Overview

Computers offer new perspectives in the study of language, allowing us to see phenomena that previously remained obscure because of the limitations of our vantage points. It is not uncommon for computers to be likened to the telescope, or microscope, in this respect. In this pioneering computer-assisted study of translation, Dorothy Kenny suggests another image, that of the kaleidoscope: playful changes of perspective using corpus-processing software allow textual patterns to come into focus and then recede again as others take their place. And against the background of repeated patterns in a corpus, creative uses of language gain a particular prominence. In Lexis and Creativity in Translation, Kenny monitors the translation of creative source-text word forms and collocations uncovered in a specially constructed German-English parallel corpus of literary texts. Using an abundance of examples, she reveals evidence of both normalization and ingenious creativity in translation. Her discussion of lexical creativity draws on insights from traditional morphology, structural semantics and, most notably, neo-Firthian corpus linguistics, suggesting that rumours of the demise of linguistics in translation studies are greatly exaggerated. Lexis and Creativity in Translation is essential reading for anyone interested in corpus linguistics and its impact so far on translation studies. The book also offers theoretical and practical guidance for researchers who wish to conduct their own corpus-based investigations of translation. No previous knowledge of German, corpus linguistics or computing is assumed.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dorothy Kenny
Publisher:   St Jerome Publishing
Imprint:   St Jerome Publishing
Weight:   0.570kg
ISBN:  

9781900650380

ISBN 10:   190065038
Pages:   252
Publication Date:   01 January 2001
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Lexis and Creativity in Translation: Contents Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Is 'linguistics' singular or plural? Introduction Chomskyan linguistics Chomsky and translation theory Firthian linguistics Firth and translation theory The postmodern critique of linguistics in translation studies Conclusion 2. The soft option: corpus linguistics Introduction Corpus linguistics Corpora: a brief history Corpora: users and uses Corpora and neo-Firthian linguistics Corpus processing Global statistics Word lists Keyword lists Clusters Concordancing Conclusion 3. Turning corpus linguistics on its head:corpus-based translation studies Introduction Descriptive translation studies Norms, universals, and laws of translation Corpora in translation studies Monolingual single and comparable corpora Parallel corpora Bilingual and multilingual comparable corpora Normalization in translation Advantages and limitations of corpora in translation studies Conclusion 4. A word about words Introduction The word 'word' Word formation Compounding Derivation Structural semantics Collocation Conflicting definitions of collocation Beginning the study of lexis: the groundwork Nodes and collocates Spans Frequency German ad hoc compounds Lexis and linguistic theory The interaction of lexis and grammar The idiom principle and the open-choice principle Semantic preference and semantic prosody Semantic reversal Conclusion 5. The how of it: creating and using a parallel corpus Introduction Issues in corpus compilation Representativeness Sampling strategies Random sampling vs stratified approaches Internal vs external criteria Text selection Full texts vs texts extracts The German-English Parallel Corpus of Literary Texts (GEPCOLT) Sampling frame and text selection Data capture, editing and mark-up Corpus alignment and bilingual concordancing Multiconcord Comparative data The Mannheim Corpora The British National Corpus Extracting instances of lexical creativity from GEPCOLT Hapax legomena Writer-specific forms Unusual collocations The node AUGE Clusters Evaluating the creativity of translations in GEPCOLT 140 Conclusion 6. Lonely words: creative hapax legomena and writer-specific forms Introduction Hapax Legomena Creative orthography Creative derivation Complex verbal nouns Compounds Wordplay Anaphoric relations Semantic preference Semantic prosody Creative imagery Co-ordinating and copulative compounds Summary statistics and discussion Writer-specific forms Conclusion 7. Two left eyes: creative collocations in GEPCOLT Introduction Exploitations of collocational norms Decomposed compounds Lexical cohesion Other unusual collocations Repeated idiosyncrasies Summary statistics and discussion Conclusion Appendix 1: Works included in the German-English Parallel Corpus of Literary Texts (GEPCOLT) Appendix 2: Sample Header Appendix 3: Creative Hapax Forms in the German Subcorpus of GEPCOLT and their Translations into English References Index

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