Non-Verbal Elements

Non-verbal elements play complementary role in verbal communication. Non-verbal elements comprise the paralingual elements of face-to-face communication (e.g. facial expressions, gestures, voice quality, etc.) as well as the non-lingual elements belonging to a written text (photos, illustrations, logos, special types of print, etc.). However, intonational features, pauses, etc. and the graphical devices that perform analogous functions in written communication (punctuation, capitalization, italicization, etc.) are classified as suprasegmental features.

Non-verbal elements are, like verbal elements, culture specific. It’s not difficult to identify the non-verbal elements of the source text, as they are usually fairly obvious and often predictable in certain media or text types. But it’s important in each case to analyze the function of these elements. Quotation marks, for example, can point to an ironical meaning or to a neologism introduced ad hoc and explained in the text or to a reference to somebody else’s utterances.

Checklist

• Which non-verbal elements are included in the text?

• Which function do they perform with regard to the verbal text types?

• Are they determined by the medium?

• Are they specifically linked to the source culture?

Lexicon

The characteristics of the lexicon used in a text play an important part in all approaches to translation-oriented text analysis. The authors underline the importance of the semantic, stylistic and formal aspects. Semantic and stylistic characteristics of lexis (e.g. connotations, semantic fields, register) may point to the dimensions of content, subject matter and presuppositions, whereas formal characteristics (e.g. parts of speech, word function, morphology) refer the analyst to predictable syntactic structures and non-verbal elements.

Stylistic classification of the English vocabulary

In accordance with the already-mentioned division of language into literary and colloquial, we may represent the whole of the word-stock of the English language as being divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the neutral layer and the colloquial layer.

The literary and the colloquial layers contain a number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all the subgroups within the layer. This common property, which unites the different groups of words within the layer, may be called its aspect. The aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting. The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means it is unrestricted in its use. It can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity. It is this that makes the layer the most stable of all. The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character. The colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American dictionaries is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confined to a special locality where it circulates.

The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words:

1. common literary; 2. terms and learned words; 3. poetic words; 4. archaic words; 5. barbarisms and foreign words; 6. literary coinages including nonce-words.

The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups:

1. common colloquial words; 2. slang; 3. jargonisms; 4. professional words; 5. dialectal words; 6. vulgar words; 7. colloquial coinages.

The common literary, neutral and common colloquial words are usually united under the term standard English vocabulary. Other groups in the literary layer are regarded as special literary vocabulary and those in the colloquial layer are regaded as special colloquial (non-literary) vocabulary.

The register of the vocabulary units is a factor that is difficult for the translator to decide. There are two main relevant factors. One, as noted in the intended text functions, is that we are dealing with a certain text type which is a strictly organized text variety or genre with conventions that vary interlingually. The other factor is related to the appellative function (the addressees).

Besides this every text finds a further principle of unity in terms of thematic sentences and key words. Key words are text constants, markers of coherence. They provide clarity revealing a text’s schema, control the wholeness of a text; taken out of the text base they show a remarkable closeness to a conceptual representation of contextual information in a schematic superstructure. That’s why key words should be in the focus of attention in the process of translation.