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Article published In: Target
Vol. 13:2 (2001) ► pp.265–288

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Enriching translations, simplified language?

An alternative viewpoint to lexical simplification

 | Research Institute for the Languages of Finland
Published online: 13 June 2002
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https://doi.org/10.1075/target.13.2.04pal
Intuitively, the suggestion that lexical simplification be a translation universal seems to run counter to the established idea of translation as enrichment. The present paper seeks to relate the two ideas, simplification and enrichment, while addressing the issue of testing hypotheses about universality in Translation Studies, especially in Corpus Translation Studies. The nature of the data used and its implications to the results are discussed. Finnish 19th century texts constitute a case in point on the problems that heterogeneous data may give rise to, and it is suggested that alternative ways of studying lexical phenomena are needed, in order to complement the findings in Corpus Translation Studies.
Résumé
A première vue, l’idée selon laquelle la simplification lexicale serait un des universaux de la traduction semble contredite par l’idéede la traduction-enrichissement. Cet article vise en fait à lier les deux points de vue, en interrogeant les manières dont sont formulées, dans les études portant sur des corpus de traductions, des hypothèses sur des universaux de la traduction. La discussion concerne la nature des données utilisées, ainsi que les incidences sur les résultats. Des textes finnois du XIXe siècle constituent un bon exemple des problèmes auxquels peut donner lieu le recours à des données hétérogènes. Nous suggérons la nécessité de voies alternatives pour étudier des phénomènes lexicaux, de manière à compléter les résultats obtenus par des études de corpus.
Article outline
  • 1.Universality in translation studies
  • 2.Universality underdefined?
  • 3.The Finnish situation and its implications for CTS
  • 4.Translation: Enrichment or simplification?
    • 4.1Enrichment in paratexts and in theory
    • 4.2Implications of the ‘enrichment’ idea
    • 4.3Lexical variation in Finland during 1809–1850
    • 4.4Across categories: Translational language and dialects
    • 4.5Standardization and simplification: Some implications for CTS
  • 5.Discussion
  • Notes
  • References
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