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Article published In:
Issues in Humour Cognition
Edited by Marta Dynel
[Review of Cognitive Linguistics 16:1] 2018
► pp. 152–190
Regular articles

Some advances in the study of the translation of manner of motion events

Integrating key concepts of Descriptive Translation Studies and ‘Thinking for Translating’

| Universitat Politècnica de València

Manner of motion represents a translation problem, especially between languages that belong to different typological groups, since their users (in this case mainly authors and translators) address the semantic component of Manner in different ways. In order to give a full account of the translation of manner of motion events in a German>Spanish parallel corpus of children’s and young adult literature, this contribution describes an interdisciplinary study by resorting to the theory of ‘Thinking for Translating’ (Slobin, 1997, 2000, 2005) and to the hypothesis of translation universals (Baker, 1993; Mauranen & Kujamäki, 2004).

It presents a proposal of seven translation techniques adapted to Manner of motion, as well as quantitative data regarding these techniques. Qualitative and quantitative data on the semantic subcomponents of Manner (speed, sound, motor pattern, etc.) are also included. The findings confirm that, in terms of Manner of motion, the translation is simpler than the original text and that motor pattern is the semantic subcomponent of Manner that has been affected by translation to the greatest extent.

Keywords: manner of motion, ‘Thinking for Translating’, translation techniques, translation universals, corpus linguistics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background issues
    • 2.1The study of manner of motion events from a cognitive perspective
    • 2.2Descriptive Translation Studies
      • 2.2.1Translation universals: Simplification
      • 2.2.2Translation techniques
      • 2.2.3An integrated view
  • 3.Methodology and analysis
    • 3.1Corpus used in the study
    • 3.2Exploration process and analysis
    • 3.3Classification of translation techniques adapted to Manner of motion
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Statistical test: The hypothesis of simplification as a translation universal
    • 4.2Quantitative results: Translation techniques
    • 4.3Qualitative results: Semantic subcomponents of Manner of motion
      • 4.3.1Reduction
      • 4.3.2Specification
      • 4.3.3Modulation
      • 4.3.4Omission
        • 4.3.4.1Omission of Manner
        • 4.3.4.2Omission of motion event including Manner
      • 4.3.5Addition
        • 4.3.5.1Addition of Manner
        • 4.3.5.2Addition of motion event including Manner
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 31 May 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00007.mol
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