So far I know that this settlement was named after an Indian Chief. The name of this village could be translated into English as “Spirit Water”.
In this blog I would share my thoughts about living here and some educational materials I am using.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Living in Wauconda
Wauconda is a village gorgeous village in Lake County, Illinois. I have moved here to enjoy the flavor of living in a beautiful village, while I am working on improving my knowledge in linguistics and foreign languages.
So far I know that this settlement was named after an Indian Chief. The name of this village could be translated into English as “Spirit Water”.
In this blog I would share my thoughts about living here and some educational materials I am using.
So far I know that this settlement was named after an Indian Chief. The name of this village could be translated into English as “Spirit Water”.
In this blog I would share my thoughts about living here and some educational materials I am using.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Equivalents in translation
1. The notion of equivalents
2. Formal and dynamic equivalents
3. Referential and functional equivalents
4. Levels of equivalents
Equivalents is a measure of semantic similarity between the SL and TT. It is based on mathematical law of transitivity.
If A equals C and B equals C then A = B.
A is a word of one language that equals to a certain concept. B is a word of another language, which equals to the same concept. A equals B when a word or word combination of one language equals to a word or word combination of another language.
American translator Naida distinguishes between formal and dynamic equivalents.
Formal equivalents is the closest possible match of form and content between source and target text.
Dynamic equivalents – the main principle is to produce an effect on TT readers. It is to be defined in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the method in the receptor language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the receptors in the SL.
This response can never be identified for the cultural and historic settings are too different but there should be a high degree of equivalents of response, or the translator will have failed to accomplish its purpose.
The normal translation should aim at the comprehension of the message of the original which is defined as the total meaning of a discourse. The concept and feeling, which the author indents the reader to understand and perceive.
Referential equivalents seeks to produce the meaning of words as symbols, which refer to objects, events, abstracts and relations.
It is based on a traditional contrastive approach, which systematically contrasts and compares specific areas of language between source text and target text.
Functionalist approach is a kind of cover term for the research of scholars, who argue that the function or purpose of the target text is the most important criteria in translation.
Source text should no longer be seen as a sacred original and the purpose of the translation can no longer be deduced from the ST but depends on expectations, means of translation readers according to Vermeer’s Scopos theory.
Equivalents between ST and TT may be based on reproduction of different parts of ST contexts. Accordingly, Komisarow distinguished between 4 levels of equivalency.
1) On the first level of equivalent’s only the purpose of communication is retained:
I am all ears.
He answered the telephone.
2) Identical situation.
Chernivtsi saw a rainy summer last year.
You are not serious.
3) Semantic paraphrase of the original.
I am fed up with your excuses.
In this group the semantic similarity of the previous types of equivalents is reinforced by the invariant meaning of the syntactic structures in the original.
In such translations syntactical structure can be regarded as derived from those in the original through direct or backward transformations.
Maximum possible semantic similarity between texts in different languages.
These translations try to retain the meaning of all words used in the original text. The part of the content, which contains information about general intent of the message, its orientation towards certain communicative effect can be called the purpose of communication.
Each subsequent type of equivalents retains the part of the original, contents, which include the information preserved in the previous types.
Types of translation correspondences
Professor Retzker’s classification:
1. Types of equivalents
2. Ways of rendering equivalent – lacking units
Language units are classified into two groups:
- those that have equivalents
- those that don’t have equivalents
Professor Retzker distinguishes between:
1) equivalents – constant correspondences that don’t depend in their majority on the context
2) analogy – TL synonyms correspond to SL words, the choice of which is conditioned by the context
3) descriptive rendering is applied, when foreign words denote notions and phenomena that don’t exist in our life: “to dine with duke Humpry”, “to give a wet Willy”.
Equivalents can be permanent: full or regular, or non-permanent: contextual and partial.
Equivalents are functional substitutes for SL units. Some SL units have permanent equivalents in TL. That is one to one correspondence between such units and their equivalents (terms, geographical names).
Full equivalent is presumed when there is a complete coincidence of pragmatic meaning of the SL and TL units.
By pragmatic meaning of a translation equivalent we understand the reaction of the translation user to the verbal message in TL.
Depending on the type of language units involved in the translation process regular equivalents can be defined as lexical phraseological and grammatical.
Linguistic context in equivalents in subdivided into immediate and general. We call the context the length of speech necessary to specify the meaning and translation of the given word. Immediate linguistic context is a sequence of syntactic and syntactically related words that determines meaning and syntactic function of the given word and forms the bases for its translation.
General linguistic context is a source text as a whole. It includes the situational context, temporal, special and other circumstances under which source text was produced as well as all facts, which the receptor is expected to know, so that we can adequately interpret the message.
An exceptional translation of a SL unit, which suits a particular context can be described as an occasional equivalent or a contextual substitute.
The choice of grammatical units depends on semantics.
Ways to create occasional equivalents and to render equivalent-lacking units are:
1) using long words – imitating in target language the forms of the SL word or word combinations. By this technique we understand using transcription of transliteration exclusively.
2) by transcription of transliteration and explication of their genuine nationally specific meaning.
3) using a descriptive explanation to convey the meaning of the ST unit.
4) by translating componential parts and additional explanation of units of the nationally-bound lexicon.
5) using appropriate substitutes or semantic analogy, i.e. words with similar meaning, which is extended to convey information.
6) by ways of word for word translation.
7) using all kinds of lexical transformation modifying the meaning of a SL word.
Equivalent-lacking idioms are translated either by reproducing their form in TL through a word for word translation of by explaining the figurative meaning of the idiom.
There are the following types of rendering equivalent-lacking units:
1) Zero translation – when meaning of grammatical unit isn’t rendered in the translation since it is practically identical to the meaning of some other units and can be safely left out.
2) Approximate translation – when the translator makes use of a TL form, partially equivalent to the equivalent-lacking source language unit.
3) Transformational translation – when the translator resorts to one of the grammatical transformations.
2. Formal and dynamic equivalents
3. Referential and functional equivalents
4. Levels of equivalents
Equivalents is a measure of semantic similarity between the SL and TT. It is based on mathematical law of transitivity.
If A equals C and B equals C then A = B.
A is a word of one language that equals to a certain concept. B is a word of another language, which equals to the same concept. A equals B when a word or word combination of one language equals to a word or word combination of another language.
American translator Naida distinguishes between formal and dynamic equivalents.
Formal equivalents is the closest possible match of form and content between source and target text.
Dynamic equivalents – the main principle is to produce an effect on TT readers. It is to be defined in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the method in the receptor language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the receptors in the SL.
