Sofia Malamatidou

Despite the recognition that corpus-based translation research would benefit from the triangulation of corpora, little has been done in the direction of actually employing combined corpus data and methods in the field. This book aims to address this gap by providing a much needed detailed account of corpus triangulation, where different corpora (e.g. parallel, comparable, synchronic, diachronic) and/or different methods of analysis (e.g. qualitative, quantitative) can be used to increase our understanding of the phenomena where translation plays a key role. The book also demonstrates clearly how the proposed methodology can be fruitfully employed to investigate different linguistic features, through its systematic application to empirical data. The first part of the book introduce the innovative framework for corpus triangulation, which is based on a new and comprehensive corpus typology, while the second part applies the methodological framework to two case study examining the language of translation and the relationship between translation and language change. The book advances current translation studies in terms of methodology innovation and offers a model on which future studies investigating the network of relationships surrounding translated texts can be based.

Although adaptation is widely recognised by contact linguistics as an important mechanism of language change, previous studies examining the relationship between translation and language change in the target language normally ignore its role. The present study aims to address this gap and expand the application of the Code-Copying Framework (Johanson 1993, 1999, 2002b) to the study of translation as a language contact phenomenon by examining how the frequential copy of the passive voice reporting verbs in Greek popular science has been combinationally adapted regarding word order. By examining the role that adaptation plays in translation-induced change, we can gain a complete understanding not only of the complex mechanisms that govern the relationship between translation and language change, but also shed light on the nature of the translation activity. The paper provides a strong argument that translation can be understood using existing concepts of contact linguistics, most notably the Code-Copying Framework.

Existing studies on the translation of Nadsat – the invented language in A Clockwork Orange – neglect the fact that Nadsat is a result of language contact between English and Russian, and ignore the role that translators play in linguistic innovation, as well as the motivating factors behind their creativity. This study addresses this conspicuous gap by examining a multilingual corpus of A Clockwork Orange from a language contact and language change perspective, and creating for the first time a link between adaptation, as understood in contact linguistics, and creativity in translation. The focus is on how Russian-derived nouns in the English version have been rendered in four versions of Nadsat (French, German, Greek, and Spanish), and how these differ from naturally occurring Russian loan nouns in these languages, in terms of gender assignment and inflection. Results suggest that the level of creativity that translators demonstrate is not simply an indication of their talent, but rather a result of an interplay of factors related to translation, and that concepts from the field of language contact are particularly effective in reframing the way in which creativity is viewed in translation studies.

Available from: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/Qui4mZh2eAKjKjYm8HyA/full

This paper begins by acknowledging translation as an important site of language contact and its primary aim is to reinterpret a theoretical framework from the field of language contact, namely Johanson’s Code-Copying Framework (1993, 1999, 2002a), with translation in mind. The framework is then systematically applied to empirical data and a corpus-based study is conducted, using the translation of popular science articles from English into Greek as a case in point, and in particular examining any change in the frequency of passive voice reporting verbs. The discussion and corpus analysis suggest that the Code-Copying Framework offers a new vantage point for understanding translation as facilitating linguistic development in the target language, and that translation studies can benefit from adopting it as a descriptive mechanism when comparing instances of contact through translation across languages.

Little research has been conducted so far into the translation-specific features that are dependent on both the source and the target language. This study aims at examining whether Modern Greek translated popular science articles differ from non-translated ones by being closer to the source language, which is English, in terms of the frequency and the word order of the passive voice constructions. This is one of the few Modern Greek studies that use a comparable corpus in order to better understand the nature of the translation practice. The corpus analysed consists of Modern Greek popular science articles and is divided into two subcorpora: the translated language corpus and the non-translated language corpus. The study indicates that there is substantial evidence that Modern Greek articles employ some translation-specific features which are dependent on the source language, at least in terms of some passive voice features. More importantly, it suggests that the non-translated texts tend to be similar to the translated ones, which are in turn closer to the English source texts. Even though it is early to conclude that translation encourages the different usage of particular linguistic features in non-translated texts, the data provide indirect evidence that translation is a potential field of language contact with important consequences.

Although a number of scholars have adopted a corpus-based approach to the investigation of translation as a form of language contact and its impact on the target language (Steiner, 2008; House, 2004; 2008; Baumgarten et el. 2004), no sustained corpus-based study of translation involving Modern Greek has so far been attempted and very few diachronic corpus-based studies (Amouzadeh & House, 2010) have been undertaken in the field of translation. This study aims to combine synchronic and diachronic corpus-based approaches, as well as parallel and comparable corpora for the analysis of the linguistic features of translated texts and their impact on non-translated ones. The corpus created captures a twenty-year period (1990-2010) and is divided into three sections, including non-translated and translated Modern Greek popular science articles published in different years, as well as the source texts of the translations. Unlike most studies employing comparable corpora, which focus on revealing recurrent features of translated language independently of the source and target language, this study approaches texts with the intention of revealing features that are dependent on the specific language pair involved in the translation process.

