Translation Studies

1
Translation Studies

• 16. Lexical TOs contraction and distribution of
  meaning
• Krisztina Károly, Spring, 2006
• Sources Klaudy, 2003

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1. Contraction of meanings
3
Lexical contraction

• concentration (Vinay and Darbelnet, 1958, 1995),
• integration (Klaudy, 1995),
• accumulation or condensation of meanings
• a standard transfer operation whereby
  translators draw together the meaning of several
  words, and thus SL units consisting from two or
  more words will be replaced by a TL unit
  consisting of one word (Klaudy, 2003, p.214)

4
Explanation for contraction of meaning

• the different segmentation of reality e.g.,
  kinship relations, by the different word
  formation possibilities (e.g., long compound
  words are common in German) and by the synthetic
  or analytic nature of the lexical systems of
  different languages

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Traditional classification of language typology

• Hungarian belongs to the agglutinative type of Ls
  (words made up of several syllables word base
  affixes) e.g., fiú (boy), fiú-k (boys),
  fi-aink (our boys), fi-aink-nak (to our
  boys), szeret (to love), szeret-ek (I love),
  szeret-l-ek (I love you)
• When translating from an isolating, monosyllabic
  L like English into an agglutinative L like
  Hungarian, many obligatory contractions take
  place, which are not only obligatory operations
  but are automatic as well.
• E.g., morphological contraction in IE-H
  translation means that functional elements with
  grammatical meaning are incorporated into the
  main verb. (May I have it? ? Elvehetem?) ?
  automatic ? not discussed here

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Not obligatory and automatic ? the contraction of
different lexical meanings

• e.g., English to say softly ? Hungarian suttog
  English You are making me nervous ? Hungarian
  Idegesítesz?
• presupposes some kind of decision-making on the
  part of translators for two reasons
• (1) contraction of meanings is rarely suggested
  by bilingual dictionaries,
• (2) contraction of meanings is an optional
  transfer operation.
• ? a good test of translators creativity.

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Contraction as a transfer operation

• research shows (Baker 1993, Laviosa 1998) that it
  is not a universal translation strategy
• takes place first of all in IE-H translation
• as it results in a lower number of words in
  translation, translators often hesitate to choose
  the more implicit solutions

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Subtypes

• 1. Contraction of kinship terms
• 2. Contraction motivated by word formation
  potential
• 3. Integration of inchoative verbs into the main
  verb
• 4. Integration of adverbs of manner into
  reporting verbs
• 5. Merging change of state verbs with adjectives
• 6. Merging semantically poor verbs with nouns

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1. Contraction of kinship terms

• Predominant direction no
• for the expression of certain kinship relations
  one L may have a collective term while another
  may not e.g., Hungarian testvér is a collective
  term for English brother and sister
• in other cases, it is Hungarian where a more
  detailed description can be found e.g., öcs
  (younger brother) and fivér (elder brother)
  can be translated with one collective term into
  English brother húg (younger sister) and novér
  (elder sister) sister

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English ? Hungarianbrother/sister (specific
terms in E) ? testvérek (collective term in H)

• English ST Of course they wasn't brother and
  sister, ... (Hemingway 62)
• Hungarian TT Persze nem voltak testvérek, ...
  (Szász 63)
• English ST Then his sister was his manager, and
  they was always being written up in the papers
  all about brothers and sisters and how she loved
  her brother ... (Hemingway 62)
• Hungarian TT Aztán a novére volt a menedzsere, s
  mindig kiírták oket az újságokban, hogy
  testvérek, és hogyan szereti a lány a fívérét.
  ... (Szász 63)

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2. Contraction motivated by word formation
potential

• Predominant direction Hungarian? German
• word combination is one of the most frequent
  forms of expanding vocabulary and creating new
  words in all the five languages under
  investigation
• it is especially frequently used in German (e.g.,
  Kriegsfolgenbereinigungsgesetz war consequences
  clearing act).

