ANEXO IV. TRANSCRIPCIÓN
Entrevista 2 - San Tirso y Museo de la Semana Santa
Before moving on to the analysis, we wish to highlight the object of our investigation, i.e., metaphor translation and the possible strategies to cope with it.
Then, after illustrating the kinds of metaphors we have examined, we would like to offer an overview of our study by selecting practical examples from our corpus.
Van den Broeck, exclusively referring to traditional metaphor, classifies three methods of translation: (1) translation ‘sensu stricto’ – when the SL ‘tenor’ and the SL ‘vehicle’ are transferred into the TL; (2) substitution – when the SL ‘vehicle’ is replaced by a different TL ‘vehicle’ with a similar ‘tenor’ and (3) paraphrase, which occurs whenever an SL metaphor “[...] is rendered by a non-metaphorical expression in the TL” (1981: 77). In order to include both lexical and grammatical metaphor, we will rather classify our examples on the basis of their degree of metaphorisation, analysing when the ST metaphor has been lost or is simply ‘less incongruent’ in the TT (‘de-metaphorisation’), when it has been recast in the TL (‘re-metaphorisation’) and when it appears in the TT, while it was absent, or at least ‘less incongruent’, in the ST (‘metaphorisation’).
68%
8%
13%
11%
Fig. 1: Peritextual elements in STs
Headline Subhead Upper-deck Strapline
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Given that rendering metaphors is linked to their function, let us start with an illustration of the main function(s) of ST headlines in our corpus.
While Nord’s case study had shown that the ‘essential’ functions were distinctive, metatextual and phatic (see § 3.2), the analysis of our corpus material revealed that the phatic function is featured by most headlines, to establish a first contact with the potential reader, while the other two essential functions are the appellative and the referential/informative, which were optional in Nord’s classification. Such a discrepancy can easily be related to the different text-types under discussion: while Nord’s corpus comprised titles from fictional, nonfictional and children’s books, short stories, poems, where distinctive and metatextual functions are basic, ours pertains a popular science magazine, whose headlines seem to have the primary aim of persuading “[...] the title recipient (a) to read (or, at least, buy) the co-text and/or (b) to read and interpret it in a specific way”, in her words a kind of ‘advertising’
function and an ‘instructive’ one” (Nord 1995: 278).
Observation of data in the 33 cases examined (only main headlines) leads us to the following graph:
Fig. 2: Functions in STs
The results in Fig. 2 show that a combination of the appellative and referential function is dominant, being featured in 18 out of 33 articles. It is interesting to notice that 11 headlines perform an appellative function, without any reference to the subject matter. In 1 of these cases, the referential function appears in the subhead.
Only 4 instances display a mere referential function, without any appealing character.
Not surprisingly, the appellative function is most often achieved through metaphors, either lexical or grammatical. Let us now move on to illustrate some practical examples.
5.1. Which Metaphors?
Van den Broeck (1981: 75) categorises metaphors in ‘lexicalised’, ‘conventional’
and ‘private’. From a translational point of view, he claims that the translator needs to translate them according to their functions, privileging the ‘creative’ ones and even ignoring the merely ‘decorative’ ones (van den Broeck 1981: 76).
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
1 2 3
Fig. 2: Functions in STs
Appellative Referential
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In our study, we have taken into account all instances of metaphor, both lexical and grammatical, and, following Lakoff and Johnson (1980), both ‘conventional’ and
‘new’. The former “[...] structure the ordinary conceptual system of our culture, which is reflected in our everyday language” (Lakoff and Johnson 1980: 139). Since we deal with translation, cultures at issue are obviously different, however we identified conventional metaphors in both languages and cultures. ‘New’ metaphors, on the other hand, are defined by Lakoff and Johnson as “imaginative and creative”
and “capable of giving us a new understanding of our experience” (Lakoff and Johnson 1980: 139).
As an example of a ‘conventional’ metaphor, we may offer the following:
ST (1) TT (1)
In the Footsteps of the Apostles (NG 3) Viaggio sulle orme degli apostoli (NGI 3)
ST (1) shows a typical example of conventional lexical metaphor, where “to follow or walk in a person’s footsteps” (OED5) has the figurative meaning of following his/her example or guidance. Indeed the headline introduces an article about the capacity of the apostles to proselytise, even after 2,000 years. The conventional metaphor has been maintained and reproduced in the TT, since Italian has a similar expression as well. However, the target version is more explicit, with the addition of the noun viaggio.
