SETTING GHE GROUND TOOLS FOR TEXT ANALYSIS IN

SETTING GHE GROUND TOOLS FOR TEXT ANALYSIS IN PREPARATION FOR TRANSLATION

REGISTER “The linguistic features which are typically associated with a configuration of situational features” (Halliday and Hasan 1976: 22). FOCUS on LANGUAGE VARIATION in relation to its function in the communicative situation in which it is used. NOT concerned with the linguistic system in general, BUT with single episodes of language use in specific eco-social environments which may constitute instances of “sub-languages”. Useful for translation: it highlights subtler distinctions in language performance based on the specificity of the user and situational use of language.

User-related variation vs Dialectal dimensions (geographical, historical, social, ethnic characterization of speaker/writer) situational use Deviation from standard language idiolect Field = subject matter or ideational content (total event in which text is functioning) Mode = function of text + medium (written, spoken, improvised. . . ) + genre Tenor = roles played by participants + scales of formality

So, taken as a whole, a text tends to have continuity of register in that it is the product of three parameters – specificity of situation and nature of the communicative event (field); channel of the linguistic acts within the event (mode); relationship between the participants (tenor). If all these variables are clearly identified, one can predict the kind of language that will be used in a certain situation

COHESION De Beaugrande and Dressler: cohesion is realized through all the functions that signal relations among surface elements. “SLOW CHILDREN AT PLAY” A text is a passage of discourse which is coherent in these two regards: it is coherent with respect to the context of situation, and therefore consistent in register; and it is coherent with respect to itself, and therefore cohesive. (Halliday and Hasan 1976: 23) Cohesion is a property of the text realized through a “network of lexical, grammatical and other relations which provide links between various parts of a text” (Baker 1992: 180).

Neoliberalism and the Discontented (G. albo, 2008) Neoliberalism has, however, managed to stand its ground. As a consequence, Left politics under neoliberalism has oscillated between, on the one hand, short-term political calculation to avoid further social erosion, and, on the other, a politics of predicting imminent economic crisis if not total socioeconomic chaos that in fact reflects the disarray of Left forces and organizational weakness.

REFERENCE A relationship of IDENTITY between two linguistic expressions. (ANAPHORA) Mrs. Thatcher has resigned. She has just announced her decision. the reader has to deduce the identity of who/what is being talked about by referring to another expression in the immediate context CONTINUITY OF REFERENCE = SAME ENTITY ENTERS INTO DISCOURSE AGAIN The emerging New Right regimes of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Helmut Kohl and Brian Mulroney could intensify class conflict and spread the ideology of market populism, it was suggested, but they would leave no enduring institutional or political legacy. The monetarist and free market policies trumpeted by these governments - and incorporated into the policy arsenal of the international financial institutions - could only magnify the economic problems that had ended the postwar boom.

IN ENGLISH the most common reference items are PRONOUNS +THE/THIS/THAT/THESE/THOSE Mrs. Thatcher has resigned. This delighted her opponents. CO-REFERENCE: relationship of identity is created through items pertaining to extra-linguistic knowledge Mrs. Thatcher – The Prime Minister – The Iron Lady – Maggie ________ The common soldier's saviour, the ideological leader of nursing reform, and a pioneering social reformer besides, Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910) is arguably the most famous Victorian after Queen Victoria herself. She belongs to that select band of historical characters who are instantly recognisable: the Lady with the Lamp, ministering to the wounded and dying - albeit by the light of a Grecian lamp rather than the historically accurate, but less romantic, folding Turkish version - is an image permanently imprinted on the British national consciousness.

Continuum of cohesive reference

SUBSTITUTION (grammatical rather than semantic relations) SUBSTITUTION = ITEM replaced by ANOTHER ITEM (usually DO, ONE, THE SAME, SO) - I like movies. - And I do. A: He left as soon as possible. B: Yeah, he always does. (leave as soon as possible) A: I've already done the shopping. B: I thought so. (that you had already done the shopping) A: Is he ill? B: I hope not. (that he is not ill) Only one week in the world and already there were stories spinning up and down the streets and alleys, through the open windows of the slums. There was the one about the rat family sitting on the rim of the basin looking at me. (the story) (Doyle 2008: 23)

ELLIPSIS = OMISSION OF AN ITEM NOMINAL, VERBAL, CLAUSAL ELLIPSIS (strongly based on grammar relations > different patterns) John brought some carnations, and Katie some sweet peas. (brought) Here are thirteen cards. Take any. Now give me any three. (card(s)) - I’m going. - Please don’t. (go) 1. He was angry but he didn't want to be; there was no enjoyment in it, no triumph. (didn't want to be angry; there was) (Doyle 2008: 30) 2. She lived in a fantastic house in the countryside, and he in a flat in the town. (he lived in a flat) 3. A: Sorry, I didn't finish my work. B: Well, you should have. (finished your work) 4. In una recente indagine dell'Istat, sull'uso dei mezzi di comunicazione e delle nuove tecnologie in Italia, il cellulare risulta secondo solo alla televisione: il 62% degli italiani lo usa per esigenze familiari, per essere più facilmente in contatto e per far fronte ad imprevisti, urgenze e quant'altro, mentre il 32, 3% solo per chiamare gli amici. (il 32, 3% lo usa solo per. . . )

