Ideology and Translation
Definitions The set of factual and evaluative beliefs – that is, the knowledge and the opinions – of a group (van Dijk in Calzada Perez 2003, 5) The (tacit) assumptions, beliefs and value systems which are shared collectively by social groups (Simpson in Hatim & Mason 1997, 144)
Ideology in Texts Linguistic choices made by the writer or translator of a text may: 1)Create a particular perspective on the events portrayed 2)Reflect the writer’s opinions and attitudes 3) Influence the readers’ opinions
Ideology and Translation The ideology of translating: preference for particular translation strategies The translation of ideology: has there been a shift due to intervention by the translator? Manipulation of texts to fit reigning target culture ideologies (Lefevere)
Methods for Studying Ideology in Texts 1)Critical Discourse Analysis 2)Corpus Linguistics 3)Social Narrative Theory
Critical Discourse Analysis Language is about choice. Purpose of CDA to analyse obvious or hidden relations of dominance as manifested in language. Politically committed. Method (Fairclough): Description Interpretation Explanation
Example of CDA Potential obfuscation of agency and causality: ‘A black township has been burnt down.’ ‘Many peasants are dead.’
Corpus Linguistics Ideology of usage/texts coded implicitly Interpreted from cumulative effect of many choices Methods: A.General corpus Key lexical items
Corpus linguistics (2) B.Specialized corpus 1)Keywords 2)Collocates of keywords 3)Semantic roles & grammatical patterning of keywords