Cover not available
Article published In:
Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 35:1 (2022) ► pp.1–29

Functionally-defined recurrent multi-word units in English-to-Polish translation

A corpus-based study

ORCID logo | University of Opole
ORCID logo | University of Birmingham

This study uses both parallel and comparable reference corpora in the English-Polish language pair to explore how translators deal with recurrent multi-word items performing specific discoursal functions. We also consider whether the observed tendencies overlap with those found in native texts, and the extent to which the discoursal functions realised by the multi-word items under scrutiny are “preserved” in translation. Capitalizing on findings from earlier research (Granger, 2014; Grabar & Lefer, 2015), we analyzed a pre-selected set of phrases signaling stance-taking and those functioning as textual, discourse-structuring devices originally found in the European Parliament proceedings corpus (Koehn, 2005) and included in the English-Polish parallel corpus Paralela (Pęzik, 2016). Since our goal was to explore whether and to what extent English functionally-defined phrases reflect the same level of formulaicity and regularity in both Polish translations and native Polish texts, the findings provided insights into the translation tendencies of such items, and revealed – using inter-rater agreement metrics – that the discoursal functions of recurrent n-grams may change in translation.

Keywords: corpus-based study, translation studies, parallel corpora, comparable corpora, metadiscursive multi-word items, translation patterns, English-to-Polish translation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Metadiscourse and corpus-based translation studies
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Research material
    • 3.2Units of analysis
    • 3.3Research questions and hypotheses
    • 3.4Procedures and study stages
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Recurrent n-grams in English-to-Polish translation in the EPP sub-corpus of Paralela
    • 4.2Polish equivalents in native-Polish texts
    • 4.3Discourse functions in English-to-Polish translation of functionally-defined n-grams
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
  • Dictionaries (accessed online)
  • Corpora
Published online: 23 December 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.19037.gra
References
Baker, M.
(1993) Corpus Linguistic and Translation Studies: Implications and applications. In M. Baker, G. Francis and E. Tognini-Bonelli (Eds.), Text and Technology: in Honour of John Sinclair (pp. 233–250). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2004) A corpus-based view of similarity and difference in translation. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 9 (2), 167–193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bernardini, S.
(2004) Corpus-aided pedagogy for translator education. In K. Malmkjaer (Ed.), Translation in Undergraduate Degree Programmes (pp. 97–112). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berūkštienė, D.
(2017) A corpus-driven analysis of structural types of lexical bundles in court judgments in English and their translation into Lithuanian. Kalbotyra, 70 1, 7–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E.
(1999) The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Biber, D., & Zhang, M.
(2018) Expressing evaluation without grammatical stance: informational persuasion on the web. Corpora, 13 (1), 97–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brezina, V.
(2018) Statistics in Corpus Linguistics: A Practical Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chesterman, A.
(2004) Beyond the particular. In A. Mauranen & P. Kuyamaki (Eds.), Translation Universals: Do they exist? (pp. 33–49). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cortes, V.
(2008) A comparative analysis of lexical bundles in academic history writing in English and Spanish. Corpora, 3 (1), 43–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Davidson, D.
(1986) A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs. In E. Lapore (Ed.), Truth and Interpretation: Perspectives on the Philosophy of Donald Davidson (pp. 433–446). Oxford: Blackwell (cited in Malmkjær 2003, p. 127).Google Scholar
Dłutek, A.
(2019) Expressing Modality in Commercial Agreements and Contracts – An Analysis of Polish-English Parallel Texts. In B. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (Ed.), Contacts and Contrasts in Cultures and Languages (pp. 35–46). Berlin: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dobrovol’skij, D., & Pöppel, L.
(2016) The discursive construction n v tom, čto and its parallels in other languages: A contrastive corpus study. Вестник Новосибирского государственного педагогического университета, 6 (34), 164–175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2017) Constructions in Parallel Corpora: A Quantitative Approach. In R. Mitkov (Ed.), Computational and Corpus-Based Phraseology: Proceedings of Second International Conference, Europhras 2017, London, UK, November 13–14, 2017. Berlin: Springer, 41–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dupont, M., & Zufferey, S.
