8 Typological differences shining through. The case of phrasal verbs in translated English
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Bert Cappelle
Abstract
Are phrasal verbs less numerous in English translations if the source language is a Romance language than if the source language is a Germanic one? This chapter sets out to answer that question. In a subcorpus of English fictional texts translated from Romance languages, up, out and down, which represent phrasal verb use rather well, are indeed underused when compared with non-translated English fiction from the British National Corpus, while no significant difference is to be found for this set of items between non-translated English and English translated from Germanic languages. This finding is strong evidence for source-language interference, as Romance languages on the whole do not have close equivalents to phrasal verbs, while Germanic languages do. This effect appears stronger than any source-language-independent translation universal that could in principle have played a role, such as normalization (exaggerated use of phrasal verbs, which are typical of the English language) or levelling-out (avoidance of phrasal verbs, which are generally felt to be rather colloquial). A comparison of French prefixed verbs with morphologically simplex ones in Le Petit Prince further shows that the former are more likely to be translated by phrasal verbs than the latter, again supporting source-language influence, as phrasal verbs resemble prefixed verbs in being composed of a verb and an added element. Our study thus stresses the relevance of taking into account typological differences (and similarities) between source and target language in translation studies.
Abstract
Are phrasal verbs less numerous in English translations if the source language is a Romance language than if the source language is a Germanic one? This chapter sets out to answer that question. In a subcorpus of English fictional texts translated from Romance languages, up, out and down, which represent phrasal verb use rather well, are indeed underused when compared with non-translated English fiction from the British National Corpus, while no significant difference is to be found for this set of items between non-translated English and English translated from Germanic languages. This finding is strong evidence for source-language interference, as Romance languages on the whole do not have close equivalents to phrasal verbs, while Germanic languages do. This effect appears stronger than any source-language-independent translation universal that could in principle have played a role, such as normalization (exaggerated use of phrasal verbs, which are typical of the English language) or levelling-out (avoidance of phrasal verbs, which are generally felt to be rather colloquial). A comparison of French prefixed verbs with morphologically simplex ones in Le Petit Prince further shows that the former are more likely to be translated by phrasal verbs than the latter, again supporting source-language influence, as phrasal verbs resemble prefixed verbs in being composed of a verb and an added element. Our study thus stresses the relevance of taking into account typological differences (and similarities) between source and target language in translation studies.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- 1 Gravitational pull in translation. Testing a revised model 9
- 2 The impact of translation direction on characteristics of translated texts. A multivariate analysis for English and German 47
- 3 Variability of English loanword use in Belgian Dutch translations. Measuring the effect of source language and register 81
- 4 The effects of editorial intervention. Implications for studies of the features of translated language 113
- 5 Phraseological patterns in interpreting and translation. Similar or different? 157
- 6 Contrasting terminological variation in post-editing and human translation of texts from the technical and medical domain 183
- 7 Exploratory analysis of dimensions influencing variation in translation. The case of text register and translation method 207
- 8 Typological differences shining through. The case of phrasal verbs in translated English 235
- 9 English-German contrasts in cohesion and implications for translation 265
- Index 313
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- 1 Gravitational pull in translation. Testing a revised model 9
- 2 The impact of translation direction on characteristics of translated texts. A multivariate analysis for English and German 47
- 3 Variability of English loanword use in Belgian Dutch translations. Measuring the effect of source language and register 81
- 4 The effects of editorial intervention. Implications for studies of the features of translated language 113
- 5 Phraseological patterns in interpreting and translation. Similar or different? 157
- 6 Contrasting terminological variation in post-editing and human translation of texts from the technical and medical domain 183
- 7 Exploratory analysis of dimensions influencing variation in translation. The case of text register and translation method 207
- 8 Typological differences shining through. The case of phrasal verbs in translated English 235
- 9 English-German contrasts in cohesion and implications for translation 265
- Index 313
