As You Write it: issues in literAture, lAnguAge, And trAnslAtion in the context of europe in the 21st centurY ii. Editors: SMILJANA KOMAR and UROŠ MOZETIČ Slovensko društvo za angleške študije Slovene Association for the Study of English Oddelek za anglistiko in amerikanistiko, Filozofska fakulteta, Univerza v Ljubljani Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana Contents Language Vesna Lazović 7 Cross-cultural semantic equivalence of some gender-related words Medkulturna semantična vrednost nekaterih besed, pogojenih s spolom Nada Šabec 19 Recent English Loanwords in Slovene Novejše angleške sposojenke v slovenščini Frančiška Trobevšek Drobnak 29 On the merits and shortcomings of semantic primes and natural semantic metalanguage in cross-cultural translation Prednosti in pomanjkljivosti uporabe naravnega pomenskega metajezika v medkulturnem prevajanju LITeRaTuRe Kristina Kočan 45 Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950 Problemi pri prevajanju glasbenih elementov v afriško ameriški poeziji po letu 1950 engLISH Language anD LITeRaTuRe TeaCHIng Marina Novogradec 63 A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were… as presented in pedagogical materials Korpusna študija pogojniških oblik If I was/were … v pedagoških gradivih TRanSLaTIOn STuDIeS Dejica Daniel Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation V iskanju relevantnosti: informacijske teorije in prevajanje Nina Grahek Križnar What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? Zakaj književni prevod postane zastarel? 81 101 BOOK ReVIeW Jason Blake 121 Necessary Edutainment – A Review of Miracles of Rare Device: English Verse from the Elizabethans to the Moderns  I. LANGUAGE Vesna Lazović Faculty of Philosophy, university of novi Sad Cross-cultural semantic equivalence of some gender-related words Summary This paper explores similarities and differences between two cultures, English and Serbian, in terms of connotative equivalence of some gender-related words. In both languages there exist myriad pairs of words that historically differentiated male and female gender only, but which, over time, have unexplainably gained different connotations. Usually the semantic change can be seen in words describing women; words which once used to be neutral or positive have acquired negative and/or sexual connotations. The well-known example of bachelor and spinster (neženja and usedelica in Serbian) is just one among many. Based on the male/female pairs of words analysed in these two languages, the paper examines the following: (1) whether it is possible that in both cultures such words (un)intentionally carry the same derogatory and pejorative meanings, (2) whether semantic derogation equally applies to male and female words, and (3) whether and how often the connotation changes to negative when words refer to women. Finally, it addresses the issue of potential semantic derogation when using different job titles for men and women in both languages. Key words: cultural studies, semantic equivalence, negative connotation, gender-related words Medkulturna semantična vrednost nekaterih besed, pogojenih s spolom Povzetek V članku ugotavljamo podobnosti in razlike med dvema kulturama, angleško in srbsko, na primeru konotativne enakovrednosti nekaterih besed, ki so vezane na določen spol. V obeh jezikih obstaja veliko besednih parov, ki so se včasih razlikovale glede na moški oziroma ženski spol, vendar so sčasoma pridobile različne konotacije. Običajno se te semantične spremembe najbolje kažejo v besedah, ki opisujejo ženske; besede, ki so nekoč imele neutralni ali pa pozitivni pomen, so sčasoma dobile negativne in/ali seksualne konotacije. Dober zgled za to sta besedi bachelor in spinster (neženja in usedelica v srbščini). Na temelju analize moških in ženskih parov besed v obeh jezikih, smo ugotavljali (1) če v obeh kulturah te besede nenamenoma pridobijo slabšalne pomene, (2) če semantična slabšava v enaki meri zadeva besede moškega in ženskega spola, in (3) če ter kako pogosto se negativna konotacija pojavi pri besedah ženskega spola. Na koncu obravnavamo tudi potencialne semantične slabšave različnih nazivov ženskega in moškega spola v obeh jezikih. Ključne besede: kulturne študije, semantična enakovrednost, negativna konotacija, na spol vezane besede Cross-cultural semantic equivalence of some gender-related words 1. Introduction In accordance with the definition, meanings of words can be denotative or connotative. Denotation refers to the literal meaning of the word, whereas connotation presents ‘the set of associations implied by a word in addition to its literal meaning’ (The American Heritage Dictionary 2000). Allan (2007, 1047) defines connotations as ‘pragmatic effects that arise from encyclopaedic knowledge about its reference and also from experiences, beliefs, and prejudices about the contexts in which the expression is typically used’. He also points out the fact that to identify the connotations of a term is to identify the community attitude towards it, as words in different languages can have the same or different connotations. In other words, connotations may be universally understood, or may vary between speech communities and be significant only to a certain group independently of sense, denotation and reference. Taking this point of view, it will be of great importance and also of great interest to ascertain to what extent two languages of different origin (Germanic vs. Slavic language) and two different cultures (Anglo-Saxon vs. Balkan culture) share the same connotations, either positive or negative – that is, whether connotations overlap and give rise to the same associations. This paper explores similarities and differences between two cultures, English and Serbian, in terms of connotative equivalence of some gender-related words. In both languages there exist myriad pairs of words that historically differentiated male and female gender only, but which, over time, have unexplainably gained different connotations. Usually the semantic change can be seen in words describing women – words, which once used to be neutral or positive, have acquired negative and/or sexual connotations. The term semantic derogation, documented in Schulz (1990), is a change of meaning, i.e. the replacement of a neutral sense by a negative or pejorative one. It refers to words that convey negative, derogatory or sexual connotations. Interestingly enough, usually words pertaining to women acquire negative overtones and over time become trivialised, degraded and denigrated, whilst the male counterpart remains unmarked, carrying neutral or positive connotation (master/ mistress, bachelor/spinster, madam/sir, to name just a few). 2. Corpus This paper presents mini corpus-based research with around 50 examples to examine the existence of gender imbalance in English and Serbian. The instrument for gathering the data was collecting the pairs of words referring to men and women in two languages, and then consulting dictionaries which were enormously helpful due to their objectiveness, since they provide information on language use and connotation.  Vesna Lazović Cross-cultural semantic equivalence of some gender-related words Based on the male/female pairs of words analysed in these two languages, the paper examines the following: (1) whether it is possible that in both cultures such words (un)intentionally carry the same derogatory and pejorative meanings, (2) whether semantic derogation equally applies to male and female words, and (3) whether and how often the connotation changes to negative when words refer to women. Finally, it addresses the issue of potential semantic derogation when using different job titles for men and women in both languages. . Words with neutral connotation for both female and male terms There are many such pairs of words in which no particular negative meaning is attached to either the male or female term. Let us start with those pairs of words referring to both genders which are unmarked lexemes, without either positive or negative connotation: English Serbian mother/father majka/otac daughter/son kćerka/sin sister/brother sestra/brat aunt/uncle ujna, strina, tetka/ujak, stric, teča niece/nephew nećaka/nećak bride/bridegroom mlada, nevesta/mladoženja, ženik However, although supposedly neutral, some of these words may carry a positive connotation, such as mother/majka, which can also mean ‘nurturer’ and ‘protector’. Besides, the pair kćerka/ sin is subject to further analysis. According to Šipka (1999), there are instances of deliberate generalisation instead of specification in order to further invisibility and degradation of women, as in the example Imam tri sina i dijete (‘I have three sons and a child’). As this example also belongs to the sphere of socio-cultural prejudices in some nations, let us turn to another one, presented in the table: ENGLISH sister mother’s aunt father’s aunt SERBIAN brother sestra brat uncle majčin(a) tetka ujak uncle očev(a) tetka stric Once again generalisation is encountered. In English, one word is used for both mother’s and father’s sister (aunt), and one word for mother’s and father’s brother (uncle); whilst in Serbian, for mother’s and father’s sister the word tetka is used, but we distinguish between ujak, a mother’s brother, and stric, a father’s brother. In other words, the word tetka does not reveal any other information, apart from the person being female. There are words in Serbian like ujna and strina, but they are defined in relation to the male relative (being their wives), rather than immediate relatives. This leads us to the conclusion that even neutral and everyday concepts are asymmetrically treated across languages and speech communities. . semantic non-equivalence between female and male terms Lexical asymmetries can be instantly observed in both languages after considering two ostensibly matching words, man and woman (in Serbian muškarac and žena). These words should have opposite but equivalent meanings, but semantic imbalance emerges once one consults dictionary definitions. Positive masculine values are being brave, strong, confident and powerful, while positive feminine values are being gentle, delicate, pretty and caring. However, regarding negative values and implication, it becomes clear that manliness is always seen as strength, whereas womanliness can also have extremely negative connotations and denote weakness. In addition, apart from the primary meaning of being an adult female person, woman can be an offensive word for a wife or a girlfriend, and another meaning of both woman and žena is a female person who cleans somebody’s house, possibly implying what is expected to be the main and predominant role of women and making them once again inferior to the corresponding terms man/muškarac. There exist many other male/female equivalents which show this asymmetry too, i.e. pairs of terms that were historically differentiated by sex alone, but which, over time, have gained different connotations. Male terms are almost always relatively neutral and descriptive, unlike feminine terms, which have derogatory implications. Some examples in English include: Mrs, Miss/Mr, mistress/master, governess/governor, spinster/bachelor, hostess/host, lady/gentleman, dame/ knight, bride/(bride)groom, madam/sir, queen/king, princess/prince, matron/patron, wife/husband, authoress/author, fishwife/fisherman, lady/lord, courtesan/courtier etc. In this paper the classification of examples will be made in relation to: (1) marital status, (2) sexual behaviour, (3) intellect, and (4) job titles. 