Towards a Methodology for Investigating the Style of a Literary Translator

Mona Baker
Centre for Translation Studies, UMIST

Abstract

Translation studies has inherited from literary studies its preoccupation with the style of individual creative writers and from linguistics the preoccupation with the style of social groups of language users. It also inherited from both disciplines the association of style with ‘original’ writing. Little or no attention has been paid so far to the possibility of describing the ‘style’ of a translator or group of translators in terms of what might be distinctive about the language they produce. This paper offers a first attempt to outline a methodological framework for investigating the question of style in literary translation—not in the traditional sense of whether the style of a given author is adequately conveyed in the relevant translation but in terms of whether individual literary translators can be shown to use distinctive styles of their own.

Table of contents

She [Ros Schwartz] said that when someone complained to a well-known Czech author that he had changed his style, his reply was, ‘No, I’ve changed my translator.’

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Baker, Mona
1993 “Corpus Linguistics and Translation Studies: Implications and Applications”. Mona Baker, Gill Francis and Elena Tognini-Bonelli, eds. Text and Technology: In Honour of John Sinclair. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins 1993 233–250.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1995 “Corpora in Translation Studies: An Overview and Some Suggestions for Future Research”. Target 7:2. 223–243.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996 “Corpus-based Translation Studies: The Challenges that Lie Ahead”. Harold Somers, ed. Terminology, LSP and Translation: Studies in Language Engineering, in Honour of Juan C. Sager. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins 1996 175–186.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1998 “Réexplorer la langue de la traduction: une approche par corpus”. Meta 43:4. 480–485.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1999 “The Role of Corpora in Investigating the Linguistic Behaviour of Professional Translators”. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 4:2. 281–298.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burnett, Scott
1999 A Corpus-based Study of Translational English. Manchester: Centre for Translation Studies, UMIST. [MSc Dissertation.]Google Scholar
Crystal, David and Derek Davy
1969 Investigating English Style. Longman.Google Scholar
Enkvist, Nils Erik
1964 “On Defining Style: An Essay in Applied Linguistics”. John Spencer, ed. Linguistics and Style. London: Oxford University Press 1964 1–56.Google Scholar
Gleason, H.A.
1965 Linguistics and English Grammar. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Gullin, Christina
1998 Översättarens röst. Lund: Lund University Press.Google Scholar
Hermans, Theo
1996a Translation’s Other. Inaugural Lecture Delivered at University College London on 19 March 1996. [Unpublished Manuscript.]Google Scholar
1996b “The Translator’s Voice in Translated Narrative”. Target 8:1. 23–48.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
House, Juliane
1977 A Model for Translation Quality Assessment. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. [Second edition: 1981.]Google Scholar
[ p. 265 ]
1997 Translation Quality Assessment: A Model Revisited. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Joos, M.
1961 The Five Clocks. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.Google Scholar
Kenny, Dorothy
1997 “(Ab)normal Translations: A German-English Parallel Corpus for Investigating Normalization in Translation”. Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and Patrick James Melia, eds. Practical Applications in Language Corpora. PALC ’97 Porceedings. Lódz: Lódz University Press 1997 387–392.Google Scholar
1999 Norms and Creativity: Lexis in Translated Text. Manchester: Centre for Translation Studies, Department of Language Engineering, UMIST. [PhD Thesis.]Google Scholar
in press. Lexis and Creativity in Translation: A Corpus-based Study. Manchester: St. Jerome. DOI logo
Laviosa-Braithwaite, Sara
1995 “Comparable Corpora: Towards a Corpus Linguistic Methodology for the Empirical Study of Translation”. Marcel Thelen and Barbara Lewandoska-Tomaszczyk, eds. Translation and Meaning (Part 3). Maastricht: Hogeschool Maastricht 1995 153–163.Google Scholar
1996 The English Comparable Corpus (ECC): A Resource and a Methodology for the Empirical Study of Translation. Manchester: Department of Language Engineering, UMIST. [PhD Thesis.]Google Scholar
Laviosa, Sara
ed. 1998a L’Approche basée sur le corpus/The Corpus-based Approach. Special Issue of Meta 43:4.Google Scholar
1998b “The English Comparable Corpus: A Resource and a Methodology”. Lynne Bowker, Michael Cronin, Dorothy Kenny and Jennifer Pearson, eds. Unity in Diversity: Current Trends in Translation Studies. Manchester: St. Jerome 1998 101–112.Google Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey N. and Michael H. Short
1981 Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
May, Rachel
1994 The Translator in the Text: On Reading Russian Literature in English. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Olohan, Maeve and Mona Baker
in press. “Reporting that in Translated English: Evidence for Subconscious Processes of Explicitation?”. Across Languages and Cultures 1:2. DOI logo
Parks, Tim
1998 Translating Style: The English Modernists and Their Italian Translators. London & Washington: Cassell.Google Scholar
Said, Edward
1990 “Embargoed Literature”. The Nation, September 17: 278–280.Google Scholar
Sham’a, Najah
1978 A Linguistic Analysis of Some Problems of Arabic to English Translation. University of Oxford. [D.Phil. Thesis.]Google Scholar
Trosborg, Anna
ed. 1997 Text Typology and Translation. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence
1995 The Translator’s Invisibility. New York and London: Routledge.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wales, Katie
1989 A Dictionary of Stylistics. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Zanettin, Federico
2000 “Parallel Corpora in Translation Studies: Issues in Corpus Design and Analysis”. Maeve Olohan, ed. Intercultural Faultlines: Research Models in Translation Studies I. Manchester: St. Jerome 2000 105–118.Google Scholar