Investigating translator

positioning and subjectivity

Jeremy Munday
j.munday@leeds.ac.uk

Translation Research Summer School, London

21 June 2013

Register situational variables

Field
What is the text about? Subject matter, conveyed
through denotational choices, transitivity
Tenor
What is the communicative relationship of speakerlistener? > modality, pronoun choice, evaluative
epithets
Mode
Form of communication > cohesion and thematic
and information structure
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Evaluation in language
Volosinov (1973)/Bakhtin: all utterances
have an evaluative orientation;
intertextual freight of other utterances
Grant (2007): axiological
accentuation.... the penumbra of
unselected information
Martin (2004) Sense and sensibility
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Evaluation, appraisal
For us [...], evaluation is a broad cover term for the
expression of the speaker or writers stance towards,
viewpoint on, or feelings about the entities or
propositions that he or she is talking about (Hunston
and Thompson 2000: 5)
Appraisal... the global potential of the language for
making evaluative meanings, e.g. for activating
positive/negative viewpoints, graduating force/focus,
negotiating intersubjective stance (Martin and White
2005: 164)
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Appraisal resources (adapted from

Martin and White 2005: 38)
Domain of
appraisal

Parameter

Value

Attitude

Affect
Judgement
Appreciation

Feelings, emotions
Of ethics, behaviour
Of things,
phenomena

Graduation

Force
Focus

Raise or lower
Sharpen or soften

Engagement

Monogloss
Heterogloss

Contract
Expand

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Appraisal resources (adapted from

Martin and White 2005: 38)
Domain of
appraisal

Parameter

Example

Attitude

Affect
Judgement
Appreciation

happy, sad
wrong, brave
beautiful, authentic

Graduation

Force
Focus

extremely unwise
an apology of sorts

Engagement

Monogloss
Heterogloss

demonstrate, show
claim, nearly,
possibly

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Explicit (inscribed) or implicit

(evoked/invoked) evaluation?
London is cosmopolitan, trendy and exciting, a truly
wonderful place to visit. The city combines old-fashioned
charm and cutting-edge fashion. Quiet courtesy and a
great deal of fun.
All of these characteristics will be revealed as you wander
from museum to gallery, down Victorian arcades and busy
streets, across vast parks and along cobbled streets. The
contrasts are endless: next to every historical sight, theres
a skyscraper gleaming with the wealth of modern life.
Discovering these contrasts is one of the citys great
pleasures. (TimeOut/HSBC Miniguide to London)
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Evaluation in the ideational function

But despite all the progress we have made, we
know that there is more work to do. If theres
a child stuck in a crumbling school who
graduates without ever learning how to read,
it doesnt matter if that child is a Hispanic
from Miami or an African American from
Chicago or a white girl from rural Kentucky
she is our child, and her struggle is our
struggle.
Obama 08 Latino Blueprint for Change
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

ideational function
Pero a pesar de cunto hemos progresado,
sabemos que an queda ms por hacer. Si
hay un nio atrapado en una escuela ruinosa
que se grada sin haber aprendido a leer, no
importa si ese nio es un hispano de Miami o
un afroamericano de Chicago o una nia
blanca de la zona rural de Kentucky: es
nuestro nio y sus problemas son nuestros
problemas.
Obama 08 Proyecto latino para el cambio
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

 in the textual function

The campus is compact, being less than half a
mile across, but is attractively laid out using
the natural contours of the land, to give a real
sense of space. It is almost surrounded by
stone-built terraced housing, much of which is
available for rent to students in their second
and final years.

