Research Seminar given for the ModevigTrad research project, as part of the Grup d'Estudis del Discurs seminar series, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
11 December 2015
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
1. Features of mediated discourse
A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
Mario Bisiada
Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED)
Research seminar
11 December 2015
2. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Table of Contents
1 Editing and translation
Manuscripts in corpus research
Research lines: Editing for readability
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Corpus details & study objectives
2 Passive voice and discourse structure
English-German contrasts
Translation and grammatical metaphor
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
3 Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
3. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Editorial influence in translation
Translated text
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
4. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Editorial influence in translation
Translated text
Manuscript
translation
Published
translation
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
5. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Editorial influence in translation
Translated text
Manuscript
translation
Published
translation
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
6. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Stages in translated document production
Stage Sub-process Agent Product
Planning Original author
Writing1 Translating Original author
Reviewing Original author Source text
Orientation Translator
Translation2 Drafting Translator Draft
Revising Reviser Manuscript
Stylistic editing Editor
Copyediting Editor
Publication Structural editing Editor
Content editing Editor
Publication Publisher Target text
1
adopted from Hayes et al. (1987)
2
adopted from Jakobsen (1999)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
7. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Stages in translated document production
Stage Sub-process Agent Product
Planning Original author
Writing1 Translating Original author
Reviewing Original author Source text
Orientation Translator
Translation2 Drafting Translator Draft
Revising Reviser Manuscript
Stylistic editing Editor |
Copyediting Editor |
Publication Structural editing Editor |
Content editing Editor ∨
Publication Publisher Target text
1
adopted from Hayes et al. (1987)
2
adopted from Jakobsen (1999)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
8. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Manuscript-based corpus research
Proposals in the literature
“successive stages of individual attempts” (Hartmann 1981: 206)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
9. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Manuscript-based corpus research
Proposals in the literature
“successive stages of individual attempts” (Hartmann 1981: 206)
“intermediate stages of translation, or how the final product
evolves over time” → “explore the process of translation
through a retrospective analysis of successive versions of the
product” (Baker 1993: 247)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
10. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Manuscript-based corpus research
Proposals in the literature
“successive stages of individual attempts” (Hartmann 1981: 206)
“intermediate stages of translation, or how the final product
evolves over time” → “explore the process of translation
through a retrospective analysis of successive versions of the
product” (Baker 1993: 247)
“interim solutions” (Toury 1995: ch. 9)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
11. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Manuscript-based corpus research
Proposals in the literature
“successive stages of individual attempts” (Hartmann 1981: 206)
“intermediate stages of translation, or how the final product
evolves over time” → “explore the process of translation
through a retrospective analysis of successive versions of the
product” (Baker 1993: 247)
“interim solutions” (Toury 1995: ch. 9)
“valuable [...] window into the working practice of a
translator” (Munday 2013: 126)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
12. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Manuscript-based corpus research
Proposals in the literature
“successive stages of individual attempts” (Hartmann 1981: 206)
“intermediate stages of translation, or how the final product
evolves over time” → “explore the process of translation
through a retrospective analysis of successive versions of the
product” (Baker 1993: 247)
“interim solutions” (Toury 1995: ch. 9)
“valuable [...] window into the working practice of a
translator” (Munday 2013: 126)
⇒ process-based research, revision studies
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
13. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Cognitive approaches to studying translated language
process-based research (Göpferich & Jääskeläinen 2009; Alves
& Vale 2011)
studies of self-revision (Brunette et al. 2005; Parra Galiano 2005;
Künzli 2005)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
14. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Cognitive approaches to studying translated language
process-based research (Göpferich & Jääskeläinen 2009; Alves
& Vale 2011)
studies of self-revision (Brunette et al. 2005; Parra Galiano 2005;
Künzli 2005)
Product-based research
empirical strength: “authentic data attested in texts” (Kenny 2009)
→ published sources
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
15. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Cognitive approaches to studying translated language
process-based research (Göpferich & Jääskeläinen 2009; Alves
& Vale 2011)
studies of self-revision (Brunette et al. 2005; Parra Galiano 2005;
Künzli 2005)
Product-based research
empirical strength: “authentic data attested in texts” (Kenny 2009)
→ published sources
neglects linguistic changes made during editing
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
16. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Cognitive approaches to studying translated language
process-based research (Göpferich & Jääskeläinen 2009; Alves
& Vale 2011)
studies of self-revision (Brunette et al. 2005; Parra Galiano 2005;
Künzli 2005)
Product-based research
empirical strength: “authentic data attested in texts” (Kenny 2009)
→ published sources
neglects linguistic changes made during editing
Main argument
Editors exert influence on translated language
→ corpus research should draw on manuscripts
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
17. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Applications
Corpus studies of editing
Utka (2004): “phases of translation corpus”
Main research lines into editing
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
18. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Applications
Corpus studies of editing
Utka (2004): “phases of translation corpus”
UPF translation research (on literary texts: Sinner 2012; on
sentence splitting: Bisiada 2014; on French–Spanish
translation: Andújar Moreno Forthcoming; on mediation
universals: Bisiada Forthcoming)
Main research lines into editing
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
19. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Applications
Corpus studies of editing
Utka (2004): “phases of translation corpus”
UPF translation research (on literary texts: Sinner 2012; on
sentence splitting: Bisiada 2014; on French–Spanish
translation: Andújar Moreno Forthcoming; on mediation
universals: Bisiada Forthcoming)
Main research lines into editing
1 readability studies
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
20. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Manuscripts in corpus research
Applications
Corpus studies of editing
Utka (2004): “phases of translation corpus”
UPF translation research (on literary texts: Sinner 2012; on
sentence splitting: Bisiada 2014; on French–Spanish
translation: Andújar Moreno Forthcoming; on mediation
universals: Bisiada Forthcoming)
Main research lines into editing
1 readability studies
2 “mediated discourse”
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
21. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Research line: Editing and readability
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
22. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Research line: Editing and readability
“Strategy of anticipation” (Bisaillon 2007)
Editors search for certain anticipated problems, e.g. “overlong
sentences”, “irrelevant use of impersonal pronouns”
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
23. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Research line: Editing and readability
“Strategy of anticipation” (Bisaillon 2007)
Editors search for certain anticipated problems, e.g. “overlong
sentences”, “irrelevant use of impersonal pronouns”
Automatisms in copyediting (Bisaillon 2007; Robert 2014)
minimise reflection time for grammar/syntax problems
50%–75% of recorded editing: immediate solutions
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
24. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
⇒ pursuing readability with little reflection for discourse matters?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
25. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Does editing improve readability?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
26. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Does editing improve readability?
Editing in Annals of Internal Medicine (Roberts et al. 1994)
101 original research manuscripts from 1992
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
27. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Does editing improve readability?
Editing in Annals of Internal Medicine (Roberts et al. 1994)
101 original research manuscripts from 1992
before and after peer review/editing process
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
28. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Does editing improve readability?
Editing in Annals of Internal Medicine (Roberts et al. 1994)
101 original research manuscripts from 1992
before and after peer review/editing process
Gunning fog index of readability (cf. New York Times: 11; legal
contract: 18)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
29. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Does editing improve readability?
Editing in Annals of Internal Medicine (Roberts et al. 1994)
101 original research manuscripts from 1992
before and after peer review/editing process
Gunning fog index of readability (cf. New York Times: 11; legal
contract: 18)
17.16 before, 16.85 after editing
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
30. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Does editing improve readability?
Editing in Annals of Internal Medicine (Roberts et al. 1994)
101 original research manuscripts from 1992
before and after peer review/editing process
Gunning fog index of readability (cf. New York Times: 11; legal
contract: 18)
17.16 before, 16.85 after editing
published texts longer by 2.6%
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
31. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Does editing improve readability?
Editing in Annals of Internal Medicine (Roberts et al. 1994)
101 original research manuscripts from 1992
before and after peer review/editing process
Gunning fog index of readability (cf. New York Times: 11; legal
contract: 18)
17.16 before, 16.85 after editing
published texts longer by 2.6%
does this reflect peer review or editing?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
32. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Editing for readability
Does editing improve readability?
Editing in Annals of Internal Medicine (Roberts et al. 1994)
101 original research manuscripts from 1992
before and after peer review/editing process
Gunning fog index of readability (cf. New York Times: 11; legal
contract: 18)
17.16 before, 16.85 after editing
published texts longer by 2.6%
does this reflect peer review or editing?
→ No evidence in favour – more studies are needed!
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
33. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Research line: Translating, editing...: → mediation?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
34. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Research line: Translating, editing...: → mediation?
“Constrained communication” (Chesterman 2004: 10f)
“communicating in a non-native language [...] or any form of
communication that involves relaying messages, such as
reporting discourse, even journalism” (emphasis mine)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
35. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Research line: Translating, editing...: → mediation?
“Constrained communication” (Chesterman 2004: 10f)
“communicating in a non-native language [...] or any form of
communication that involves relaying messages, such as
reporting discourse, even journalism” (emphasis mine)
“Mediated discourse” (Ulrych & Murphy 2008)
translation, criticism, editing...= rewriting (“mediated discourse”)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
36. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Research line: Translating, editing...: → mediation?