4.1 Marital status Socially acquired attributes and patterns of behaviour as well as conceptualisation of male and female roles vary according to societies and eras; nevertheless they always convey norms to be fulfilled as well as models to be followed by their members (Fontecha and Catalán 2003, 772). As the majority of societies have been mostly governed by men, so are the patterns and norms of behaviour dictated by them. Let us consider the table which illustrates the basic notions of both married and unmarried individuals: 10 Vesna Lazović Cross-cultural semantic equivalence of some gender-related words ENGLISH verb to marry sb man woman husband (OE householder) wife (OE woman) spouse (both) (eternal)bachelor (+) spinster (-) old maid (-) bachelorette? SERBIAN oženiti se+inst udati se za+acc muškarac žena muž žena suprug supruga supružnik supružnica bračni drug (večiti)neženja (+) neudata (n) (stariji) momak (n/+) usedelica (-) samac (-) singl devojka (n) gospođica (n/-) baba devojka (-) matora devojka(-) To start with, the English verb to marry is used for both men and women, but in Serbian there are two verbs with different patterns – for men, the verb oženiti se+instrumental is used, and for women, udati se za+accusative. As Šipka (1999) explains, the verb oženiti se followed by the instrumental case suggests that a man is an active participant, whereas a woman is his instrument. The verb udati se somewhat carries the notion of passivity as if the woman gives herself (the prefix u-is followed by the verb dati ‘to give’), and the prepositional phrase za+ the accusative case is most commonly used to show the purpose of something (e.g. četkica za zube, peškir za plažu). Furthermore, the word wife in Old English meant ‘woman’, and husband had the meaning of ‘householder’, and in Serbian žena is used both for an adult female person and a spouse, as if the language itself suggests her main role – to be somebody’s wife. The general word encompassing both in English is spouse, whilst in Serbian there is the noun phrase bračni drug, where the noun drug is of grammatical masculine gender. If we compare the meaning of word pairs such as bachelor and spinster, it is quite obvious that the qualities associated with the male word are more positive, as spinster implies not only unmarried but unmarriageable, and there is no such equivalent loaded with the negative connotation to describe a single man. As can be seen from the table, words pertaining to men carry neutral (n) or positive (+) meaning, while a negative (-) one seems to be reserved for the words which refer to women. For the 1970s TV show The Dating Game, the term bachelorette was preferred for the unmarried female contestants, and the word has since come into common usage. Although more acceptable, this term is far from being perfect, as it is formed by adding -ette, the French diminutive suffix, to the word bachelor, again suggesting gender inequality. Moreover, the wording appears to treat women only as an appendage of the masculine, dependent upon men and lacking their own identity, since words for women are usually somehow defined as belonging to men. As Pauwels (2003, 553) suggests, ‘the core of this semantic asymmetry is that woman is a sexual being dependent on man, whereas man is simply defined as a human being whose existence does not need reference to woman’. Savić (1998) also emphasises that the wife is property of man, without her own identity, named in relation to the male person with whom she decided to live together. Consider the following pairs king/queen (Serbian, kralj/kraljica) and prince/princess (Serbian, princ/princeza). The female terms in both languages, apart from their primary meanings of being a ruler (queen/kraljica) and being a daughter of the king (princes/princeza), have an additional meaning, defined as ‘being a wife of’. Thus, female identities are expressed in relation to males. Some other examples in Serbian, similar to the previously mentioned ones, which additionally point out the fact that a female term is derived from a masculine one, i.e. out of men’s function, include: domaćin/domaćica, vlasnik/vlasnica, gospodar/gospodarica, gazda/gazdarica. Interestingly enough, when it comes to titles, another instance of inequality can be noticed. In English the unmarked title for women Ms, as opposed to Mrs and Miss, was introduced as the answer to a growing need of having an equivalent for Mr, the unmarked title for men. In Serbian, there are two titles: gospođa (Mrs) and gospođica (Miss), both clearly indicating woman’s marital status, whereas the meaning of the word gospodin (Mr.) is not related to marriage, and can refer to both a married and single man. 4.2 Sexual behaviour Another apparent difference between male and female terms is seen in words which describe sexual behaviour. In both English and Serbian, there is a surplus of negative words to refer to a sexually active woman in comparison to a sexually active man. The table below shows that most of the terms referring to women are offensive and insulting: in English – whore, prostitute, man-eater, playgirl and many other slang words, or in Serbian – kurva, prostitutka, laka žena etc. The equivalents for men tend to carry positive connotations: in English – Casanova, Romeo, playboy, gigolo, or in Serbian – kazanova, romeo, plejboj, bonvivan, žigolo etc. Schulz (1975) highlights the practice of semantic derogation, which constantly reinforces the ‘generic man’ and ‘sexual woman’ portrayal (Pauwels 2003, 553). Moore emphasises the findings of Julia Stanley, who claims that in a large lexicon of terms for males, 26 are non-standard nouns that denote promiscuous men, some of which have approving connotation (stallion, stud). In a smaller list of nouns for women are 220 which denote promiscuity, all with disapproving connotation. 12 Vesna Lazović Cross-cultural semantic equivalence of some gender-related words 4.3 Intellect Another instance of gender inequality concerns words which describe intelligent individuals. In English there exists the word intellectual to refer to an intelligent and well-educated person. However, bluestockings, intellectual, literary or learned women, represents an example of semantic degeneration. This term was first used in the 1750s to refer to women and men in London who gathered for conversation, and later became a term of abuse, with connotations of ‘snob’ and ‘misfit’ (Haegele 2000). There is no adequate and pejoratively coloured counterpart for men. In Serbian, there is the word intelektualac for men, carrying neutral and positive connotation; for women there is učena žena (neutral) and intelektualka (ironic). An even more striking example is the complete absence in English and Serbian of any term specifically reserved for male that has the meaning ‘good-looking but stupid’. A strongly pejorative word bimbo and ćurkica is used for women, while the male equivalent himbo has not passed into common use, and Serbian glupan pertains only to an unintelligent man without any connotation to his appearance. Furthermore, while specialist and expert in English refer to both genders, in Serbian the word stručnjak, which is of grammatical masculine gender, has no pair which would clearly indicate that the person in question is female. 4.4 Job titles The results of the research concerning job titles used in job advertisements in one Serbian newspaper have already been discussed and analysed (Lazović 2007), and thus for the sake of brevity, in this paper only potential problems when using different job titles for men and women in both languages will be outlined. Potential problems in English are as follows: (a) -man in compounds There are many compounds that describe occupations in English that are formed with -man as the second element: words such as councilman, deliveryman, fireman, foreman, postman, chairman etc. Earlier they were used indiscriminately for both genders, but this is no longer the case. In the area of job titles, more inclusive terms have substituted these in order to avoid the traditional secondary status of women (e.g. spokesperson instead of spokesman, business executive instead of businessman, police officer instead of policeman and so on). (b) diminutive suffixes -ess/-ette Besides the problematic -man in compounds, the suffixes -ess and -ette (the latter is not productive anymore)forformingfemininenounsarealso markedforgenderandhenceinappropriate. During the nineteenth century, there was a tendency, due to the influence of Latin, to form feminine nouns with the suffix -ess along with masculine nouns with -or. However, this tendency ceased to be productive, though some such words are still in use: waiter – waitress, steward – stewardess, sculptor – sculptress or actor – actress. Another suffix, -ette, followed the same pattern and was used for ‘a number of words that referred to women who occupied positions once reserved for men, such as chaufferette and sailorette, but of these only usherette and drum majorette have survived’ (The American Heritage Book of English Usage 1996). In all the abovementioned terms, the use of the feminine suffixes is often considered sexist, since the underlying assumption would be that the unmarked or neutral form reserved for men represents the standard or the norm, whereas a woman in that role is unexpected, and that is obviously not the case. In addition, -ette is the French diminutive suffix and may carry an additional implication that women doing the same job are less important or less respected. Instead, the male-biased terms are replaced by gender-neutral neologisms (flight attendant for steward/stewardess or server/waitstaff for waiter/waitress) or by unmarked -er/-or forms (many actresses now prefer the term actor for their profession, hoping to make the term gender-neutral through common usage, as there is no gender-neutral alternative). (c) stereotypical prejudice Going through all this trouble about changing or modifying job titles would be pointless if the stereotypes about typical job-holders were not taken into consideration. Even today there exist such gendered stereotypes which are imposed partly by the language itself and partly by society. It is understood that, for example, all lawyers, surgeons, pilots or mechanics are men, whereas all teachers, nurses, cashiers or receptionists are women. One of the most obvious explanations for the existence of stereotypes is the generalisation due to the number of either men or women performing that particular job. Also, in the past, certain jobs were reserved for a certain gender, and although genders became equal over time, stereotypes have remained. How can this problem be solved? Indeed, in the final account, can it be solved? Introducing the gender modifiers male/ female (also possible woman/lady) before a job title is one option. Thus, to avoid confusion and ambiguity, phrases like male nurse, male model, female/lady doctor or female/woman judge are used. However, despite the fact that sometimes such modifiers need to be used due to the stereotypes and wrongful prejudice which can hardly be changed (doctors are men, unless otherwise stated), they unnecessarily draw attention to the ‘strangeness’ of a man or a woman doing a particular job. They are marked as if they were gender-specific because of the terms male/female, but have to be used when the gender is relevant. Moreover, a one-word gender-neutral job title is substituted with a two-word gender-specific one, and this represents the main drawback of using these modifiers. Also, even though the term homemaker was coined to replace gender-specific housewife or theoretically possible house husband, even today most homemakers are women, hence the well-known prejudice that women do housework is reinforced. (d) inequality in meaning In some examples inequality in meaning between male/female pairs as well as the hierarchy of their jobs is evident, as if assuming the impossibility of women occupying certain positions of power that are seemingly reserved for men. Here are several examples with translations into Serbian in brackets: governor (vladar, predsednik) and governess (guvernanta, kućna pomoćnica), sir (gospodin, ser) and madam (vlasnica javne kuće), host (domaćin) and hostess (hostesa, dama koja zabavlja goste), master (gospodar, učitelj) and mistress (ljubavnica, gospodarica/učiteljica1). In addition, hostess and mistress imply certain kinds of sexual behaviour, and madam which used to be simply a polite form of address for women, is now also an appellation for the head of a house of prostitution.  Both these meanings are old-fashioned, and not in common use. 1 Vesna Lazović Cross-cultural semantic equivalence of some gender-related words It is essential to point out what is to be avoided in English: first, using different words for men and women who perform the same job, and second, using a masculine noun to encompass both. Potential problems in Serbian are: (a) suffixes -ka/-ica The feminine job titles in Serbian are derived from the primary masculine term by adding the suffixes -ka, -ica, -kinja (the most frequent ones) to the word in question (for example, doktor – doktorka / doktorica),2 so some feminists believe that these job titles are not equal to the masculine ones because they are secondary forms, as they are derived from the primary masculine forms. This is the case even if traditionally these jobs were, and still are, performed more often by women (maneken – manekenka, bolničar –bolničarka, etc.). Another problem with these suffixes is that, as Klajn (2002, 133) suggests, the earlier -ka indicated the wife of the central person, as opposed to –ica, which was used for a woman doing a particular job. The examples given are učiteljica vs. učiteljka, profesorica vs. profesorka, hence the word ministarka is even today associated with the wife of a minister, though more and more it denotes a female minister. Also, the difference between the words domaćin and domaćica ought to be emphasised. While domaćin is equivalent to a host, the head of the family, domaćica is considered to be the same as housewife. Above all, in recent research conducted in Serbia not one man stated that his occupation involves housework, and there is no such word in Serbian to describe a man doing household chores, whereas 13% of women declared to be housewives (B92 2008). (b) occupation vs. object In Wikipedia it is stated that ‘some masculine nouns signify an occupation, while the corresponding feminine nouns refer to objects.’ For instance, the masculine noun govornik means male speaker, while the cognate feminine noun govornica is speaker’s platform, or the masculine trener means male coach, while the feminine word trenerka means tracksuit. Similarly, the masculine noun poslanik is a Member of Parliament or MP, whereas poslanica is an epistle. It is undoubtedly true that Serbian favours masculine gender when denoting persons by their occupation, partly as a consequence of the patriarchal tradition, where the professional ‘norm’ was historically a man. Besides, there are many words without a female counterpart, so male terms are used to encompass women as well (e.g. inženjer, rektor, prevodilac), although women during the past few decades have gained access to higher education and accompanying social and political power. Hence, it is of great importance that new terminology follows all these changes in society and hierarchy. In Serbian, the absence of words denoting women in a variety of professions and occupations is obvious, so there is an urgent need to use feminine forms to make them visible in language since women are constantly entering more professions (premijer – premijerka, menadžer –menadžerka, fotoreporter – fotoreporterka, diler – dilerka, milicioner – milicionerka, policajac – policajka, šoumen –šoumenka, voditelj – voditeljka, izveštač –izveštačica, biograf – biografkinja etc.)  