- •Contents
- •Acknowledgements
- •Introduction
- •1 Preliminaries to translation as a process
- •PRACTICAL 1
- •1.1 Intralingual translation
- •1.2 Intralingual translation
- •1.3 Gist translation
- •2 Preliminaries to translation as a product
- •EQUIVALENCE AND TRANSLATION LOSS
- •PRACTICAL 2
- •2.1 Translation loss
- •2.2 Degrees of freedom; translation loss
- •3 Cultural transposition
- •CULTURAL TRANSPOSITION
- •Exoticism and calque
- •Cultural transplantation
- •Cultural borrowing
- •Communicative translation
- •PRACTICAL 3
- •3.1 Cultural transposition
- •4 Compensation
- •CATEGORIES OF COMPENSATION
- •PRACTICAL 4
- •4.1 Compensation
- •The formal properties of texts: Introduction
- •5 The formal properties of texts: Phonic/graphic and prosodic issues in translation
- •THE PHONIC/GRAPHIC LEVEL
- •THE PROSODIC LEVEL
- •Rudiments of Italian and English versification
- •PRACTICAL 5
- •5.1 Phonic/graphic and prosodic issues
- •5.2 Phonic/graphic and prosodic issues
- •6 The formal properties of texts: Grammatical and sentential issues in translation
- •THE GRAMMATICAL LEVEL
- •Words
- •Grammatical arrangement
- •THE SENTENTIAL LEVEL
- •PRACTICAL 6
- •6.1 Grammatical and sentential issues
- •6.2 Grammatical and sentential issues
- •7 The formal properties of texts: Discourse and intertextual issues in translation
- •THE DISCOURSE LEVEL
- •THE INTERTEXTUAL LEVEL
- •PRACTICAL 7
- •7.1 Discourse and intertextual issues
- •8 Literal meaning and translation issues
- •SYNONYMY
- •HYPERONYMY-HYPONYMY
- •PARTIALLY OVERLAPPING TRANSLATION
- •PRACTICAL 8
- •8.1 Particularizing, generalizing and partially overlapping translation
- •9 Connotative meaning and translation issues
- •ATTITUDINAL MEANING
- •ASSOCIATIVE MEANING
- •ALLUSIVE MEANING
- •REFLECTED MEANING
- •COLLOCATIVE MEANING
- •AFFECTIVE MEANING
- •PRACTICAL 9
- •9.1 Connotative meaning
- •10 Language variety: Translation issues in register, sociolect and dialect
- •REGISTER
- •Tonal register
- •Social register
- •Social or tonal?
- •SOCIOLECT
- •DIALECT
- •CODE-SWITCHING
- •PRACTICAL 10
- •10.1 Language variety
- •10.2 Language variety
- •11 Textual genre and translation issues
- •SUBJECT MATTER
- •ORAL TEXTS AND WRITTEN TEXTS
- •NOTES ON SUBTITLING
- •Sample subtitling exercise
- •PRACTICAL 11
- •11.1 Genre and translation
- •11.2 Genre and translation
- •11.3 Genre and translation
- •12 Scientific and technical translation
- •PRACTICAL 12
- •12.1 Scientific and technical translation
- •12.2 Scientific and technical translation
- •13 Official, legal and business translation
- •PREMESSA
- •BILANCIO AL 31.12.96
- •PRACTICAL 13
- •13.1 Official and legal translation
- •13.2 Official and legal translation
- •14 Translating consumeroriented texts
- •PRACTICAL 14
- •14.1 Consumer-oriented texts
- •14.2 Consumer-oriented texts
- •15 Revising and editing TTs
- •PRACTICAL 15
- •15.1 Revising and editing
- •Contrastive topics and practicals: Introduction
- •16 Contrastive topic and practical: Nominalization
- •17 Contrastive topic and practical: Determiners
- •LINGUA E LINGUACCE
- •Il Novissimo Ceccarelli Illustrato
- •UN MONDO IMBOTTITO DI MAZZETTE
- •18 Contrastive topic and practical: Adverbials
- •19 Contrastive topic and practical: Condition and future in the past
- •20 Summary and conclusion
- •Postscript: A career in translation?
- •Bibliography
- •Index
THINKING ITALIAN TRANSLATION 93
COLLOCATIVE MEANING
Collocative meaning is given to an expression over and above its literal meaning by the meaning of some other expression with which it collocates to form a commonly used phrase. Some collocative meanings are so strong that they hardly need triggering by context; for example, `chauvinism' (literally, `fanatical patriotism') can hardly be used today without evoking its collocative partner `male', and has virtually become a synonym of `male chauvinism'. Others need to be activated by the context; in `I rode shotgun on the way to his wedding', the innuendo is based on activating the collocative echo of `shotgun wedding'.
For the translator, collocative meanings are important, not only because they contribute to the overall meaning of the ST, but also because of the need to avoid unwanted collocative clashes in the TT. This is easily seen from comparison of a few Italian phrases with alternative English renderings:
Una serpe in seno |
A snake in my breast (cf. snake in the grass; Cleopatra's |
|
asp) vs A viper in my bosom |
Un mare di lacrime |
A sea of tears (cf. [take up arms against] a sea of |
|
troubles) vs Floods of tears |
There is an example of unintentional collocative meaning in the `Blackpool' TT (p. 24), where `old cobbler' irresistibly evokes `a load of old cobblers'. There is another good example in 1. 15 of the Gattopardo TT on p. 93. `Concetta was the only one with a shadow on her pretty forehead' has two unfortunate effects. Evoking the cliché `[don't you worry] your pretty little head [about that]', it turns Concetta into a bit of a bimbo, and the narrator (or the Prince) into a male chauvinist.
Collocative meaning is often inseparable from allusive meaning. To take an earlier example, `quando i buoi sono scappati' acquires its allusive meaning from the unmissable evocation of its collocative partner, `chiudere la stalla'.
AFFECTIVE MEANING
Affective meaning is an emotive effect worked on the addressee by the choice of expression, and which forms part of its overall meaning. The expression does not merely denote its referent, but also hints at some attitude of the speaker or writer to the addressee.
Features of linguistic politeness, flattery, rudeness or insult are typical examples of expressions carrying affective meanings. Compare, for instance, `Le dispiacerebbe fare silenzio?' with `Chiudi il becco!'. These expressions share the same core literal meaning of `Be quiet', but the speaker's implied attitude to the listener produces a different affective impact in each case: polite in the first, rude in the second.