(2017) Methodological issues in the use of directional parallel corpora. A case study of English and French concessive connectives. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 22 (2), 270–297. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ebeling, J., & Ebeling, S. O.
(2018) Comparing n-gram-based functional categories in original versus translated texts. Corpora, 13 (3), 347–370. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Forchini, P., & Murphy, A.
(2008) N-grams in comparable specialized corpora. Perspectives on phraseology, translation and pedagogy. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 13 (3), 351–367. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Freelon, D.
(2010) ReCal: Intercoder reliability calculation as a web service. International Journal of Internet Science, 5 (1), 20–33.Google Scholar
Górski, R.
(2012) Zastosowanie korpusów w badaniu gramatyki. In A. Przepiórkowski, M. Bańko, R. Górski & B. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (Eds.), Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego (pp. 291–300). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.Google Scholar
Grabar, N., & Lefer, M-A.
(29 Jun–1 Jul 2015) Building a lexical bundle resource for CAT and MT. [PDF File] Workshop on Multi-word Units in Machine Translation and Translation Technology (MUMTTT2015) of EUROPHRAS 2015, Malaga, Spain. [URL]
Grabowski, Ł.
(2013) Interfacing corpus linguistics and computational stylistics: translation universals in translational literary Polish. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 18 (2): 254–280. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018) Stance bundles in English-to-Polish translation: a corpus-informed study. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 22 (2), 404–422. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2020) Phrase frames as an exploratory tool for studying English-to-Polish translation patterns: a descriptive corpus-based study. Across Languages and Cultures, 21 (2), 217–240. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grabowski, Ł. & Groom, N.
(2021) “Grammar patterns as an exploratory tool for studying formulaicity in English-to-Polish translation: a corpus-based study”. In: A. Trklja & Ł. Grabowski (Eds), Formulaic Language: Theories and Methods. Berlin: Language Science Press, 171–190. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Granger, S.
(2014) A lexical bundle approach to comparing languages. Stems in English and French. Languages in Contrast, 14 (1), 58–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Granger, S., & Paquot, M.
(2008) Disentangling the phraseological web. In S. Granger & F. Meunier (Eds), Phraseology: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 27–50). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Granger, S. & Lefer, M.-A.
(2016) From general to learners’ bilingual dictionaries: Towards a more effective fulfilment of advanced learners’ phraseological needs. International Journal of Lexicography, 29 (3), 279–295. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hareide, L.
(2019) Comparable parallel corpora. A critical review of current practices in corpus-based translation studies. In I. Doval & M. Teresa Sánchez Nieto (Eds), Parallel Corpora for Contrastive and Translation Studies: New resources and applications (pp. 19–38). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hu, X., Xiao, R., & Hardie, A.
(2016) How do English translations differ from non-translated English writings? A multi-feature statistical model for linguistic variation analysis. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, aop. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hunston, S.
(2011) Corpus Approaches to Evaluation: Phraseology and Evaluative Language. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hunston, S., & Thompson, G.
(2000) Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hyland, K.
(2005) Stance and engagement: a model of interaction in academic discourse. Discourse Studies, 7 (2), 173–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2008) As can be seen: Lexical bundles and disciplinary variation. English for Specific Purposes, 27 1, 4–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kilgarriff, A., Baisa, V., Bušta, J., Jakubícek, M., Kovář, V., Michelfeit, J., Rychlý, P. & Suchomel, V.
(2014) The Sketch Engine: ten years on. Lexicography, 1 (1), 7–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koehn, P.
(2005) Europarl: A Parallel Corpus for Statistical Machine Translation. In Conference Proceedings: the tenth Machine Translation Summit, Phuket, Thailand: AAMT, 79–86.Google Scholar
Kornacki, M.
(2018) Computer-assisted Translation (CAT) Tools in the Translator Training Process. Frankfurt: Peter Lang Verlag. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krippendorff, K.
(2011) Computing Krippendorff’s alpha-reliability. Philadelphia: Annenberg School for Communication Departmental Papers. Retrieved 7 April, 2019 from: [URL]
Laviosa, S.