“Constrained communication” (Chesterman 2004: 10f)
“communicating in a non-native language [...] or any form of
communication that involves relaying messages, such as
reporting discourse, even journalism” (emphasis mine)
“Mediated discourse” (Ulrych & Murphy 2008)
translation, criticism, editing...= rewriting (“mediated discourse”)
→ “processed, or rewritten, for particular audiences and thus
mediated for a purpose”
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
37. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Research line: Translating, editing...: → mediation?
“Constrained communication” (Chesterman 2004: 10f)
“communicating in a non-native language [...] or any form of
communication that involves relaying messages, such as
reporting discourse, even journalism” (emphasis mine)
“Mediated discourse” (Ulrych & Murphy 2008)
translation, criticism, editing...= rewriting (“mediated discourse”)
→ “processed, or rewritten, for particular audiences and thus
mediated for a purpose”→ “mediation universals”
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
38. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Are there “mediation universals”?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
39. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Are there “mediation universals”?
“in some sense, all writing is
co-authored” (Schindler &
Wolfe 2014: 160)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
40. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Are there “mediation universals”?
“in some sense, all writing is
co-authored” (Schindler &
Wolfe 2014: 160)
don’t most texts report on
some event or discourse?
Which communication is not
constrained/mediated?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
41. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Investigating the notion of “Mediated discourse”
Kruger (2012): translation universals in “mediated discourse”
normalisation, explicitation & simplification in “mediated”
(translated, edited) and “unmediated” (unedited) text
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
42. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Investigating the notion of “Mediated discourse”
Kruger (2012): translation universals in “mediated discourse”
normalisation, explicitation & simplification in “mediated”
(translated, edited) and “unmediated” (unedited) text
1.2 million word corpus
translations Afrikaans–English
edited & unedited English non-translations
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
43. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Investigating the notion of “Mediated discourse”
Kruger (2012): translation universals in “mediated discourse”
normalisation, explicitation & simplification in “mediated”
(translated, edited) and “unmediated” (unedited) text
1.2 million word corpus
translations Afrikaans–English
edited & unedited English non-translations
academic, instructional, popular and reportage texts
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
44. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Investigating the notion of “Mediated discourse”
Kruger (2012): translation universals in “mediated discourse”
normalisation, explicitation & simplification in “mediated”
(translated, edited) and “unmediated” (unedited) text
1.2 million word corpus
translations Afrikaans–English
edited & unedited English non-translations
academic, instructional, popular and reportage texts
→ no evidence of shared “mediation effect”
translators favour “explicit and standardised language”
editors “introduce collocational variety”
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
45. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Investigating the notion of “Mediated discourse”
Kruger (2012): translation universals in “mediated discourse”
normalisation, explicitation & simplification in “mediated”
(translated, edited) and “unmediated” (unedited) text
1.2 million word corpus
translations Afrikaans–English
edited & unedited English non-translations
academic, instructional, popular and reportage texts
→ no evidence of shared “mediation effect”
translators favour “explicit and standardised language”
editors “introduce collocational variety”
drawback: no edited translations studied
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
46. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Editing and translation
Some conclusions
editors make structural changes without much reflection
→ “algorithm-like behaviour”: on encountering because, split the
sentence
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
47. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Editing and translation
Some conclusions
editors make structural changes without much reflection
→ “algorithm-like behaviour”: on encountering because, split the
sentence
Editing and translating are different mediation processes
→ should be studied separately
“mediated discourse” too widely applicable to be useful
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
48. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
Current study
Research assumptions
Several agents participate in the (holistic) translation process →
published translations may differ significantly from manuscripts.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
49. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
Current study
Research assumptions
Several agents participate in the (holistic) translation process →
published translations may differ significantly from manuscripts.
→ Studying published translations alone may yield misleading
results in studying features of translated language
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
50. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
Current study
Research assumptions
Several agents participate in the (holistic) translation process →
published translations may differ significantly from manuscripts.
→ Studying published translations alone may yield misleading
results in studying features of translated language
Three items of study
sentence splitting (see Bisiada 2014)
grammatical metaphor (nominalisations)
passive constructions
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
51. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
ModevigTrad
ModevigTrad
Title Evidencialidad y epistemicidad en textos de géneros
discursivos evaluativos. Análisis contrastivo y
traducción (FFI2014-57313-P)
PI Montserrat González Condom
Genre Discourse genres that show a high degree of
metaphorical language and modalisation
Supported by the
Spanish Ministry of Economy
and Competitiveness
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
52. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
Corpus details
Corpus architecture
Sources: Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Manager
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
53. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
Corpus details
Corpus architecture
Sources: Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Manager
Genre: Business studies, approaches to management, opinion
articles
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
54. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
Corpus details
Corpus architecture
Sources: Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Manager
Genre: Business studies, approaches to management, opinion
articles
Dates: 2006–2011
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
55. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
Corpus details
Corpus architecture
Sources: Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Manager
Genre: Business studies, approaches to management, opinion
articles
Dates: 2006–2011
Tripartite corpus (315,955 words)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
56. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
Corpus details
Corpus architecture
Sources: Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Manager
Genre: Business studies, approaches to management, opinion
articles
Dates: 2006–2011
Tripartite corpus (315,955 words)
Source texts (English) – 104,678 words
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
57. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
Corpus details
Corpus architecture
Sources: Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Manager
Genre: Business studies, approaches to management, opinion
articles
Dates: 2006–2011
Tripartite corpus (315,955 words)
Source texts (English) – 104,678 words
Manuscript translations (German) – 106,829 words
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
58. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
Corpus details
Corpus architecture
Sources: Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Manager
Genre: Business studies, approaches to management, opinion
articles
Dates: 2006–2011
Tripartite corpus (315,955 words)
Source texts (English) – 104,678 words
Manuscript translations (German) – 106,829 words
Published translations (German) – 104,448 words
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
59. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
How do HBM editors work?