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

In modality choices
Nixon's meeting with Mao appeared inexcusable -- and yet it surely helped
set China on a path ...
la reunin de Nixon con Mao pareca inexcusable, pero no hay duda de
que ayud a llevar a China por un camino
it perhaps comes as no surprise that people fear the loss of what they
cherish in their particular identities
no debera sorprendernos que la gente tema perder lo que aprecia de su
identidad particular
For when we don't [follow the rules], our actions appear arbitrary
Pues cuando no lo hacemos, nuestros actos pueden parecer arbitrarios

Barack Obama, Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 10 December 2009

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Critical points of evaluation in

specific situations (Munday 2012)
Simultaneous interpreting
Professional technical translators
interviews and online forums
Literary drafts and correspondence
Multiple (student) translations of the
same text
Crowdsourced subtitles (Munday 2012a)
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Invetigating translator positioning

Where does variation most occur in

simultaneous interpreting?

Barack Obama, inaugural address, 20 January 2009

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Classification of Attitude
Affect especially +/- security
The trust youve bestowed (4); gathering clouds and raging
storms (8)
Judgement capacity, tenacity, propriety
Our capacity remains undiminished (51); enduring convictions
(92); humbled (3); a new era of responsibility (143-4)
Appreciation reaction, composition, valuation
Grandest capitals (89); narrow interests (52); set aside
childish things (31); choose our better history (32)
Barack Obama, inaugural address, 20 January 2009
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Variation in evaluation in
translation
Variation in linguistic realization rather than in
category of evaluation/appraisal
More variation in verbal processes and
evaluative epithets than nouns
Some omission of interpersonal markers
Variation in Graduation including reduced
intensification of non-core words (slip
out>leave, harness>use)
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Graduation above all may be

lessened

Well understood (omitted by TT2, TT3)

far-reaching network of violence and hatred (omitted by TT2, TT3)
badly weakened (omitted by TT2)
fail too many (algunas [some] TT2)
for far too long (por mucho tiempo [for a long time] TT1, TT2,
omitted by TT3)
demand even greater effort [...] even greater cooperation (omitted
by all TTs)
our spirit is stronger (comparative omitted by TT1)
old hatreds shall someday pass (change of point of view TT1,
omitted by TT2)

Barack Obama, inaugural address, 20 January 2009

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Provoked and associative evaluation

- in non-core vocabulary and metaphor
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the
West, endured the lash of the whip and plowed
the hard earth
- by association
For us, they fought and died... in places like Concord
and Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sanh.

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Cline of explicit and implicit evaluation

Explicit

Implicit

Inscribe true to our founding documents; our capacity

remains undiminished
Evoke provoke: toiled in sweatshops; gathering
clouds and raging storms
associate: our patchwork heritage; Concord,
Gettysburg, Normandy, Khe Sanh
ideational token: the keepers of this legacy
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Invetigating translator positioning

Critical points of ideological difference

Earlier generations faced down fascism and
communism (92)
To those..... who cling to power through corruption and
deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are
on the wrong side of history... but that we will extend
a hand... if you are willing to unclench your fist. (117119)

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Invetigating translator positioning

Critical point of evaluation

For we know... that our patchwork heritage is a
strength... not a weakness.

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Invetigating translator positioning

Patchwork semantic prosody

If you refer to something as a patchwork, you mean it is
made up of many different parts, pieces or colours.
The low mountains were a patchwork of green and
brown (Collins Cobuild Dictionary)
- Confusing, feudal, hopeless, laborious, strange,
unjustified, unruly, unwieldy.......... elegant, vivid
patchwork
- Hugely complex patchwork of pricing and regulatory
systems
- The EC has proposed sweeping away this patchwork of
national restrictions
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Invetigating translator positioning

Potentially contested concepts

oude Kunst
old art
old Masters
antique art
fine art
Those values upon which our success depends
honesty... and hard work, courage and fair play,
tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- ...
these things are old.... These things are true...
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Disambiguation requiring
negotiation or interpretation
anspruchsvoll: sophisticated, complicated, discerning,
discriminating
Das Hotel hlt 13 anspruchsvoll eingerichtete
Doppelzimmer und 4 klimatisierte Suiten fr die
Gste bereit.
[The hotel holds 13 anspruchsvoll
equipped/appointed double rooms and 4 airconditioned suites for the guests ready]
There are 13 fastidiously furnished double rooms and
4 suites available for our guests
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Newly-coined terms or collocations

blue-sky exploration potential
> optimistisches Frderpotential [Gmn]
the bleeding edge of web design
> nova tecnologa (no aperfeioada) > vanguarda
absoluta
new-fangled features
> recm-criadas > inovadoras > modernas >
novissimos > novas firulas > de ltima gerao

