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Article published In: Target
Vol. 13:2 (2001) ► pp.203–239

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A three-level methodology for descriptive-explanatory Translation Studies

 | Universidad Jaime I (Spain)
Published online: 13 June 2002
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.13.2.02cal
Drawing mainly on Vidal Claramonte, Maria del Carmen África. 1998. El futuro de la traducción: Últimas teorías, nuevas aplicaciones. València: Alfons el Magnànim.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2000. “Translation and political engagement: Activisim, social change and the role of translation in geopolitical shifts”. The translator 6:1. 23–47.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and . Forthcoming. “‘Events’ and ‘horizons’: Reading ideologies in the ‘binding’ of a translation”. To appear in María Calzada Pérez, ed. Apropos of ideology: Translation studies on ideology / Ideologies in Translation Studies. Manchester: St. Jerome., Hatim, Basil and Ian Mason. 1990. Discourse and the translator. London and New York: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and Mason, Ian. 2000. “Audience design in translating”. The translator 6:1. 1–22.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, the present paper proposes a threefold analytical methodology consisting of: description, ideological explanation, and perlocutionary exploration of texts. In practice, the article examines the speeches uttered in Spanish and English before the European Parliament (EP) on 9th March 1993. The main focus of the study is transitivity shifts and their connection to ideological issues. This corpus has been chosen for various reasons. Amongst them, the paper sets out to test the conclusions reached by prior research (. 1997a. “Translating hybrid political texts”. Trosborg 1997:145–158.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Koskinen, Kaisa. 2000. “Institutional illusions: Translating in the EU Commission”. The translator 6:1. 49–67.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Three basic questions are posed: 1. Are EP speeches odd, ‘out of place’/ ‘strange’/ ‘unusual’ (in short literal) as Koskinen, Kaisa. 2000. “Institutional illusions: Translating in the EU Commission”. The translator 6:1. 49–67.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar maintains? (Descriptive component of analysis); 2. Does translation affect the ideological output of original texts? (Explanatory component of analysis); 3.Which perlocutionary questions may be raised as a result of the previous questions? (Perlocutionary component of analysis).
Résumé
En se basant sur les travaux de Vidal Claramonte, Maria del Carmen África. 1998. El futuro de la traducción: Últimas teorías, nuevas aplicaciones. València: Alfons el Magnànim.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2000. “Translation and political engagement: Activisim, social change and the role of translation in geopolitical shifts”. The translator 6:1. 23–47.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar et . Forthcoming. “‘Events’ and ‘horizons’: Reading ideologies in the ‘binding’ of a translation”. To appear in María Calzada Pérez, ed. Apropos of ideology: Translation studies on ideology / Ideologies in Translation Studies. Manchester: St. Jerome., Hatim etMason (1990, 1997) et Mason, Ian. 2000. “Audience design in translating”. The translator 6:1. 1–22.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, la présente étude propose une méthodologie analytique en trois phases, consistant en la description, l’explication idéologique et l’exploration perlocutionnaire de textes. Elle applique ensuite cette méthodologie aux discours prononcés en espagnol et en anglais devant le Parlement européen (PE), le 9 March 1993. L’attention porte en particulier sur les glissements au plan de la transitivité et sur le lien de ces derniers avec des questions idéologiques. Plusieurs raisons rendent compte du choix du corpus, notamment le souhait de vérifier les conclusions apportées par des études antérieures(. 1997a. “Translating hybrid political texts”. Trosborg 1997:145–158.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Koskinen, Kaisa. 2000. “Institutional illusions: Translating in the EU Commission”. The translator 6:1. 49–67.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Trois questions fondamentales sont posées: 1. Est-ce que les discours du PE sont étranges, hors de propos, ainsi que le maintient Koskinen, Kaisa. 2000. “Institutional illusions: Translating in the EU Commission”. The translator 6:1. 49–67.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar? (Partie descriptive del’analyse); 2. Est-ce que la traduction affecte la portée idéologique des textes originaux?(Partie explicative del’analyse); 3. Quelles questions perlocutionnaires pourraient soulever les questions précédentes?(Partie perlocutionnaire del’analyse)
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 1.Theoretical intertexts
  • 2.Theory put to work: Preliminary remarks
    • 2.1EP speeches as the research corpus
    • 2.2Some basic notions on transitivity
  • 3.A critical analysis of EP speeches
    • 3.1Description
      • 3.1.1Expansion
      • 3.1.2Contraction
      • 3.1.3Dematerialization
      • 3.1.4Materialization
      • 3.1.5Different types of material processes
      • 3.1.6Number of processes in source text and target text
    • 3.2Explanation
    • 3.3Exploring repercussions
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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