Translation and Original: Similarities and Dissimilarities, II
This article presents a method for the establishment and description of shifts in integral translations of narrative texts. The method is based on the premise that both micro- and macrostructural shifts in translation can furnish indications of the translational norms adopted by the translator, his interpretation of the original text and the strategy applied during the process of translation. In the first installment of the article (Target 1:2) the first component of the method was discussed, acomparative model for the classification of microstructural shifts. In addition, the theoretical basis of the second component, the descriptive model, was presented, focusing on the effects of microstructural shifts on the macrostructural level. The second installment gives a detailed explanation of the descriptive model (Section 4) and a brief account of the results which were obtained when the method was applied.
In translations of narrative prose, shifts occurring on the microstructural level may affect the three functions discussed above—the interpersonal, ideational and textual functions—as they operate on the story and discourse levels. In the following paragraphs a systematic account of this influence will be given, linking the categories of microstructural shifts which constitute the comparative model with the constituent parts of the macrostructure. As microstructural shifts appear on the text's surface, their influence on the macrostructure will be described from 'top to bottom'. Thus, shifts with respect to the functions operating on the discourse level will precede those on the story level.