This response can never be identified for the cultural and historic settings are too different but there should be a high degree of equivalents of response, or the translator will have failed to accomplish its purpose.
The normal translation should aim at the comprehension of the message of the original which is defined as the total meaning of a discourse. The concept and feeling, which the author indents the reader to understand and perceive.
Referential equivalents seeks to produce the meaning of words as symbols, which refer to objects, events, abstracts and relations.
It is based on a traditional contrastive approach, which systematically contrasts and compares specific areas of language between source text and target text.
Functionalist approach is a kind of cover term for the research of scholars, who argue that the function or purpose of the target text is the most important criteria in translation.
Source text should no longer be seen as a sacred original and the purpose of the translation can no longer be deduced from the ST but depends on expectations, means of translation readers according to Vermeer’s Scopos theory.
Equivalents between ST and TT may be based on reproduction of different parts of ST contexts. Accordingly, Komisarow distinguished between 4 levels of equivalency.
1) On the first level of equivalent’s only the purpose of communication is retained:
I am all ears.
He answered the telephone.
2) Identical situation.
Chernivtsi saw a rainy summer last year.
You are not serious.
3) Semantic paraphrase of the original.
I am fed up with your excuses.
In this group the semantic similarity of the previous types of equivalents is reinforced by the invariant meaning of the syntactic structures in the original.
In such translations syntactical structure can be regarded as derived from those in the original through direct or backward transformations.
Maximum possible semantic similarity between texts in different languages.
These translations try to retain the meaning of all words used in the original text. The part of the content, which contains information about general intent of the message, its orientation towards certain communicative effect can be called the purpose of communication.
Each subsequent type of equivalents retains the part of the original, contents, which include the information preserved in the previous types.
Types of translation correspondences
Professor Retzker’s classification:
1. Types of equivalents
2. Ways of rendering equivalent – lacking units
Language units are classified into two groups:
- those that have equivalents
- those that don’t have equivalents
Professor Retzker distinguishes between:
1) equivalents – constant correspondences that don’t depend in their majority on the context
2) analogy – TL synonyms correspond to SL words, the choice of which is conditioned by the context
3) descriptive rendering is applied, when foreign words denote notions and phenomena that don’t exist in our life: “to dine with duke Humpry”, “to give a wet Willy”.
Equivalents can be permanent: full or regular, or non-permanent: contextual and partial.
Equivalents are functional substitutes for SL units. Some SL units have permanent equivalents in TL. That is one to one correspondence between such units and their equivalents (terms, geographical names).
Full equivalent is presumed when there is a complete coincidence of pragmatic meaning of the SL and TL units.
By pragmatic meaning of a translation equivalent we understand the reaction of the translation user to the verbal message in TL.
Depending on the type of language units involved in the translation process regular equivalents can be defined as lexical phraseological and grammatical.
Linguistic context in equivalents in subdivided into immediate and general. We call the context the length of speech necessary to specify the meaning and translation of the given word. Immediate linguistic context is a sequence of syntactic and syntactically related words that determines meaning and syntactic function of the given word and forms the bases for its translation.
General linguistic context is a source text as a whole. It includes the situational context, temporal, special and other circumstances under which source text was produced as well as all facts, which the receptor is expected to know, so that we can adequately interpret the message.
An exceptional translation of a SL unit, which suits a particular context can be described as an occasional equivalent or a contextual substitute.
The choice of grammatical units depends on semantics.
Ways to create occasional equivalents and to render equivalent-lacking units are:
1) using long words – imitating in target language the forms of the SL word or word combinations. By this technique we understand using transcription of transliteration exclusively.
2) by transcription of transliteration and explication of their genuine nationally specific meaning.
3) using a descriptive explanation to convey the meaning of the ST unit.
4) by translating componential parts and additional explanation of units of the nationally-bound lexicon.
5) using appropriate substitutes or semantic analogy, i.e. words with similar meaning, which is extended to convey information.
6) by ways of word for word translation.
7) using all kinds of lexical transformation modifying the meaning of a SL word.
Equivalent-lacking idioms are translated either by reproducing their form in TL through a word for word translation of by explaining the figurative meaning of the idiom.
There are the following types of rendering equivalent-lacking units:
1) Zero translation – when meaning of grammatical unit isn’t rendered in the translation since it is practically identical to the meaning of some other units and can be safely left out.
2) Approximate translation – when the translator makes use of a TL form, partially equivalent to the equivalent-lacking source language unit.
3) Transformational translation – when the translator resorts to one of the grammatical transformations.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Ways and methods of translating
1. Literal translation
2. Transcoding
3. Verbal translating
4. Word for word translating
5. The interlinear method of translating
6. Literary proper and literary artistic translation
7. Machine and computer based translation
A positive aspect of literal translation is revealed in rendering separate words, whose surface form and structure as well as their lexical meaning in the SL and TL fully coincide.
In their respect literal translation provides an equivalent rendering of the lexical meaning of the source language units.
Negative aspects of literary translation consists in rendering done according to formal or graphic / phonetic similarity of the English and Ukrainian words and phrases without considering their differences in meaning.
By etymologic literalism we understand imaginary correspondences, which are called translator’s false friends. Cases of semantic literalism are represented by the most general familiar meaning of the word or phrase instead of its concrete meaning.
There is a method of translating in the process of which the sounding and orthographical form of the word is conveyed by means of TL letters.
Transcoding is subdivided into transcription and transliteration.
Transcription is when the sounding is conveyed by TL letters.
Transliteration is when the graphic form is conveyed by target language letters
Mixed transcoding is used for rendering terminology. Adapted transcoding is when the form of the TL word is partly adapted to phonetic or grammatical structure of the TL (e.g. zoology).
Verbal translating conveys only the denotated meaning of the SL units and retains neither their orthographic nor sounding form.
It can be performed adequately on the word level, not phraseological units or idioms.
Word for word translating presents a consecutive verbal translation at the level of word groups and sentences. This method of rendering sense is characteristic to reproducing the constructions of the original without any changes and especially without essential word order change.
Interlinear method of translating is a strictly faithful rendering of a source message sense at the level of some text, which provides a completely faithful conveying only on the content.
Literary translating is divided into literary proper and literary artistic. Literary proper translating is the translation of different types of texts of informative character presenting the unity of form and content – adequate proper.
Literary artistic translating aims at producing emotional influence.
7. Professor Weaver suggested using computer to model the process of translation. The encoding/decoding approach, which is now called direction method) is employed. The direction method is based on establishing a direct relationship between the source and the target dictionary entries. In order to improve the quality of direct translating the following methods are applied:
1) Syntactic filter – they take the form of logical frames in which the slots are filled with the syntactic patterns, specify the function, the ambiguous syntactic term in the representation of the source text.