POSSIBLE TRANSLATIONS OF THE ABOVE 1 a Era arrabbiato, ma non voleva esserlo; non c'era alcun piacere, né trionfo. 1 b Era arrabbiato pur senza volerlo; non c'era piacere, né trionfo. 1 c Era arrabbiato, ma non voleva esserlo: non c'era piacere, né trionfo. 2 a Lei viveva in una fantastica casa in campagna, lui in un appartamento in città. 3 a X: Mi spiace, non ho finito il lavoro. Y: Beh, avresti dovuto. Y 1 Beh, avresti dovuto farlo. 4 a According to a recent Istat survey on the use of means of communications and new technologies in Italy, the mobile phone is second only to the Tv-set: 62% of Italians use it for family needs, to keep in contact more easily and to cope with unexpected events, emergencies and the like, while 32. 3% use it only to call friends.

REITERATION There's a boy climbing along the rafters. repetition Those rafters are not very safe. synonym Those beams are not very safe. near-synonym Those joists are not very safe. superordinate Those timbers are not very safe. general word Those things are not very safe. (Adapted from Halliday and Hasan 1976: 280)

COLLOCATION (Halliday) Collocation is achieved through the association of words that tend to co-occur in the language on the basis of paradigmatic and syntagmatic sense relations: opposite meaning, complementarity or converseness: like – hate; life – death; husband – wife; stand up – sit down; buy – sell; members of the same series/set: February – July; hedge funds – bonds – conversion stocks; north – west; basement – roof; part/whole: bedroom – apartment; Maths – subject; part/part: tooth – tongue; fruit – leaf; co-hyponymy: sofa – chair; rose – tulip; collocation proper, or words that have a history of cooccurrence, i. e. that tend to share the same lexical environment: candle – flame – flicker; poetry – literature – book – reader – writer, etc.

Relationships <---- Syntagmatic ----> | A Paradigmatic The | dog fell in this chair cat sat on the mat ate by a hat That man

COLLOCATION (in general) Firth (1950 s): instances of word co-occurrence 1960 s: computational tools to investigate syntagmatic relations determining combinatorial possibilities of words: frequency of co-occurrence = key criterion to identify collocation Collocational span: open (Halliday – collocational chains); closed (Sinclair – 3, 4, 5 words on either side; later: collocational environment, 1 -5 words on each side) C. = the occurrence of two or more words within a short space of each other in the text 1980 s + 1990 s: phraseological approach: words combine in various ways (from frozen idioms to relatively open free combinations, provided semantic meaning is respected) Collocations: between two extremes above; semantic transparency of at least 1 item is retained; words matched arbitrarily and consolidated through use

Six main types of collocations: 1 Adjective + noun single parent 2 Noun + noun death penalty 3 Verb + noun lodge a complaint 4 Adverb + adjective mentally ill 5 Verbs + prep. phrase (phrasal verbs) give up, lie in wait 6 Verb + adverb sleep sound

The pot calls the kettle black (saying) Have/get a flea in one's ear (idiom) Odd jobs (collocation) A well-paid job (free combination) STRATEGIES when translating A. find a TT equivalent frozen form reproducing both form + meaning (rather rare) B. find a TT equivalent with different form but same meaning; C. (esp. for sayings and idioms): paraphrase meaning (TT likely to lose liveliness and colour, but some can be recovered by adding another saying or idiom at a suitable point of the TT = compensation CAUTION). D. omit saying or idiom (only after careful consideration). May be ok for sayings + idioms (comments/asides), but not for collocations + free combinations (probably constitutive elements of meaning, plus rendering always possible)

WHEN TRANSLATING • PAY ATTENTION to collocational chains interwoven in the text (lexical map ) • REMEMBER that each occurrence of a lexical item carries with it its own textual history (environment built up while the text was being created, which will provide the context in which the item will acquire “substance” on this particular occasion) INSTANTIAL MEANING

WHEN TRANSLATING. REMEMBER: the text provides the context for the creation and interpretation of lexical relations, just as the lexical relations help create the texture of a text. IDENTIFY a web of relationships. IT IS VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE to reproduce identical networks of lexical cohesion in the TT. whatever strategy you use, MAKE SURE that the TT has a SUFFICIENT LEVEL OF LEXICAL COHESION.

AN EXAMPLE OF LEXICAL RELATIONS Dublin may have its fancy restaurants and the Michelin stars, but Cork has a history of local and artisan produce that the capital simply cannot match. The differences between the two cities were neatly captured during the recent visit to Ireland by Queen Elizabeth: the formalities took place in Dublin, but down south, Her Majesty relaxed and joked with fishmonger Pat O'Connell in Cork's famous English Market. The thriving Irish artisan food industry had its origins in Cork, where some 35 years ago, a determined group of local producers - with the help of some German and French “blow-ins” brought new life to indigenous cheese-making and meat production. Sprinkle in a generation of talented chefs, and you have the recipe for a truly impressive gourmet destination.