Linguistic Approach To Translation Theory
Linguistic Approach To Translation Theory
Linguistic Approach To Translation Theory
It is the linguistic approach that is the subject during the course of this discussion.
The linguistic approach to translation theory focusing on the key issues of meaning, equivalence
and shift began to emerge around 50 years ago. This branch of linguistics, known as structural
linguistics, features the work of Roman Jakobson, Eugene Nida, Newmark.
It wasnt long however, before some theorists began to realize that language wasnt just about
structure it was also about the way language is used in a given social context. This side of the
linguistic approach is termed functional linguistics with the work of Katharina Reiss,
Jakobsons Equivalence Theories
The target text must match the source text as fully as possible. Linguistic meaning and
equivalence are the key issues for the Russian structuralist Roman Jakobson who, in his 1959
work On Linguistic Works of Translation, states that there are 3 types of translation:
1) Intralingual rewording or paraphrasing, summarizing, expanding or commenting within a
language
2) Interlingual the traditional concept of translation from ST to TT or the shifting of meaning
from one language to another
3) Intersemiotic the changing of a written text into a different form, such as art or dance.
For Jakobson, meaning and equivalence are linked to the interlingual form of translation, which
involves two equivalent messages in two different codes. He considers Saussures ideas of the
arbitrariness of the signifier (name) for the signified (object or concept) and how this equivalence
can be transferred between different languages, for example the concept of a fence may be
completely different to someone living in the suburbs or a prison inmate. He expands on
Saussures work in that he considers that concepts may be transferred by rewording, without,
however, attaining full equivalence. His theory is linked to grammatical and lexical differences
between languages, as well as to the field of semantics.
Nidas Equivalence Theories
Conversely, E.A. Nida (1964) has written that there are two kinds of equivalence
1)
Formal equivalence (also known as formal correspondence)
scientific-technological
institutional-cultural
3)
literary texts
But he stresses that technical or institutional translation can be as challenging as rewarding as
literary translation
Because every word has its own identity, its resonance, its value, and words are affected by their
contexts, he distinguishes different types of words:
1)
functional words
2)
technical words
3)
common words
4)
institutional words
5)
lexical words
6)
concept words
He considers two types of translation: semantic and communicative, although he states that the
majority of texts require communicative rather than semantic translation. Communicative
translation is strictly functional and usually the work of a team. Semantic translation is linguistic
and encyclopedic and is generally the work of one translator.
Among the translation problems Newmark discusses he gives special attention to the metaphor.
He proposes seven procedures for its translation:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
deletion
7)