2) Statistical ranking of translational equivalents, which are applied to select the most probable ones for the subject matter discussed in a particular document under translation.
3) Transfer-based method – according to it grammars of SL and TL are matched in the process of translation by a set of rules called transfer.
There are three basic steps which are subdivided into five stages:
1) analysis
2) transference
3) synthesis
1. morphological analysis of ST (word analysis)
2. syntactic analysis – syntactic classes are analyzed
3. transfer – intermediate presentation of how the text is formed
4. syntactic syntaxis
5. morphological syntaxis
Professor Weaver introduced the notion of pivot language, which is based on machine translation transfer procedures applied at a syntactical level.
A pivot language is a formal description of morphological, syntactic and semantic character of one to one relationship.
Each language unit is related to a specific invariable atom in the pivot language structure and vice versa. Ideally the pivot based language translating will comprise the following steps:
1) morphological, syntactic and semantic analysis of the source text using information of the source language dictionaries and paradigms.
2) formation of the pivot language representation of the source text by the pivot language module into the target text using relevant semantic, syntactic, lexical and morphological data from the TL dictionary and paradigm.
The main component of the artificial translating model is its so-called knowledge-base.
According to the artificial intelligence-based translation model the results of linguistic analysis at all language levels are verified against extra-linguistic information, contained in the knowledge-base.
Another important component of artificial intelligence0based translation is decision-making module, comprising a structural hierarchy of logical productions with probability estimations.
2. Transcoding
3. Verbal translating
4. Word for word translating
5. The interlinear method of translating
6. Literary proper and literary artistic translation
7. Machine and computer based translation
A positive aspect of literal translation is revealed in rendering separate words, whose surface form and structure as well as their lexical meaning in the SL and TL fully coincide.
In their respect literal translation provides an equivalent rendering of the lexical meaning of the source language units.
Negative aspects of literary translation consists in rendering done according to formal or graphic / phonetic similarity of the English and Ukrainian words and phrases without considering their differences in meaning.
By etymologic literalism we understand imaginary correspondences, which are called translator’s false friends. Cases of semantic literalism are represented by the most general familiar meaning of the word or phrase instead of its concrete meaning.
There is a method of translating in the process of which the sounding and orthographical form of the word is conveyed by means of TL letters.
Transcoding is subdivided into transcription and transliteration.
Transcription is when the sounding is conveyed by TL letters.
Transliteration is when the graphic form is conveyed by target language letters
Mixed transcoding is used for rendering terminology. Adapted transcoding is when the form of the TL word is partly adapted to phonetic or grammatical structure of the TL (e.g. zoology).
Verbal translating conveys only the denotated meaning of the SL units and retains neither their orthographic nor sounding form.
It can be performed adequately on the word level, not phraseological units or idioms.
Word for word translating presents a consecutive verbal translation at the level of word groups and sentences. This method of rendering sense is characteristic to reproducing the constructions of the original without any changes and especially without essential word order change.
Interlinear method of translating is a strictly faithful rendering of a source message sense at the level of some text, which provides a completely faithful conveying only on the content.
Literary translating is divided into literary proper and literary artistic. Literary proper translating is the translation of different types of texts of informative character presenting the unity of form and content – adequate proper.
Literary artistic translating aims at producing emotional influence.
7. Professor Weaver suggested using computer to model the process of translation. The encoding/decoding approach, which is now called direction method) is employed. The direction method is based on establishing a direct relationship between the source and the target dictionary entries. In order to improve the quality of direct translating the following methods are applied:
1) Syntactic filter – they take the form of logical frames in which the slots are filled with the syntactic patterns, specify the function, the ambiguous syntactic term in the representation of the source text.
2) Statistical ranking of translational equivalents, which are applied to select the most probable ones for the subject matter discussed in a particular document under translation.
3) Transfer-based method – according to it grammars of SL and TL are matched in the process of translation by a set of rules called transfer.
There are three basic steps which are subdivided into five stages:
1) analysis
2) transference
3) synthesis
1. morphological analysis of ST (word analysis)
2. syntactic analysis – syntactic classes are analyzed
3. transfer – intermediate presentation of how the text is formed
4. syntactic syntaxis
5. morphological syntaxis
Professor Weaver introduced the notion of pivot language, which is based on machine translation transfer procedures applied at a syntactical level.
A pivot language is a formal description of morphological, syntactic and semantic character of one to one relationship.
Each language unit is related to a specific invariable atom in the pivot language structure and vice versa. Ideally the pivot based language translating will comprise the following steps:
1) morphological, syntactic and semantic analysis of the source text using information of the source language dictionaries and paradigms.
2) formation of the pivot language representation of the source text by the pivot language module into the target text using relevant semantic, syntactic, lexical and morphological data from the TL dictionary and paradigm.
The main component of the artificial translating model is its so-called knowledge-base.
According to the artificial intelligence-based translation model the results of linguistic analysis at all language levels are verified against extra-linguistic information, contained in the knowledge-base.
Another important component of artificial intelligence0based translation is decision-making module, comprising a structural hierarchy of logical productions with probability estimations.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Types of translation (communicative and psycho-linguistic classification)
1) Communicative classification of translation
2) Genre classification of translation
3) Psycho-linguistic classification of translation
1) Communicative classification of translation is based on the predominant communicative function of the source text or the form of speech involved in the translation process. Translation can be literary and informative. Literary translation is the translation of literary texts. The main function of literary translation is to produce an emotional or aesthetic impression upon the reader.
The informative translation deals with rendering into target language the non-literary texts.
The main purpose of the informative translation is to convey a certain amount of ideas.
2) Literary works fall into genres. The technical translation the main goal is to identify the situation described in the original.
In official documents every word must be carefully chosen. Publicistic texts include the translations of newspapers, magazines, ect.
To other genres belong the translations of film scripts, where the main problem is to fit pronunciation and the choice of words. The translations of commercials are those, the main goal of which is to attract the attention of the audience.
3) The psycho-linguistic classification of translation falls into written and oral translation, consecutive and simultaneous translation, compression and text development.
In written translation the original text is in written form as well as in target language. Written translation is continuous, oral translation is commentary (one time action). There are two main types of oral translation.
In consecutive translation the translating starts after the original speech of some part of it has been completed.
In simultaneous interpretation the interpreter is supposed to be able to give his translation while the speaker is uttering his message.
The difference between consecutive and simultaneous interpretation – in simultaneous interpretation the interpreter is much more limited in time. The length of the text translated is much shorter than in consecutive translation.