(2002) Corpus-based translation studies: theory, findings, applications. Amsterdam: Rodopi. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, C.
(2013) Using lexical bundle analysis as discovery tool for corpus-based translation research. Perspectives, 21 (3), 378–395. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B., & Pęzik, P.
(2018) Parallel and comparable language corpora, cluster equivalence and translator education. In Society and Languages in the Third Millennium – Communication.Education.Translation. Moscow: RUDN University, 131–142.Google Scholar
Malamatidou, S.
(2018) Corpus Triangulation. Combining Data and Methods in Corpus-Based Translation Studies. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Malmkjær, K.
(2003) On a Pseudo-subversive use of Corpora in Translator Training. In F. Zanettin, S. Bernardini, D. Stewart (Eds.), Corpora in Translator Education (pp. 119–134). Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Marco, J., & van Lawick, H.
(2009) Using corpora and retrieval software as a source of materials for the translation classroom. In A. Beeby, A. Rodriguez Ines & P. Sanchez-Gijon (Eds.), Corpus Use and Translating (pp. 9–28). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marco, J.
(2019) Living with parallel corpora. In I. Doval & M. Teresa Sánchez Nieto (Eds.), Parallel Corpora for Contrastive and Translation Studies: New resources and applications (pp. 39–56). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marshall, S.
(2015) Evidential stance in translation: patterns of complementation in mediated memories. The Translator, 21 (1), 50–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martin, J. & White, P.
(2005) Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mor, A.
(2018) Do translation memories affect translations? Final results of the TRACE project. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, 27 (3), 455–476.Google Scholar
Munday, J.
(2012) Evaluation in translation. Critical points for translator decision-making. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nishina, J.
(2010) Evaluative Meanings and Disciplinary Values: A Corpus-based Study of Adjective Patterns in Research Articles in Applied Linguistics and Business Studies. [Unpublished PhD dissertation: University of Birmingham].
Noreika, M. & Seskauskiene, I.
(2017) “EU Regulations: Tendencies in Translating Lexical Bundles from English into Lithuanian”. Vertimo Studijos, 10 1, 156–174 [ DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pearson, J.
(2003) Using Parallel Texts in the Translator Training Environment. In F. Zanettin, S. Bernardini, D. Stewart (Eds), Corpora in Translator Education (pp. 15–24). Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Pęzik, P.
(2012) Język mówiony w NKJP. In A. Przepiórkowski, M. Bańko, R. Górski & B. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (Eds.), Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego (pp. 37–47). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.Google Scholar
(2016) Exploring phraseological equivalence with Paralela. In E. Gruszczyńska & A. Leńko-Szymańska (Eds.), Polish-Language Parallel Corpora (pp. 67–81). Warszawa: Instytut Lingwistyki Stosowanej UW.Google Scholar
Philip, G.
(2009) Arriving at equivalence: Making a case for comparable general reference corpora. In A. Beeby, A. Rodriguez Ines & P. Sanchez-Gijon (Eds), Corpus Use and Translating (pp. 59–74). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Przepiórkowski, A., Bańko, M., Górski, R. & Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B.
(Eds.) (2012) Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego (National Corpus of Polish). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.Google Scholar
Pym, A.
(2014) Exploring Translation Theories. Second Edition. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sinclair, J.
(1991) Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Teubert, W.
(2002) The role of parallel corpora in translation and multilingual lexicography. In B. Altenberg & S. Granger (Eds.), Lexis in Contrast. Corpus-based approaches (pp. 189–214). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tognini-Bonelli, E.
(1996) Towards Translation Equivalence from a Corpus Linguistics Perspective. International Journal of Lexicography, 9 (3), 197–217. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zanettin, F., Bernardini, S. & Stewart, P.
(2003) Corpora in Translator Education. London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Dictionaries (accessed online)

COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary
(2019)Google Scholar
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary
(2019)Google Scholar
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
(LDOCE 2019)Google Scholar
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
(2002)Google Scholar
Macmillan Dictionary
(2019)Google Scholar
Słownik Języka Polskiego (SJP) PWN
(2019)Google Scholar

Corpora

Paralela
(Pęzik 2016)Google Scholar
National Corpus of Polish (NKJP)
(Przepiórkowski et al. 2012)Google Scholar
plTenTen12
(Kilgarriff et al. 2014)Google Scholar