Do editors consult the source text?
Yes—“...legen wir uns in der Regel den Originaltext aus der Harvard
Business Review daneben und vergleichen beides Satz für Satz.”
[‘...we usually have the source text from the HBR next to us and
compare both texts sentence by sentence.’]
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
60. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Corpus details & study objectives
How do HBM editors work?
Do editors consult the source text?
Yes—“...legen wir uns in der Regel den Originaltext aus der Harvard
Business Review daneben und vergleichen beides Satz für Satz.”
[‘...we usually have the source text from the HBR next to us and
compare both texts sentence by sentence.’]
What do they look for?
“...formulieren [wir] Substantivierungen und Passivkonstruktionen
um...”
[‘...we reformulate nominalisations and passive constructions...’]
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
61. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
1 Editing and translation
Manuscripts in corpus research
Research lines: Editing for readability
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Corpus details & study objectives
2 Passive voice and discourse structure
English-German contrasts
Translation and grammatical metaphor
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
3 Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
62. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
English-German contrasts
Passive voice and discourse structure
Passive voice changes the mapping of the roles of Actor, Process and
Goal “onto the interpersonal functions in the modal structure of the
clause” (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 182).
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
63. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
English-German contrasts
Passive voice and discourse structure
Passive voice changes the mapping of the roles of Actor, Process and
Goal “onto the interpersonal functions in the modal structure of the
clause” (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 182).
Active
Theme Rheme
The owl caught the mouse.
Actor Process Goal
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
64. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
English-German contrasts
Passive voice and discourse structure
Passive voice changes the mapping of the roles of Actor, Process and
Goal “onto the interpersonal functions in the modal structure of the
clause” (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 182).
Active
Theme Rheme
The owl caught the mouse.
Actor Process Goal
Passive
Theme Rheme
The mouse was caught by the owl.
Goal Process Actor
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
65. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
English-German contrasts
English-German contrasts I
English-German passive contrasts
English German
Any participant can become the
subject
Only participants that are direct
objects in active can become the
subject of the passive sentence
(Teich 2003: 96)
Strict word order → passive ma-
jor option to assign roles
Freer word order through case
markings → more options to as-
sign theme role (Kunz 2010: 164)
No restriction on Actors Actor/subject conflation only
for animate/conscious entities
(Kunz 2010: 166)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
66. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
English-German contrasts
English-German contrasts I
During their initial training, employees are given the freedom to
make judgment calls.
In den Einführungskur-
sen wird Mitarbeitern
gestattet, nach eigenem
Gutdünken zu entscheiden.
Schon in der Einarbeitungs-
phase dürfen Mitarbeiter
selbstständig entscheiden.
[‘In the introductory courses,
it is permitted for employees
to decide for themselves.’]
[‘As early as the initial train-
ing, employees may decide
autonomously.’]
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
67. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
English-German contrasts
English-German contrasts II
English-German passive contrasts
English German
Any participant can become the
subject
Only participants that are direct
objects in active can become the
subject of the passive sentence
(Teich 2003: 96)
Strict word order → passive ma-
jor option to assign roles
Freer word order through case
markings → more options to as-
sign theme role (Kunz 2010: 164)
No restriction on Actors Actor/subject conflation only
for animate/conscious entities
(Kunz 2010: 166)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
68. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
English-German contrasts
English-German contrasts II
The legitimacy to chart such a radical path forward is not
conferred by title alone; it must be earned.
Die Legitimation für die Be-
schreitung eines derart radi-
kalen Wegs ist nicht allein
durch einen Titel gegeben;
sie muss verdient werden.
Das Recht, einen derart ra-
dikalen Weg zu beschreiten,
erwirbt man sich nicht allein
durch den Titel eines CEOs;
es muss verdient werden.
[‘The legitimation for chart-
ing such a radical path is not
conferred by title alone; it
must be earned.’]