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3. Integration of inchoative verbs into the main
verb

• Predominant direction IE?Hungarian
• IE verbs of beginning (e.g., start, begin) in
  auxiliary function (begin to rain, start to
  speak, etc.) often become more specific, more
  concrete in IE?Hungarian translation
• another operation that is connected with verbs of
  beginning is the integration of these verbs into
  the main verb began to speak ? megszólalt. (the
  inchoative meaning expressed by the auxiliary
  verb is integrated into the meaning of the main
  verb, with the help of prefixes and suffixes)

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• English ? Hungarian
• English ST Billy started sipping his tea. (Dahl
  72)
• Hungarian TT Billy belekortyolt a teába. (Borbás
  73)
• Commentary English started sipping ? Hungarian
  belekortyolt (inchoative prefix sipped)

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4. Integration of adverbs of manner into
reporting verbs

• Predominant direction IE ? Hungarian
• IE verbs of saying (e.g., say) in literary works
  often become more specific or more concrete in
  IE?Hungarian translation
• another way of concretisation is the merging of
  adverbs of manner and verbs of saying (said
  encouragingly ? biztatta)
• this operation is not obligatory as the analytic
  solution mondta lágyan (lit said softly), mondta
  biztatóan (lit said encouragingly)

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English ? Hungarian

• English ST 'Before this day is done', Mr Boggis
  said softly, I shall have the pleasure of sitting
  down upon that lovely seat.' (Dahl 136)
• Hungarian TT Még mielott leáldozik a nap
  suttogta Mr. Boggis , erre a szépséges székre
  lesz szerencsém letelepedni. (Borbás 137)
• Commentary English said softly ? Hungarian
  suttogta (whispered)

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• English ST 'Yes Edna?' said Miss Marple
  encouragingly. (Christie 6)
• Hungarian TT Nos, Edna bíztatta Miss Marple.
  (Borbás 7)
• Commentary English said encouragingly ?
  Hungarian bíztatta (encouraged her)

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5. Merging change of state verbs with adjectives

• Predominant direction IE ? Hungarian
• In IE Ls, the changes in the physical or mental
  states of things/persons are usually expressed
  analytically by verbal phrases verb of
  becoming (e.g. turn) an adjective expressing
  the specific content or direction of the change
  (e.g. turn sentimental).
• In Hungarian, where the word formation system
  makes it very easy to form verbs from adjectives,
  these two meanings can be contracted and
  expressed synthetically by one verb (turn
  sentimental ? elérzékenyül).

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English ? Hungarian

• English ST And if it makes me smaller, I can
  creep under the door. (Carroll 16)
• Hungarian TT Ha pedig eltörpülök tole, akkor
  kimászhatok alúl az ajtórésen. (Kosztolányi 13)
• Commentary English makes me smaller ? Hungarian
  eltörpülök (prefixdwarfed by)

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6. Merging semantically depleted verbs with nouns

• Predominant direction IE ? Hungarian
• IE verbs of general meaning (take) are
  amalgamated with nouns of specific meaning (sip')
  resulting in a synthetic Hungarian verb form
  (kortyintott).
• The great variety of synthetic verb forms is a
  unique possibility of Hungarian, which does not
  mean, however, that here are no analytic forms.
• In the sentences below translators chose to use
  the synthetic forms

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English ? Hungarian

• English ST Franny nodded, and took a sip of her
  milk. (Salinger 27)
• Hungarian TT Franny bólintott, és kortyintott a
  tejbol. (Elbert 28)
• Commentary English took a sip ? Hungarian
  kortyintott (sip verbal suffix)

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Summary comments on lexical contraction

• The contraction of meanings as a transfer
  operation is very close to the specification of
  meanings
• Contraction and specification of meaning are
  primarily characteristic of translation into
  Hungarian.
• They are among the most frequently used transfer
  operations, and sometimes they are used more than
  once in the same sentence

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• English ST ... and it was a shock last week when
  one of the brood not only detected me in the act
  of observation but returned that knowing signal,
  as if he shared my knowledge of what the years
  would make of him. (Greene 124)
• Hungarian TT ... és a múlt héten jócskán
  megdöbbentem, mikor a fészekaljából az egyik
  nemcsak rajtakapott megfigyelés közben, de még
  vissza is kacsintott, mintha o éppoly jól tudná,
  mit tartogat számára a jövo. (Borbás 235)

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• English ? Hungarian
• was a shock ? megdöbben (contraction)
• returned ... a knowing signal ? visszakacsintott
  (contraction)
• shared my knowledge ? tudná (contraction)
• make ? tartogat (specification)
• years ? jövo (future) (specification)

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Summary cont.