Or, to cite one more example:
ST (2) TT (2)
In China’s Shadow (NG 6) All’ombra della ina (NGI 6)
In an article about Hong-Kong residents and their worries about losing their identity and freedom after the handover to China, the conventional lexical metaphor of ‘shadow’ is used to refer to “[s]omething of opposite character that necessarily accompanies or follows something else, as shadow does light” and is rendered in the TT through the equivalent metaphorical expression all’ombra di.
The corpus also includes instances of ‘new’ metaphors, like:
ST (3) TT (3)
Unseen Titanic (NG 4) Luce sul Titanic (NGI 4)
In ST (3), the focus is on Titanic, sunk and thus concretely “not seen, unperceived, invisible” and metaphorically ‘unknown’. Through what Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/2004) would consider an instance of ‘modulation’, entailing a change in the point of view, TT (3) has become [l]uce sul Titanic, to introduce the main topic of the article, i.e., the fact that new technologies ‘revealed’ images of Titanic, which ‘came to light’ and experts knew what really happened. We can consider the TT [++metaphorical] not only thanks to the lexical, but also to the grammatical metaphor, realised through a nominalisation (‘enlighten’ > ‘light’, luce).
ST (4) presents an interesting case of lexical metaphor, reinforced by alliteration (‘m’):
5 All definitions of items are borrowed from OED (online edition: www.oed.com).
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ST (4) TT (4)
Mix Match Morph (NG 2) E l’uomo creò il cane (NGI 2)
In particular ‘morph’, with the meaning of “to change (a person or thing) into something different”, is used to refer to the manipulation of dog breeds. The Italian TT is much more explicit, featuring a clause where the process and the participants in the action are explicitly instantiated. Examples of ‘explicitation’, and consequently of ‘de-metaphorisation’, are rather frequent in the corpus of investigation.
5.2. De-metaphorisation
In line with research within TS concerning the ‘standardisation’ hypothesis, our analysis has revealed several cases of de-metaphorisation, both lexical and grammatical.
Let us focus on a typical example:
ST (5) TT (5)
The Healing Fields
Land mines once crippled a war-ravaged Cambodia. Today the nation is a model for how to recover from this scourge. (NG 1)
Un futuro senza mine
Devastata dalle guerre, la Cambogia è tuttora disseminata di mine. Ma oggi è anche un modello per tutti i paesi che vogliono debellare questo flagello. (NGI 1)
In the headline of an article on Cambodia and the danger caused by land mines, the metaphoric ‘[t]he healing fields’ has been explicated and has become in TT (5) [u]n futuro senza mine. In ST (5) also the nut-graph reinforces the metaphorical lexical domain of ‘health’, represented by ‘healing’, ‘crippled’ and ‘recover’. The verbal group ‘crippled’, indeed, has the figurative meaning of ‘damage’, but also alludes to the people mutilated by mines. Such a metaphorical character is completely lost in the TT, which has been ‘de-metaphorised’.
The same general tendency is illustrated in:
ST (6, 7, 8) TT (6, 7, 8)
A time to run (NG 2) Perché corri? (NGI 2)
Egypt in the moment (NG 5) Egitto il futuro è adesso (NGI 5)
The Golden Chiefs of Panama (NG 1) L’oro degli antichi sovrani di Panama (NGI 1)
Examples 6, 7 and 8 demonstrate that the TTs are definitely more explicit. The nominal groups of ST (6) and (7) become finite clauses in TT (6) and (7), typical instances of ‘paraphrase’ (van den Broeck 1981: 77). As regards ST (8), where
‘golden’ metaphorically refers to the ‘chiefs’ rather than to ‘gold artifacts’, in the TT it is clearly explicated and de-metaphorised.
5.3. Re-metaphorisation
However, we have not only found instances of explicitation and in general of de-metaphorisation. On the contrary, in our corpus we have also identified lexical metaphors in the ST that have been reproduced in the TT, like the following:
ST (9) TT (9)
Tomorrowland (NG 2) Futurlandia (NGI 2)
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The metaphorical neologism ‘Tomorrowland’, referring to Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan, which is “brash and grandiose and wildly attractive” to young people seeking success, is effectively rendered into Futurlandia, through an equivalent lexical metaphor.
