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Article published In:
Target
Vol. 15:2 (2003) ► pp.269–294

Deixis as an interactive feature in literary translations from Romanian into English

| Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
| University of Leeds

This study aims to investigate the use of deixis in a corpus of translations from twentieth century Romanian literature (novels and short stories) into English. Viewing deixis as an interactive feature of texts, it endeavours to find whether there are significant differences between the use of deixis in source texts and translations, and to see how systematic shifts as well as single occurrences can contribute to the shaping of a translated text which positions the reader in a different way from the source texts. It also explores ways in which the translators position themselves with respect to the text. The study finds that the main tendency is one of distancing, whereby proximal deictics tend to become distals, with the effect that readers will be presented with a translation which elicits less involvement on their part than the original text did in its context.

Keywords: deixis, discourse, corpus, Romanian, shift, translation
Article outline
  • Deixis as an interactive feature in discourse
  • Data and sampling
  • Shifts in the translation of deixis
  • Deictic shifts in Romanian literature translated into English
  • The distancing trend in Romanian-English literary translations
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
  • Primary texts
Published online: 12 May 2004
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.15.2.04mas
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