• without applying these operations translators
  could produce lexically and grammatically correct
  Hungarian sentences
• these operations cannot be called automatic, and
  inexperienced translators do not use them.
• experienced translators often follow the
  synthetic principle, and perhaps, even more
  frequently than the authors of literary works
  originally written in Hungarian.
• as contraction results in a lower number of words
  in the TL text, it can be treated as a kind of
  broad translation-strategy, i.e. implicitation.

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2. Distribution of meaning

• Lexical distribution in other terms
• dilution (Vinay and Darbelnet 1958, 1995),
• segmentation (Klaudy 1995) or division of
  meanings
• a standard transfer operation whereby the
  complex lexical meaning of a SL word is
  distributed over several words in the TL

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Distribution of meaning in translation

• can be explained by the different segmentation of
  reality e.g., kinship relations, by the different
  word-formation possibilities (e.g., long compound
  words are common in German), and by the synthetic
  or analytic nature of the lexical systems of
  different Ls
• due to their rich morphology and word-forming
  potential, Hungarian verbs can incorporate more
  meanings (synthesis) than IE verbs, which are
  characterised by an analytical structure.
• E.g., Hungarian Becsomagoljam? (synthetic form)
  English Shall I wrap it up? (analytic form).
• The distribution of grammatical meaning the H-IE
  translation is obligatory ? necessary to produce
  grammatically correct TL sentences ? not dealt
  with here

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More interesting ? the distribution of lexical
meaning

• synthetic nature of the Hungarian word formation
  system ? to amalgamate many different shades and
  nuances of meaning in one word with the help of a
  large number of prefixes and suffixes.
• To distribute the meaning of semantically rich
  Hungarian verbs in H-IE translation is an almost
  obligatory transfer operation because translators
  translating from H into IE often cannot find IE
  verbs of a similar semantic complexity.

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Subtypes

• 1. Distribution of meaning in kinship terms
• 2. Distribution of meaning in complex nouns
• 3. Distribution of meaning in paraphrasing
  translation
• 4. Distribution of meaning in inchoative verbs
• 5. Separation of adverbs of manner
• 6. Distribution of meaning in reporting verbs
• 7. Distribution of meaning in change of state
  verbs
• 8. Distribution of meaning in semantically rich
  verbs

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1. Distribution of meaning in kinship terms

• Predominant direction no
• Kinship terms may have a more detailed
  classification in one language and a less
  detailed one in the other.
• Hungarian has a collective term for testvérek
  (brother and sister) while English does not ?
  the meaning of the Hungarian word testvérek can
  only be rendered by two words in English brother
  and sister

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• Hungarian ? English
• testvérek (collective term in H) ?
  brothers/sisters (specific terms in E)
• Hungarian ST Azután elment, mert már jöttek a
  varázsló rokonai és testvérei, s azokkal o nem
  volt ismeros. (Csáth 64)
• English TT Then she went away, because the
  brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and
  cousins of the magician were gathering, and she
  didn't know any of them. (Kessler 204)

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2. Distribution of meaning in complex nouns

• Predominant direction German?Hungarian
• the preference for word combinations in German
  may produce very long words which can be
  translated into Hungarian only by several words
  e.g., Kriegsfolgenbereinigungsgesetz ? a második
  világháború anyagi következményeinek rendezésérol
  szóló törvény. (war consequences clearing act).

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• German ? Hungarian
• German ST Hexerei und Kartenlesen,
  Amulettgetrage, böser Blick, Beschwörungen,
  Vollmondhokuspokus und was sie sonst noch alles
  treiben ... (Süskind 19)
• Hungarian TT. a boszorkányság, kártyevetés,
  amulettviselés, szemmel verés, igézés,
  teliholdkor történo varázslások és hasonlók ellen
  ... (Farkas 15) (wizardry by full moon)

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3. Distribution of meaning in paraphrasing
translation

• Predominant direction no
• in the absence of a precise TL term translators
  render the meaning of the SL term with a noun of
  general meaning and a concretising attribute
  Hungarian kocsonya ? English meat in aspic
  Hungarian kondér? English great kettle.

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• Hungarian ? English
• Hungarian ST Nem annyira, mint a kocsonya, errol
  az uramat lehetne faggatni, ... (Esterházy 53)
• English TT Not as much as meat in aspic, though,
  you should ask my husband about it, ... (Sollosy
  42).

