О СРЕДСТВАХ ПЕРЕДАЧИ ИНФОРМАЦИОННОЙ СТРУКТУРЫ ТЕКСТА ПРИ ПЕРЕВОДЕ АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНЫХ ПУБЛИКАЦИЙ

Шамина Н.В.¹, Буянова Е.В.²

¹Кандидат филологических наук, Доцент, ²Кандидат философских наук, Доцент, Мордовский государственный университет им. Н. П. Огарёва, Саранск, Мордовия

О СРЕДСТВАХ ПЕРЕДАЧИ ИНФОРМАЦИОННОЙ СТРУКТУРЫ ТЕКСТА ПРИ ПЕРЕВОДЕ АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНЫХ ПУБЛИКАЦИЙ

Аннотация

В данной статье рассматриваются некоторые средства передачи информационной структуры текста. Существуют две главные коммуникативные цели, которые должны быть достигнуты: сделать передаваемую информацию понятной для читателя/слушателя; подчеркнуть, что автор считает наиболее важным. При переводе с одного языка на другой информационная структура в большинстве случаев остается неизменной. Однако текст на переводимом языке не всегда может быть полностью понятен новому адресату по таким причинам как социальные и национальные различия между носителями двух языков или отсутствие реалий в языке перевода. В подобном случае информационная структура требует расширения в форме описаний, определений, комментариев. Это приводит либо к амплификации переводимого текста, либо к его компрессии. Настоящая работа основывается на анализе публикаций из американских и британских журналов и периодических изданий. В статье также рассматриваются особенности метафоры как средства компрессии заголовков газетных статей.

Ключевые слова: информационная структура, амплификация, компрессия, экстралингвистические факторы, метафора.

Shamina N.V.¹, Buyanova E.V.²

¹PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, ²PhD in Philosophy, Associate Professor, Mordovia N. P. Ogarev State University, Saransk, Mordovia

ON MEANS OF CONVEYING THE INFORMATION STRUCTURE OF THE TEXT WHEN TRANSLATING ENGLISH PUBLICATIONS

Abstract

The article deals with some means of conveying the information structure of the text. There are two communicative goals to satisfy: making the information conveyed by the discourse easier for the reader/hearer to understand; indicating what the enunciator considers to be the most important. When translating from one language into another the information structure in most cases remains unchanged. However the text in the target language may not always be completely clear to the new recipient for a number of reasons, such as social and national differences between speakers of the two languages, or lack of realia in the target language. In this case the information structure needs extension in the form of descriptions, definitions, commentaries. This results either in amplification of the text in the target language or in its compression. The present work is based on an analysis of papers from American and British journals and periodicals. The article also takes stock of the peculiarities of the metaphor as a means of broader text compression in the titles of newspaper articles.

Keywords: information structure, amplification, compression, extralinguistic factors, metaphor.

Tradition is a very complex communication process that conveys an original text to a concrete recipient. The communicative function, that is, the desire to convince the recipient of certain ideas and conclusions, “to win him/her over” is characteristic of the written language, no less than of oral. And though the addressee of the text is not directly involved in the communication process, the range of readers is defined by the introduction, abstract or title of the publication.

Generally speaking, information structure deals with the way the information conveyed by the discourse in question is packed into informational units within and between clauses by the enunciator (writer or speaker) in order to satisfy two communicative goals: making the information conveyed by the discourse easier for the reader/hearer to understand; indicating what the enunciator considers to be the most important or salient items of information.

When translating from one language into another the information structure in most cases remains unchanged. However the text in the target language may not always be completely clear to the new recipient for a number of reasons, such as social and national differences between speakers of the two languages, or lack of realia in the target language.

In this case, the information structure of the new text changes. It needs extension in the form of descriptions, definitions, commentaries. This results either in amplification of the new text as compared with the original, or in compression, i.e. narrowing of the text in the target language. In his book, A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices, author Robert Harris explains in depth, “Amplification involves repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it, in order to emphasize what might otherwise be passed over. In other words, amplification allows you to call attention to, emphasize, and expand a word or idea to make sure the reader realizes its importance or centrality in the discussion” [3, P. 3].

The present work is based on an analysis of articles and papers from American and British journals and periodicals (The Economist, The Newsweek, The Morning Star, etc.). The transformations in translation fall into two main groups – lexical and grammatical. We were interested in the former, i.e. those caused by the presence of phraseological units, proverbs and sayings, set clichés, and also lexical units concerned with extralinguistic factors.

For example, a newspaper text (The Morning Star) reads: “Building workers union yesterday gave a decisive thumbs down to any and all negotiations with any other union or unions”. To convey the meaning of the word combination thumbs down it is necessary to know that in Ancient Rome the fate of the defeated gladiator was decided by the motion of the Emperor’s hand: his thumb lowered meant death. And, if the translator is not sure whether the recipient of the text knows this, he/she should make a note or a footnote.