Unlike consecutive interpretation, were the interpreter may correct mistakes and slips of the tongue, simultaneous has no time for corrections and redoing.
Text compression is aimed at saving interpretation time and removing source text redundancy, which allows the interpreter to keep in pace with the source text, not sacrificing the context.
It is more often used in simultaneous interpretation.
Basic comprehension devices in the Ua-En translation are:
1) Transformation of the nominative structures into the verbal ones
2) Conversion of prepositional constructions into noun clusters
3) Omission of transformation of words and word combinations typical to Ukrainian style and considered redundant according to English speech standards.
Compression is more often used in translations from Ukrainian into English because the English way of expression is more concise.
And often English text contains no redundant words, which is explained by the analytical structure of the language.
Text development is more often used in consecutive translation. It is reflected in the note-taking procedure. Text development in the course of interpretation is the restoration of the full composition of the source sentence, starting from its syntactic and semantic core, accompanied by compliance with syntactic and semantic standards of the target language.
The note-taking procedure includes main ideas (skeleton outline, subject-predicate-object), links and separations, viewpoints of the speaker, tenses and modalities, proper and geographical names, dates and numbers.
Recommendations to take notes:
1. Diagonal notes
2. Left hand margins for links and viewpoints
3. Short horizontal lines to separate sentences
4. Question marks, exclamation marks, ect.
2) Genre classification of translation
3) Psycho-linguistic classification of translation
1) Communicative classification of translation is based on the predominant communicative function of the source text or the form of speech involved in the translation process. Translation can be literary and informative. Literary translation is the translation of literary texts. The main function of literary translation is to produce an emotional or aesthetic impression upon the reader.
The informative translation deals with rendering into target language the non-literary texts.
The main purpose of the informative translation is to convey a certain amount of ideas.
2) Literary works fall into genres. The technical translation the main goal is to identify the situation described in the original.
In official documents every word must be carefully chosen. Publicistic texts include the translations of newspapers, magazines, ect.
To other genres belong the translations of film scripts, where the main problem is to fit pronunciation and the choice of words. The translations of commercials are those, the main goal of which is to attract the attention of the audience.
3) The psycho-linguistic classification of translation falls into written and oral translation, consecutive and simultaneous translation, compression and text development.
In written translation the original text is in written form as well as in target language. Written translation is continuous, oral translation is commentary (one time action). There are two main types of oral translation.
In consecutive translation the translating starts after the original speech of some part of it has been completed.
In simultaneous interpretation the interpreter is supposed to be able to give his translation while the speaker is uttering his message.
The difference between consecutive and simultaneous interpretation – in simultaneous interpretation the interpreter is much more limited in time. The length of the text translated is much shorter than in consecutive translation.
Unlike consecutive interpretation, were the interpreter may correct mistakes and slips of the tongue, simultaneous has no time for corrections and redoing.
Text compression is aimed at saving interpretation time and removing source text redundancy, which allows the interpreter to keep in pace with the source text, not sacrificing the context.
It is more often used in simultaneous interpretation.
Basic comprehension devices in the Ua-En translation are:
1) Transformation of the nominative structures into the verbal ones
2) Conversion of prepositional constructions into noun clusters
3) Omission of transformation of words and word combinations typical to Ukrainian style and considered redundant according to English speech standards.
Compression is more often used in translations from Ukrainian into English because the English way of expression is more concise.
And often English text contains no redundant words, which is explained by the analytical structure of the language.
Text development is more often used in consecutive translation. It is reflected in the note-taking procedure. Text development in the course of interpretation is the restoration of the full composition of the source sentence, starting from its syntactic and semantic core, accompanied by compliance with syntactic and semantic standards of the target language.
The note-taking procedure includes main ideas (skeleton outline, subject-predicate-object), links and separations, viewpoints of the speaker, tenses and modalities, proper and geographical names, dates and numbers.
Recommendations to take notes:
1. Diagonal notes
2. Left hand margins for links and viewpoints
3. Short horizontal lines to separate sentences
4. Question marks, exclamation marks, ect.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Screeen translation - dubbing, voiceover and lip-sync
In 1927 a new era in the film history began, although silent movies continued to be made until the early 1930s (the talking quickly became a norm). Dubbing and subsequently subtitling rapidly grew in importance in Europe. Although Hollywood responded initially to the language problem by reshooting its films in several languages using foreign authors.
Screen translation is currently the preferred term used for translation of a wide variety of audio visual texts, displayed on one kind of screen or another, while it’s normally associated with the subtitling and lip-sync, dubbing or audio-visual material for TV or cinema. Its range is much greater, covering TV programs, videos, films, DVDs, operas and plays. Other terms sometimes used to include media translation, language versioning and audio-visual translation, although the first of these could also cover print media or radio, while the latter also covers simultaneous interpreting of films and film festivals.
Revoicing is the term used to describe the various means of rendering a translated voice track, namely lip-synch, dubbing, voiceover, narration and free commentary, while subtitling and surtitling describe the main means used to render the voice track in written form.
Dubbing is generally taken to refer to the preparation and recording to the target language voice track. The strict means of the term is simply lain down of a voice track, not necessarily a translated version.
Whitnan Linsen distinguishes between:
1) Pre-synchronization (e.g. using pre-recorded music or lyrics or broadway musicals on the soundtrack of filmed versions)
2) Direct sync (e.g. when voice and picture are recorded simulataniously)
3) Post sync, which is the most common dubbing procedure and involves the addition of sounds after the visual images have been shot.
Voiceover is often used to translate monologues or interviews.
Narration is basically an extended voiceover. The term screen translation may seem to suggest that the process involves translation between two languages but this is not always the case, where subtitles are concerned.
Subtitles may be either inter- or intra-lingual. Inter-lingual subtitling is associated with target text subtitles for the deaf or hard of hearing (real time subtitles), created and broadcast just seconds after the words on which they are based have been spoken live on screen.
This type of subtitle is used to carry inter-lingual translations when foreign language films are used.
Intra-lingual subtitles may be accessed on an optional basis and as well as assisting the deaf , they can also be of benefit to other minorities, such as immigrants, refuges, foreign students and others with literary programs, who may improve their language skills.
The provision of closed, optional subtitles on TV became possible in the 1970s thanks to the advent of the teletext technology, where by subtitles could be broadcast encoded in the transmission signal and then selected by those viewers with the teletext TV and decoder.
Subtitles are open if the viewer can’t remove them from the screen.
Open inter-lingual subtitles are used on many foreign language videos as subtitling usually proves a much cheaper option than dubbing.
