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In:A (Re)turn to the Source Text
Edited by Malin Carlström and Richard Pleijel
[Benjamins Translation Library 169] 2026
► pp. 88–115

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A creative and recreative conceptualization of source text

The case of journalistic translation

 | University of Turku
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

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Published online: 20 February 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.169.03huo
Abstract
This chapter examines the source text concept in journalistic translation, focusing on foreign news reporting. It emphasizes the characteristics of source texts in newswriting, prompting a reevaluation and expansion of the source text conceptualization within translation studies. Drawing on Jakobson’s (1959) translation typology, the article categorizes source texts by their diversity, language, and degree of mediation. A case study on the coverage of the 2022 French presidential election by the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat exemplifies this categorization. The analysis shows that foreign reporting does not rely solely on traditional interlingual source texts; it also employs intralingual and intersemiotic source texts. Furthermore, it demonstrates the dependence of newswriting on a multitude of disparate, fragmented, and multilayered source texts.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Definitions of source texts
    • 2.1The traditional source text or start text
    • 2.2Non-traditional source texts
      • 2.2.1Intralingual source texts
      • 2.2.2Intersemiotic source texts
    • 2.3Interlingual source texts
    • 2.4Pseudo-source texts
  • 3.The specificity of source texts in journalistic translation
    • 3.1Unstable source texts
    • 3.2Recreated and pseudo-source texts
    • 3.3Multiplicity of source texts
    • 3.4Fragmented source texts
    • 3.5Multilayered or mediated source texts
  • 4.Corpus and methodology
  • 5.Categorization of source texts in a corpus of foreign news
    • 5.1Intralingual source texts
    • 5.2Intersemiotic source texts
    • 5.3Interlingual source texts
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
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