Translation as a form of language contact is a phenomenon that neither linguistics nor translation studies has addressed in depth. In the era of the information society, the translation of popular science texts tends to be very much a unidirectional process from the dominant lingua franca (English) into less widely spoken languages such as Modern Greek and is likely to effect changes in the communicative conventions of the target language. The aim of this study is to investigate the way in which translation can propagate language change in the target language and, in particular, the way in which a lingua franca such as English can reinforce the circulation of particular linguistic features in Modern Greek through the process of translation. In order to account for translation as a language contact situation I will use the Code-Copying Framework proposed by Johanson (1993, 1999, 2002). A diachronic corpus of Modern Greek non-translated and translated popular science articles, along with their English source texts, covering a 20-year period (1990-2011) and consisting of approximately half a million words will be developed and analysed using computerised methods. For the purposes of this presentation the passive voice will be analysed, since it plays an important role in the way in which information is organised and presented in popular scientific texts. Results suggest that the frequency of the passive voice has changed in Modern Greek non-translated texts with a tendency to move closer to English patterns and that translated texts have considerably contributed to that change. The assumption that specific linguistic features originating in the English source text and found in translated texts are likely to form facilitating sociolinguistic conditions for linguistic changes to be introduced in the target language, establishes a close link between translation studies and historical linguistics, thus addressing a conspicuous gap in the studies of language contact.

The Translational English Corpus held at the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies at the University of Manchester is an electronic collection of English texts translated from a variety of languages. Currently the corpus is being expanded to include discourses on translation and a specialised collection of translated English works by theorists in the Humanities.  These new developments make TEC one of the most sophisticated corpora in translation studies and allow researchers to investigate a wide range of issues that involve not only the language of translated texts but also the way in which translation and translators are conceptualised in society at different historical periods. Access to the Corpus is available freely online through a custom-built set of software tools that are constantly updated in order to accommodate the new developments.

During the design and development of the Translational English Corpus a number of issues had to be taken into account in order to allow the Corpus to fulfil its potential. Similar considerations are relevant to many researchers in the field of translation studies who still face problems when it comes to designing their own corpus– especially when dealing with practical aspects of corpus compilation such as identifying and accessing material. This session will focus on some of the most common problems encountered during the process of corpus building. Issues such as balance, representativeness and copyright clearance will be addressed with concrete and practical examples offered from the designing and building process of the Translational English Corpus.

Corpus-based research has yielded important insights into translation; however, single types of corpora have been traditionally privileged, thus neglecting the advantages of
combined corpus-based methods. This study aims to introduce a unique methodology of
corpus triangulation where corpora (diachronic, synchronic, comparable and parallel) can be used complementarily for the analysis of linguistic features of translated texts and their
impact on non-translated texts. The language pair examined is English-Greek. The corpus
analysed is a diachronic (1990-2010) corpus of Greek non-translated and translated popular science articles, along with their English source texts, consisting of approximately half a million word, and divided into three subcorpora. The first subcorpus
consists of non-translated Greek texts published in 1990-1991. The second subcorpus consists of non-translated and translated Greek texts articles published in 2003-2004, as
well as the source texts of the translations. The third subcorpus includes non-translated
as well as translated texts and their source texts, all published in 2010-2011. The analysis of the corpus consists of three stages: (a) the diachronic analysis of a corpus of nontranslated
texts to examine whether there is any development in the language over time,
(b) the synchronic analysis of the comparable corpus to examine whether this development is mirrored in translated texts; and (c) the synchronic analysis of the parallel
corpus to trace the development back to the source texts. Results suggest that certain
linguistic features, such as the frequency of passive voice reporting verbs, in Greek texts have changed under the influence of translation from English and are now closer to the
patterns found in respective English texts. Through the systematic application of the
methodology to data from the genre of popular science, the study demonstrates how the proposed methodology can be fruitfully employed to deepen our understanding not only
of translated texts, but also of the texts influencing and being influenced by them.

Corpus-based research has yielded important insights into translation in recent years, but most studies in the field have focused on synchronic analyses, thus neglecting the potential for diachronic analysis to enhance our understanding of how translation might contribute to important phenomena such as language change. Recently, a number of scholars have adopted a corpus-based approach in the investigation of translation as a form of language contact and its impact on the target language, mostly within the English-German context (Steiner 2008, House 2004, 2008, Baumgarten et el. 2004), although French, Spanish (House 2008) and Persian (Amouzadeh and House 2010) have also been investigated. However, no corpus-based study of translation involving Modern Greek has so far been attempted and no diachronic corpus-based study has been undertaken in the field of translation studies. Similarly, comparable and parallel corpora have not been efficiently used by linguists for the analysis of diachronic phenomena.

This study aims to combine synchronic and diachronic corpus-based approaches, as well as parallel and comparable corpora for the analysis of linguistic features of translated texts and their impact on non-translated texts. Unlike most studies employing comparable corpora, which focus on revealing recurrent features of translated language independently of the SL and TL, this study approaches texts with the intention of revealing features that are dependent on the specific language pair involved in the translation process, i.e. English and Modern Greek.

