In defence of fuzziness
In Translation Studies the definitions of the concepts native speaker and mother tongue have been uncritically adopted from linguistics and are regarded as defined and clarified as far as their meaning is concerned, despite the fact that neither linguistics nor translation theory can offer an objective and water-tight definition of the terms. A similar desire for univocal terms can also be detected in the claims for the need of one, universally accepted term for the same phenomenon where various competing terms already exist and are in use.
Although some linguists have already expressed their doubts in the justification of some of the fundamental linguistic concepts, as Rajogopalan has observed, a lot of them are still happy working with such discreet entities thus making linguistics perhaps the most “19th century” of the academic disciplines taught in universities today. Unfortunately, this could also be stated for some currents in Translation Studies, despite the fact that translation research can and should provide the most suitable field where such axiomatic truths are challenged. The article questions this desire for the univocal and argues that it is high time we all learn to live with more fuzzy definitions.
Article outline
- 1.Terminology and power
- 2.Mother tongue
- 3.Native speaker
- 4.Translating into a non-mother tongue?
- 5.Conceptual diversity: An added value
-
References
References (31)
References
Beeby, Allison Lonsdale. 1996. Teaching translation from Spanish to English: Worlds beyond Words. Ottawa: University of Ottawa. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Birdsong, David. 1992. “Ultimate attainment in second language acquisition”. Language 681. 706–755. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bloomfield, Leonard. [1927] 1970. “Literate and illiterate speech”. American speech 21. 232–239; also in A Leonard Bloomfield anthology, ed. Charles F. Hockett. Bloomington: Indiana Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bussmann, Hadumod ed. 1996. Routledge dictionary of language and linguistics. London and New York: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Campbell, Stuart. 1998. Translation into the second language. London and New York: Longman.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cook, Vivian. 1999. “Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching”. TESOL quarterly 33:2. 185–209. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Coppieters, René. 1987. “Competence differences between native and near-native speakers”. Language 63:3. 544–573. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Crystal, David. 1992. Introducing linguistics. London, New York, Ringwood, Toronto, Aukland: Penguin Group.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Crystal, David. [1987] 1994. The Cambridge encyclopedia of language. Cambridge, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Davies, Alan. 2003. The native speaker: Myth and reality. Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto, Sydney: Multilingual Matters. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Derrida, Jacques. 1989. Introduction to Edmund Husserl’s Origin of geometry, tr. John P. Leavey. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eisenstein, Miriam and Jean W. Bodman. 1986. “‘I very appreciate!’: Expressions of gratitude by native and non-native speakers of American English”. Applied linguistics 7:2. 167–185. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Faulkner Larry R. and John R. Durbin. 2000. “In Memoriam André Lefevere”. [URL]![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Grosman, Meta, Mira Kadric, Irena Kovačič and Mary Snell-Hornby, eds. 2000. Translation into non-mother tongues in professional practice and training. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ioup, Georgette, Elizabeth Boustagui, Manal El Tigi and Martha Moselle. 1994. “Reexamining the critical period hypothesis: A case study of successful adult SLA in a naturalistic environment”. Studies in second language acquisition 161. 73–98. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jakobson, Roman. 1959. “On linguistic aspects of translation”. Reuben A. Brower, ed. On translation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959. 232–239. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kelly, Dorothy, Marie-Louise Nobs, Dolores Sánchez and Catherine Way. 2003. La Direccionalidad en Traducción e Interpretación: Perspectivas teóricas, profesionales y didácticas. Granada: Atrio.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kelly, Dorothy, Marie-Louise Nobs, Dolores Sánchez and Catherine Way. 2003a. “Reflexiones en torno a algunos conceptos básicos”. Kelly et al.. 2003. 33–41.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Long, Michael H. 1990. “Maturational constraints on language development”. Studies in second language acquisition 121. 251–285. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
MacKenzie, Rosemary. 1998. “The place of language teaching in a quality-oriented translators’ training programme”. Kirsten Malmkjær, ed. Translation and language teaching—Language teaching and translation. Manchester: St Jerome, 1998. 213–221.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Newmark, Peter. 1988. A textbook of translation. London: Prentice Hall.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Paikeday, Thomas M. 1985. The native speaker is dead!: An informal discussion of a linguistic myth with Noam Chomsky and other linguists, philosophers, psychologists, and lexicographers. Toronto and New York: Paikeday Publishing.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Phillipson, Robert. 1992. Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Prunč, Erich. 2003. “Óptimo, subóptimo, fatal: reflexiones sobre la democracía etnolingüística en la cultura europea de traducción”. Kelly et al.. 2003. 67–89.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rajagopalan, Kanavillil. 1999. “Of EFL teachers, conscience, and cowardice”. ELT journal 53:3. 200–206. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rampton, M.B.H. 1990. “Displacing the ‘native speaker’: Expertise, affiliation, and inheritance”. ELT journal 44:2. 97–101. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ross, J.R. 1979. “Where is English?” C.J. Fillmore, D. Kempler and W.S.-Y. Wang, eds. Individual differences in language ability and language behaviour. New York: Academic Press 1979. 127–166. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove and Robert Phillipson. 1989. “‘Mother tongue’: The theoretical and sociopolitical construction of a concept”. Ulrich Ammon, ed. Status and function of languages and language varieties. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1989. 450–477. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Way, Cathy. 2005. La traducción como acción social: el caso de los documentos académicos (espa ñol-inglés). Granada: Editorial UGR.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
K. Pokorn, Nike, Jason Blake, Donald Reindl & Agnes Pisanski Peterlin
2020.
The influence of directionality on the quality of translation output in educational settings.
The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 14:1
► pp. 58 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Eccles, N. S. & S. Viviers
2011.
The Origins and Meanings of Names Describing Investment Practices that Integrate a Consideration of ESG Issues in the Academic Literature.
Journal of Business Ethics 104:3
► pp. 389 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Ehrensberger-Dow, Maureen & Daniel Perrin
2009.
Capturing translation processes to access metalinguistic awareness.
Across Languages and Cultures 10:2
► pp. 275 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 10 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.