The need for transformations such as an amplification of the text often arises when translating specialist terms. In this case the above reasons are supplemented by others, such as a great number of abbreviations, extralinguistic factors connected with the presence in a specific field of knowledge of certain phenomena, processes, methods, devices, etc. which are not known to the recipient of the translated text. For example, the English term insider when translated into Russian as инсайдер is not familiar to a great number of recipients of economic texts and is usually followed by a definition: лицо, имеющее в силу служебного положения конфиденциальную информацию о делах фирмы.

A translator should be ready to use inner reserves of the text, and according to L. S. Barkhudarov, move beyond the framework of an individual sentence into a broader context [1]. For example, judging only by the heading of the article in “The Journal of Operational Research”: “Forecaster – an exercise in user friendliness” it is rather difficult to translate the word forecaster in the context. However, further on in the text there is a definition: “Forecaster is a small unsophisticated device … designed as a vehicle to investigate the response of managers to using technical software”. Hence we can give a translation such as: устройство для прогнозирования спроса пользователей технического программного обеспечения.

Phraseological units, proverbs and sayings more often than not need amplification or compression, especially if they have no close analogues in the target language. For example, wishful thinking; take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.

Another example of amplification is the translation of professional jargon which has lately become frequent in business language [see e.g. 4]. A lot of English economic terms have penetrated into Russian practically without any change, e.g. франшиза, дефолт, байбэк, лидс энд лэнгз, etc. They may not be understood by the readers, so it is the duty of the translator to provide an explanation.

There is also an inverse phenomenon, namely, compression, or narrowing of the new text for several reasons, such as paired synonyms which mean practically the same in the target language (for example, by force and violence, terms and conditions, by fits and starts).

There is little doubt as to the role of the title in the process of perception of the text regardless of the type of writing it belongs to: “the title represents both the gist of the message and the author’s attitude towards it in a book, a film and a newspaper article” [2, P. 42]. However, the peculiarities of a title as a compressed text and the use of a metaphor to provide this compression have not been given due attention. Taking into consideration its prominent role in the act of author-recipient communication, it may be assumed that the process of compression of the vast piece of writing into its concise heading is a complex and varying phenomenon requiring an intent scientific study.

The form of a metaphorical heading depends on its functional load which differs considerably in the titles of literary works, newspaper articles and films. The choice of the metaphor lies on the predominant function performed by the title. The metaphor is widely used in all types of written communication and it possesses a number of features that make it an efficient means of text compression. It can state the idea in a concise but very expressive form and also give a broad field for intertextual ties. However, the problem of its functioning in the title in connection with the whole body of the text is far from final resolution. It is necessary to trace the syntactical structure and stylistic potential of the metaphor in the title which should definitely be done in future. This problem is crucial for clarifying the process of text compression and thus requires further scientific study.

Список литературы / References

1. Бархударов Л. С. Язык и перевод (Вопросы общей и частной теории перевода) / Л. С. Бархударов. – М., «Междунар. отношения», 1975. – 240 с.
2. Кононенко М. В. Метафора как способ сжатия более обширного текста в названиях художественных произведений, фильмов и газетных статей [Электронный ресурс] / М. В. Кононенко. – 2011. – Режим доступа: http://www.nbuv.gov.ua/old_jrn/Soc_Gum/Aia/2011_8/10.pdf
3. Harris R. A. A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices. Virtual Salt, 1997, 2002, 2008. Web. 21 Oct. 2013 [Электронный ресурс] / R. A. Harris. – Режим доступа: http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric3.htm#Amplification
4. Sweeney S. English for Business Communication / S. Sweeney. – Cambridge University Press, 2001. – 400 pp.

Список литературы на английском языке / References in English

1. Barkhudarov L. S. Yazyk I perevod (Voprosy obshej i chastnoj teorii perevoda) [Language and translation (questions of general and special theory of translation)] / L. S. Barkhudarov. – М., «Мezhdunar. otnoshenija», 1975. – 240 pp. [in Russian]
2. Kononenko M. V. Metafora kak sposob szhatija boleje obshirnogo teksta v nazvanijah hudozhestvennyh proizvedeniji, filmov I gazetnyh stateji [Metaphor as a means of information compression in the titles of films, works of fiction and newspaper articles] [Electronic Resource] / M. V. Kononenko. – 2011. – Access mode:  http://www.nbuv.gov.ua/old_jrn/Soc_Gum/Aia/2011_8/10.pdf [in Russian]
3. Harris R. A. A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices. Virtual Salt, 1997, 2002, Web. 21 Oct. 2013 [Electronic Resource] / R. A. Harris. – Access mode: http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric3.htm#Amplification
4. Sweeney S. English for Business Communication / S. Sweeney. – Cambridge University Press, 2001. – 400 pp.