TYPES OF NONEQUIVALENCE

Prof. univ. dr. Elena Croitoru

Culture specific elements

The SL word expresses a concept which is unknown in the TLC; it may refer to a social custom, a religious belief or a type of food privacy loneliness;intimacy e.g.. airing cupboard

The SL concept not lexicalized in the TL

The SL word expresses a concept which is known in the TC but is not lexicalized : e.g. savoury - tasty; pleasant smelling; (fig.) agreeable, good standard ordinary landslide overwhelming majority

The SL word semantically complex

A single word consisting of a single morpheme may express a more complex set of meanings e.g. polysemy of words Cunning sly (iret), artful,shrewd, sharp (viclean), mischievous (trengar); smart (detept, iste), skillful (ndemnatic, priceput, iscusit); ellegant (elegant, atrgtor)

SL and TL make different distinctions in meaning

The TL makes more or fewer distinctions in meaning than the SL What is relevant in meaning to the SL may not be so in the TL e.g. come go bring - fetch

No superordinate in the TL

The TL lacks a superordinate though it has specific words (hyponyms): e.g. facilities any equipment, building, services provided for a particular activity or purpose

No TL hyponym (specific term)

Superordinate:house Specific words: bungalow, cottage, chalet, lodge, hut, mansion, manor, villa, hall Superordinate: jump Specific words: leap, vault, spring, bounce, dive, clear, plunge

Interpersonal perspective

There are differences in physical or interpersonal perspective when persons or things are in relation to one another or to a place: e.g. come go arrive depart take bring the Romanian equivalents for give

Differences in expressive meaning

A TL word has the same propositional meaning as the SL word, but it has a different expressive meaning When the TL word is neutral, the translator may add a modifier or an adverb to make up for the expressive meaning of the SL word e.g. batter to beat savagely / ruthlessly

Differences in form

There is no equivalent in the TL for a particular form in the ST: e.g. employer / employee trainer / trainee payer / payee conceivable retrievable undeniable drinkable

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Affixes

Affixes which contribute to evoked meaning (e.g. by creating buzz words such as washateria, groceteria) and those which convey expressive meaning (journalese, translationese, legalese) are more difficult to translate by a paraphrase (Baker 1992: 24).

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Propositional meaning

It is relatively easy to paraphrase propositional meaning, but other types of meaning cannot always be spelt out in translation. Their subtle contribution to the overall meaning of the text is either lost altogether or recovered elsewhere by means of compensatory techniques. (Baker 1992: 24)

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Frequency and purpose of using specific forms

There is an equivalent in the TL, but there are differences in its frequency or in the purpose for which it is used : e.g. the use of ing to bind clauses

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Loan words in the ST

Used for their prestige value It is not always possible to find a loan word in the TL with the same meaning (e.g. dilettante). If there is an equivalent, it may miss the stylistic effect. False friends: words with the same form in two or more languages but with a different meaning

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