Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 11. Towards a quantitative measurement of equivalent effect and a tentative conceptualisation of cognitive equivalence
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Chapter 11. Towards a quantitative measurement of equivalent effect and a tentative conceptualisation of cognitive equivalence

  • Callum Walker
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Eye Tracking and Multidisciplinary Studies on Translation
This chapter is in the book Eye Tracking and Multidisciplinary Studies on Translation

Abstract

This chapter outlines a methodology to complement discussions on the notion of equivalence in translation studies, employing eye-tracking to measure readers’ responses, before and after translation, to stylistic language varieties in a literary case study. This research is unique in that there has not, to date, been any research using eye-tracking approaches to study how people read language varieties such as dialects and, furthermore, eye-tracking has not previously been used in translation studies to measure and compare cognitive responses between the source and target texts. Scholars have commented on the “levelling effect” of translation when a literary dialect is encountered in the source text, a phenomenon that could significantly alter a reader’s experience of individual characters within a novel or a novel as a whole. The research reported in this chapter proposes a method to gauge the degree of equivalence in cognitive effects between source text and target text over marked stylistic varieties, in terms of how readers react at certain points in the text, as manifested through the eye-tracking data, as a means to ascertain the extent to which this levelling effect is present at selected points in the given case study. The experiment employs three study groups: one reading extracts from the original French text, another reading the original English translation, and a third reading a modified translation in which the language varieties have been largely neutralised. The experiment method is explained in full, together with the accompanying statistical methods of analysis, which provide the quantitative basis for judgements regarding the notion of cognitive equivalence in the translation of the case study text. This chapter therefore presents an innovative methodology which can be developed and employed in other similar studies on other forms of marked language in future.

Abstract

This chapter outlines a methodology to complement discussions on the notion of equivalence in translation studies, employing eye-tracking to measure readers’ responses, before and after translation, to stylistic language varieties in a literary case study. This research is unique in that there has not, to date, been any research using eye-tracking approaches to study how people read language varieties such as dialects and, furthermore, eye-tracking has not previously been used in translation studies to measure and compare cognitive responses between the source and target texts. Scholars have commented on the “levelling effect” of translation when a literary dialect is encountered in the source text, a phenomenon that could significantly alter a reader’s experience of individual characters within a novel or a novel as a whole. The research reported in this chapter proposes a method to gauge the degree of equivalence in cognitive effects between source text and target text over marked stylistic varieties, in terms of how readers react at certain points in the text, as manifested through the eye-tracking data, as a means to ascertain the extent to which this levelling effect is present at selected points in the given case study. The experiment employs three study groups: one reading extracts from the original French text, another reading the original English translation, and a third reading a modified translation in which the language varieties have been largely neutralised. The experiment method is explained in full, together with the accompanying statistical methods of analysis, which provide the quantitative basis for judgements regarding the notion of cognitive equivalence in the translation of the case study text. This chapter therefore presents an innovative methodology which can be developed and employed in other similar studies on other forms of marked language in future.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  4. Chapter 2. A mapping exercise 11
  5. Part I. Method
  6. Chapter 3. Overcoming methodological challenges of eye tracking in the translation workplace 33
  7. Chapter 4. Eye tracking as a measure of cognitive effort for post-editing of machine translation 55
  8. Chapter 5. Analysing variable relationships and time-course data in eye-tracking studies of translation processes and products 71
  9. Part II. Process
  10. Chapter 6. Recognition and characterization of translator attributes using sequences of fixations and keystrokes 97
  11. Chapter 7. Problem solving in the translation of linguistic metaphors from Chinese into Portuguese 121
  12. Chapter 8. Working styles of student translators in self-revision, other-revision and post-editing 145
  13. Chapter 9. Visual attention distribution in intralingual respeaking 185
  14. Part III. Product
  15. Chapter 10. Subtitling of British stand-up comedy into Italian 205
  16. Chapter 11. Towards a quantitative measurement of equivalent effect and a tentative conceptualisation of cognitive equivalence 225
  17. Chapter 12. The impact of AVT mode on audience reception 259
  18. List of abbreviations 287
  19. Contributors 289
  20. Subject index 293
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.143.11Wal

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  4. Chapter 2. A mapping exercise 11
  5. Part I. Method
  6. Chapter 3. Overcoming methodological challenges of eye tracking in the translation workplace 33
  7. Chapter 4. Eye tracking as a measure of cognitive effort for post-editing of machine translation 55
  8. Chapter 5. Analysing variable relationships and time-course data in eye-tracking studies of translation processes and products 71
  9. Part II. Process
  10. Chapter 6. Recognition and characterization of translator attributes using sequences of fixations and keystrokes 97
  11. Chapter 7. Problem solving in the translation of linguistic metaphors from Chinese into Portuguese 121
  12. Chapter 8. Working styles of student translators in self-revision, other-revision and post-editing 145
  13. Chapter 9. Visual attention distribution in intralingual respeaking 185
  14. Part III. Product
  15. Chapter 10. Subtitling of British stand-up comedy into Italian 205
  16. Chapter 11. Towards a quantitative measurement of equivalent effect and a tentative conceptualisation of cognitive equivalence 225
  17. Chapter 12. The impact of AVT mode on audience reception 259
  18. List of abbreviations 287
  19. Contributors 289
  20. Subject index 293
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