The corpus created for the purposes of this study captures a twenty-year period (1990-2011) which is considered to be an adequate life span for language change to occur and is amenable to being systematically observed. Within this span, a particular period (2003-2004) is selected during which translation of the particular genre, i.e. popular science articles, is considered to have started circulating in earnest. The corpus is divided into three sections. The first subcorpus consists of non-translated Modern Greek popular science articles published in 1990-1991. The second subcorpus consists of non-translated and translated Modern Greek popular science articles published in 2003-2004, as well as the source texts of the translations. The third subcorpus includes non-translated as well as translated texts and their source texts, all published in 2010-2011. This corpus is suitable for the examination of linguistic features that have been claimed to be more commonly found in translated texts and their dissemination in non-translated texts.

A significant addition to the theoretical and descriptive accounts of corpora in translation studies is Corpus-Based Translation Studies: Research and Applications, an edited volume by Alet Kruger, Kim Wallmach, and Jeremy Munday. This review aims at examining this edited volume in detail, focusing on each chapter, and highlighting specific strengths and limitations. Overall, the book delivers its aim to describe how corpus-based studies have assisted translation scholars, and reports on a wide range of research using corpora. As such, it should be of interest to any academic interested in the use of corpora in translation and interpreting research, but also to postgraduate modules or programmes on corpus-based translation and interpreting studies

This paper begins by acknowledging translation as an important site of language contact and its primary aim is to reinterpret a theoretical framework from the field of language contact, namely Johanson’s Code-Copying Framework (1993, 1999, 2002a), with translation in mind. The framework is then systematically applied to empirical data and a corpus-based study is conducted, using the translation of popular science articles from English into Greek as a case in point, and in particular examining any change in the frequency of passive voice reporting verbs. The discussion and corpus analysis suggest that the Code-Copying Framework offers a new vantage point for understanding translation as facilitating linguistic development in the target language, and that translation studies can benefit from adopting it as a descriptive mechanism when comparing instances of contact through translation across languages.

Little research has been conducted so far into the translation-specific features that are dependent on both the source and the target language. This study aims at examining whether Modern Greek translated popular science articles differ from non-translated ones by being closer to the source language, which is English, in terms of the frequency and the word order of the passive voice constructions. This is one of the few Modern Greek studies that use a comparable corpus in order to better understand the nature of the translation practice. The corpus analysed consists of Modern Greek popular science articles and is divided into two subcorpora: the translated language corpus and the non-translated language corpus. The study indicates that there is substantial evidence that Modern Greek articles employ some translation-specific features which are dependent on the source language, at least in terms of some passive voice features. More importantly, it suggests that the non-translated text...

This paper analyses adjectival descriptions used to frame and promote physical space in tourism texts in English and in Greek, and how any differences are negotiated in translation. A comparison is drawn across three categories of space (human-made, natural, and abstract) to investigate how each locality affects and is affected by linguistic choices. Methodologically, a corpus triangulation approach is employed, combining corpora created from three types of tourism websites: original or non-translated Greek websites; their translations into English; and non-translated websites in English. Results reveal that, while important differences are observed between English and Greek non-translated texts, translations tend to stay very close to their source texts, with small differences observed across the three categories of space. This study contributes to both tourism and translation studies by offering insight into how space is framed across languages, which can inform, and ultimately, t...

Although a number of scholars have adopted a corpus-based approach to the investigation of translation as a form of language contact and its impact on the target language (Steiner, 2008; House, 2004; 2008; Baumgarten et el. 2004), no sustained corpus-based study of translation involving Modern Greek has so far been attempted and very few diachronic corpus-based studies (Amouzadeh & House, 2010) have been undertaken in the field of translation. This study aims to combine synchronic and diachronic corpus-based approaches, as well as parallel and comparable corpora for the analysis of the linguistic features of translated texts and their impact on non-translated ones. The corpus created captures a twenty-year period (1990-2010) and is divided into three sections, including non-translated and translated Modern Greek popular science articles published in different years, as well as the source texts of the translations. Unlike most studies employing comparable corpora, which focus on reve...

This paper analyses adjectival descriptions used to frame and promote physical space in tourism texts in English and in Greek, and how any differences are negotiated in translation. A comparison is drawn across three categories of space (human-made, natural, and abstract) to investigate how each locality affects and is affected by linguistic choices. Methodologically, a corpus triangulation approach is employed, combining corpora created from three types of tourism websites: original or non-translated Greek websites; their translations into English; and non-translated websites in English. Results reveal that, while important differences are observed between English and Greek non-translated texts, translations tend to stay very close to their source texts, with small differences observed across the three categories of space. This study contributes to both tourism and translation studies by offering insight into how space is framed across languages, which can inform, and ultimately, t...

Since their introduction in translation and interpreting studies in the 1990s, computerized corpora have given rise to a substantial body of descriptive and applied research that is contributing to the development of the discipline as a whole. The present chapter surveys a particularly socially relevant domain of corpus use, namely the education of translator trainees in today’s multilingual and technologized language industry. After introducing the main features and ambits of corpus research into translation and interpreting, the present contribution traces the development of corpus use in translator and interpreter education from its introduction in the field in the late 1990s to the present day. In the concluding section the authors pull together the main threads that have been laid out and look to the future.