Lesson five:

EQUIVALENCE AT WORD LEVEL

1. The word in different languages 2. Lexical meaning 3. The problem of non - equivalence

1. The word in different languages 1.1 What is a word? The word is the smallest unit which we expect to possess individual meaning ( or the word is the smallest unit that can be used by itself ) [ it must be able to stand alone ] (Be careful! The word is the basic meaningful unit of a language? No, it is not true in English; but it is the case in Vietnamese and this makes us confuse the word with morpheme ) 1.2 Is there a one-to -one relationship between word and meaning? Elements of meaning in English which are represented by one word may be represented by many words in Vietnamese and vice versa. There is no one-to-one correspondence between words and elements of meaning within (across) languages. Ex: English : rebuilt Vietnamese says : to build again Re2 elements Build Disbelieve [ paraphrased as not to believe] So, we can say that there is no one-to-one correspondence / equivalence between words and elements of meaning within / across languages. 1.3 Morphemes In order to isolate elements of meaning in words we use the term morpheme to describe the minimal formal element of meaning in a language, as distinct from word. The difference between morphemes and words is that a morpheme cannot contain more than one element of meaning and cannot be further separated / isolated / analysed / divided. Word : one element : book more elements: books inconceivable : a suitable paraphrase for inconceivable is cannot be conceived / imagined in: not conceive: think of / imagine - able : able to be / fit to be Some morphemes just have grammatical meaning function such as: marking plurality [ books ] gender [ manageress = female] tense [ conceived ] negation [ unhappy ] 2. Lexical meaning TOP A word is a lexical unit 2.1 The propositional versus expressive meaning - The propositional meaning of a word arises from the relationship between the word and what it refers to / describes [ The propositional meaning # referential / literal / dictionary meaning ] We can say the propositional meaning is true / false

Eg: shirt : a piece of clothing worn on the upper part of body (foot) sock { If we say shirt is a piece of clothing worn on the foot, we make an inaccurate meaning instead of socks} - The expressive meaning cannot be judged as T/F [true / false ] because expressive meaning [ E.M] relates to speakers feelings / attitudes [ so we can not say a feeling is true / false ] Ex: famous [ positive meaning] , notorious [ very negative meaning] 2.2. Presupposed meaning (PM) PM arises from co-occurance restrictions [ Cc gii hn cng xut hin]. This means the restrictions on what other words we expect to see before / after a particular word. Eg: Teeth : To brush the teeth correct To polish the teeth incorrect Collocational restriction Collocate : words may occur with each other Ex : a number of animals pack of dogs school of fish flock of birds herd of sheep white coffee [ # milk coffee in Vietnamese] laws are broken [ not used in Vietnamese] 2.1.2 Selectional restriction We expect a human subject for the adjective studious or an animal subject for the verb to feed 2.2 Evoked meaning TOP 2.1.1

Evoked meaning arises from dialect and register dialect = a variety of a language which is used in a specific community / group of people Different kinds of dialect: - Geographical / regional dialect / Eg: American English British English a lift an elevator - Social dialect: age groups , professional groups jargon [bit ng] ; social classes[upper class, middle class ] Eg : napkin = serviette : used by different goups of people [social classes] Temporal dialect : we can talk about age groups or different periods Ex : Negroes : past blacks : now verily : past really : now Register: a variety of a language that a language user considers as appropriate to a specific situation. [ register # style ] Depending on the environment we have : formal dialect versus informal dialect Register depends on three factors: - Field of discourse What is going on Eg: You are taking part in a football match You are making a political speech You are performing an operation in a hospital Linguistic choices depend on what kind of action you are performing / doing

Language choices differ - Tenor of discourse [ tenor = direction] [Reread lesson 1: The Nature of Meaning] Communication within the framework of the society. Relationship between participants in a discourse [ equal, or lower , or higher level in society ] Language choices differ / vary dependening on the interpersonal relations as mother / kid ; teacher / pupil ; employer / employee It is impossible for a patient to use swear [dirty]words with a doctor Its unlikely for a mother to start a request to her daughter with I wonder if you could .. In general, its not easy to get the tenor of a discourse because the level of formality in the SL is different from that in the RL (In western countries, children address parents by the first name, but in Vietnamese, children are not allowed to address their parents that way.) This level of informality is inappropriate in the Vietnamese culture If we miss the translator has to change the tenor to suit the expecteation of the reader /receptor. - Mode of discourse : the role the language is playing and the medium of transmission Eg : speech, lecture, essay, instruction (roles) spoken, written ( mediums of transmission) Different groups of people in a culture have different expectations. 3. The problem of non-equivalence 3.1 Non-equivalence at word level and some common strategies for dealing with it

3.1.1. Common problems of nonequivalence a.

TOP

Culture-specific concepts [ nhng khi nim c tnh c th v vn ha] U.S U.K The Senate The House of Lords The House of Representatives The House of Commons The Congress The Parliament Congressmen member of Parliament [MP] The SL word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the RL culture. Concept may relate to a religious belief or a social custom or a type of food Eg: The speaker in the House of Commons is an independent person who maintains authority and order in the Parliament Eg : mam ,cao ai in Vietnamese cannot be translated into English b. The SL concept is not lexicalized in the RL The SL word may express a concept which is known in the RL culture but simply not lexicalized [Khng c t tng ng dch] Eg : To be accessible to something We know the concept, but we dont have the word to translate them c. The SL word is semantically complex Eg: coi A whistle-stop speech : bi din vn c khi dng li trn ng i vn ng bu c cu cc TT M d. The SL and RL make different distinctions in meaning Eg. US billion =/= UK billion yes in Vietnamese to show[express] an agreement to a negative question no in English to show an agreement a to negative question Those 2 examples are completely distinctions in 2 different cultures.

e.

The RL lacks a superordinate [lack of general word] ( See Lesson 3 Referential Meaning - Theory of Translation 1 ) To avoid repetition substitute problem of level / hierarchy Animal superordinate Hyponym dog , cat , tiger .

In the RL, there are only specific words [ hyponyms] but no general words [superordinate ] f. The RL lacks a hyponym Vietnamese {SL} English {RL} Color Vietnamese express many kinds of colors, but in English this is not the case. Eg : In English we have problems with bay / an. because we lack Vietnamese hyponyms In Vietnamese we also have problems with thoi, ra