Practically every communicative experience we have reminds us of a similar experience we have either observed or been actively involved ID: 489659
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Slide1
6. CONTEXT
Practically
every
communicative
experience
we
have
reminds
us
of a
similar
experience
we
have
either
observed
or
been
actively
involved
in.
Different
scholars
use
different
terms
for
this
previous
experience
:
scenario
schema
frame
script
mental
picture
situation model
mental
film clipSlide2
On 9
October
2015
you
switch
on the TV and
hear
someone
say
:
NATO
leaders
have
issued
a
warning
to
President
Putin
as
the anti-
terrorist
offensive
continues
.
What
kind
of
communicative
event
is
this
?
Who
is
speaking
? How
is
he/
she
dressed
?
Who
is
President
Putin?
Who
are the “
terrorists
”?
Where
are
they
?
What
has
been
going
on to
make
NATO
leaders
want
to
issue
a
warning
?Slide3
You
can
now
predict
the
kind
of
language
that
will
follow
.
Which
of the
following
(A to
F
) are
probable
utterances
in the
context
of the scenario/schema/
mental
film clip
you
now
have
in
your
head?
NATO
leaders
have
issued
a
warning
to
President
Putin
as
the anti-
terrorist
offensive
continues
.
Turkish
President
Recep
Erdogan
threatened
…
A. to look for an alternative
supplier
of
natural
gas.
B. to
give
Mr
Putin a punch on the
nose
.
C. to put
laxatives
in
Turkish
kebabs
exported
to Russia.
D. to
cancel
the
construction
of a Russian-
built
nuclear
power
station.
E. to
commit
Turkish
troops
to
NATO’s
presence
in the
Baltic
states
.
F
. to
sing
“Vladimir, Vladimir,
watch
out for the jihad-
ee
,
dear
.”Slide4
Even
if
you
have
never
been
personally
involved
in
certain
communicative
events
,
your
knowledge
of the world
means
that
you
would
know
what
to
expect
(in
terms
of
participants
,
behaviour
and
language
) in
these
situations
:
1.
Going
through
passport
control
at
the
United
states
border
.
2.
You
are
driving
on a
very
busy
road. The man
behind
you
keeps
flashing
his
headlamps
but
it
is
impossible
for
you
to go
any
faster
. At a
red
traffic
light he
draws
level
with
you
and
opens
his
window
.
3.
You
applied
for a job and
along
with
about
200
other
candidates
took
an
written
test.
Now
you
have
been
called
to an
interview
.
4. Your best friend
has
been
trying
to
have
a baby for
five
years
.
Now
she
gives
you
the
good
news:
she’s
pregnant
.Slide5
Technical
terms
Top-down and bottom-up processing
Intertextuality
Remember
Dell
Hymes
’ SPEAKING model:
S
etting
(situation, scene)
P
articipants
(
active
and passive)
E
nds
(
purposes
,
goals
,
intentions
)
A
cts
(
form
and
content
of
what
is
said
)
K
ey
(
tone
,
spirit
,
manner
)
I
nstrumentalities
(
type
of
spoken
or
written
channel
)
N
orms
(
socially
or
culturally
determined
norms
)
G
enres
(
types
of
discourse
)Slide6
Context
and
Translation
“[…] from the
translator’s
point
of
view
, an
understanding
of the
context
is
necessary
so
that
he or
she
can relate
what
is
said
to the
surrounding
features
and
clarify
any
elements
that
may
seem
‘out of
place
’ or
even
incomprehensible
in
other
circumstances
.” (Taylor, p. 78)Slide7
M.A.K.
Halliday’s
Functional
Grammar
(FG)
Conventional
grammar
(
whether
prescriptive
or
descriptive
)
merely
tells
us
what
is
formally
possible
in the
language
. FG
also
considers
the
context
of situation, i.e.
how
the cultural and
situational
context
influences
our
choice
of
lexicogrammatical
forms
.
You
need
to
know
about
Italian
culture and
specific
situations
in
order
to
understand
:
“Due caffè macchiati, per favore, poi tre ristretti, due lunghi e anche un caffè corretto.”
“Quel ragazzo rischia di prendere sette in condotta.”
And
you
need
to
know
about
UK society to
understand
:
“My
daughter’s
going
to Latin America for
her
gap
year
.”
