Diapositiva 1

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CONTEXT The context is the general situation that
relates to it, and which helps it to be
understood Human beings are able to activate
contexts in order to filter out extraneous
material and work within acceptable limits able
to process text from an anlysis of the situation
(top-down processing) and not only from sequence
of clauses/ sentences (bottom-up processing) The
CONTEXT of discourse creates the necessary
expectations for understanding the CONTENT of
discourse a scenario is activated representing
the stereotypical components of a definable
situation the language content (linguistic
components) will be compared to various strands
of intertextuality (expressions that have been
said or heard or read before in similar
circumstances)
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context and content are circumscribed the
participants in speech acts are surprised if
someone says something considered to be out of
place or unexpected/incomprehensable
translating means re-enacting the scenario,
respecting the linguistic choices Firth 1950
components of context Participants (including
their role and status) Verbal and non-verbal
action of participants (obligatory elements e.g.
good morning and general elements e.g. chatting
etc.) Relevant objects and events Effects of the
verbal action
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At the dentist D Good morning Mr. Smith P Good
morning D Whats your problem? P I have a
cavity in the first molar D Ok, sit down here.
Open your mouth. This wont hurt. Open wide..here
it isdental treatment. Done. Take some water,
spit it there. Right, youre ok now, but we must
meet again next week P See you next week,
then. D Goodbye P Goodbye
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Participants Doctor and patient (Mr.
Smith) Verbal and non-verbal actions Obligatory
elements good morning, see you next week,
goodbye General chat discussion of the
patients problem, indications on the dentists
part Non-verbal action dental
treatment Relevant objects and events chair,
chisel, dental floss, drill, file, forceps,
hammer apparatus and instruments used in
dentistry operation Effects of verbal action
cooperation on the part of the patient as he
undergoes the dental treatment
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Hymes 1972 another componential breakdown
Participants Message form (different ways of
speaking according to ? situations) Message
content (topic of the text) Setting
(location) Medium of communication (spoken,
written etc.) Intent of communication (purpose of
the discourse) Key of text (tone formal,
informal) Genre of text (type of text) Norms of
interaction (conventions governing that
particular speech act)
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M.A.K. Halliday Every communicative act takes
place in a situational and cultural context 1)
a particular set of circumstances of time, place,
purpose, etc. 2) Various persons in various
roles 3) Conveyed in particular (written, spoken,
faxed, etc.) components of contexts which
determine the kind of language used
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FIELD what is happening to whom, when and
where, what they know, what they are doing
etc. TENOR social relationships existing
between people involved in terms of power and
status, how they feel about each other, role
structure (questioner/answerer,
informer/requirer) MODE how they use the
language, organisation of text, written (letter,
e-mail, fax, book etc.) or spoken (phone,
recorded, live etc.)wriiten to be spoken
(politica speech) or spoken to be written
(dictated letters), carefully crafted or
sponatneous text etc. components that enable
the speaker/writer to construct the context of
situation
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translator must maintain the situational and
cultural context by matching 3 variables in the
TL version FIELD what terminology, how to
present info (active/passive, stative/dynamic)
and what shared knowledge should be assumed to
exist between writer and reader TENOR which
register formal/informal, technical/general,
archaic/modern etc. which mood (indicative
affirmative, interrogative imperative) MODE
organisation of the information focus
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If there are elements that do not match the
target culture context, they must be accounted
for (see strategies we have previously listed)
J. House A Model for Translation Quality
Assessment 1997 adopts an approach that relates
context to the act of translation Parameters to
compare ST and TT in translations are called
dimensions -3 dimensions of language user -5
dimensions of language use
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Dimensions of language user Geographical
origin text in space, register and time Social
class any geo-historical factors
Time affecting language use Dimensions of
language use Medium features already seen in
other Participation models/degree of social
distance Social role relationship (frozen/intimat
e) area of Social attitude operation(field/
topic in the Province widest sense)