First extending the context from the conventional meaning to the triad of synchronism:
1) Phonetic synchrony (matching sounds and lip movements)
2) Character synchrony (matching the dubbing voice, timber and tempo)
3) Content synchrony (matching the semantic content of the original and dubbed script versions closely)
Whitnon Linsen developed a more elaborate alternative model of dubbing synchrony. She suggests that the general concept of dubbing synchrony be subdivided into visual optical synchrony, audio-acoustic synchrony, content synchrony.
Visual optical synchrony is then broken down into lip synchrony, proper synchrony, syllable synchrony and kinetic synchrony.
Audio-acoustic synchrony covers tone, timber, intonation, tempo (prosodic elements) and cultural specifics (regional accent and dialogues).
Content synchrony is understood to contain all challenges involved in the dubbing process.
Whenever politics is viewed as a struggle for power or as the political institutions and practices of a states, the associated social interactions are kinds of linguistic actions and types of discourse: e.g. Parliamentary debates, written constitution, ect.
All these types of discourse have specific characteristic features to fulfill specific communicative functions such as persuasion, national arguments, threats and promises are thus closely related, the focus is on social, cultural and communicative practices.
This also means that the following questions are being asked:
* Who decides, which texts get translated and from and into which languages.
* Where are the translations produced?
* Which factors determine the translator’s behavior?
* What is the status of translations, translating and translator in the respective cultures and systems?
* Who chooses and trains translators, how many of which language combinations?
All these questions are related to politics: any decision to encourage, allow or prevent to translate is a political decision.
Translators perform their work in socio-political context and environments. In this respect Leferve’s concept of patronage, which he developed in his investigation in the role of power and ideology behind the production of the translations is of relevance.
The patronage has:
1) An ideological component, which refers to the fact that literature should not be allowed to get too far out of step with the other systems of a given society.
2) An economic component, which refers to the fact that a patron assures the writer’s livelihood by providing payment and similar support. Translation as a product and a process can highlight socio-cultural and political practices, norms and constrains, which can be relevant in political discourse.
3) A status component related to the writer’s position in society.
Screen translation is currently the preferred term used for translation of a wide variety of audio visual texts, displayed on one kind of screen or another, while it’s normally associated with the subtitling and lip-sync, dubbing or audio-visual material for TV or cinema. Its range is much greater, covering TV programs, videos, films, DVDs, operas and plays. Other terms sometimes used to include media translation, language versioning and audio-visual translation, although the first of these could also cover print media or radio, while the latter also covers simultaneous interpreting of films and film festivals.
Revoicing is the term used to describe the various means of rendering a translated voice track, namely lip-synch, dubbing, voiceover, narration and free commentary, while subtitling and surtitling describe the main means used to render the voice track in written form.
Dubbing is generally taken to refer to the preparation and recording to the target language voice track. The strict means of the term is simply lain down of a voice track, not necessarily a translated version.
Whitnan Linsen distinguishes between:
1) Pre-synchronization (e.g. using pre-recorded music or lyrics or broadway musicals on the soundtrack of filmed versions)
2) Direct sync (e.g. when voice and picture are recorded simulataniously)
3) Post sync, which is the most common dubbing procedure and involves the addition of sounds after the visual images have been shot.
Voiceover is often used to translate monologues or interviews.
Narration is basically an extended voiceover. The term screen translation may seem to suggest that the process involves translation between two languages but this is not always the case, where subtitles are concerned.
Subtitles may be either inter- or intra-lingual. Inter-lingual subtitling is associated with target text subtitles for the deaf or hard of hearing (real time subtitles), created and broadcast just seconds after the words on which they are based have been spoken live on screen.
This type of subtitle is used to carry inter-lingual translations when foreign language films are used.
Intra-lingual subtitles may be accessed on an optional basis and as well as assisting the deaf , they can also be of benefit to other minorities, such as immigrants, refuges, foreign students and others with literary programs, who may improve their language skills.
The provision of closed, optional subtitles on TV became possible in the 1970s thanks to the advent of the teletext technology, where by subtitles could be broadcast encoded in the transmission signal and then selected by those viewers with the teletext TV and decoder.
Subtitles are open if the viewer can’t remove them from the screen.
Open inter-lingual subtitles are used on many foreign language videos as subtitling usually proves a much cheaper option than dubbing.
First extending the context from the conventional meaning to the triad of synchronism:
1) Phonetic synchrony (matching sounds and lip movements)
2) Character synchrony (matching the dubbing voice, timber and tempo)
3) Content synchrony (matching the semantic content of the original and dubbed script versions closely)
Whitnon Linsen developed a more elaborate alternative model of dubbing synchrony. She suggests that the general concept of dubbing synchrony be subdivided into visual optical synchrony, audio-acoustic synchrony, content synchrony.
Visual optical synchrony is then broken down into lip synchrony, proper synchrony, syllable synchrony and kinetic synchrony.
Audio-acoustic synchrony covers tone, timber, intonation, tempo (prosodic elements) and cultural specifics (regional accent and dialogues).
Content synchrony is understood to contain all challenges involved in the dubbing process.
Whenever politics is viewed as a struggle for power or as the political institutions and practices of a states, the associated social interactions are kinds of linguistic actions and types of discourse: e.g. Parliamentary debates, written constitution, ect.
All these types of discourse have specific characteristic features to fulfill specific communicative functions such as persuasion, national arguments, threats and promises are thus closely related, the focus is on social, cultural and communicative practices.
This also means that the following questions are being asked:
* Who decides, which texts get translated and from and into which languages.
* Where are the translations produced?
* Which factors determine the translator’s behavior?
* What is the status of translations, translating and translator in the respective cultures and systems?
* Who chooses and trains translators, how many of which language combinations?
All these questions are related to politics: any decision to encourage, allow or prevent to translate is a political decision.
Translators perform their work in socio-political context and environments. In this respect Leferve’s concept of patronage, which he developed in his investigation in the role of power and ideology behind the production of the translations is of relevance.
The patronage has:
1) An ideological component, which refers to the fact that literature should not be allowed to get too far out of step with the other systems of a given society.
2) An economic component, which refers to the fact that a patron assures the writer’s livelihood by providing payment and similar support. Translation as a product and a process can highlight socio-cultural and political practices, norms and constrains, which can be relevant in political discourse.
3) A status component related to the writer’s position in society.
Translation theory today. Trends and prospectives
There exist many important works throughout the translation theory, each giving a critical account of what has already been accomplished in their particular field. Also pointing towards potential future areas of research development translation plays a major role in shaping literary systems.
Translation is involved in negotiations mediating between cultures. The task facing the translator of ancient text is to produce translations that seek to articulate in some way, the cultural framework within which the text is embedded. Moreover it is the very act of translations that enables contemporary readers to construct lost civilizations.