“
When
I
retire
I’m
going
to help the
Samaritans
for a
few
hours
each
week.”Slide8
Halliday’s
context
of situation
has
three
components
:
field
,
tenor
and
mode
.
FIELD
involves
the WH-
questions
.
What
is
happening?
Where
and
When
?
Who
are the
participants
?
Why
are
they
behaving
and
speaking
in
this
way?
TENOR
refers
to the
relationships
between
participants
(boyfriend/girlfriend, boss/
employee
,
neighbours
,
colleagues
, complete
strangers
etc.) and
questions
of
power
, status and
how
well
they
know
one
another
.
It
also
refers
to
role
structure
:
questioner
/
answerer
,
host
/guest etc.
MODE
concerns
the
language
used
:
written
or
spoken
,
spontaneous
or
planned
,
formal
or
informal
, general or
specialized
etc.Slide9
Context
of situation and
translation
The
translator
must first of
all
understand
the
field
,
tenor
and mode of the source text,
then
recreate
them
in the target text.
Only
then
can
s
/he
make
the
most
appropriate
lexicogrammatical
choices
.
This
is
top-down processing.
Sometimes
in the
translation
it
may
be
necessary
to
give
an
explicit
explanation
of
something
that
has
no
equivalent
in the target
language
culture:
gap
year
,
sette in condotta
,
Italy’s
coffee culture etc.
However
,
as
we
saw
in
Lesson
1 and the
passage
from Tim
Park’s
novel
Tongues
of
Flame
,
it
may
be
better
not
to
explain
things
that
do
not
really
contribute
to the
reader’s
appreciation
of the target text (
cricket
nets
,
sixth-form
college
and
A
levels
are
not
explained
)
.
Try
to
describe
the
field
,
tenor
and mode in the
following
very
brief
texts
from
advertsements
.Slide10Slide11
This
is
an
example
of
intertextuality
.
Slide12Slide13
1.
Let’s
beat
it
. Here
comes
that
skinny
dame.
2. Men
hate
the
sight
of me,
I’m
so
skinny
.
I’m
going
to
try
ironized
yeast
.
fermento con ferro aggiunto
A FEW WEEKS LATER
3.
You’re
gorgeous
since
you’ve
gained
weight
!
THOUSANDS OF SKINNY GIRLS GAIN 10 TO 20 LBS. – QUICK!
4.5-9 chiliSlide14Slide15
Read
Taylor’s
summary
(
pp
80-83) of
Juliane
House’s
Model of
Translation
Q
uality
Assessment
.
She
proposes
:
Three
dimensions
of
language
user
:
geographical
origin
, social
class
, time
Five
dimensions
of
language
use
: medium,
participation
, social
role
relationship
, social
attitude
, province
The model
is
best
applied
to
spoken
language
/
dialogue
. In
fact
Taylor
quotes
House’s
application
of the
it
to a work of
drama
(Sean
O’Casey’s
play
The End of the
Beginning
)
but
it
could
also
be
applied
to the
ironized
yeast
advertisement
.Slide16
CONTEXT AND SYNONYMY
Within
a
language
perfect
synonyms
rarely
exist
.
Apparent
synonyms
can
have
subtle
shades
of
meaning
that
differentiate
them
.
Two
words
may
have
similar
denotations
but
one
is
used
in a
greater
range
of
contexts
than
the
other
. Or
sometimes
one
word
has
connotations
that
the
other
does
not
. In English
think
of
small/
little
or
complete/
finished
.
We
have
these
shirts
in
four
sizes
: extra large, large, medium and _______.
I
only
speak
a _____
German
.
A man in love
is
not
complete
until
he’s
married
.
Then
he’s
finished
.
In
Italian
think
about
intelligente/astuto
,
sufficiente/abbastanza
,
delicato/fragile
,
rapido/veloce
,
galera
/carcere/prigione
. Slide17
Between
languages
“
synonyms
” are
even
less
reliable
:
guess
= indovinare, supporre, credere, pensare
rat
= ratto, topo
leaf
= foglia, foglio, sfogliare
strike = colpo, sciopero, colpire, picchiare
Wimbledon = una zona di Londra, un torneo di tennis
canadese = a Canadian, a pizza, (in
Sardinia
) a
tracksuit
cornetto = a brioche, an
icecream
, a musical
instrument
, (in
Naples
) a
lucky
charm in the
shape
of a
horn
Sanremo = a
town
in Liguria, a
popular
music festivalSlide18
POLITICAL
CORRECTNESS
Today
we
talk
about
African
Americans
or
Afro-Americans
.