One of the few exceptions to this rule is a recent anglicism bebisiterka, out of which masculine bebisiter is formed by back-formation. To conclude, as Pauwels (2003, 558) emphasised, ‘making women visible in all occupations and professions through systematic use of feminine occupational forms is seen to achieve social effectiveness’, since it is better to be named and visible in language, even if there are some connotations of triviality carried by feminine suffixes. 5. Conclusion In the past, most (if not all) world languages were male-dominated and male-centred, including English and Serbian. Languages reflect the society and culture in a way that the socially acquired and acceptable patterns and norms of behaviour for both men and women are reflected in them. Since the influence of patriarchal society is omnipresent, it comes as no surprise that the world is dominated and ruled by men, and the norms of behaviour are dictated by them. Consequently, ‘the attributes assigned to each of the sexes in the gender metaphor are highly androcentric since men are taken as the norm of reference’ (Fontecha and Catalán 2003, 772). As was underscored throughout this paper, both English and Serbian maintain a system of hierarchy favouring men’s domination and devaluing women and highlighting their subordination. Women are usually seen as inferior to men, morally, spiritually and intellectually, and the language itself has a significant impact on the way people are perceived and the level of respect they are given. Female words are most often marked associatively as they can carry additional derogatory implication. The analysis in this paper has confirmed that languages are more likely to marginalise women. It has also revealed the more or less expected results concerning male/female pairs of words. Two cultures and two languages do in most cases share the same negative connotations and stereotypes of words referring to women, and hence both language discrimination and semantic imbalance are once again brought to light. It has been proven that regardless of society and language, feminine words seem to be conceptualised either neutrally or negatively, whereas their corresponding male counterparts are conceptualised either with neutral or positive connotations. Unfortunately, in the minds of the users of both languages words which describe women develop more negative evaluation, at the same time stereotyping or dismissing women. As Schulz (1990, 141) pointed out, the term for the female is more likely to become pejorative, more likely to acquire sexual suggestions, and less likely to be transferable to a male. It would be interesting to speculate why this might be so and analyse it further, but that is beyond the intended scope of this paper. Although sexism in language can apply to both sexes, in practice, as most scholars have noted, it refers to the negative connotations and negative stereotypes conveyed by words or statements referring to women (Fontecha and Catalán 2003, 772). There is no perfect solution to this problem. Gender-related questions have to be first raised and discussed, and later solved, but this is likely to happen only when the gradual change in the attitudes towards women take place, and a more balanced representation of women and men in language becomes an imperative. Until then, feminist language activists are to stay dissatisfied with the current situation which is far from being encouraging, and to hope that gender-related linguistic problems will receive more attention in the foreseeable future. 16 Vesna Lazović Cross-cultural semantic equivalence of some gender-related words Bibliography: Allan, K. 2007. The pragmatics of connotation. Journal of Pragmatics 39: 1047–57. B92. 2008. Posao i rodna diskriminacija. [Jobs and gender discrimination]. http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=20 08&mm=07&dd=15&nav_id=308599. Fontecha, A. F., and R.M.J. Catalán. 2003. Semantic derogation in animal metaphor: a contrastive-cognitive analysis of two male/female examples in English and Spanish. Journal of Pragmatics 35: 771–97. Haegele, K. 2000. Pack a Punch. Feminista, vol.3: 8. Klajn, I. 2002. Tvorba reči u savremenom srpskom jeziku. Deo 2, Sufiksacija i konverzija. [Word formation in the contemporary Serbian language. Suffixation and conversion]. Beograd: Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva. Moore, A. Language and Gender. http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/gender.htm Pauwels, A. 2003. Linguistic sexism and feminist linguistic activism. In The Handbook of Language and Gender, ed. J. Holmes and M. Meyerhoff, 550-70. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Savić, S. 1998. Žena sakrivena jezikom medija. [A woman hidden behind the language of the media]. Ženske studije, no. 10, http://www.zenskestudie.edu.yu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=265. Schulz, M.R. The Semantic Derogation of Woman. In The Feminist Critique of Language: A Reader, ed. D. Cameron, 134-47. London: Routledge, 1990. Šipka, D. 1999. Imam tri sina i dijete [I have three sons and a child]. www.public.asu.edu/~dsipka/Pregledni142.htm. The American Heritage Book of English Usage. 1996. Chapter 5: Gender. http://www.bartleby.com/64/5.html. The American Heritage Dictionary. 2000. Fourth ed. http://www.bartleby.com/61/. Wikipedia, Gender-neutrality in languages with grammatical gender, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutrality_in_ languages_with_ grammatical_gender. Nada Šabec Faculty of Arts, Maribor Recent English Loanwords in Slovene Summary The paper discusses Slovene-English language contact in general and English loanwords in Slovene in particular. The focus is on recent loanwords, where a great deal of variability in their pronunciation and spelling can be observed depending on the time of their borrowing, the channel of transmission (oral or written) and the degree of their linguistic and social integration into Slovene. Sociolinguistic variables such as the age and education of the users play a role as well, as do the differences between the phonological and orthographic systems of the two languages. In addition to phonological, morphological and orthographic aspects of English loanwords, their meaning and its occasional adaptations and modifications will be addressed. Data for illustration purposes will be taken primarily from the media, especially electronic ones (blogs, forums), since this is the field in which various forms of loanwords feature most frequently. Key words: Slovene-English language contact, loanwords, vocabulary, integration, language development Novejše angleške sposojenke v slovenščini Povzetek Avtorica se ukvarja z vprašanjem jezikovnih stikov na splošno, bolj podrobno pa z sposojenkami iz angleščine v slovenščino. Poudarek je na novejših sposojenkah, kjer opažamo visoko stopnjo variabilnosti v izgovorjavi in pisavi, kar je odvisno od njihove starosti, od načina prenosa (ustni ali pisni) in od stopnje njihove jezikovne in družbene integracije v slovenščino. Prav tako igrajo pomembno vlogo dejavniki, kakršni so starost in izobrazba uporabnikov ter glasoslovne in pravopisne razlike med obema jezikoma. Poleg glasoslovnih, oblikoslovnih in ortografskih vidikov angleških sposojenk se avtorica dotakne tudi pomena in njegovih občasnih prilagajanj in modifikacij. Ponazoritveni podatki so vzeti v glavnem iz medijev, zlasti elektronskih (blogi, forumi), saj je to področje, kjer se sposojenke v različnih oblikah najpogosteje pojavljajo. Ključne besede: slovensko-angleški jezikovni stik, sposojenke, besedje, integracija, jezikovni razvoj 1. Introduction Loanwords or borrowings represent an interesting and often intriguing part of any language’s vocabulary. In this respect, Slovene is no exception. If we focus on borrowing from English, we see that the first English loanwords were accepted into Slovene as early as the 17th and 18th centuries. They were not very numerous, though, and were adopted mostly from written sources and more often than not via an intermediary or mediating language such as German. Among the examples of such loans are the words šport and keks (Šabec 2005). The phenomenon of borrowing from English is thus by no means new; the extent to which it has intensified in the past few decades, however, has exceeded anything seen in the past and would have been hard to imagine half a century ago. This is of course due mostly to the impact of globalization and heightened exposure to English in practically all areas of life. We thus witness the importation of new words of English origin into Slovene on an almost daily basis. Naturally, some genres and registers are more susceptible to borrowing than others. Thus, the frequency of English loanwords is particularly high in the media, especially new electronic ones such as internet blogs and forums, and also in the spoken, often slangy language of the young, particularly teenagers. 2. Integration of english Loanwords into slovene Once English words are borrowed into Slovene, they may undergo very diverse and interesting changes. A number of factors affect their development, from linguistic to sociolinguistic ones. The former refer to the degree of compatibility between the two languages in terms of their phonological and orthographic systems, the latter to the age of loanwords and various characteristics of their users such as their age, education (especially their proficiency in English) and their attitudes toward English/American language and culture. Compared to the phonologically, morphologically and orthographically totally integrated and well-established loanwords that no longer sound foreign and that are in fact treated like any other word in Slovene, recent loanwords are much more unstable. This instability and variability can be observed on various levels from spelling to pronunciation. For the purpose of this article, we will only briefly touch upon the older, fully integrated loanwords so as to be able to compare them to the more recent ones which are the focus of our discussion. 2.1 Older Loanwords These are the loanwords that have been successfully integrated into Slovene and that adhere, in their usage, to the rules of Slovene grammar. Generally, speakers, even if they might be aware of the foreign origin of the words in question, do not treat them any differently from the rest of the Slovene vocabulary. 2.1.1 Pronunciation The pronunciation of older loanwords is typically characterized by the replacement of English phonemes by their nearest Slovene equivalents. e.g. the English word thriller is pronounced as /tri:ler/ 20 nada Šabec Recent English Loanwords in Slovene In addition to the difference in the vowel quality (short /./ in English vs. long /i:/ in Slovene; semi-vowel /./ in English vs. /./ in Slovene), the most salient difference occurs in the replacement of the English fricative /./ by the Slovene dental stop /t/. Other typical Slovene deviations are also common in the pronunciation of English loanwords. For purposes of illustration, just a few are listed: • the under-differentiation of vowel contrasts: / ., i:/ > /i:/ e.g. chip/s > čip/s • a closer realization of some vowel phonemes /./ > /e, ./ e.g. band > bend • a simplification of certain diphthongs /ou > o/ e.g. goal > gol • the pronunciation of final -ng as /.k/ instead of /./ e.g. /i./ > /i.k/ Occasionally, differences in word stress and intonation can be found as well. e.g. Canberra pronounced as /kan’bera/ instead of as /’kanb.r./ 2.1.2 spelling Orthographically, older loanwords are stable and in most cases consistently spelt in the same way. Typical English letters that do not exist in Slovene are replaced by their Slovene near-equivalents (weekend > vikend, boycott >bojkot, sherry > šeri, Chicago > Čikago, coca-cola > koka kola). The same applies to combinations of double consonants and vowels (tennis > tenis, boomerang > bumerang). It should be noted that in some cases we observe double or even multiple orthographic forms of certain loanwords such as team vs. tim, but this phenomenon is far less common than in the case of less stable recent loanwords. 