Translation is the portal through which the past can be seen as part of a cultural turn that was taking place in the late 1980s and early 1990s and he has altered the shape of many traditional subjects.
A further example in the cultural turn of translation studies has been the expansion of research into norms governing translation strategies and techniques.
Gedeon Toury, Andrew Chesterman and Theo Hermans in particular have thought to explore translational norms in terms not only of textual conventions but also in terms of cultural expectations.
Translation activity should be regarded as having cultural significance, consequently translatorship amounts first and foremost to being able to play a social role, it is to fulfill the function allotted by a community.
Translation offers an ideal situation for the study of cultural interaction, since a comparison of the original and the translated text will not only show the strategies, employed by the translators but will also reveal the different status of the two texts in their literary systems.
More broadly it will expose the relationship between the two cultural systems in which those two texts are embedded.
Cultural capital may be defined as that which is necessary for an individual to be seen to belong to the right circle of society. The importance of the textual grid in the study and production of translations is significant in formulating the notions of textual grids, we point out that some cultures (Germ, Eng., Fr.) share a common textual grid that derives from the Christian and Greek - Roman traditions.
Other cultures such as Chinese and Japanese share less with the other but text grids seem to exist in all cultures. These grids are constructs, they reflect patterns of expectations that have been interiorized by members of a given culture. Translators should pay more attention to them that they have in the past, whether they want to learn a technology of translating or whether they want to analyze translations and the part they play in the evolutions of cultures.
Translation studies as a client discipline is drawing on psychological discourses and on many other disciplines as well.
The discourses of philosophy might be related by translation studies in three ways:
- philosophers of various kinds have used translation as a case study or metaphor for issues of more general implication.
- translation theorists and practioners have referred to philosophical discourses for support of their ideas.
- philosophers, scholars and translators have commented on the translation of philosophical discourses.
Wilhelm von Humbolt viewed all languages as being worked in the same way; this was a result of a sudden widening of a conceptual world.
Humbold was looking at languages beyond the established translation networks and at cultures such as German that were suddenly in the process of historical development.
The result was not only a reevaluation of cultural difference but also an awareness of how translation could be used to standardize developing target languages.
This historical contradiction largely held from the view of logical possibility if languages have different worldviews, translation in any ideal sense might be seen as a problem solving activity in which a source element can be rendered by one or more elements in the target language.
If translators have only one available option there is no more to be said – no philosophy is needed. When they have 2 or 3 options translation is worth talking about. Ideally between translators, who thus start theorizing, when there are many options available.
To develop words appropriate to those alternatives might be the role of philosophy – to adapt and propose them might be one of the roles of translation studies.
Early views on the link between translation and linguistics are found in the works of Roman Jacobson.
He points out three kinds of translation:
- interlingual
- intralingual
- intersemiotic
Due attention was paid to the notion of translation equivalents. Vinay Darbelnet proposed a set of procedures for the translator to use in order to account for the need for indirect translation involving instances, when equivalents in the target language can’t be established.
Translation history is something presented as the history of translation theory, ideally it combines the history of translation within the study of literary and social trends in which translation has played a direct part.
It pay attention to the observations made by those who were involved in translation process. Translation history can describe changes in literary trends, account for the regeneration of the culture, those changes in politics explain the expansion and transfer of though and knowledge in a particular era.
Literary translation represents a distinctive kind of translating because it is concerned with the distinctive kind of text. The theory of text types classifies texts according to their functions and features and places literary texts in a class of their own. The set of norms relevant to translation at a certain time amounts to a translation poetics having studied a literal version. The translator established the poem’s meaning, adjusts the form of the text to a particular idiom and to a poem’s mood. And its sound pattern before checking the draft with the native speakers and preparing the final version.
Transcultural and translingual development in women’s movement have implicated translation in every aspect of text production.
Women representation have underlain the entire period since the early 1980s. More recently the ideas of gender instability have added new discussions to the categories men and women in two paradigms. The 1st paradigm reflects the conventional assumption that there are groups of people in each society that can be identified as men and women and who, because of these identifications are perceived and treated differently. With the group called women usually located in a subordinate position.
Work in translation studies carried out under this 1st paradigm tends to decide the ideas derived from feminist theories and thus focuses on women as a special minority group. The 2nd paradigm derives from the relatively new idea that the diversity of sexual orientation and gender, class distraction, ethnicity, race and other social-political factors is so great that it is impossible to indentify anyone as primarily male or female since so many other factors come into play.
Up until the 1980s theater was a neglected field of translation studies, the early contributions on translation studies, the early contributions on translation stage point out that at time this was an area previously ignored by translation theory.
The 1st major step was to describe the specific characteristics of the dramatic text and what makes it so different from other kinds of literary text.
There are two categories of translators here:
1) Those, whose only connection with the stage is the translation work; the text sets the parameters of the work and both the translator and the actor must stick to the text.
2) Translators, who work within the theatre as translations they are closer to being creators. They can make adjustments according to the need.
Translation is involved in negotiations mediating between cultures. The task facing the translator of ancient text is to produce translations that seek to articulate in some way, the cultural framework within which the text is embedded. Moreover it is the very act of translations that enables contemporary readers to construct lost civilizations.
Translation is the portal through which the past can be seen as part of a cultural turn that was taking place in the late 1980s and early 1990s and he has altered the shape of many traditional subjects.
A further example in the cultural turn of translation studies has been the expansion of research into norms governing translation strategies and techniques.
Gedeon Toury, Andrew Chesterman and Theo Hermans in particular have thought to explore translational norms in terms not only of textual conventions but also in terms of cultural expectations.
Translation activity should be regarded as having cultural significance, consequently translatorship amounts first and foremost to being able to play a social role, it is to fulfill the function allotted by a community.
Translation offers an ideal situation for the study of cultural interaction, since a comparison of the original and the translated text will not only show the strategies, employed by the translators but will also reveal the different status of the two texts in their literary systems.
More broadly it will expose the relationship between the two cultural systems in which those two texts are embedded.
Cultural capital may be defined as that which is necessary for an individual to be seen to belong to the right circle of society. The importance of the textual grid in the study and production of translations is significant in formulating the notions of textual grids, we point out that some cultures (Germ, Eng., Fr.) share a common textual grid that derives from the Christian and Greek - Roman traditions.
Other cultures such as Chinese and Japanese share less with the other but text grids seem to exist in all cultures. These grids are constructs, they reflect patterns of expectations that have been interiorized by members of a given culture. Translators should pay more attention to them that they have in the past, whether they want to learn a technology of translating or whether they want to analyze translations and the part they play in the evolutions of cultures.
