analysis ofa lexeme by adding its semantic components, but rather a description of itsprototypical features and thus helps us account for both typical features andfuzziness and borderline cases. Very important for the semantic analysis ofChapter 9 prototypology does not restrict itself to inherent lexical features, butallows for contextual features as well. Thus, prototypology is a feasible alter-native to traditional componential analysis, especially as we cannot do withoutencyclopedic and contextual knowledge when analysing the meaning of real-life texts.In Chapter 7 the phenomenon of isotopy, i.e. a textual chain of lexemessharing the same semes, is introduced. Isotopy is generally considered a cohe-sive device, but within translation theory it may be interesting as a tool forestablishing the intention of a source text. Especially chains at the expressivelevel are interesting in the present context as they may provide us with infor-mation about the more or less implicit objectives of a technical text. The natureof the analyses require the inclusion of inherent as well as contextual semesand consequently the definition of isotopy must be extended accordingly. Theprinciple of contradiction and the notions of analytic and synthetic proposi-tions are explained as they will be used to distinguish between inherent andcontextual semes.Chapter 8 is an introduction to the subsequent analyses. It makes a distinc-tion between cognitive, idiosyncratic meaning and shared lexical meaning, thelatter making it feasible to embark upon a semantic description of lexemes.The chapter briefly suggests what happens in the mind of the reader whenreading a text and how the mental representation of a subject may gradually bechanged as attitudes are expressed by means of isotopic semes (or other ex-pressive elements) working together and building up a chain as the text pro-ceeds. The model of analysis is explained.In order to provide linguistic evidence for the existence of expressivity intechnical texts, “isotopic chains” has been chosen as a lexical expressive fea-ture of great importance when trying to elicit the intended meaning of a text.When trying to establish the isotopic chains of a technical text to be translated,2294 See e.g. Rosch 1973 and 1978 and Lakoff 1987.we investigate the lexical choices - and their associated connotations - of thetext. We could say that isotopic chains point at the skopos of the source text. Athorough semantic analysis of a technical text (from the Danish power stationassociation ELSAM) is carried out in Chapter 9 in search for isotopic chains atthe non-referential level of the text in question. Chapter 10 states and discusses the results of the analyses. 17 features areused to describe 51 lexemes in context and evidence has been found for theexistence of the following intuitively postulated isotopic chains:1. ELSAM is large and efficient2. ELSAM cares about the environment3. ELSAM is good at cooperating4. ELSAM cares about the consumerEach of the chains is represented by 7 to 26 positive values and it applied to allfour isotopic chains that positive values are present for each isotopy in at leastfour (and up to eight) out of nine possible paragraphs.On the basis of the above I can thus conclude that the analyses support themain hypothesis of the thesis and contribute to the understanding of isotopy asa concrete phenomenon which can be analysed and pointed out in a text and ofthe fact that it is a crucial tool for the interpretation of a text.Chapter 11 provides a final conclusion to the thesis along with didactic andresearch perspectives. 3. Didactic ConsequencesI consider the skopos theory a valuable starting point when trying to make stu-dents aware of the fact that most texts - be they LSP texts or non-LSP texts -are multifunctional, i.e. serve communicative purposes at the expressive aswell as the informative level and that as far as possible all messages in a textrelevant for the skopos of the target text must be rendered by the translator.It seems fair to assume that the notion of isotopy, as narrowed down in thethesis, will reveal new aspects of a technical text to the recently graduated orstudent translator and will provide him with a new approach to the understand-ing of a text also at the expressive level. Isotopic chains, furthermore, empha-sise the importance of working on a textual basis.As to textual analysis it may seem a tedious business to the student trans-lator, but it is imperative that he gain active knowledge about the subject inorder to be able to draw on this knowledge as a professional translator. It hasthen hopefully become second nature and only very difficult texts will need amore thorough analysis.2304. Research PerspectivesThe model of analysis worked out for the establishing of isotopic chains in atext is fairly time-consuming to use. This is of course the reason why only oneexemplary analysis was carried out. It may be possible in future to modify/tighten up the model in order to be able to carry out analyses which would alsobe quantitatively significant. Furthermore, much research is needed on manyaspects of the complex nature of the intuitively based phenomenon of isotopy.As to the expressive elements, other than isotopic chains, of technical textsit might be useful to be able to say something general about the potentialfunction of some of the most used types, though as pointed out above theirfunction is eventually highly context-dependent. Also, it would be interestingto further investigate the concept of “technical text” and to analyse other LSPtexts than technical texts at the expressive level.5. Concluding RemarksMuch has happened within translation theory during the past decades andthough some of the quotations of the thesis show that many scholars still con-sider technical translation to be a semi-automatic transfer of facts an evenlarger number of scholars have become interested in the creativity and expres-sive language of technical and LSP texts. In short, in the fact that all texts inone language explore and exploit the same linguistic systems and no text typeholds a monopoly on creativity or certain stylistic devices.Semantics has much to offer the translator and the translation scholar. Aslong as one remembers that it is not the meaning of individual lexemes inisolation which is important here, but the meaning of the text in context.“...the translation scholar has to be a semanticist over and above eve-rything else. But by semanticist we mean a semanticist of the text notjust of words, structures and sentences. The key concept for thesemantics of translation is textual meaning.” (Neubert in Bell1991:79)The thesis concludes with an appendix consisting of the texts on which theanalyses of the thesis are based.ReferencesBell, R.T. (1991). Translation and Translating. Longman.Bühler, K. (1934). Sprachteorie. Fischer. 1965.Hatim, B. and Mason, I. (1990). Discourse and the Translator. Longman.Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things. The University of ChicagoPress.231Lyons, J. (1963). Structural Semantics. Blackwell.Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics (vol.1). Cambridge University Press.Lyons, J. (1995). Linguistic Semantics. Cambridge University Press.Newmark, P. (1988). A Textbook of Translation. Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd.Nord, C. (1991). Text Analysis in Translation. Rodopi.Nord, C. (1997). Translating as a Purposeful Activity. St. Jerome Publishing.Rosch, E. (1973). On the internal structure of perceptual and semantic categories. InMoore, T.E. (ed.). Cognitive Development and the Acquisition of Language.Academic Press. 114-44.Rosch, E. & Lloyd, B.B. (1978). Cognition and Categorization. Lawrence ErlbaumAss.Snell-Hornby, M. (1988). Translation Studies. An Integrated Approach. John Ben-jamins Publishing Company.Vermeer, H.J. (1989). Skopos and commission in translational action. In Chesterman,A. (ed.). Readings in Translation Theory. Oy Finn Lectura Ab. 173-187.Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical Investigations. Blackwell. 1972.232

Expressivity in Technical Texts. From a Translation Theoretical Perspective

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Expressivity in Technical Texts. From a Translation Theoretical Perspective

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