Research Methods in T&I Studies I

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Text

“a verbal record of a communicative event” (Brown & Yule 1983:6)

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Motivated choices at Grammatical and Lexical

LevelsDialect/regional variation

Geographical Temporal Social (Non-) standard

RegisterText type/genre & potential readershipPersonal style & idiolect

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Example of Dialect/Regional Variation

Proliferation of negatives and use of double negatives in Black English Vernacular (BEV)

I ain’t never had no trouble with none of ‘em You better not never steal nothin’ from me

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Dialect issues relevant to translation

Tendency to avoid dialectical use in English translations (TEC)

Function of dialectical choices for characterisation

Minority languages/culturesPolitical importEmpowerment through translation

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Register, Text Type & Readership

Register Difference between a high and low level of formality

(Hale 1997) Typical conventions of the type of communication in

question (register of science, news reporting etc) (Biber 1995, 1998)

Intricate set of choices determined by features of the situation in which it is used (Halliday)

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Register according to Halliday

Field (the what and why of the communication)Tenor (the who of the communication; i.e.

relationship between speaker/writer and hearer/reader)

Mode (the how of the communication; the textual features which realise the features of the situation)

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Genre

A typified, institutionally recognised form that is used in typified social contexts – e.g. the newspaper editorial, the press release, the petition, etc.

Style The variety of languages that reflects the relationship

between the speaker and hearer or writer and reader (intimate, casual, formal)

Recurrent textual features in the speech or writing of a particular individual (similar to idiolect)

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Register vs. Style

Register is always associated with specific situations

Style is not linked to any particular situation Humorous style: adopting style that is

inappropriate to context or situation

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Overlap between terms (register, genre,

style)Always clearly specify what definition of the

term you are followingRegister, genre and style can be deliberately

manipulated. How is this conveyed in translation/interpretation?

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Cross-linguistic Variation

Imperative use Use of imperatives in instructions, public notices,

advertisements, menus, knitting patterns Imperatives with negatives/ Passive/ less direct

(non-imperative) forms)

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Cross-linguistic Variation

Nominalisation “Nouns that are related to verbs or adjectives

morphologically; the nominalization is said to be “derived” from the verb or adjective. For example, civilisation is a nominalization derived from civilize, and kindness is a nominalization derived from kind (Biber et al. 1998:59)

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Nominalisation

Almost four times as many nominalisations in English academic prose than in speech or fiction (based on Biber et al. 1998:60)

Other languages?

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions Motivated Variation in Translation/Interpreting

Use of passive constructions in court interpreting Translation as a genre/text-type

Difference in zero/that patterning in translated vs. original English (Olohan & Baker 2000)

Tendency to avoid contractions (Olohan 2003) Avoidance of dialectical or regionally-marked structures in

translation Translator Style

Individual translator style (lexical and grammatical choices) across translations of different authors and different texts, sometimes even different source languages (Baker 2000)

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions References

Al-Ani, Aseel and Alya’ Al-Rubai’ (2004) ‘The Translation of English Dialectal Dramatic Dialogue into Arabic’, Across Languages and Cultures 5(2): 233-257.

Assis Rosa, Alexandra (2001) ‘Features of Oral and Written Communication in Subtitling’, in Yves Gambier and Henrik Gottlieb (eds.) (Multi)Media Translation, Amsterdam & Philadephia: John Benjamins, 213-221.

Baker, Mona (2000) ‘Towards a Methodology for Investigating the Linguistic Behaviour of Professional Translators’, Target 12(2): 241-266.

Biber, Douglas (1988) Variation across Speech and Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions References

Biber, Douglas (1995) Dimensions of Register Variation: A Cross Linguistic Comparison, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Corbett, John (ed.) (1999) Written in the Language of the Scottish Nation. A History of Literary Translation into Scots, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Craig, Ian (2006) ‘Translation in the Shadow of the Giants: Anglophone Caribbean Vernacular in a Translated Literary Text’, The Translator 12(1): 65-84.

Cummins, Sarah (2005) ‘Discourse and register functions of detached structures: A case study of the translations of two plays’, Target 17(1): 145-158.

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions References (cont.)

Crystal, David and Derek Davy (1969) Investigating English Style, London: Longman.

Harvey, Keith (2000) ‘Describing Camp Talk: Language/Pragmatics/Politics’, Language and Literature 9(3): 240-260.

Labov, William (1972) Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. (Chapter 3: Contraction, Deletion, and Inherent Variability of the English Copula; Chapter 4: Negative Attraction and Negative Concord).

Leech, Geoffrey and Michael Short (1981) Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose, London & New York: Longman.

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions References (cont.)

Leppihalme, Ritva (2000) ‘The Two Faces of Standardization: On the Translation of Regionalisms in Literary Dialogue’, The Translator 6(2): 247-269.

Määttä, Simo K. (2004) ‘Dialect and Point of View: The Ideology of Translation in The Sound and the Fury in French’, Target 16(2): 319-339.

Marco, Josep (2000) ‘Register Analysis in Literary Translation: A Functional Approach’, Babel 46(1): 1-19.

Morini, Massimiliano (2006) ‘Norms, Difference, and the Translator: Or, How to Reproduce Double Difference’, RiLUnE - Review of Literatures of the European Union: Traduzione Tradizione? Paths in the European Literary Polysystem (Online): http://www.rilune.org/ENGLISH/mono4/Morini_Rilune4_2006.pdf. (also on intranet)

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions References (cont.)

Olohan, Maeve and Mona Baker (2000) ‘Reporting that in Translated English. Evidence for Subconscious Processes of Explicitation?’, Across Languages and Cultures 1(2): 141-158.

Pettit, Zoë (2005) ‘Translating register, style and tone in dubbing and subtitling’, JoSTrans - The Journal of Specialised Translation 4 (Online): http://www.jostrans.org/issue04/articles/pettit.html.

Snell-Hornby, Mary (1995) Translation Studies: An Integrated Approach, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Steiner, Erich (1998) ‘A Register-based Translation Evaluation: An Advertisement as a Case in Point’, Target 10(2): 291-318.

Dialect, Register, Style and Generic Conventions References (cont.)

Trosborg, Anna (1997) ‘Text Typology: Register, Genre and Text Type’, in Anna Trosborg (ed.) Text Typology and Translation, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 3-23.

Wilkinson, Jane (2005) ‘Staging ‘Swissness’: Inter- and Intracultural Theatre Translation’, Language and Intercultural Communication 5(1): 72-85.

Wong, Laurence (2001) ‘Voices across Languages: The Translation of Idiolects in the Honglou meng’, in Leo Tak-hung Chan (ed) One into Many: Translation and the Dissemination of Classical Chinese Literature, Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 97-114.

Wong, L. (2002) ‘Translating Register: With Reference to English, French, German, and Italian Versions of the Hong lou meng’, Babel 48(3): 247-266.