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[Target 20:2] 2008
► pp. 203–221

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Translator awareness of semantic prosodies

 | Århus School of Business, University of Århus
 | Århus School of Business, University of Århus
Published online: 3 November 2008
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https://doi.org/10.1075/target.20.2.02dam
An increasing amount of linguistic corpus-based research is being carried out and especially within semantics, some groundbreaking results are highly relevant to Translation Studies. Research has shown that evaluation in language is very much anchored in extended lexical units and not merely in the lexeme. Corpusbased semantic profiles of words reveal evaluative features which may not be accessible through introspection and which have therefore not been part of dictionary information. Previous empirical research has almost exclusively been concerned with native speakers of English. The present study, however, tests and compares the awareness of these evaluative features in the behaviour of soonto-be translators and first year LSP English students when using their foreign language.
Résumé
Les recherches linguistiques basées sur corpus ont permis d’engendrer, surtout dans le domaine sémantique, des résultats novateurs et pertinents pour les études de la traduction. Ainsi, l’évaluation langagière est davantage axée sur des unités lexicales étendues que sur le lexème en tant que tel. Des profils sémantiques de mots, basés sur corpus, révèlent des traits évaluatifs auxquels on ne peut accéder par introspection et qui pour cette raison ne font pas partie des informations procurées par les dictionnaires. Alors que des recherches empiriques antérieures avaient privilégié des locuteurs natifs d’anglais, la présente étude examine la conscience des traits évaluatifs chez de futurs traducteurs et chez des étudiants débutants d’anglais LSP (Langues sur objectifs spécifiques) lorsqu’ils se servent de leur langue étrangère.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Synonymy
  • 3.Semantic prosody
  • 4.Synonymy/equivalence in translation
  • 5.Empirical study: Translator awareness of semantic prosodies
    • 5.1Semantic profile of CAUSE
    • 5.2Semantic profile of LEAD TO
    • 5.3Study design
    • 5.4Results
      • 5.4.1BA student results
      • 5.4.2MA student results
    • 5.5Discussion of results and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (29)
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