Likewise, we have found instances of grammatical metaphors that have been maintained in the TT, such as:
ST (10) TT (10)
The calm before the wave (NG 2) La quiete prima dell’onda (NGI 2)
In ST (10), the nominalisation ‘calm’ – instead of a more congruent realisation like ‘everybody is calm’ – has been rendered in the TT as la quiete. Also ‘the wave’, metaphorical for ‘tsunami’, has been carried over the TT through a direct equivalence, or, to borrow van den Broeck (1981: 77), a translation ‘sensu stricto’.
Let us now look at an example where both ST and TT are metaphorical, but the TT displays even [+metaphoricity], realised by grammatical metaphor through a typical instance of nominalisation:
ST (11) TT (11)
Where Slaves Ruled
Escaped slaves in Brazil created thousands of hidden societies, or quilombos, in the heart of the country. Today these communities are winning rights to their land – and helping protect it. (NG 4)
Il regno degli schiavi
In Brasile gli schiavi fuggiaschi fondarono migliaia di comunità segrete, i quilombos.
Solo oggi il paese comincia a riconoscere i loro diritti. E il loro contributo alla salvaguardia del territorio. (NGI 4)
ST (11) includes the lexical metaphor of ‘rule’, meaning “to exercise sovereignty or authority over a person, a place” and referring to African escaped slaves that, in Brazil, secretly organised communities at the time of colonialism. In the TT, a verbal nominalisation (regnare > regno) increases the metaphoricity. If we also look at the
‘nut-graph’, we can see that the TT is even [+metaphorical], thanks to a double nominalisation: in SFL terms, the verbal group complex ‘helping protect it’ – functioning as causative Process – has been replaced by a nominal group – functioning as Phenomenon – that is post-modified through an embedded prepositional phrase: il loro contributo alla salvaguardia.
The illustration of these select examples demonstrates that through the process of translation metaphors can be maintained and even reinforced.
5.4. Metaphorisation
Analysis also revealed interesting cases where the TT is [++metaphorical], and consequently [++appellative]. Let us consider the following example as illustrative:
ST (12) TT (12)
Rhino Wars (NG 3) La guerra del corno (NGI 3)
The main headline of the ST, ‘Rhino wars’, to describe killing of rhinoceroses by poachers to get their horns, features a ‘conventional’ metaphor, of ‘war’. The corresponding TT conveys the same kind of lexical metaphoricity, but also
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introduces a metaphor, or rather a metonymy, since ‘rhino’ is replaced by a part of its body – the horn, corno. It is true that the African animals are actually killed in order to concretely get their horns, but in terms of effect on the reader, the TT seems more
‘appellative’.
Another interesting case of [++metaphorisation] can be seen in:
ST (13) TT (13)
Marseille’s Melting Pot
As more European countries become nations of immigrants, is the multicultural city of Marseille a vision of the future? (NG 3)
Mélange Marsiglia
In molti paesi europei, il numero di immigrati è in continuo aumento. È Marsiglia la città multiculturale che anticipa il futuro? (NGI 3)
The ST headline features a metaphor, of the ‘conventional’ kind: indeed, ‘melting pot’ is commonly used to refer to “a place where different peoples, styles, theories, etc., are mixed together”. The translator/editor could have maintained the same
‘conventional’ metaphor even through a borrowing, since the lexical item ‘melting pot’ entered the Italian dictionary (see, e.g., Devoto, Oli 2007) and would most probably be understood by the lay reader of NGI. On the other hand, a translation
‘sensu stricto’, like crogiolo, would have caused the loss of the alliteration (‘m’).
The ‘substitution’ and rendering with Mélange Marsiglia has not only re-metaphorised, but also rendered [++metaphorical] the TT, through a ‘new’ metaphor like mélange, usually referred to a mixture of colours in materials, which also reproduces the alliteration.
Let us conclude with an example where the TT, following Papuzzi (2010), has become more ‘paradigmatic’ than the ST, and thanks to the employment of a grammatical metaphor:
ST (14) TT (14)
Sun Struck (NG 6) Colpi di sole (NGI 6)
Interestingly, in an article centred on solar storms, the verbal nominalisation in the TT (struck > colpi, ‘strokes’) helps create an effective kind of metaphor, from both a lexical and grammatical point of view. In Italian, colpi di sole, hints at a ‘sun stroke’
and, although it seems not relevant to this analysis, it also describes a special kind of
‘coiffure’.