2.1. Morphology As for morphology, older loanwords follow the morphological rules of Slovene: nouns are inflected for gender, number and case (the same applies to some adjectives such as kompatibilen-na/-no from compatible, but not to others such as izi and fensi from easy and fancy), and verbs for the category of gender, person, number as well as tense, aspect and mode. Rules of agreement are generally applied in the case of nouns, some adjectives, and verbs. However, we should point out an interesting aspect regarding gender assignment of nouns borrowed from English. While animate nouns represent no problem, inanimate nouns which are, as a rule, neuter in English, fall into either masculine or feminine in Slovene (there are no occurrences of the third category, neuter). The criteria for gender assignment may depend on various factors from similarity of phonological shape of the nouns to (semantic) analogy, homophony and shape of suffix (Poplack et al. 1988, Winford 2003). Examples: • yacht > jahta (feminine on the analogy of semantically similar Slovene nouns such as ladja/ ship, jadrnica/sailboat) • shock > šok (masculine due to the suffix form) • Parkirali so kar ob cesti in si privoščili dva sendviča in okusen hamburger. (agreement of nouns, adjectives and verbs) /They parked by the road and ate two sandwiches and a tasty hamburger./ Similarly, loanwords follow the same word formation patterns as native words. Older loanwords may thus, for instance, be used as a base to form compounds or derive new words. e.g. hockey > hokej, hokejist (a hockey player), hokejsko prvenstvo (a hockey championship), hokej na ledu (ice hockey), hokej na travi (field hockey) 2.1. Calques In addition to loanwords, Slovene has a number of calques or loan translations from English. These are word-by-word translations from English, where the English elements are literally replaced by Slovene ones. e.g. brainwashing – pranje možganov 2.2 Recent Loanwords Compared to older loanwords, more recent ones are more susceptible to variation than older ones. They are usually borrowed directly from English either through oral sources or through the Internet, which is why they are much closer to the original than the older loanwords (which were often modified due to the mediating language and/or the general distance between the donor and the recipient languages). 2.2.1 Pronunciation The pronunciation of recent loanwords is typically very unstable, depending largely on the linguistic competence of the speakers. This is generally higher with younger speakers who learn English at school, with more educated ones and those who are more mobile. In all cases, however, the comparison with the pronunciation of older loanwords shows that recent loanwords imitate their English models much more closely. e.g. notebook > /noutbuk/ In the first syllable, /o/ is pronounced as /ou/ rather than as /o/, which would have been more likely in the case of older loanwords. The degree of adaptation to Slovene or lack of it thus reflects the closeness of the speakers’ contact with English. In addition, their attitudes matter: they are mostly young and have, because of their exposure to the English/American language and culture, a generally greater affinity for it. 22 nada Šabec Recent English Loanwords in Slovene 2.2.2 spelling The unstable, changeable character of recent loanwords is perhaps most obvious in spelling, where loanwords often occur in multiple orthographic shapes and forms. The following examples illustrate the co-existence of various forms spelt not only with Slovene graphemes, but even those with English ones. e.g. show/šou/šov; software, softver; mobbing/mobing; tatoo/tatu; muffin/mafin Most typically, however, recent loanwords remain in their original English form. In the media, they are often written in inverted commas, in italics or they may even be accompanied by a gloss or a footnote, signalling their foreignness and occasionally the writers’ attempt to explain them to the potential audience (in most cases, however, the addressee’s understanding of the words is taken for granted). Examples: • Nekoč so mariborska podjetja propadala, zdaj baje cvetijo -tudi ali predvsem zato, ker se "outsourcajo" (selijo proizvodnjo v države s cenejšo delovno silo). (Večer, 13. 9. 2008, 18) /In the past, the Maribor companies went bankrupt; today they supposedly flourish due to "outsourcing" (moving production to the countries with cheaper labor.) • … ki bo ob takšnem tempu potrebovala vsaj dve sezoni, da bo serija dobila oznako dostojnega "spin-offa"! (TV Večer, 11. 9. 2008, 16) /….that would at this pace need at least two seasons for the series to be labeled as a decent "spin-off"!/ • … kajti ta mladina se ne zna sprostiti ob milk-shaku, temveč ob drogah, tatoojih in naslajanju nad tujo usodo. (TV Večer, 12. 9. 2008, 17) /…because these young cannot relax drinking milk-shakes, instead they need drugs, tatoos and gloating over other people’s misfortune./ • Da je posredi vnaprejšnja ignoranca, kaže tudi flop z navajanjem Pekarne kot avtorja projekta… (Večer, 10. 9. 2008, 14) /The flop with citing Pekarna as the author of the project is proof of apriori ignorance…/ • "Search engine marketing" je oblika trženja prek spletnih iskalnikov. (www.žurnal24.si, 13. 9. 2008, 35) /”Search engine marketing” is a kind of marketing via internet search engines./ • Imam vsaj dve vrsti odzivov pri polarizaciji, to je tiste, ki se pridružijo zmagovalcem in ker nočejo glasovati za poražence, in drugo vrsto odziva, to so tisti, ki ne želijo podpreti zmagovalcev, ampak volijo 'underdoge', torej tiste, ki jim gre slabše. (Večer, 15. 9. 2008, 3) /There are at least two kinds of reaction toward polarization: some join the winners and do not want to vote for the losers, others do not want to support the winners, but prefer to vote for the ‘underdogs’, that is, those who are not doing so well./ • Prva žrtev sindroma izgorelosti (burn-out syndrome) v javnem sektorju? (Delo, SP, 3. 1. 2009, 2) /The first victim of the burn-out syndrome in the public sector?/ It should be noted that English spelling and punctuation occasionally also affect the spelling of Slovene words, especially in advertising and in names of companies and products (to achieve special effect) as well as in blogs and forums, where mostly the young use it as a kind of affectation and a sign of being "in." Examples: • O'glasna pošta (advertisement for postal gift services with a redundant apostrophe and a possible word play on the words meaning glas/voice and oglas/advertisement) • Tri sobni apartma, plazma v vsaki sobi, spa & dodobra založena kuhinja, v resortu še obvezna savna in bazenček (http://trik.sopca.com; posted September 4, 2008) /A three-bedroom suite with a plasma in each room, spa & well-stocked kitchen, with an adjoined sauna and a small swimming pool in the resort/ • tyashy, kayica, ovchka (usernames/nicknames on forums and blogs with frequent omission of Slovene letters š,č,ž and the use of English ones: x,y,w) .. Morphology In view of their newness, recent loanwords show a much lesser degree of integration and often resist the inflectional patterns of Slovene. This is not surprising, as some are only used on one or a couple of occasions, for reasons of prestige or with a specific audience in mind. Their fate is in fact uncertain and it is not clear which ones will take root and which ones will fall into oblivion. According to Gorlach (2004, 4), they “do not usually become part of the core vocabulary and are therefore open to being quick imports (because of the novelty or fashionable appeal of the concepts and words) and equally to being quickly lost (because the things designated go out of use or the terms are replaced by more trendy and attractive ones)”. While this statement is largely true, counterexamples of widely used words such as “internet” can be found as well. Examples: • ….SNS pa je tradicionalno 'antiestablishment' stranka, kar privablja določen odstotek volilcev. (Večer, 15. 9. 2008, 3) /…SNS is traditionally an 'antiestablishment' party, which attracts a certain percentage of voters./ • Dostop do vrhunskega tujega know-how-a. (election campaign leaflet) /Access to top-notch foreign know-how./ As for word-formation, recent English loanwords are less prone to form derivatives and compounds than older ones due to their lower degree of integration into Slovene. There are exceptions, however, such as the extremely productive blog, which has formed an entire word family. Stramljič Breznik (2008, 155–6) cites the following derivatives, compounds and blends: 2 nada Šabec Recent English Loanwords in Slovene blogada, blogajna, blogastično, blogat, blogataš, blogator, blogocizem, blogika, bloginja, bloginje, bloginjščica, blogirati, blognat, blogniti, blognje, blogok, blogji, blogon, blogovina, blogovišče, blogovit, blogovnica, blogovski, blogulja, blogun, bložanski, bložki, zablogiran, zablogiranec; brezbložje, medbložje, pribložje; blogodajalec, blogaboječ, blogodržec, blogofil, blogoglasno, blogojemalec, blogokleten, blogoskop, Blogoljub, Blogoljuba, blogoljuje, blogologija, blogolom, Blogomil, blogomor, blogopis, blogopisec, blogoskrunstvo, blogoslovje, blogoslužje, blogostrastno, blogosumje, blogošpegec, blogotaj, blotgotišje, blogotožje, blogotrebec, blogotvorec, blogovid, blogoznanstvo, blogodržen, blogomrzje, enobloštvo, mnogobloštvo; deblogirati, izblogirati, najbolgji, Nebložje, poblogati se, razblogirati, sobložje, trnasblogirati, zablogati se, hvala-blogu, zabloga, blogme, blogsigavedi and blogopališče (from blog + pokopališče). .. Calques Recent calques seem to be more numerous than the old ones, which can be attributed to much closer contact with the English/American culture in the globalized context of today than was the case in the past. e.g. hate speech – sovražni govor At times, they co-exist with other English-based loanwords. e.g. public relations/odnosi z javnostjo/javnostmi/ PR/piarovstvo Due to their relative newness, calques are frequently less stable and less consistent; some may be even modified and quite unfamiliar to those who are not able to decipher their meaning from either the context or from English. A good example is the sentence: Mitja Gaspari, nekdanji finančni minister in guverner Banke Slovenije, na Bajukovo sporočilo potrošnikom, kupujte z nogami: “Upoštevajte pravila, kupujte z nogami, je dobro za rekreacijo.” (Večer, 13. 9. 2008, 46). /Mitja Gaspari, the former minister of finance and governor of the Bank of Slovenia reacted to Bajuk’s message to consumers to buy with their feet by saying, “Follow the rules, buy with your feet, it’s good recreation.”/ /The original English to vote with one’s feet (i.e. to show that you do not support something, especially an organization or a product, by not using or not buying it anymore. (Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms 1998) has been replaced by to buy with one’s feet in Slovene to fit the context. A similar case where we cannot help but guess at the influence of the English word backyard on the use of zadnje dvorišče is the sentence: Evropski državljani se morajo končno naučiti, kaj se dogaja na njhovem zadnjem dvorišču, ki ga tako radi razglašajo za izvir svoje kulture. (Večer, 3. 1. 2009, 8) /European citizens should finally learn what is going on in their backyard that they so often proclaim as the source of their culture./ The noun dvorišče is highly unlikely to be premodified by the adjective zadnje in Slovene, especially since the first translation option for the word zadnje that comes to mind is last rather than back (back in turn being translated as zadaj). . semantic Aspects Semantically, English loanwords cover a wide range of domains from science and technology to popular culture. Rapid technological development, all sorts of technical innovations, new devices, the Internet and increasing mobility have changed our lifestyle in a way that has made at least some English almost a necessity for a large part of the world’s population. This is true especially of the young, where in the case of Slovene the impact of English on their slang has to be pointed out as well. We list some examples from internet blogs and forums, where English frequently serves to make discourse more concise, technical, creative, playful and/or slangy. Examples: • fejker, glistafashionista, zadetaodlajfa (bloggers’ names) • lahko jest furam kaj jest vem kak lajfstajl pa mi ne bo nič dost pomagal (www.gape.org./egi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1093341324/30; posted October 26, 2005) /I can lead I don’t know what kind of lifestyle and it won’t really matter/ • Letos bo kot lani potekalo 4 dni, od četrtka do nedelje, free camping, upam, da nam bo uspelo spet zrihtat. Novost bo jumpbox objekt (objekt ima “quoter”, flet, lending…tak objekt je narejen za letet, heh) (http://obala.net/blog/user.php?user=pivo; posted 28. 6. 2007) /Just like last year it will go on for 4 days, from Thursday to Sunday, free camping, I hope we can pull it off again. What is new is a jumpbox object (the object has a “quarter”, a flat, landing…..the kind of object that is made for flying, hah!