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• Paraphrasing is especially often used in
  translation of so-called "cultural words",
  otherwise referred to as "realia".
• a descriptive Adjective Noun combination
• English ? Hungarian
• English ST ..., his immaculate suit, stiff
  collar and Homburg hat making a strange contrast
  to the nets, bags and boxes full of testtubes
  with which he was surrounded. (Durrell 109)
• Hungarian TT ... Makulátlan öltönye, kemény
  gallérja és széles karimájú puhakalapja különös
  ellentétben állt a hálókkal, zacskókkal,
  kémcsovekkel telt dobozokkal, melyekkel
  körülrakta magát. (Sárközi 114)

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4. Distribution of meaning in inchoative verbs

• Predominant direction Hungarian ? IE
• The complex meaning of Hungarian inchoative verbs
  (e.g., elpityeredett) is rendered by two separate
  verbs in IE languages one expressing the
  beginning of the action (start, beginnen), and
  other expressing the action itself (snivelling).

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• Hungarian ST Erre aztán Rozsákné is felkelt,
  felöltözött és elpityeredett. (Mikszáth 23)
• English TT This was enough to make Mrs. Rozsák
  get up too, put on her clothes and start
  snivelling. (Sturgess 27)
• German TT Da stand nun auch Frau Rozsák auf, zog
  sich an und begann zu flennen. (Schüching - Engl
  291)

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5. Separation of adverbs of manner

• Predominant direction Hungarian ? IE
• in translating from Hungarian into IE languages
  adverbs of manner are often separated from the IE
  verb
• the complex meaning of the Hungarian verb
  including not only the action but also the way or
  method of doing it (beront, belibbent, elcipelt,
  bevillamosozik) can only be rendered by two
  separate words in IE translation an adverb for
  expressing the manner, style or way of the action
  (hurriedly), and a verb for expressing the action
  itself (return).

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• Hungarian ? English
• Hungarian ST... berontott az asszisztens (Csáth
  12)
• English TT ... the assistant returned hurriedly.
  (Kessler 184)
• Commentary The complex meaning of the synthetic
  Hungarian verb berontott (rushed in) is
  distributed between the English verb returned and
  the adverb hurriedly.

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6. Distribution of meaning in reporting verbs

• distribution of meaning takes place when
  translating reporting verbs from Hungarian into
  IE languages
• Hungarian reporting verbs of complex meaning
  felhördül to exclaim in protest, hajtogat to
  say a thing over and over again, kötekedik to
  pick a quarell or other verbs occasionally
  serving as reporting verbs (sír to cry,
  csodálkozik to be astonished, mosolyog to
  smile), are divided into a verb with general
  meaning and an adverb of manner expressing the
  way of saying mondta szünet nélkül said again
  and again mondta csodálkozva said with
  astonishment, mondta mosolyogva said smiling.

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• Hungarian ? English
• Hungarian ST Eltitkolta-e? vigyorgott a
  káplán gonoszul. (Mikszáth 35)
• English TT Has he? said the chaplain with a
  nasty grin. (Sturgess 42)

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7. Distribution of meaning in change of state
verbs

• sometimes it is impossible to render changes in
  state with a single IE verb elvörösödik (turn
  red), elkékül (turn blue) elérzékenyül (turn
  sentimental).
• Hungarian verbs indicating a change of state are
  also frequently distributed in translation into a
  verb of general meaning and an adjective
  describing the state.

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• Hungarian ST Egészen belevörösödtem a
  próbálkozásba, hogy a gyanús közmondást
  kiegészítsem. (Karinthy 273)
• English TT My struggles to complete the
  shady-looking proverb actually made me quite red
  in the face. (Barker 12)

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8. Distribution of meaning in semantically rich
verbs

• Predominant direction Hungarian ? IE
• distribution of the meaning of verbs is one of
  the most common transfer operations in
  translating from Hungarian into English, French,
  German and Russian
• Semantically rich Hungarian verbs are very often
  rendered by IE verbs of general meaning (English
  take, make, do) and one or two nouns of specific
  meaning.

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• Hungarian ? English
• Hungarian ST Mikor a gróf felébredt,
  kikocsizott, ha ugyan Estella megengedte.
  (Mikszáth 16)
• English TT When the count awoke he went out for
  a drive in his coach, if Estella allowed him to.
  (Sturgess 18)