[‘One does not earn the right
to chart such a radical path
by title of a CEO alone; it
must be earned.’]
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
69. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
English-German contrasts
English-German contrasts III
English-German passive contrasts
English German
Any participant can become the
subject
Only participants that are direct
objects in active can become the
subject of the passive sentence
(Teich 2003: 96)
Strict word order → passive ma-
jor option to assign roles
Freer word order through case
markings → more options to as-
sign theme role (Kunz 2010: 164)
No restriction on Actors Actor/subject conflation only
for animate/conscious entities
(Kunz 2010: 166)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
70. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
English-German contrasts
English-German contrasts III
Source text3
To solve such problems, plants have evolved two strategies which
they superimpose upon photosynthesis.
Target text
Zur Lösung solcher Probleme haben sich bei den Pflanzen zwei
Mechanismen herausgebildet, von denen die Photosynthese über-
lagert wird.
[‘For the solution of this problem, two mechanisms have evolved in
plants by which photosynthesis becomes overlaid.’]
3
Example taken from Steiner (2004: 145).
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
71. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Translation and grammatical metaphor
The voice system and the textual metafunction
The passive allows the language user to vary the mappings of
participant roles in order to allow non-Actors to become the
Theme of a sentence.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
72. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Translation and grammatical metaphor
The voice system and the textual metafunction
The passive allows the language user to vary the mappings of
participant roles in order to allow non-Actors to become the
Theme of a sentence.
Voice system, Theme/Rheme
serve to structure discourse according to given and new
information
part of the textual metafunction in SFL (Eggins 2004: 296)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
73. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Translation and grammatical metaphor
The textual metafunction and metaphoricity
The textual metafunction (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 30)
Mode of meaning which relates to the construction of text, [...]
build[ing] up sequences of discourse, organizing the discursive flow
and creating cohesion and continuity as it moves along.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
74. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Translation and grammatical metaphor
The textual metafunction and metaphoricity
The textual metafunction (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 30)
Mode of meaning which relates to the construction of text, [...]
build[ing] up sequences of discourse, organizing the discursive flow
and creating cohesion and continuity as it moves along.
decreased use of textual metafunction
↓
incongruency (metaphorical use)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
75. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Translation and grammatical metaphor
Grammatical metaphor
Metaphorical realisation (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 593)
“expanding the meaning potential of the language [to] creat[e] a
more complex relationship between semantics and lexicogrammar”
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
76. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Translation and grammatical metaphor
Grammatical metaphor
Metaphorical realisation (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 593)
“expanding the meaning potential of the language [to] creat[e] a
more complex relationship between semantics and lexicogrammar”
Ideational
People strongly believe
that...
The strongest belief of
all is that...
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
77. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Translation and grammatical metaphor
Grammatical metaphor
Metaphorical realisation (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 593)
“expanding the meaning potential of the language [to] creat[e] a
more complex relationship between semantics and lexicogrammar”
Ideational
People strongly believe
that...
The strongest belief of
all is that...
→ re-mapping
between groups and
clauses
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
78. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Translation and grammatical metaphor
Grammatical metaphor
Metaphorical realisation (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 593)
“expanding the meaning potential of the language [to] creat[e] a
more complex relationship between semantics and lexicogrammar”
Ideational
People strongly believe
that...
The strongest belief of
all is that...
→ re-mapping
between groups and
clauses
Interpersonal
I think it’s going to
rain.
It is probably going to
rain.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
79. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Translation and grammatical metaphor
Grammatical metaphor
Metaphorical realisation (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 593)
“expanding the meaning potential of the language [to] creat[e] a
more complex relationship between semantics and lexicogrammar”
Ideational
People strongly believe
that...
The strongest belief of
all is that...
→ re-mapping
between groups and
clauses
Interpersonal
I think it’s going to
rain.
It is probably going to
rain.
→ modal expression
shifted outside the
clause
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
80. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Translation and grammatical metaphor
Grammatical metaphor
Metaphorical realisation (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 593)
“expanding the meaning potential of the language [to] creat[e] a
more complex relationship between semantics and lexicogrammar”
Ideational
People strongly believe
that...
The strongest belief of
all is that...
→ re-mapping
between groups and
clauses
Interpersonal
I think it’s going to
rain.
It is probably going to
rain.
→ modal expression
shifted outside the
clause
Textual
Not defined by
Halliday &
Matthiessen (2004)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
81. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
manipulating the voice system
by selecting active or passive
constructions
creating a texture that exhibits
a “marked information focus”
(Halliday & Matthiessen 2004:
232)
may metaphorise the text
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
82. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
manipulating the voice system
by selecting active or passive
constructions
creating a texture that exhibits
a “marked information focus”
(Halliday & Matthiessen 2004:
232)
may metaphorise the text
→ But are passive constructions textual metaphors?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
83. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
What makes textual metaphor?