/ • Ponedeljek, spet šola -o fakkk!! Zjutri šetkam do avtobusne postaje, in tam stoji en…čuden tip, tak psycho look je mel…yuck… (www.diva.si/blog.php?akcija=avtor &user_id=5033); posted September 22, 2008) /Monday, school again -oh, fuck!! In the morning I walk down to the bus stop and there stands some…weird guy, with a psycho look about him…yuck…/ Finally, both older and recent loanwords occasionally undergo semantic changes when compared to their original meanings in English. Thus the word šoping (Eng. shopping), for instance, has a somewhat more frivolous connotation than nakupovanje, the word manager a more fashionable feel to it than direktor, the word juice a more restricted meaning (referring exclusively to orange juice) and the word toast a broader meaning in Slovene than in English (referring to a toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich). . Conclusion What does the future hold for English loanwords? The only certainty is that there will be more of them. As to which ones will become integrated, which ones will continue to co-exist or even take precedence over Slovene ones and which will turn out to be just a passing phenomenon we can only speculate. One criterion that might play a role in determining this is their relevance: those 26 nada Šabec Recent English Loanwords in Slovene that either fill lexical gaps in certain domains (for instance, technical and scientific terminology) or contribute to the stylistic richness and specialization of the language are likely to persist, while some fashionable ones that are perceived as “unnecessary” or “too far fetched” may not – at least not in the long run. In either case it is a fact that English is currently the most important donor of new words to both Slovene and many other languages, which is why the continuous study of English loanwords and related processes is of great relevance to a better understanding of language development and change, thus remaining a constant challenge for linguistic research. Bibliography: Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms. 1988. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Crystal, D. 2001a. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ---. 2001b. Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gorlach, M., ed. 2004. English in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Poplack, S., D. Sankoff, and C. Miller. 1988. The social correlates and linguistic processes of lexical borrowing and assimilation. Linguistics 26: 47–104. Stramljič Breznik, I. 2008. Prevzete leksemske prvine in njihova besedotvorna zmožnost v slovenščini. Slavistična revija 2: 149–60. Šabec, N. 2005. Slovene-English Language Contact: Lexical, Syntactic, Pragmatic and Intercultural Aspects. In Jezik u društvenoj interakciji, eds. D. Stolac, N. Ivanetić and B. Pritchard, 471–80. Zagreb, Rijeka: HDPL. Šabec, N. 2006. Language, Society and Culture: Slovene in Contact with English. In Slovensko jezikoslovje danes - Slovenian Linguistics Today. Slavistična revija 54 (Special Issue), 701–18. Šabec, N. 2007. Vpliv angleščine na slovenščino: leksikalni in pravopisni vidiki. In Besedje slovenskega jezika, ed. M. Jesenšek, 316–24. Maribor: Zora 50. Winford, D. 2003. An Introduction to Contact Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Frančiška Trobevšek Drobnak Faculty of arts university of Ljubljana On the merits and shortcomings of semantic primes and natural semantic metalanguage in cross-cultural translation Summary The purpose of this paper is to review some basic postulates of the theory of semantic primitives (semantic primes) and to evaluate the applicability of the natural semantic metalanguage in cross-cultural translation. The theory of semantic primes, formulated by Anna Wierzbicka and her colleagues, posits a universal set of cognitive primitives, lexicalized in all natural languages, which, combined into canonical sentences of basic syntactic patterns, constitute a natural semantic metalanguage (NSM). NSM is put forward as an alternative to traditional lexicographic definitions of words, to componential and prototypical semantic analysis, and, as tertium comparationis, presented as a more effective tool in translating culture-specific words and ethnosyntactic features. Key words: semantic prime, canonical sentence, natural semantic metalanguage, cognitive syntax, ethnosyntax cross-cultural translation Prednosti in pomanjkljivosti uporabe naravnega pomenskega metajezika v medkulturnem prevajanju Povzetek Namen pričujočega sestavka je predstaviti osnovne postulate teorije o pomenskih primitivih (prapomenih) in oceniti uporabnost naravnega pomenskega metajezika v medkulturnem prevodoslovju. Teorija, kot jo je oblikovala Anna Wierzbicka s svojimi sodelavci, predpostavlja obstoj univerzalnega seznama kognitivnih primitivov, ki so ubesedeni v vseh naravnih jezikih in ki, združeni v kanonične stavke osnovnih skladenjskih vzorcev, tvorijo t. i. naravni pomenski metajezik (NPM). Ta naj bi predstavljal boljšo izbiro, kot so tradicionalne slovarske definicije besed, oznake formalne in prototipske pomenske razčlembe, kot tertium comparationis pa naj bi ponujal tudi bolj učinkovito orodje pri prevajanju kulturno-specifičnih besed in etnoskladenjskih pojavov. Ključne besede: prapomen, kanonični stavek, naravni pomenski metajezik, kognitivna skladnja, medkulturni prevod On the merits and shortcomings of semantic primes and natural semantic metalanguage in cross-cultural translation 1. Introduction: formalist and functionalist views on the semantic component of language 1.1 One of the central arguments of contemporary linguistics – the question of the autonomy of linguistic systems – still causes a relatively sharp divide between formalists and functionalists, despite the internal heterogeneity of both groups (Newmeyer 1998, 7-19). Formalists perceive their mission as the unveiling of the relations between structural elements (grammar), independently from semantic (and pragmatic) content. Most of them recognize Noam Chomsky’s leading role in the field, which he assumed with the transformational-generative grammar (1955; 1957; 1965), and consolidated with the government and binding theory and principles and parameters grammar (1981; 1995). According to Chomsky, the autonomy of the formal structure of the language is best manifested in the set of phrase structure rules: There is (...) no way to show that semantic considerations play a role in the choice of the syntactic or phonological component of grammar or that semantic features (in any significant sense of this term) play a role in the functioning of the syntactic or phonological rules (Chomsky 1965, 226). Functionalists reject the idea of the autonomy of syntax. Both the generative and the interpretative aspects of language are dictated by the communicative function of the language: the formal properties of the language depend on the categorization of the extra-linguistic reality and the principles of effective communication. The primary function of language is to serve “as a vehicle for rational thought” (Newmeyer 1998, 1-2) or “to establish, reinforce, maintain, and express social relationships rather than convey information” (Van Valin 1981, 59). The main reproach directed at formalists is that their theory is not explanatory: There is one thing, however, that a formal model can never do: it cannot explain a single thing. (...) The history of transformational-generative linguistics boils down to nothing but a blatant attempt to represent the formalism as theory, to assert that it ‘predicts a range of facts’, that it ‘makes empirical claims’ and that is somehow ‘explains’ (Givón 1979, 5-6). Despite occasional animosity, the two approaches are mutually exclusive only in their extremes. At least one group of functionalists, cognitive linguists such as Langacker, Lakoff, Givón, Haiman, Fillmore, Croft and Wierzbicka, come from a formalist (generative) background. While refuting the autonomy of syntax, they accept the independence of linguistic competence from linguistic performance, and even the autonomy of grammar as a cognitive system, the principles of which are independent from the extra-linguistic factors.1 The core of the contention between the formalists and functionalist is the understanding of the assignment of meaning to the chain of sounds. Bloomfield (1933, 27), who believed  Onthepossibilityandnecessitytoreconciletheformalistandthefunctionalistviews,seeNewmayer1991,1992and1998. 0 Frančiška Trobevšek Drobnak On the merits and shortcomings of semantic primes and natural semantic metalanguage in ... linguistics to be a taxonomic and descriptive discipline, conceded that “in human speech, different sounds have certain meanings. To study this coordination of certain sounds with certain meanings is to study language”. Nevertheless, a systematic study of semantics is pointless to Bloomfield, since it is impossible to discern the linguistic from the extra-linguistic components of the meaning, which are determined, at all times, by the pragmatic circumstances and practical experience of those involved in communication. The meaning of a linguistic expression can be defined only with regards to “the situation in which the speaker utters it. In order to give a scientifically accurate definition of meaning for every form of language, we should have to have a scientifically accurate knowledge of everything in the speaker’s world” (1933, 139–140). The generative grammar of the second half of the 20th century could not ignore the semantic component of language either. In his Syntactic Structures, Chomsky admits to correlation between syntax and meaning, but he “defers” the study of it to some other, more general theory of language: Nevertheless, we do find many important correlations, quite naturally, between syntactic structure and meaning... These correlations could form part of the subject matter for a more general theory of language concerned with syntax and semantics and their points of connection (1957, 108). The distinction between the semantic and pragmatic analysis, between linguistic and cognitive categories, remains a tough problem even in contemporary linguistics. According to Anna Wierzbicka (1996), these problems should nevertheless provide no excuse for neglecting the semantic component of language. The exclusion of meaning from the study of language is as ridiculous as the study of traffic signs from the point of view of their physical properties, such as paint or weight, without making reference to their content (1996, 3). 2. Conceptual universals and semantic primes 2.1 One definition of the meaning of a word is “a scientific hypothesis about the concept encoded in a given word” (Robinson 1950, 41). Most concepts encoded in human language are “complex” in the sense that they can be decomposed into simpler components. To state the meaning of the word is to reveal the configuration of relatively simple concepts encoded in it. As Aristotle puts it, “the right way to define [the meaning] is (...) through what is absolutely more intelligible” (cited in Wierzbicka 1996, 3). The meaning of some words, however, cannot be decomposed. Pascal (1667), Descartes (1701) and Leibniz (1765) understood that human languages have words for concepts that could not be broken down into simpler concepts. To begin with Pascal, It is clear that there are words that cannot be defined; and if nature hadn’t provided for this by giving all people the same idea, all our expressions would be obscure: but in fact we can use those words with the same confidence and certainty as if they had been explained in the clearest possible way: because nature itself has given us, without additional words, an understanding of them better than what our art could give through our explanation (Pascal 1667/1954, 580). Likewise, Descartes: Further I declare that there are certain things which we render more obscure by trying to define them, because, since they are very simple and clear, we cannot know and perceive them better than by themselves (Descartes 1701/1931, 324). and Leibniz: If nothing could be comprehended in itself nothing at all could ever be comprehended. (...) accordingly, we can say that we have understood something only when we have broken it down into parts which can be understood in themselves (translated and cited in Wierzbicka 1996, 11). Words that, according to Pascal, cannot (need not) be defined and “things” that, according to Descartes and Leibniz, can be understood only through themselves are concepts which are so basic that they are common to all people, innate and “pre-linguistic”. Centuries later, Chomsky reiterates this view: Barring miracles, this means that the concepts must be essentially available prior to experience, in something like their full intricacy. Children must be basically acquiring labels for concepts they already have (1991, 29). 2.2 While there seems to be no contention with the existence of basic conceptual primitives, the question of their identity on the semantic level of language remains open. Lyons (1977, 331–332) questions “radical semantic universalism”, as well as the thesis of “fixed set of semantic components, which are universal in that they are lexicalized in all languages”. This is exactly what Goddard and Wierzbicka propose in their Semantic and Lexical Universals (1994): conceptual primitives are not only common to all humans, they are also encoded in all natural languages, in lexemes and morphemes which are indefinable and cannot be broken down into smaller semantic components. The list of such semantic primes can be acquired through tenacious analysis of as many and as different natural languages as possible. If the concepts such as SOMEONE, SOMETHING, WANT represent semantic primes in English, QUELQU’UN, QUELQUE CHOSE, VOULOIR must be semantic primes in French, and NEKDO, NEKAJ, HOTETI in Slovene. 