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Article published In: Babel
Vol. 68:1 (2022) ► pp.139–164

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A corpus-based comparative study of explicitation by investigating connectives in two Chinese translations of The Lord of the Rings

 | Minnan Normal University
Published online: 18 February 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00253.son
Abstract
This article conducts a corpus-based comparative study of explicitation, one of the translation universals widely explored, by investigating the use of connectives in two versions of the Chinese translation of The Lord of the Rings from Taiwan and Mainland China. The two versions are compared with the originally produced Chinese text and their source text to find out whether explicitation through the use of connectives occurs in Chinese translation and to what extent such explicitation is influenced by the source text. A quantitative plus qualitative method is adopted to analyze the connectives in the two Chinese versions and compare them with their counterparts in the source text and the non-translated target text. The results show that explicitation occurs in both versions and that the Taiwan version exhibits a higher degree of explicitation than the Mainland version. Such findings may result from different pedagogical and regional translation norms, especially with greater importance attached to faithfulness in translation in Mainland China.
Résumé
Cet article mène une étude de corpus comparative de l’explicitation, l’un des universaux de la traduction les plus largement explorés. Pour ce faire, l’article examine l’utilisation des connecteurs dans deux versions de la traduction chinoise du Seigneur des Anneaux provenant de Taiwan et de la Chine continentale. Les deux versions sont comparées à la première traduction en Chinois et au texte source afin de déterminer si l’explicitation par l’utilisation de connecteurs se produit dans la traduction chinoise et dans quelle mesure cette explicitation est influencée par le texte source. L’article adopte une méthode à la fois qualitative et quantitative pour analyser les connecteurs dans les deux versions chinoises et les comparer avec leurs homologues dans le texte source et le texte cible non traduit. Les résultats montrent que l’explicitation est présente dans les deux versions analysées. Cependant la version taïwanaise présente un degré d’explicitation plus élevé que la version continentale. Ces résultats peuvent résulter d’une différence dans les normes pédagogiques et régionales de la traduction, notamment de l’importance plus grande accordée à la fidélité de la traduction en Chine continentale.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Defining explicitation
    • 1.2Objectives of the study
    • 1.3Typology of explicitation
      • 1.3.1Klaudy’s classification
      • 1.3.2House’s classification
      • 1.3.3Becher’s classification
    • 1.4An integrated model of explicitation
  • 2.Previous research on translational explicitation
    • 2.1Representative studies using different kinds of corpora
    • 2.2Problems existing in CTS of explicitation
  • 3.Data and methodology
    • 3.1Corpus size and composition
    • 3.2Methodology for a comparable investigation of research questions 1 and 2
    • 3.3Methodology for a parallel investigation of research question 3
  • 4.Statistical analysis
    • 4.1A comparable quantitative analysis of research question 1
      • 4.1.1Overall statistics
      • 4.1.2Common connectives
      • 4.1.3Translational distinctive connectives (TDCs)
    • 4.2A comparable qualitative analysis of research question 2
    • 4.3A parallel qualitative and qualitative analysis of research question 3
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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