An incongruent realisation in terms of voice (Lassen 2003)
Medium = subject; medium = complement
Agent = subject
→ “thematic tension caused by the fusion of Agency and
Medium/Subject features.” (Lassen 2003: 46)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
84. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
What makes textual metaphor?
An incongruent realisation in terms of voice (Lassen 2003)
Medium = subject; medium = complement
Agent = subject
→ “thematic tension caused by the fusion of Agency and
Medium/Subject features.” (Lassen 2003: 46)
Active/Passive dichotomy too simple
Is “thematic tension” not rather caused by unexpected
Theme/Rheme progression?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
85. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Grammatical metaphor and translation
Translation as de-metaphorisation (Steiner 2001)
understand meaning – recreate the understood meaning
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
86. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Grammatical metaphor and translation
Translation as de-metaphorisation (Steiner 2001)
understand meaning – recreate the understood meaning
→ necessarily involves de-metaphorisation.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
87. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Grammatical metaphor and translation
Translation as de-metaphorisation (Steiner 2001)
understand meaning – recreate the understood meaning
→ necessarily involves de-metaphorisation.
To what extent do translators metaphorise their texts?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
88. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Grammatical metaphor and translation
Translation as de-metaphorisation (Steiner 2001)
understand meaning – recreate the understood meaning
→ necessarily involves de-metaphorisation.
To what extent do translators metaphorise their texts?
→ “here the process of re-metaphorisation is cut short below the
degree to which it might otherwise go” (Steiner 2001: 15)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
89. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Grammatical metaphor and translation
Translation as de-metaphorisation (Steiner 2001)
understand meaning – recreate the understood meaning
→ necessarily involves de-metaphorisation.
To what extent do translators metaphorise their texts?
→ “here the process of re-metaphorisation is cut short below the
degree to which it might otherwise go” (Steiner 2001: 15)
⇒ lower frequency of metaphorisation in translations (2001: 11)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
90. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Passive use and textual metaphor: examples
Source text (active) Target text (passive)
We have disguised all names
and other identifying informa-
tion about the people and their
company.
Die Namen und andere Daten,
anhand derer die Mitarbeiter
identifiziert werden könnten,
wurden geändert.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
91. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Passive use and textual metaphor: examples
Source text (active) Target text (passive)
We have disguised all names
and other identifying informa-
tion about the people and their
company.
Die Namen und andere Daten,
anhand derer die Mitarbeiter
identifiziert werden könnten,
wurden geändert.
↑
Metaphorical?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
92. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
When something happens at
work, it immediately triggers
cognitive, emotional, and motiva-
tional processes.
Wenn auf der Arbeit ein Ereignis
eintritt, werden automatisch Pro-
zesse im Zusammenhang mit Ko-
gnition, Emotion und Motivation
ausgelöst.
Depending on what happens with
these cognitive and emotional
processes, motivation can shift.
Abhängig davon, was mit diesen
kognitiven und emotionalen Pro-
zessen geschieht, kann sich die
Motivation ändern.
We discerned these processes in
the diaries of every team we stud-
ied and in most of the people who
worked on those teams.
Diese Prozesse ließen sich in den
Tagebüchern aller untersuchten
Teams und bei fast allen Teammit-
gliedern finden.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
93. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Some conclusions
Passive use is not necessarily metaphorical/incongruent
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
94. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Some conclusions
Passive use is not necessarily metaphorical/incongruent
Are passive constructions harder to process?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
95. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Some conclusions
Passive use is not necessarily metaphorical/incongruent
Are passive constructions harder to process?
No clear answer given, variable hard
to isolate (overview in Rhodes 1997)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
96. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
Some conclusions
Passive use is not necessarily metaphorical/incongruent
Are passive constructions harder to process?
No clear answer given, variable hard
to isolate (overview in Rhodes 1997)
using passive forms increases
... reading time (Müller-Feldmeth
et al. 2015: 251)
... processing difficulty (Gorin 2005)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
97. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
1 Editing and translation
Manuscripts in corpus research
Research lines: Editing for readability
Research lines: Edited language as mediated discourse
Corpus details & study objectives
2 Passive voice and discourse structure
English-German contrasts
Translation and grammatical metaphor
The passive as textual grammatical metaphor?