2.3 The list of languages analysed by Wierzbicka and her co-researchers in the attempt to validate semantic primes remains open, just as the list of semantic primes is constantly exposed to revision and supplementation. Of the original ten semantic primes, proposed in 1972, nine have “survived” meticulous inspection: I, YOU, SOMEONE, SOMETHING, THINK, WANT, FEEL, SAY, THIS. In 1994, twenty-eight new primes were added to the list: • PEOPLE • THE SAME, OTHER • ONE, TWO, MANY/MUCH, ALL • KNOW 2 Frančiška Trobevšek Drobnak On the merits and shortcomings of semantic primes and natural semantic metalanguage in ... • DO, HAPPEN • GOOD, BAD • BIG, SMALL • WHEN, BEFORE, AFTER • WHERE, UNDER, ABOVE • PART OF, KIND OF, • NOT, CAN, VERY • IF, BECAUSE, LIKE In 1996, the list of semantic primes was further extended to: • SOME, MORE • SEE, HEAR • MOVE, THERE IS, BE ALIVE • AR, NEAR, SIDE, INSIDE, HERE • A LONG TIME, A SHORT TIME, NOW • IF...WOULD, MAYBE • WORD According to Wierzbicka, the final number of semantic primes will probably amount to around one hundred, but those identified in recent years have yet to be tested before final validation (Wierzbicka 1996, 110). 2.4 Semantic primes make sense only when put in a syntactic frame of meaningful combinations: The indefinable word ‘want’ makes sense only if it is put in a certain syntactic frame, such as ‘I want to do this’. In positing the elements ‘I’, ‘want’, ‘do’ and ‘this’ as innate and universal rules of syntax – I am also positing certain innate an universal rules of syntax - not in the sense of some intuitively unverifiable formal syntax a la Chomsky, but in the sense of intuitively verifiable patterns determining possible combinations of primitive concepts (Wierzbicka 1996, 19). The products of conceptual syntax are canonical sentences, such as ‘I want something’, ‘someone thinks something about something/someone’, ‘you did something bad’, ‘I know when something happened’, ‘I want to see this’, ‘someone cannot move’ etc. They provide an insight into “the language of human mind”, lingua mentalis, which is the real origin of syntactic and semantic structures in natural languages: “The syntax and semantics of natural languages are not just special cases of formal syntax and semantics; (...) symbolic structures are meaningful to begin with” (Endelman 1992, 239). The identification of semantic primes and their combination within the frame of conceptual syntax is the essence of the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM), the absence of which has been, according to Wierzbicka, the main reason for the neglect of semantics in linguistics. . nsM in cross-cultural translation 3.1 The need to form a culturally independent metalanguage was expressed not only by linguists, but also by anthropologists (Rosaldo 1980; Lutz 1988; Kondo 1990; Needham 1972), who openly deplored the lack of awareness of the “cultural burden” of natural languages when describing culture-specific phenomena and concepts. The question of the relation between language and conceptual/perceptual patterns of their speakers has been discussed by philologists and linguists ever since the 18th century. The romantic notion of the indissociability of language and culture coincided with the discovery of unfamiliar languages (like Sanskrit) and a revival of nationalism in Europe (Kramsch 1998, 11). In the introduction to his work on the ancient Kawi language of Java, which was published in 1836 as The Heterogeneity of Language and its Influence on the Intellectual Development of Mankind, Wilhelm von Humboldt wrote: The character and structure of a language expresses the inner life and knowledge of its speakers, and that languages must differ from one another in the same way and to the same degree as those who use them. Sounds do not become words until a meaning has been put into them, and this meaning embodies the thought of a community. (1911 Encyclopedia Britannica). The idea that different people speak differently because they think differently, and that they think differently because their language offers them different ways of expressing the world around them, was later picked up by Boas (1911), Sapir (1949) and Whorf (1956). The view has been modified to some extent in contemporary linguistics: The almost universal outcome of the psychological study of culture and cognition has been the demonstration of large differences among cultural groups on a large variety of psychological tests and experiments. This has led to the widespread belief that different cultures produce different psychological (in the present case, cognitive) processes, (...) but cultural differences in cognition reside more in the situation to which particular cognitive processes are applied than in the existence of a process in one cultural group and in absence of another (Cole, Gay, Glick and Sharp 1971, 215). 3.2 According to Wierzbicka, words are a society’s most basic cultural artefacts and provide the first and best key to a culture’s values and assumptions (1996, 137). If we want to understand other cultures, we need to define these words properly. Lexicographic definitions are often inaccurate, and dictionaries provide just more or less random lists of circular quasi-synonyms, when the only measure of what a good definition is that it shows the meaning of one word by several other not synonymous words (Locke 1690/1959, 33–4). The decomposition of meaning into invariable contrastive semantic components, on the other hand, is based on Aristotelian understanding of categories, to which entities belong if they possess those distinctive features which determine the adherence to individual categories. But the distinction between essential and extraneous semantic components is much more complex than the categorization of entities. While the component [+animal] is easily recognized as essential in the definition of  Frančiška Trobevšek Drobnak On the merits and shortcomings of semantic primes and natural semantic metalanguage in ... the word ‘cow’, and the component [+brown] is not, the same cannot be done for many other words. Langacker finds the absolute predictability of the model questionable and prefers the prototype approach, which Rosch (1973) and Wittgenstein (1977) propose when the classical decomposition of meaning into contrastive semantic components fails. The standard criterial-attribute model of categorization also exemplifies an expectation of absolute predictability. (...) The prototype model offers a more realistic account in many instances, but adopting it implies that class membership is not predictable in absolute terms: it is a matter of degree, decreasing as an entity deviates from the prototype, with no specific cut-off point beyond which speakers abruptly become incapable of perceiving a similarity and thus assimilating an entity to the category (Langacker 1987, 49). According to Wierzbicka, the prototype approach, too, should be applied “with caution and with care, and, above all, (...) combined with verbal definitions, instead of being treated as an excuse for not ever defining anything” (1996, 160).2 As an alternative to componential and prototype analysis of the meaning of words, especially of culture-specific words, she advocates the use of NSM, which combines the best of both approaches, but has the advantage over them since: • Unlike other, artificial intermediary languages, NSM is universally accessible and intelligible; • NSM is a proper tertitum comparationis in cross-cultural and cross-linguistic research; • NSM is an effective tool for the identification of ethnosyntactic phenomena. 3.3 Breaking down the meaning of “untranslatable” culture-specific words into semantic primes, and combining these into meningful, universally intelligible canonical sentences, relieves their translation of any “residual” or “deficit”. So, for example, the Japanese word amae, a specific emotion deeply rooted in the Japanese culture (Doi 1981, 169), and crucial for the understanding of the differences between Japanese and Western society, can be defined in the following manner (Wierzbicka 1996, 239): amae (a) X thinks something like this: (b) when Y thinks about me, Y feels something good (c) Y wants to do good things for me (d) Y can do good things for me (e) when I am near Y nothing bad can happen to me (f) I don’t have to do anything because of this (g) I want to be near Y (h) X feels something good because of this.  Ifthewordboat isdefinedas‘man-madeobjectusedfortravellingonwater’,thisdefinitioncouldhardlybeappliedtoaboatwith aholeinit.Restrictingdefinitionstoaprototypicalboat isnotnecessary,sinceasimplechangeof‘usedfortravellingonwater’to ‘made/designedfortravellingonwater’resolvestheproblem(Wierzbicka,1996,149).  OneJapanese-Englishdictionary(availableathttp://www.englishjapaneseonlinedictionary.com)definestheadjectiveamai as‘sweet’.Doiderivesthenounamae fromthentransitiveverbamaeru ‘todependandpresumeuponanother’sbenevo­lence’(Doi1974,307). Among other words, which can be accurately defined only in NSM, Wierzbicka points to semantically similar words, in which the essential contrastive component is elusive (e. g. sad, unhappy, distressed, upset or petrified, terrified, horrified). When she compares the English word happy (A) with its Polish translation equivalent szczęśliwy (B) (1996, 215), she believes that the additional semantic components of (B) ‘everything is good now’, ‘very good’ (instead of ‘good’) and ‘I can’t want anything more now’ (instead of ‘I don’t want anything more now’) make it clear why the meaning of the word szczęśliwy, ‘a rare state of profound bliss or total satisfaction’, stands in contrast to the less intense and more pragmatic character of happy: (A) X feels happy (a) X feels something (b) sometimes a person thinks something like this: (c) I wanted this (d) I don’t want anything more now (e) because of this, this person feels something good (f) X feels this (B) X feels szczęśliwy (glücklich, heureux, srečen)4 (a) X feels something (b) sometimes a person feels something like this: (c) something very good happened to me (d) I wanted this (e) everything is good now (f) I can’t want anything more now (g) because of this, this person feels something very good (h) X feels like this 3.3 Words do not only reflect a society’s culture. If Boas (1911) and Sapir (1949) still saw the influence of culture on language as being mostly in the lexicon, Whorf (1956, 221) suggested that “users of markedly different grammars are pointed by the grammars toward different types of observation”. The evidence of how culture permeates the grammatical structure of language, and not just the lexicon, is ample and presented in studies such as the ones on honorific inflection and agreement in Japanese (Prideaux 1990; Shibatani 1990), noun classes and categorization of nouns (Craig 1986), extensive differences in grammar of men’s and women’s speech (Dunn 2000), to mention but a few. In 1979, Anna Wierzbicka coined the term ethnosyntax, which is today used in two senses. In its broader sense, it denotes all relations between the entire cultural system (knowledge, values, customs) of a community and the morphosyntactic tools of their language.5 In its narrower sense, the term ethnosyntax refers to the direct encoding of culture-specific semantic  Themeaningofszczęśliwy is,accordingtoWierzbicka,identicalwiththemeaningofGermanglücklich andFrenchheureux,andalso withthemeaningoftranslationequivalentsinotherSlaviclanguages.  Goddard(2002, 53)prefersthetermethnopragmatics forthisbroaderuseoftheword. 6 Frančiška Trobevšek Drobnak On the merits and shortcomings of semantic primes and natural semantic metalanguage in ... content in the morphosyntax of a particular language (Enfield 2002, 5). Again, Wierzbicka is convinced that the study of this field can be effective only within the framework of semantic primes, and if the description of semantic (conceptual) differences is based on the application of NSM as tertium comparationis: The grammatical constructions of any natural language encode certain meanings. These meanings can be ‘deciphered’ and stated in precise and yet intuitively comprehensible semantic formulae. To the extent to which the semantic metalanguage in which such formulae are worded is language independent and ‘culture-free’, the meanings encoded in the grammar of different languages can be compared and the differences between them can be shown explicitly (1988, 12). A typical example of an ethnosyntatic phenomenon is the encodement of Russian fatalistic acceptance of destiny in the morphosyntactic construction impersonal dative-cum-infinitive constructions, which have the following forms (all examples from Wierzbicka 1992, 108–16, 413–28): a) existential: negative6- Person X7:dative - Noun Y:genitive Ne bude tebe nikakogo moroženmogo ‘there will be no ice-cream for you’ b) negation – infinitive verb – person X:dative – noun Y:genitive Ne vidat’ tebe etix podarkov ‘you will never see these presents’ c) person X:dative – Mental verb:3SGRefl. Emu xotelos’ slyšat’ zvuk ee golosa ‘he (felt he) wanted to hear the sound of her’ The common denominator of the above sentences is the connotation that the person referred to by the noun phrase in the dative case, the passive participant, cannot achieve the desired goal. The reason for that is not very clear, but it seems as if it comes from someone ‘above’, from destiny or God. This semantic content can be expressed in NSM in the following manner: (a) Person X wants to do something; (b) I know: X cannot do it; (c) If someone wanted to say why X cannot do it, this person could say: (d) It is like someone above people doesn’t want this to happen. The direct encodment of a particular semantic component on the level of morphosyntax, is to Wierzbicka a direct proof of an ethnosyntactic phenomenon. Other frequently quoted examples of ethnosyntax discussed by Wierzbicka include the use of diminutives in Russian, adversative passive in Japanese (1988), Italian syntactic reduplication (1991) and English causal constructions (1998).  ‘there isn’t’  XisthepotentialrecepientofthenounY,whocannotobtainYinreallife. LANGUAGE  . Conclusion: the merits and shortcomings of nsM 4.1 Linguists have had mixed feelings about the work of Anna Wierzbicka. They acknowledge her precise and in-depth descriptions of grammar and cultural specifics of different nations, but at the same time reject most her persistence on the theory of directly indefinable semantic primes and the use of natural semantic metalanguage. Wierzbicka’s work is conspicuously absent from the otherwise excellent recent reviews of linguistic anthropology (...) Many scholars are put off by a simple universalist claim at the heart of her approach – namely, that all languages have a directly translatable primitive semantic core, and it is at this level that linguistic and cultural analysis is to be done (Endfield 2002, 5). 4.2 Critics of the theory that semantic primes – i. e. the meanings of lexemes which cannot be broken down into smaller semantic components, are directly related to conceptual primitives, with which we categorize the world around us – are unnecessarily harsh. The truth is that this theory can neither be empirically verified nor disproved, since the pre-linguistic conceptual universe is inaccessible to human cognition. Nevertheless, both the indivisibility of semantic primes and their lexicalization in all natural languages can be tested, the list revised, extended or reduced, something that Wierzbicka herself admits and feels compelled to do (1996, 3–34). Even if semantic primes are not a direct expression of (innate) conceptual primitives, their universal character and indivisibility make them appropriate culture-free semantic building blocks of lexicographic definitions, much less controversial than the circularity of synonyms or quasi-synonyms. Where Wierzbicka cannot be followed without reservation is in the application of canonical sentences (NSM) in the definition of words. The analyses which she proposes for culture-specific or semantically similar words are awkward and impractical, and may require additional clarification, which Wierzbicka herself occasionally provides, e. g. in the definition of the word game (1996, 159).8 Furthermore, these analyses remain arbitrary. When the essential contrastive component is expressed in a canonical sentence, the decision about its inclusion in the definition formula is, at best, based on the verbal ruling of native speakers, since their conceptual perception is not directly accessible. The application of NSM does not reduce the vagueness and subjectivity of the connotative meaning of words any more than the classical  Games (bracketscontainWierzbicka’scommentary) (a) manykindsofthingsthatpeopledo(gamesarehumanactivitiesandtherearemanykindsofthem) (b) forsometime(gamesarenotinstantaneous,buthaveduration) (c) becausetheywanttofeelsomethinggood(gamesareundertakenforpleasure) (d) whenpeopledothisthings,onecansaythesethingsaboutthesepeople:(gameshavesomeconstantcharacteristics) (e) theywantsomethingstohappen(gameshavegoals) (f) iftheywerenotdoingthesethings,theywouldn’twantthesethingstohappen(goalshavenomeaningoutsideofthe game) (g) theydon’tknowwhatwillhappen(thecourseofagameisunpredictable) (h) theyknowwhattheycando(gameshaverules) (i) theyknowwhattheycannotdo.  Frančiška Trobevšek Drobnak On the merits and shortcomings of semantic primes and natural semantic metalanguage in ... decomposition of meaning does. The decoded meaning still depends on the experience of the speaker and the hearer, on what they both know and think about the world, on the tradition and common culture of their language (discourse) community (communities). In cross-cultural translation, at least the one with general public as the target audience, corpora analyses seem a more reliable source of information when determining how “specific concepts expressed by individual lexical items in specific languages interact with large-scale conceptual mappings found in many different languages” (Stefanowitsch 2004,139).9 Regardless of the above and other reservations, the identification of semantic primes in the lexical component of languages is a major contribution to contemporary linguistics. Wierzbicka’s insistence that grammatical categories and structures are as indicative of the society’s culture as the lexicon is, and that the meanings encoded in them can also be broken down into canonical sentences of semantic primes, is particularly ground-breaking. The application of NSM to definitions of words and grammatical structures, especially when verified through tenacious corpora analyses, where available, can by no means replace but it certainly can improve the classical compositional and prototype semantics, as well as cognitive linguistic and cultural studies in general. Bibliography: Bloomfield, L. 1933 (1995). Language. London: George Allen & Unwin. Boas, F. 1911 (1966). Introduction to Handbook of American Indian Languages. In Introduction to Handbook of American Indian Languages/Indian Linguistic Families of America North of Mexico, ed. P. Holder, 179. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Chomsky, N. 1955 (1975). The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory. 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LITERATURE Kristina Kočan university of Maribor Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950 Summary In most cases, African American poetry eschews traditional literary norms. Contemporary African American poets tend to ignore grammatical rules, use unusual typography on many occasions, include much of their cultural heritage in their poetry, and interweave musical elements into literary genres. The influence of such musical genres as jazz, blues, soul, and gospel, together with the dilemmas that occur for the translator, will be shown to great extent, since music, like black speech, is a major part of African American culture and literature. The translator will have to maintain the specific African American rhythm, blues adaptations and the improvisational language under the jazz impact. The paper presents the problems in translating post-1950 African American poetry into Slovene, and asks to what extent can one successfully transfer the musical elements within this poetry for the target culture? Inevitably, it will identify a share of elements that are lost in translation. Key words: African American poetry, jazz poetry, blues, soul, gospel, translation, source culture, target culture Problemi pri prevajanju glasbenih elementov v afriško ameriški poeziji po letu 1950 Povzetek Afriško ameriška poezija večinoma zavrača tradicionalne književne norme. Sodobni afriško ameriški pesniki pogosto ne upoštevajo slovničnih pravil, uporabljajo nenavadno tipografijo, vključujejo velik del njim lastne kulturne dediščine v poezijo, hkrati pa svojo poezijo prepletajo z elementi glasbenih žanrov, kot so jazz, blues, soul in gospel. Članek oriše vpliv teh glasbenih žanrov na poezijo in dileme, ki se ob prevajanju pojavijo za prevajalca. Glasba, ki je zakoreninjena v črnski tradiciji kot tudi črnski govor sta pomemben del afriško ameriške kulture in književnosti. Prevajalec se mora truditi obdržati poseben afriško ameriški ritem v poeziji, adaptacije blues glasbe ter uporabo improvizacijskega jezika pod vplivom jazz glasbe. Članek podrobneje predstavlja probleme, ki nastanejo pri prevajanju afriško ameriške poezije po letu 1950 v slovenščino ter do kakšne mere prevajalec sploh lahko prenese originalnost glasbenih elementov znotraj te poezije za ciljno kulturo? Neizogibno pa članek prikaže tudi del elementov, ki se skozi prevod izgubijo. Ključne besede: afriško ameriška poezija, jazz poezija, blues, soul, gospel, prevajanje, izvirna kultura, ciljna kultura 1. Introduction This paper offers a detailed insight into the musical components of African American poetry after 1950. The musical genres jazz, blues, and soul, as well as gospel song are all part of the African American culture. African American poets tend to include these in their writing, and it is difficult to transfer a source culture into a target culture without making fatal errors or at least slightly changing meanings. Some African American poets include under the influence of jazz music the use of improvisatory language, where a poem contains a specific rhythm and a non­standard use of language. Others tend to include elements of blues so that a poem becomes a so-called blues adaptation. Still others interweave elements of gospel songs into their poetry, or they follow the revolutionary ideas of soul music. Each musical compound and related translation problem discussed here is supported by examples, analysis, and discussion. Some translations were made by the present author, but the basis for this study was the anthology of post-1950 African American poetry, Govoreči boben 2006 (The Talking Drum), which the author translated into Slovene together with Samo Šalamon. The paper tries to portray all these dilemmas and possible solutions for them as well as to show to what extent African American poetry and culture can be transferred into Slovene language and culture. In addition, it will show a share of elements that are unavoidably lost in translation. 2. Jazz elements For many African American writers, the musical aspect within literature is almost as crucial as the word itself. Even at the time of the Harlem Renaissance, writers, especially poets, were under the influence of music in that they interwove musical elements and poetry. Langston Hughes wrote a whole oeuvre in this mode, first jazz and blues, and later bop (poems like “Jazzonia, “The Weary Blues,” “Dream Boogie,” and “Lenox Avenue: Midnight”). Most African American artists after 1950 refused to use traditional forms, as they refused to be a part of the American white mainstream. The use of musical elements and black vernacular within the literature became something like an alternative pose against the white mainstream. An extreme example of such a pose was the case of Amiri Baraka: “Baraka also wants to take weak western forms, rip them asunder, and create something new out of rubble. He transposes Coltrane’s musical ideas to poetry, using them to turn white poetic forms backwards and upside down” (Harris 1985, 15). In the postwar period, jazz began developing in a new direction, and some changes occurred; bebop and bop music as well as cool jazz emerged. It was a time of jam sessions and different styles of playing: Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. The sixties and the seventies were the era of avant-garde jazz; Ornette Coleman presented his composition “Free Jazz” in 1960, and this was undeniably a manifestation of a new period. Next to Coleman there were John Coltrane, Charlie Mingus and Miles Davis. Avant-garde jazz or free jazz was of immense importance for some poets and writers, since they saw it, on the one hand, almost as a source of revolution or, on the other hand, as a mode of contemplation in their poetry: 6 Kristina Kočan Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950 In part, the act of visualizing jazz accounts for the range of poets engaged in the music’s elusive accessibility: young black writers steeped in the tradition of black music, using poetry in part to achieve a political voice; …women lamenting over the men who have done them wrong, poets trying to break apart the language to imitate sound; friends of jazz musicians eager to keep their spirit alive on the page, … (Feinstein & Komunyakaa 1991, xx). African American poets used jazz in poetry to such an extent that the term jazz poetry emerged: “A jazz poem is any poem that has been informed by jazz music. The influence can be in the subject of the poem or in the rhythms, but one should not necessarily exclude the other” (Feinstein 1997, 2). Michael S. Harper (1938–) is an African American poet who has used the jazz tradition throughout his writing. According to Feinstein’s definition, his genre is jazz poetry, and Harper seems almost a musicologist, constantly referring to jazz musicians in his poems: “Harper’s use of jazz requires an intimate knowledge of the music’s history, and his references to musicians or songs demand complex and well informed associative responses” (Feinstein 1997, 128). One of the most important characteristics of Harper’s poetry includes allusions to various jazz musicians. The major element in jazz is improvisation, which Harper has used in his poetry. Language becomes improvisation, reflecting musical improvisation. Harper’s poem “Brother John” is a good example of his use of improvisation in language, which he achieves by placing a specific rhythm into the poem. The rhythm is achieved mainly through alliteration. For a translator, it is important not to lose this rhythm and to preserve the alliteration, which can be difficult: “It may be possible to match the sound in other languages, but not the meaning, or, alternatively, the meaning, but not the sound” (Lefevere 1992, 20). The translator is occupied with an obvious dilemma here – to preserve the meaning or the sound? The translator has managed to do both in this poem, but such occasions are rare. Another translation problem in this poem occurs with the words “Bird” and “bird”; the former word refers to Charlie Parker.1 It is impossible to preserve the double meaning of the word “bird” in Slovene, since there is another word for “bird,” and it makes no sense to translate the nickname “Bird,” since it would not be helpful to a Slovene reader if the translator wrote “Ptič,” with a capital letter. It would be recommended, however, that the translator add a footnote reminding the reader that “Bird” refers to Charlie Parker and what the literal meaning is.  