Translation studies as a client discipline is drawing on psychological discourses and on many other disciplines as well.
The discourses of philosophy might be related by translation studies in three ways:
- philosophers of various kinds have used translation as a case study or metaphor for issues of more general implication.
- translation theorists and practioners have referred to philosophical discourses for support of their ideas.
- philosophers, scholars and translators have commented on the translation of philosophical discourses.
Wilhelm von Humbolt viewed all languages as being worked in the same way; this was a result of a sudden widening of a conceptual world.
Humbold was looking at languages beyond the established translation networks and at cultures such as German that were suddenly in the process of historical development.
The result was not only a reevaluation of cultural difference but also an awareness of how translation could be used to standardize developing target languages.
This historical contradiction largely held from the view of logical possibility if languages have different worldviews, translation in any ideal sense might be seen as a problem solving activity in which a source element can be rendered by one or more elements in the target language.
If translators have only one available option there is no more to be said – no philosophy is needed. When they have 2 or 3 options translation is worth talking about. Ideally between translators, who thus start theorizing, when there are many options available.
To develop words appropriate to those alternatives might be the role of philosophy – to adapt and propose them might be one of the roles of translation studies.
Early views on the link between translation and linguistics are found in the works of Roman Jacobson.
He points out three kinds of translation:
- interlingual
- intralingual
- intersemiotic
Due attention was paid to the notion of translation equivalents. Vinay Darbelnet proposed a set of procedures for the translator to use in order to account for the need for indirect translation involving instances, when equivalents in the target language can’t be established.
Translation history is something presented as the history of translation theory, ideally it combines the history of translation within the study of literary and social trends in which translation has played a direct part.
It pay attention to the observations made by those who were involved in translation process. Translation history can describe changes in literary trends, account for the regeneration of the culture, those changes in politics explain the expansion and transfer of though and knowledge in a particular era.
Literary translation represents a distinctive kind of translating because it is concerned with the distinctive kind of text. The theory of text types classifies texts according to their functions and features and places literary texts in a class of their own. The set of norms relevant to translation at a certain time amounts to a translation poetics having studied a literal version. The translator established the poem’s meaning, adjusts the form of the text to a particular idiom and to a poem’s mood. And its sound pattern before checking the draft with the native speakers and preparing the final version.
Transcultural and translingual development in women’s movement have implicated translation in every aspect of text production.
Women representation have underlain the entire period since the early 1980s. More recently the ideas of gender instability have added new discussions to the categories men and women in two paradigms. The 1st paradigm reflects the conventional assumption that there are groups of people in each society that can be identified as men and women and who, because of these identifications are perceived and treated differently. With the group called women usually located in a subordinate position.
Work in translation studies carried out under this 1st paradigm tends to decide the ideas derived from feminist theories and thus focuses on women as a special minority group. The 2nd paradigm derives from the relatively new idea that the diversity of sexual orientation and gender, class distraction, ethnicity, race and other social-political factors is so great that it is impossible to indentify anyone as primarily male or female since so many other factors come into play.
Up until the 1980s theater was a neglected field of translation studies, the early contributions on translation studies, the early contributions on translation stage point out that at time this was an area previously ignored by translation theory.
The 1st major step was to describe the specific characteristics of the dramatic text and what makes it so different from other kinds of literary text.
There are two categories of translators here:
1) Those, whose only connection with the stage is the translation work; the text sets the parameters of the work and both the translator and the actor must stick to the text.
2) Translators, who work within the theatre as translations they are closer to being creators. They can make adjustments according to the need.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
How to analyze a text on different levels?
Syntactical level.
Types of Sentences: Simple, compound (a sentence which consists of two or more clauses coordinated with each other) and complex (consists of a principal clause and one or more subordinate clause. Compound and complex sentences may be connected syndetically (by means of conjunctions) or asyndetically (without a conjunction). Sentences with homogeneous parts. Declarative sentences, interrogative sentences, exclamatory sentences.
Apposition - is a special kind of attribute which is expressed by a noun (with or without accompanying words) which characterizes or explains the word modified by giving the person or thing another name. Close apposition is not separated by commas and stands in close connection with the word modified (usually the name of the person + a title, rank, profession, relationship, geographical name + common noun, sometimes of + noun the city of London). Ex.: Aunt Ann, Professor Brown...A loose or detached apposition is not so closely connected with the noun. It is always separated by commas.(Dr. W., a predecessor, was....)
Detached parts of the sentence are those secondary parts, which assume a certain grammatical and semantic independence. This phenomenon is due to their loose connection with the words they modify. (He lit a pipe, carefully, because...)
Parenthesis is an independent element of the sentence. It shows the speaker's attitude towards the thought expressed in the sentence or connects a given sentence with another one, or summarizes that which is said in the sentence. It is often detached from the rest of the sentence, separated from it by commas or dashes. P. can be expressed by: modal words: indeed, certainly, in fact, truly, actually, perhaps, evidently, obviously, maybe...; connectives: firstly, finally, thus, then, anyway, moreover, besides, nevertheless, therefore..; prepositional phrases: in a word, in truth, in my opinion, in short, on the one hand, at least..; infinitive and participial phrases: to be sure, to tell the truth, to begin with, generally speaking.
Inversion - violation of the traditional word order in the sentence.
Morphological and Lexical level
According to the nature and the number of morphemes constituting a word there are different structural types of words in English: simple, derived, compound, compound-derived. Simple words consist of one root morpheme and an inflexion (in many cases the inflexion is zero), e.g. «seldom», «chairs», «longer», «asked».
Derived words consist of one root morpheme, one or several affixes and an inlexion, e.g. «deristricted», «unemployed». Compound words consist of two or more root morphemes and an inflexion, e.g. «baby-moons», «wait-and-see (policy)». Compound-derived words consist of two or more root morphemes, one or more affixes and an inflexion, e.g. «middle-of-the-roaders», «job-hopper».
Abbreviations. Ex.: a) days of the week, e.g. Mon - Monday, Tue - Tuesday: b) names of months, e.g. Apr - April, Aug - August; c) names of counties in UK. e.g. Yorks - Yorkshire, Berks -Berkshire; d) names of states in USA, e.g. Ala -Alabama, Alas - Alaska; e) names of address, e.g. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.; f) military ranks, e.g. capt. - captain, col. - colonel, sgt - sergeant; g) scientific degrees, e.g. B.A. - Bachelor of Arts, D.M. - Doctor of Medicine . ( Sometimes in scientific degrees we have abbreviations of Latin origin, e.g., M.B. - Medicinae Baccalaurus). h) units of time, length, weight, e.g. f. / ft -foot/feet, sec. - second, in. -inch, mg. - milligram etc. There are three types of initialisms in English: a) initialisms with alphabetical reading, such as UK, BUP, CND; b) initialisms which are read as if they are words, e.g. UNESCO, UNO, NATO; c) initialisms which coincide with English words in their sound form, such initialisms are called acronyms, e.g. CLASS (Computor-based Laboratory for Automated School System).
Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot be made in the process of speech, they exist in the language as ready-made units, they are stable, semantically inseparable. The same as words phraseological units express a single notion and are used in a sentence as one part of it. American and British lexicographers call such units «idioms».
Conversion - way of forming words when one part of speech is formed from another part of speech (e.g. to form the verb «to dial» from the noun «dial») Substantivization. Some scientists (Yespersen, Kruisinga ) refer substantivization of adjectives to conversion. But most scientists disagree with them because in cases of substantivization of adjectives we have quite different changes in the language. Substantivization is the result of ellipsis (syntactical shortening ) when a word combination with a semantically strong attribute loses its semantically weak noun (man, person etc), e.g. «a grown-up person» is shortened to «a grown-up». In cases of perfect substantivization the attribute takes the paradigm of a countable noun , e.g. a criminal, criminals, a criminal's (mistake), criminals' (mistakes). Such words are used in a sentence in the same function as nouns, e.g. I am fond of musicals, (musical comedies).
Borrowings (words from other languages). Barbarisms (words of foreign origin which have not been assimilated into English: chic, bon rnot(usually italicized)). Synonyms and Antonyms. Homonyms.
Grammar: Speech patterns. Use of articles. Infinitives. Gerunds. Participles. Active/passive voice. Subjunctive mood. Modals. Why does the author use these very grammatical constructions and what do they help to achieve?
Types of Sentences: Simple, compound (a sentence which consists of two or more clauses coordinated with each other) and complex (consists of a principal clause and one or more subordinate clause. Compound and complex sentences may be connected syndetically (by means of conjunctions) or asyndetically (without a conjunction). Sentences with homogeneous parts. Declarative sentences, interrogative sentences, exclamatory sentences.
Apposition - is a special kind of attribute which is expressed by a noun (with or without accompanying words) which characterizes or explains the word modified by giving the person or thing another name. Close apposition is not separated by commas and stands in close connection with the word modified (usually the name of the person + a title, rank, profession, relationship, geographical name + common noun, sometimes of + noun the city of London). Ex.: Aunt Ann, Professor Brown...A loose or detached apposition is not so closely connected with the noun. It is always separated by commas.(Dr. W., a predecessor, was....)
Detached parts of the sentence are those secondary parts, which assume a certain grammatical and semantic independence. This phenomenon is due to their loose connection with the words they modify. (He lit a pipe, carefully, because...)
Parenthesis is an independent element of the sentence. It shows the speaker's attitude towards the thought expressed in the sentence or connects a given sentence with another one, or summarizes that which is said in the sentence. It is often detached from the rest of the sentence, separated from it by commas or dashes. P. can be expressed by: modal words: indeed, certainly, in fact, truly, actually, perhaps, evidently, obviously, maybe...; connectives: firstly, finally, thus, then, anyway, moreover, besides, nevertheless, therefore..; prepositional phrases: in a word, in truth, in my opinion, in short, on the one hand, at least..; infinitive and participial phrases: to be sure, to tell the truth, to begin with, generally speaking.
Inversion - violation of the traditional word order in the sentence.
Morphological and Lexical level
According to the nature and the number of morphemes constituting a word there are different structural types of words in English: simple, derived, compound, compound-derived. Simple words consist of one root morpheme and an inflexion (in many cases the inflexion is zero), e.g. «seldom», «chairs», «longer», «asked».
Derived words consist of one root morpheme, one or several affixes and an inlexion, e.g. «deristricted», «unemployed». Compound words consist of two or more root morphemes and an inflexion, e.g. «baby-moons», «wait-and-see (policy)». Compound-derived words consist of two or more root morphemes, one or more affixes and an inflexion, e.g. «middle-of-the-roaders», «job-hopper».
Abbreviations. Ex.: a) days of the week, e.g. Mon - Monday, Tue - Tuesday: b) names of months, e.g. Apr - April, Aug - August; c) names of counties in UK. e.g. Yorks - Yorkshire, Berks -Berkshire; d) names of states in USA, e.g. Ala -Alabama, Alas - Alaska; e) names of address, e.g. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.; f) military ranks, e.g. capt. - captain, col. - colonel, sgt - sergeant; g) scientific degrees, e.g. B.A. - Bachelor of Arts, D.M. - Doctor of Medicine . ( Sometimes in scientific degrees we have abbreviations of Latin origin, e.g., M.B. - Medicinae Baccalaurus). h) units of time, length, weight, e.g. f. / ft -foot/feet, sec. - second, in. -inch, mg. - milligram etc. There are three types of initialisms in English: a) initialisms with alphabetical reading, such as UK, BUP, CND; b) initialisms which are read as if they are words, e.g. UNESCO, UNO, NATO; c) initialisms which coincide with English words in their sound form, such initialisms are called acronyms, e.g. CLASS (Computor-based Laboratory for Automated School System).
Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot be made in the process of speech, they exist in the language as ready-made units, they are stable, semantically inseparable. The same as words phraseological units express a single notion and are used in a sentence as one part of it. American and British lexicographers call such units «idioms».
Conversion - way of forming words when one part of speech is formed from another part of speech (e.g. to form the verb «to dial» from the noun «dial») Substantivization. Some scientists (Yespersen, Kruisinga ) refer substantivization of adjectives to conversion. But most scientists disagree with them because in cases of substantivization of adjectives we have quite different changes in the language. Substantivization is the result of ellipsis (syntactical shortening ) when a word combination with a semantically strong attribute loses its semantically weak noun (man, person etc), e.g. «a grown-up person» is shortened to «a grown-up». In cases of perfect substantivization the attribute takes the paradigm of a countable noun , e.g. a criminal, criminals, a criminal's (mistake), criminals' (mistakes). Such words are used in a sentence in the same function as nouns, e.g. I am fond of musicals, (musical comedies).
Borrowings (words from other languages). Barbarisms (words of foreign origin which have not been assimilated into English: chic, bon rnot(usually italicized)). Synonyms and Antonyms. Homonyms.
Grammar: Speech patterns. Use of articles. Infinitives. Gerunds. Participles. Active/passive voice. Subjunctive mood. Modals. Why does the author use these very grammatical constructions and what do they help to achieve?