It
is
still
acceptable
to call
them
Blacks
but
we
can no
longer
say
Negroes
,
which
was
the
preferred
expression
until
about
the 1960s. The word
Nigger
is
absolutely
taboo
but
black
rap and
hiphop
artists
use the
form
Nigga
(h)
.
The
noun
cripple
and the
adjective
crippled
can no
longer
be
applied
to
people
,
although
they
can be
used
metaphorically
to
refer
to an
institution
, an
organization
or an economy.
Handicapped
is
used
less
and
less
.
Disabled
is
still
OK
but
some
people
prefer
differently
abled
.
The
word
gay
(
denotation
:
allegro
)
was
adopted
by
homosexuals
because
they
wanted
a positive
term
to
counter
all
the
derogatory
words
used
to
describe
them
(
faggot
,
queer
etc.).
A
word
that
traditionally
has
negative
connotations
can be
reclaimed
and
given
a positive
meaning
. An
example
is
spinster
(
zitella
).
Il
vostro docente di Traduzione Lingua Inglese 1 è diversamente giovane. Slide19
GENDER AND TRANSLATION
Beware
of the “
generic
masculine
”, i.e. the use of a
masculine
term
to
refer
to
both
males
and
females
collectively
.
This
occurs
in
Italian
with
plural
nouns
like
figli
and
fratelli
(
translated
as
children
and
brothers
and/or
sisters
). A
singular
masculine
noun
may
be
used
in
bureaucratic
forms
(e.g. “lo studente” in the
traditional
exam
registers
before
we
had
ESSE3).
In
English the
generic
masculine
concerns
pronouns
:
Written
notice
in a hotel: “
If
a guest
requires
an
invoice
he
should
inform
reception on
arrival
”.
In
written
English
we
can use
(
s
)he
or
he/
she
or
he or
she
.
In
spoken
English
we
often
sacrifice
grammatical
correctness
in
order
to
preserve
political
correctness
:
If
someone
requires
an
invoice
they
should
inform
reception on
arrival
.
When
translating
into
Italian
you
can take
advantage
of the
fact
that
Italian
is
a pro-
drop
language
.
Feminine
nouns
such
as
actress
and
manageress
are
disappearing
;
actor
and
manager
are
generally
used
for
women
as
well
as
men.
Should
we
call
Professor
Del Zompo
il rettore
or
la rettrice
? Slide20
Lexical
cohesion
/
Semantic
fields
– Taylor
pp
88-91
Pragmatics
– Taylor
pp
91-93.
You
can
also
find
a file of the
slides
used
in
my
Discourse
Analysis
course
for the 2nd
year
of Lingue e culture per la mediazione linguistica in 2014-15.Slide21
Breakfast
at
Tiffany’s
by Truman Capote (1958)
Colazione da Tiffany
, traduzione di Bruno Tasso (2007)
When
they
reached
her
door
she
rummaged
her
purse
in
search
of a
key
, and
took
no
notice
of the
fact
that
his
thick
lips
were
nuzzling
the
nape
of
her
neck
. At last,
though
,
finding
the
key
and opening
her
door,
she
turned
to
him
cordially
: ‘
Bless
you
,
darling
–
you
were
sweet
to
see
me home.’
‘
Hey
, baby!’ he
said
, for the door
was
closing
in
his
face.
‘Yes, Harry?’
‘Harry
was
the
other
guy
.
I’m
Sid
.
Sid
Arbuck
.
You
like
me.’
‘I
worship
you
,
Mr
Arbuck
.
But
good
night,
Mr
Arbuck
.’
Mr
Arbuck
stared
with
disbelief
as
the door
shut
firmly
.
FIELD TENOR MODESlide22
Quando
raggiunsero la porta, lei cominciò a frugare nella borsa alla caccia di una chiave; senza badare alle labbra di lui che le massaggiavano la nuca, all’attaccatura del collo. Finalmente, trovata la chiave e aperta la porta, si voltò verso di lui, cordialissima. «Che Dio ti benedica, caro… sei stato davvero gentile ad accompagnarmi a casa.»