3 Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
98. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
used increasingly often in professional and scientific discourse
to keep language economical
more frequent in German non-translated texts than in English
ones (Teich 2003: 181)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
99. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
used increasingly often in professional and scientific discourse
to keep language economical
more frequent in German non-translated texts than in English
ones (Teich 2003: 181)
3 passive alternatives studied
impersonalisation man
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
100. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
used increasingly often in professional and scientific discourse
to keep language economical
more frequent in German non-translated texts than in English
ones (Teich 2003: 181)
3 passive alternatives studied
impersonalisation man
modal passives lassen (‘to let’) + reflexive verb
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
101. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
used increasingly often in professional and scientific discourse
to keep language economical
more frequent in German non-translated texts than in English
ones (Teich 2003: 181)
3 passive alternatives studied
impersonalisation man
modal passives lassen (‘to let’) + reflexive verb
modal infinitives sein + infinitive phrase
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
102. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
1. man
Diese Tür kann man nicht öffnen.
One cannot open this door.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
103. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
1. man
Diese Tür kann man nicht öffnen.
One cannot open this door.
On ne peut pas ouvrir cette porte.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
104. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
1. man
Diese Tür kann man nicht öffnen.
One cannot open this door.
On ne peut pas ouvrir cette porte.
No se puede abrir esta puerta.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
105. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
2. Modal passive
Der Text liest sich leicht.
?The text reads easily.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
106. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
2. Modal passive
Der Text liest sich leicht.
?The text reads easily.
The bunkhouse sleeps ten.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
107. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
2. Modal passive
Der Text liest sich leicht.
?The text reads easily.
The bunkhouse sleeps ten.
The surface cleans easily with soap and water.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
108. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
2. Modal passive
Der Text liest sich leicht.
?The text reads easily.
The bunkhouse sleeps ten.
The surface cleans easily with soap and water.
El texto se lee fácilmente.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
109. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives: Modal passive
Customer equity has the added benefit of being a good proxy for the value
of the firm.
Die Betrachtung des Werts der
Kunden hat einen weiteren Vor-
teil, denn an ihm lässt sich gut
der Wert des Unternehmens ab-
lesen.
Wer den Wert der Kunden be-
trachtet, erhält auch Informa-
tionen über den Wert des Unter-
nehmens.
[‘Considering customer equity
has another benefit because the
value of the company can be
read from it.’]
[‘He who considers the value of
the client also receives informa-
tion about the value of the com-
pany.’]
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
110. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
3. Modal infinitive
Die Aufgabe ist bis 3 Uhr zu lösen. (passive)
The task is to be solved by 3 o’clock.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
111. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
3. Modal infinitive
Die Aufgabe ist bis 3 Uhr zu lösen. (passive)
The task is to be solved by 3 o’clock.
Hay que resolver la tarea antes de las 3.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
112. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
3. Modal infinitive
Die Aufgabe ist bis 3 Uhr zu lösen. (passive)
The task is to be solved by 3 o’clock.
Hay que resolver la tarea antes de las 3.
“El futuro es para ser vivido, nada está preestablecido” —Luke
Skywalker (“The future is to be lived” → translationese?)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
113. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives
Passive alternatives: Modal infinitive
Having articulated the value proposition for the customer, companies
must then consider the key processes needed to deliver that value.
Sobald das Nutzenversprechen
für den Kunden steht, ist zu
überlegen, welche Schlüssel-
prozesse erforderlich sind, um
[...].
Sobald das Nutzenversprechen
für den Kunden definiert ist,
sollte überlegt werden, wel-
che Schlüsselprozesse erforder-
lich sind, um [...].
[‘As soon as the value proposi-
tion for the customer stands, it
is to be considered which key
processes are required to .’]
[‘As soon as the value proposi-
tion for the customer is defined,
it should be considered which
key processes are required to .’]
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
114. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Mean normalised frequency
TR TR+ED ED
22
24
26
28
30
32
28.26
25.43 25.34
Instancesper10,000words
n = 27
error bars: SE
F(2,78)=0.39,
p > 0.05
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
115. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Mean normalised frequencies separated
modal inf.