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Constraints and participant roles

In this domain of discourse, translation scholars have thus
focused on the constraints placed on the translation
process by the sociocultural context of communication.
The ideological and cultural background initiated in the
text by the author and read off by both reader and
translator governs the way in which the overall meaning
potential is realized at both ends of the communicative
channel. Furthermore, the way in which a reader
constructs a representation of the text and relates this
to the real world seems to be of crucial importance in
dealing with discoursal meanings. (Hatim 2009: 91)
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Different readings
By a tactical reading we refer to a typically partial and
interested reading which aims to deploy a text for
social purposes other than those it has naturalised;
resistant readings oppose the reading position
naturalised by the co-selection of meanings in a text,
while compliant readings subscribe to it.
(Martin and White 2005: 206)

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Hall (1980) reading positions

Compliant = dominant-hegemonic position:
Reader reproduces preferred meaning
Resistant = oppositional position: Reader
recognizes but opposes expected reading
Tactical = negotiated position: Reader
recognizes expected reading but re-interprets
through alternative frame

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

What position does the

translator adopt?

?
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Invetigating translator positioning

Deictic positioning (Chilton)

Other/remoteness

Modality/wrongness
Time past

Deictic centre
here/now/I/we/rightness
Time future
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Invetigating translator positioning

Deictic positioning
Other/remoteness

Evaluation:
Attitude &
Graduation

Time past

Deictic centre
here/now/I/we/rightness
Time future
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Deictic positioning
(translator)

Translators identity
positioning (Engagement?)

Translators spatiotemporal positioning?

Attitude & Graduation:

Translators evaluative
positioning

Deictic centre
here/now/I/we/rightness

21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

Keys and others

Evaluative keys patterns of occurrence and cooccurrence which are conventionalised in a given
discourse domain
Voice e.g. reporter, correspondent, commentator,
[writer]
Stance [more local] reconfigurations which we
predict will be recurrent across a range of texts and a
range of authors in a given discourse domain
Signatures idiolectal reconfigurations, personal style
(White and Martin 2005: 164-69; Bednarek 2006: 208)
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning

The position and voice of the

interpreter?
The question neither is if the market is a force... we know that...
the power of.. the desire to generate money is clear, but this
crisis has made us see that the country cannot prosper if it
favors only the prosperous... Also he speaks about those
sectors that remain on the margins of prosperity this is the
surest way to common good, says Barack Obama, he makes
reference to the economic crisis, to greed and in these
moments we reject... we reject to have to choose between our
ideas and national security (76-84)
Barack Obama, inaugural address, simultaneous interpretation III,
20 January 2009
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Invetigating translator positioning

Some references
Chilton, Paul (2004) Analysing Political Discourse: Theory and practice, Abingdon and New
York: Routledge.
Grant, Colin (2007) Uncertainty and Communication: New theoretical investigations,
Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Hall, Stuart (1999 [1980]) Encoding, decoding, in Simon During (ed.) (1999) The Cultural
Studies Reader, London and New York: Routledge, 507-17.
Hatim, Basil (2009) Discourse analysis, in Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha (eds) The
Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp.
88-92.
Hunston, Susan and Geoff Thompson (eds) (2000) Evaluation in Text, Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Martin, Jim R. (2004) Sense and sensibility: Texturing evaluation, in Joseph Foley (ed.)
Language, Education and Discourse: Functional approaches, London: Continuum, 270304.
Martin, Jim R. and Peter R. R. White (2005) The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English,
London and New York: Palgrave.
Munday, Jeremy (2012) Evaluation in Translation: Critical points of translator decision-making,
Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
21 June 2013

Invetigating translator positioning