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Lexis or terminology?. General lexis: ‘slippery’: polysemous, collocation- bound, register-sensitive. Terms: monosemic , invariable, unambiguous. Terms require translators to find precise equivalents, because in theory there is only one equivalent for every term;
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Lexis or terminology? General lexis: ‘slippery’: polysemous, collocation- bound, register-sensitive. Terms: monosemic , invariable, unambiguous. Terms require translators to find precise equivalents, because in theory there is only one equivalent for every term; Words oblige translators to fit various possible meanings to context
General Lexis • Translators must be aware of the possible meaning of the word being used on the page. This is because the semantics of a word may be far more complex than initially appears.
Componential Analysis • Componential Analysis was developed by linguists in the 60s and 70s. • It remains an effective analytical tool for providing a complete semantic picture of a lexical item. • It works by breaking down a lexical item into its basic components, e.g. woman= +female + human+ adult
Demonstration of Componential Analysis • Newmark applies this instrument to the analysis of the word ‘bawdy’. • Bawdy • A Essential (functional) components: 1 shocking (emotive) 2 related to sex act (factual) 3 humorous (emotive/factual) B Secondary (descriptive ) components 1 Loud 2 ‘Vulgar’ (in relation to class) • Once an item has been opened up to reveal all its components , it can be measured against possible corresponding items in the TL and in the context of situation. • If there are no direct equivalences, translators may be required to opt for near synonyms, paraphrase, compensatory solutions, or even zero replacement.
Aspects of collocation • The term collocation refers to the way individual words co-select or bind with other word in different ways. • Words collocate predictably: e.g. read a story, lip read, good read, • unpredictably: e.g. read the riot act.
Collocation patterns • Collocation patterns in one language are often not mirrored in another. • collocations can be: tautologous: e.g. medical doctor (medico), chartered accountant (commercialista) Not as transparent as they seem (false cognates) e.g. pulirsi i denti (brush your teeth). The word ‘gentle’, for example, often translates as leggero, in Italian, rather than gentile.
Word type and collocates • Collocates may change depending on whether a lexical item is used as a general word or as a term. • The word ‘radar’ can be used as a term, or as a general word in expressions like ‘you can take that off your radar for the moment’, meaning ‘it’s not an immediate problem’. • In the first instance, we would expect collocates like screen, object, identified, sighted, position, etc, • in the second we might expect collocates like ‘problem’, ‘worry’, ‘concentrate’, ‘worry about’ etc.
Collocates and context • Collocates may change depending on the context a lexical item is used in. • Laviosa points out that the word ‘children’ taken from the general lexis may collocate with ‘noisy’, ‘trouble’, ‘seen’, ‘not heard’, ‘love’ etc. • The same word used in the context of holiday accommodation is likely to appear with ‘welcome’, ‘under 12’, ‘playroom’ etc.
False collocations An area that is difficult to handle are deliberate plays on conventional collocations to achieve humorous or other perlocutionary effects. A recent example is the expression used by rugby coaches to minimise outbreaks of violent play or behaviour on the pitch: There was a bit of handbagging, but nothing out of the ordinary. The collocation of ‘handbagging’ ( a verbal noun derived from a woman’s fashion accessory) in the context of a rugby match might cause considerable problems to the translator. Clearly the intent is to underline that the incident was nothing serious by humorously (and in an undeniably sexist manner) comparing it to an exchange of blows between angry women using handbags. The translator will have to carefully assess to what extent such irony based on reversal of sexual roles and attributes would be effective, or even acceptable in a target language like Italian and its cultural context.
Collocations:idioms & phrases • Many proverbs, idioms and phrases collocate in essentially the same way and are more or less recognisable. They often have equivalents with their own well established collocates. • Difficulties arise for the translator when variations occur in collocation patterns. • Partington has identified three types of transformation: • 1. reformulation: (The cookie that didn’t crumble) • 2. abbreviation: (Every cloud.., Once a Catholic, …. • 3.Expansion: Songs from an Age of Innocence (Songs of Innocence + Age of Innocence.) • Translators must be wary of ascribing the the same conventions to the two languages they are working with.
Non transferable collocations Certain, loan words may collocate differently from the way they do in the original language. in Italian, the word ‘drink’ is more like to collocate with words like’ ‘cocktail’, bar, American bar. in Britain the same word is likely to collocate with ‘pub’, ‘pint’, ‘beer’, ’glass’ etc. In Italian the word bomber is likely to collocate with gol, segnare, partita, squadra , etc. In English it is likely to collocate with war, flight, mission, aricraft etc., alternatively with jacket, This illustrates the way collocates are often culture-bound and depend on the exact semantics of a lexical item.
