He said, she said

Controlling illocutionary force in the translation of literary dialogue

Julian Bourne | University of Granada

In this article it is suggested that the translation of speech-act report verbs may provide scope for achieving stylistic and pragmatic aims. Analysis of the translation of fictional dialogues from a contemporary English novel reveals considerable diversity in the choice of Spanish verbs used to render ‘said’ in the context of impositive directive speech acts. While the choice of a speech act with similar illocutionary force to “said” may fulfil only stylistic objectives, a pragmatic dimension is introduced by the selection of a speech-act verb with a different force. In the context of impositive directive speech acts such a choice may be viewed as an aspect of “pragmastylistics”, defined in Hickey et al. (1993) as “the area where pragmatic and stylistic considerations converge.”

Keywords: translated literary dialogue, impositive directive speech acts, speech-act reports, speech-act report verbs, illocutionary force, politeness

Published online: 19 June 2003
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.14.2.04bou

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