«Ehi, pupa!» fece lui, perché il battente gli si stava chiudendo in faccia.
«Sì, Harry?»
«Harry era quell’altro. Io sono
Sid
.
Sid
Arbuck
. E ti piaccio.»
«Vi adoro,
signor
Arbuck
. Buona notte, signor
Arbuck
.»
Arbuck
rimase e guardare, incredulo, la porta che era stata chiusa con gesto deciso.Slide23
Mr
Arbuck
stared
with
disbelief
as
the door
shut
firmly
. ‘
Hey
, baby,
let
me in, baby.
You
like
me, baby.
I’m
a
liked
guy
.
Didn’t
I
pick
up the
check
,
five
people
,
your
friends, I
never
seen
them
before
?
Don’t
that
give
me the right
you
should
like
me?
You
like
me, baby.’
He
tapped
on the door
gently
,
then
louder
;
finally
, he
took
several
steps
back,
his
body
hunched
and
lowering
,
as
though
he
meant
to
charge
it
, crash
it
down.
Instead
, he
plunged
down the
stairs
,
slamming
a
fist
against
the
wall
. Just
as
he
reached
the bottom, the door of the
girl’s
apartment
opened
and
she
poked
out
her
head.
‘Oh,
Mr
Ar
buck
…’
He
turned
back, a
smile of
relief
oiling
his
face:
she’d
only
been
teasing
.
‘The
next
time a girl
wants
a
little
powder
-room
change
,’
she
called
,
not
teasing
at
all
, ‘take
my
advice
,
darling
:
don’t
give
her
twenty-cents
!’Slide24
Arbuck
rimase e guardare, incredulo, la porta che era stata chiusa con gesto deciso. «Ehi, pupa, lasciami entrare, pupa. Io ti piaccio, pupa. Sono un tipo che piaccio, io. Non ho forse pagato il conto per
cinque
persone, amici tuoi che non avevo mai visto? E questo non mi dà il diritto di esserti simpatico? Io ti piaccio, pupa.»
Bussò alla porta, prima adagio, poi sempre più forte, e alla fine arretrò di qualche passo, la schiena ingobbita, il corpo piegato in avanti, come se avesse intenzione di partire alla carica e di buttar giù tutto. Invece, si precipitò per le scale, picchiando il pugno contro la parete. Era appena arrivato in fondo quando la porta dell’appartamento si aprì e la ragazza mise fuori la testa.
«Oh, signor
Arbuck
…»
Lui si voltò, con un sorriso che gli si allargava sul viso, come una macchia d’olio: dunque era stato solo uno scherzo.
«La prossima volta che una ragazza vuole qualche spicciolo per la toletta,» gli gridò lei, e non scherzava affatto, «ascoltate il mio consiglio, tesoro: non datele venti
cents
!»Slide25
FALSE FRIENDS 6
What
do
you
remember
about
attic
,
bigot
and
callous
?
Bimbo
: a
derogatory
word for a
young
woman
who
is
attractive
and sexy
but
also
rather
stupid
. A common
collocation
is
blonde bimbo
. In the
United
States
the
adjective
blonde
implies
that
a woman
is
not
very
intelligent
.
Candid
: franco, schietto.
Give
me
your
candid
opinion.
Candido
: 1. pure
white
,
snow
white
2. naïve,
ingenuous
Canteen
: mensa
Cantina
:
cellar
,
wine
cellarSlide26
Diary
of a brave
translator
verily
in
leg
– Part 6
Did
you
know
that
you
can
eat
very
well
in Britain? Of
course
,
British
kitchen
has
a
bad
reputation
but
the
traditional
English
plates
have
mostly
disappeared
.
Today
chicken
tikka
masala
is
considered
a
typical
English
speciality
even
though
the
recipe
was
invented
by a
Bangladeshi
chef in Glasgow.
You
will
also
find
chile con carne
,
moussaka
and
couscous
on the menu in
many
British
restaurants
.
It
is
not
difficult
to individuate the
reasons
for the
internationalization
of the
eating
habits
of the
British
.
Today
the
United
Kingdom
is
a
multiethnic
society and
each
group
of
immigrants
has
introduced
food
that
native
British
people
appreciate
. The last
development
is
that
we
are
all
trying
to
pronounce
Polish
words
like
kielbasa
and
pierogi
.