man
modal passive
TR TR+ED ED
0
10
20
30
Instancesper10,000words
man:
F(2,78)=7.96,
p < 0.001
modal inf.:
F(2,78)=12.26,
p < 0.001
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
116. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
2 Normalisation/conservatism
3 Simplification
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
117. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
2 Normalisation/conservatism
3 Simplification
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
118. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
2 Normalisation/conservatism
3 Simplification
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
119. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
2 Normalisation/conservatism
3 Simplification
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
120. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
Frequency of pronominal adverbs
2 Normalisation/conservatism
3 Simplification
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
121. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
Frequency of pronominal adverbs
Conjunction vs preposition ratio
2 Normalisation/conservatism
3 Simplification
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
122. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
Frequency of pronominal adverbs
Conjunction vs preposition ratio
2 Normalisation/conservatism
Degree of unconventional language use
3 Simplification
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
123. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
Frequency of pronominal adverbs
Conjunction vs preposition ratio
2 Normalisation/conservatism
Degree of unconventional language use
Frequency of lexical bundles
3 Simplification
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
124. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
Frequency of pronominal adverbs
Conjunction vs preposition ratio
2 Normalisation/conservatism
Degree of unconventional language use
Frequency of lexical bundles
Passive alternatives
3 Simplification
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
125. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
Frequency of pronominal adverbs
Conjunction vs preposition ratio
2 Normalisation/conservatism
Degree of unconventional language use
Frequency of lexical bundles
Passive alternatives
3 Simplification
Lexical diversity
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
126. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
Frequency of pronominal adverbs
Conjunction vs preposition ratio
2 Normalisation/conservatism
Degree of unconventional language use
Frequency of lexical bundles
Passive alternatives
3 Simplification
Lexical diversity
Mean word and sentence length
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
127. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation (No difference)
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
Frequency of pronominal adverbs
Conjunction vs preposition ratio
2 Normalisation/conservatism
Degree of unconventional language use
Frequency of lexical bundles
Passive alternatives
3 Simplification
Lexical diversity
Mean word and sentence length
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
128. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation (No difference)
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
Frequency of pronominal adverbs
Conjunction vs preposition ratio
2 Normalisation/conservatism (ED diff. to TR and TR+ED)
Degree of unconventional language use
Frequency of lexical bundles
Passive alternatives
3 Simplification
Lexical diversity
Mean word and sentence length
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
129. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Findings on passive alternatives
Universals of translation or mediation?
1 Explicitation (No difference)
More complete/less economical surface realisation in
translation
Frequency of use of dass (‘that’)
More explicit relations between conceptual propositions in text
Frequency of linking adverbials
Frequency of pronominal adverbs
Conjunction vs preposition ratio
2 Normalisation/conservatism (ED diff. to TR and TR+ED)
Degree of unconventional language use
Frequency of lexical bundles
Passive alternatives
3 Simplification (TR different to TR+ED and ED)
Lexical diversity
Mean word and sentence length
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
130. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Possible Hypotheses
Mediation universals
little support for mediation universals
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
131. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Possible Hypotheses
Mediation universals
little support for mediation universals
normalisation/conservatism confirmed as translation universal
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
132. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Possible Hypotheses
Mediation universals
little support for mediation universals
normalisation/conservatism confirmed as translation universal
editors’ influence strongest in simplification universal
→ readability
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
133. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Possible Hypotheses
Passive constructions
greater amount of modal passives in translations
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
134. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Possible Hypotheses
Passive constructions
greater amount of modal passives in translations
non-translated German articles use man more often
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
135. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Possible Hypotheses
Passive constructions
greater amount of modal passives in translations
non-translated German articles use man more often
→ due to source texts? (more passive/modality in English?)
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
136. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Possible Hypotheses
Passive constructions
greater amount of modal passives in translations
non-translated German articles use man more often
→ due to source texts? (more passive/modality in English?)
→ differing perception of man/modal forms (acceptability,
formality...)?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
137. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Current work: true passives
Open questions
Are passive forms textual metaphors?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
138. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Current work: true passives
Open questions
Are passive forms textual metaphors?
How about middle passives?
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
139. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Community peer review session
Join my Academia.edu discussion
https://www.academia.edu/s/ba9ea02c95
read the full paper reporting the study of mediation universals
help improve the paper by commenting on the draft
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
140. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
Thank you for your attention!
Contact:
mario.bisiada@upf.edu
@MBisiada
Slides:
mariobisiada.de/talks.html
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
141. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
References I
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Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
142. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
References II
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Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
143. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
References III
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Norms. What is Normal in the Translation Profession? Ed. by I. Kemble. Portsmouth: University of Portsmouth, pp. 31–44.
Lassen, I. (2003). Accessibility and Acceptability in Technical Manuals. A Survey of Style and Grammatical Metaphor.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
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“Investigating comprehensibility of German popular science writing”. In Translation and Comprehensibility. Ed. by
K. Maksymski, S. Gutermuth & S. Hansen-Schirra. Berlin: Frank & Timme, pp. 227–261.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
144. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
References IV
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Schindler, K. & J. Wolfe (2014). “Beyond Single Authors. Organizational Text Production as Collaborative Writing”. In
Handbook of Writing and Text Production. Ed. by E.-M. Jakobs & D. Perrin. Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 159–173.
Sinner, C. (2012). “Fictional Orality in Romance Novels. Between Linguistic Reality and Editorial Requirements”. In The
Translation of Fictive Dialogue. Ed. by J. Brumme & A. Espunya. Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 119–136.
Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language
145. Editing and translation Passive voice and discourse structure Preliminary findings: Passive alternatives
Hypotheses & open questions
References V
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Mario Bisiada | @MBisiada | mariobisiada.de Grup d’Estudis del Discurs (GED) Research seminar
Features of mediated discourse: A corpus investigation of translated and edited language