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Darry I forgot. Ill have to get going ( darsi
da fare, iniziare). Barry Get going at what? D
House-work, I dared her, an she left me to do
the work of the house while she was mowing (
mieteva) the meadow. If it isnt done when she
comes back, than sweet good-bye to the status I
had in the home. (getting into overall) Dih, dih,
dih, wheres the back n wheres the front, n
which is which is the bottom n which is the
top? B Take it quietly, teke it quietly,
Darry. D Take it quietly? An the time
gallopping by? I cant stand up on a chair n say
to the sun, stand thou still there, over the
meadow the missus ( Mrs) is mowing, can I? B I
know damn well you cant, but youre not going to
expedite matters by rushing around in a hurry. D
Expedite matters! It doesnt seem to strike you
that when you do things quickly, things are
quickly done. Expedite matters! I suppose
loitering (wasting time) to look at you lying on
the broad of your back, jiggling your legs about,
was one way of expediting matters an listening
to you plucking curious sounds out of a mandolin,
an singing a questionable song, was another way
of expediting matters. Sean OCasey The End of
the Beginning 1977, p. 328
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• Dimensions of language user
• Geographical origin Hiberno-English ( Irish
  English, strongly marked phonologically and
  lexically) in bald
• Social class Irish lower class (elements of
  dialectical language)
• Time contemporary Hiberno-English
• Dimensions of language use
• Medium written to be acted (hesitations,
  interjections etc.)
• Participation simple dialogue
• Social role/relationship 2 interlocutors, no
  authority, friends arguing
• Social attitude casual-intimate, mock
  consultative-formal
• Province part of one-act Irish comedy
• interpersonal component is important for
  humorous effects
• In German translation House finds mismatches in
  geographical dimension (no dialect), social
  attitude (mock consultative-formal level is less
  pompous), province (folk-play element not
  represented) violation of interpersonal
  component no humorous effect

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DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION Now we must fit the
semantic concepts of reference and referring
expressions into the concept of context Reference
is direct (look at this new pen Ive bought) or
indirect (Ive lost that new pen I bought
yesterday) the transfer to TL is not
complicated, but sometimes referring expressions
can be unstraightforward, if lexical items are
used denotatively or connotatively,
metaphorically, figuratively, emotively, or
ambiguously (word play, puns) even grammar can
be metaphorically manipulated Translators
should 1st become familiar with the linguistic
features and conventions of a specific
sub- genre 2nd analyse context in which language
act takes place 3rd fill vocabulary gaps
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DENOTATION the denotation of an expression (a
word, phrase or sentence) is the thing to which
that expression refers. The denotation of the
proper name Julius Caesar is the person with that
name the denotation of the common noun horse is
the set of horses, etc. The term denotation (or
denotatum) is roughly synonymous with the terms
extension (lexical items refer to an extension of
an entity)and reference. The term denotation is
sometimes used in opposition to the term
connotation to indicate that we abstract away
from emotional and sociocultural aspects of
meaning, restricting ourselves to what an
expression refers to. The extension of an entity
is any past, present or future example of that
entity (e.g. rat millions of different
individual animals, in present, past and future
the word denotes them all) the denotative
meaning of rat only covers the prototype meaning
(four-legged animal, long tail, whiskers
etc.) But i.e. experimental researchers might
associate rats with scientific advance words can
easliy assume a connotative value depending on
the context and the purposes of the user.
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CONNOTATION a term which is often used in
opposition to denotation, covering the more
secondary and subjective aspects of meaning that
people associate with expressions. EXAMPLE the
words sidewalk and pavement have the same
denotation, but different connotation. The term
is also used more generally to cover everything
that is part of the meaning of an expression
except for its denotation. In this sense, the
term is in some respect similar to intension.
DENOTATIVE MEANING general CONNOTATIVE
MEANING context-specific
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Words can have a connotative meaning in addition
to their denotative meaning embedded e.g. He is
a child! Referring to an adult From external
association e.g. Did you see Wimbledon? Referring
to the international tennis championship
(not to the London suburb) The translator must be
sure to have understood the connotative features
of any word or expression e.g. I would stay away
from that rat Jones! Mi terrei alla larga da
quel ratto di Jones! gt quel verme in Italian