Charlie Parker (0–), aka Yardbird or Bird was one of the most famous american alto saxophone players and composers in the 0s and 0s. LITERATURE  Brother John ... Bird, buttermilk, bird – smack, booze and bitches I am Bird baddest nightdreamer on sax in the ornithology-world I can fly – higher, high, higher – I’m a black man; I am, I’m a black man – Brat John ... Bird, pinjenec, ptič – tlesk, pijača in psice jaz sem Bird najhujši nočni sanjač na saksu v ornitološkem svetu lahko letim – višje, visoko, višje – jaz sem črn moški; jaz sem, sem črn moški – The poem “Dear John, Dear Coltrane” is a different example of Harper’s jazz poetry. The poem is obviously dedicated to and about John Coltrane.2 The poem is a meditation on Coltrane’s life. The poem begins with Coltrane’s childhood and ends with the period of his disease: “Indeed, the poem is structured like a love supreme – in for parts which, as a whole, strive for a supreme love: acknowledgement, resolution, pursuance, psalm” (Feinstein 1997, 131). The language here seems no longer improvised, as in the previous example,3 yet Harper achieves a particular rhythm in the poem by repeating the words “a love supreme” and by inserting the third stanza of the poem (“why you so black?/cause I am ...”). Again, the translator must be aware of this rhythm and maintain it in the translation as much as possible. The problem in the third stanza also lies with the word “funky” – whether to translate it or keep it in the original. The word has several meanings, and it is very integrated into Slovene slang. The translator decided to keep this word in the original. Along with Coltrane, Harper uses other related allusions: “Naima” and “a love supreme.” The names Coltrane and Naima (Coltrane’s first wife) are not problematic for a translator, since names are usually left in the original form. However, more problematic is the allusion “a love supreme”. The translator has to recognize that the poet is referring to the album that Coltrane recorded in 1964; moreover, the poet refers to the chant “a love supreme” on the album. Therefore, the translator must keep the original form. Dear John, Dear Coltrane ... Why you so black? cause I am why you so funky? cause I am why you so black? cause I am why you so sweet? cause I am Dragi John, dragi Cotrane4 .. Zakaj ti tako črn? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako funky? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako črn? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako sladek? zato ker sem  John Coltrane (–), also referred to as Trane, was one of the most important and influential american tenor saxophone players and composers in the 0s and 0s.  There are other such jazz dedications in poetry, one such is al Young’s “Jungle Strut,” which has also been translated into Slovene: ”Of all the nights, yours were greenest, gene, / Blue-breathing sun of your boogie-bled dad / Who, like you after him, left this dry world / a treasure tray of cocktails for the ear.”  Translated by Samo Šalamon and Kristina Kočan.  Kristina Kočan Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950 why you so black? cause I am a love supreme, a love supreme: So sick you couldn’t play Naima, so flat we ached for song you’d concealed with your own blood, your diseased liver gave out its purity, the inflated heart pumps out, the tenor kiss, tenor love: a love supreme, a love supreme – a love supreme, a love supreme – zakaj ti tako črn? zato ker sem a love supreme, a love supreme:. Tako bolan, da nisi zmogel igrati Naime, tako nizek, da smo hrepeneli po pesmi, ki si jo prikril s svojo lastno krvjo, tvoja bolna jetra so izjalovila svojo čistost, napihnjeno srce spušča, tenorski poljub, tenorska ljubezen: a love supreme, a love supreme – a love supreme, a love supreme – The following example also shows the use of improvisational language. The poem “Snake-Back Solo” by QuincyTroupe (1943–) is dedicated to four important African American artists. Quincy Troupe argued in the Dictionary of Literary Biography that, “American speech idiom – blues and jazz forms – is a viable poetic form. At the base of American creativity is language... what black people can do with the rhythms and the words and musicians with the sound coupled with the words is extraordinary” (“Dictionary”). Troupe successfully transferred his theory into his poetry, one example of which is the following poem. He uses an extremely rhythmical language, which is the most important feature to maintain in the translation. The translator therefore does not reject Troupe’s dense use of prepositions (“on in spacin on in on a riff”) in the translation, since they mostly contribute to the rhythm of the poem. An interesting phenomenon is his use of the word “eye” instead of “I,” and this homonym is unfortunately impossible to preserve in translation. In the poem, Troupe also uses allusions to Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, and Miles Davis. The translator leaves the names as in the original. The word “boogalooin” refers to boogaloo music, which was a popular musical genre in the 1960s. It is important for the translator to leave the word in the original. Snake-Back Solo, for Louis Armstrong, Steve Cannon, Miles Davis & Eugene Redmond with the music up high boogalooin bass down way way low up & under eye come slidin on in mojoin on in spacin on in on a riff full of rain riffin on in full of rain & pain spacin on in on a sound like Coltrane Kačji solo, za Louisa Armstronga, Steva Cannona, Milesa Davisa & Eugena Redmonda5 z glasbo visoko zgoraj boogaloo basom spodaj tako tako nizko zgoraj & spodaj pridrsim s svojim čarom v razmiku na v na riffu polnem dežja rifam v polnem dežju & bolečini razmaknem na v na zvoku coltranea  Translated by Samo Šalamon and Kristina Kočan. Amiri Baraka (1934–) shows the reader, with his poem “AM/TRAK,” how experimental and improvisational jazz poetry can be. The poet ignores syntactic rules and punctuation, uses a highly improvisational language by inserting screams, onomatopoeic expressions of the saxophone, trying to imitate Coltrane’s playing. For the translator, this actually does not present serious difficulties, since one leaves the “screams and screeches”6 as in the original form. Another feature is the rhythm, which the poet achieves by repetition and isolated words that seem to be ripped out of context. If the translator in such cases follows the poet’s rules, s/he will not encounter serious dilemmas. AM/TRAK Trane, Trane, History Love Scream Oh Trane, Oh Trane, Oh Scream History Love Trane … Trane was the spirit of the 60’s He was the Malcolm X in New Super Bop Fire Baaahhhhh Wheeeeeee….Black Art!!! ... AM/TRAK Trane, Trane, Zgodovina Ljubezen Krik Oh Trane, Oh Trane, Oh Krik Zgodovina Ljubezen Trane … Trane je bil duša 60-ih Bil je Malcolm X Novega Super Bop Ognja Baaahhhhh Wheeeeeee….Črna Umetnost!!! ... Another poet who was highly influenced by jazz is Carolyn Rodgers (1943–). Her poem “Me, In Kulu Se & Karma” is actually a linguistic improvisation on two jazz albums, John Coltrane’s Kulu Se Mama and Pharoah Sanders’s Karma.8 The translator has to be careful about the similar features as in the case of Amiri Baraka. The translator has to achieve the same effect as the poet by extending the word by adding more vowels (“sweeeeeet”) or consonants (“screammmmmmmmming”). For the translator, it is not problematic when he faces vowels, because it is possible to prolong a vowel in Slovene but impossible to prolong a consonant like “č”. Therefore the translator here chose to replace the prolonged m-form with the vowel “i” (screammmmmmmming › kričiiiiiiiiiiiii) .  Sonia Sanchez also frequently used the feature of the scream and the screech in her poems, which shows to what ex­tent directly influenced poetry: ”yrs befo u blew away our passsst / and showed us our futureeeeee / schreech screeech screeeeech screeech / a/love/supreme, alovesupreme a lovesupreme. / a LOVe SuPReMe / ScreeeccCHHHHHH screeeeeeeCHHHHHHH / SCReeeeeeCHHHHHHH SCReeeeCCCCHHHH / SCReeeeeeeeCCCHHHHHHHHHHHH / a lovesupremealovesupremealovesupreme for our blk / people” (a/coltrane/poem)  John Coltrane recorded the album “Kulu Se Mama” in October , featuring his classic quartet.  Pharoah Sanders, a tenor saxophone player, recorded the album “Karma” in  as a response to Coltrane’s “a Love Supreme”. 50 Kristina Kočan Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950 Me, in Kulu Se & Karma ... sweet sweeet sweeeeeet and its me in the sky moving that way going freee where pha raoh and trane playing in my guts and its me and my ears forgetting how to listen and just feeling oh yeam me I am screammmmmmmmming into the box and the box is screammmmmmmming back, is slow motion moving sound … Jaz, v Kulu Se & Karma ... sladko slaaaadko slaaaaadko in jaz se premikam na nebu na ta način za prostooost kjer pha roah in trane igrata v mojem črevesju in jaz in moja ušesa pozabljajo kako poslušati in zgolj čutiti oh jaaa jaz sem jaz kričiiiiiiiiiim v škatlo in škatla kričiiiiiiiiiiiii nazaj, je počasno gibanje, ki giba zvok ... . Blues elements Blues developed among African slave workers in America and was at first sung during work in the fields. Blues as a musical genre emerged around 1900. The form of blues is very simple: usually it is AAB structure, when “each line or thought is stated, repeated, and then answered…” (Palmer 1981, 42). Another crucial aspect for blues is the African American oral tradition, which is apparent in all blues lyrics. One example of this is the classic tune by Robert Johnson, “Ramblin’ on my Mind”: I got ramblin’, I got ramblin on my mind I got ramblin’, I got ramblin on my mind Hate to leave you my baby, but you treats me so unkind... The theme in blues is always about painful experience and feelings of sadness, sometimes mixed with religious or subtle sexual elements. Blues is a strongly emotional genre. It became very popular among African American people, as they could well relate with the themes of the blues. Many poets adapted blues and used it in their poems, using its theme, form/structure and the black vernacular. For Slovene readers, blues adaptations in poetry are completely new as blues does not exist in any relation to Europe. Moreover, Slovene poets never interwove musical elements and poetry. Translated blues adaptations may sound quite awkward to a Slovene reader. The translator must maintain the form with a rhyme structure, if the poet uses one. The theme has to stay as in the original. The most difficult thing for a translator is definitely the linguistic aspect of blues. African American poets use black vernacular in blues adaptations in a lexical and grammatical, even syntactical sense. The poet Sherley Anne Williams (1944–1999) used blues almost as a poetic genre. All her poetry is infused with a blues motif: “Sometimes the blues mood is ritualistic and intrinsic, as in ... Williams’s ‘Any Woman’s Blues’” (Liggins Hill 1998, 1358). This poem uses the AAB form, which the translator must maintain since this is, next to the blues theme, the most important feature of blues.9 There is a rhyme structure (aaa, bbb, ccc, ddd) in the poem, but in the second and third stanza there is only an approximate rhyme, where words are almost  Several other poets used the aaB blues structure and theme, like in the example of nikki giovanni’s Master Charge Blues: ”its Wednesday night baby / and i’m all alone / Wednesday night baby / and i’m all alone / sitting with myself / waiting for the telephone” but not exactly alike. In this poem this phonetic similarity is based on spoken language (alone, alone, home; sun, sun, gone). That is why the translator decided not to use the rhyme structure in the translation. According to Lefevere, it is better to omit the rhyme structure in the poem than to produce a translation that does not read well: “Translators who translate with rhyme and meter as their first priority often find themselves neglecting other features of the original …” (Lefevere 1992, 71). Itisalso difficultfor aSlovene translatorto find equivalents forthe vernacular.The translatorwould have to find a matching dialect, but this would sound unnatural, since there is no substitution for black vernacular in Slovene language, or any language. As Landers claims: “No dialect travels well in translation. However reluctantly, the translator must recognize that dialect, at least at the level of one-to-one transference, is untranslatable” (Landers 2001, 117). The translator therefore chose to use formal Slovene language, except for the punctuation. Punctuation remained as in the original. As is made apparent by the comparison of the original text and the translation, some features were lost along with part of the originality during the translation process. We cannot substitute black vernacular; the word “naw” has to be translated into the correct Slovene word “ne” because Slovene does not contain any other words for “no”, neither in formal language, nor in dialect or slang. Similar examples occur in the last stanza (“My life ain’t done yet...My song ain’t through.”), where there is again no equivalent in the target language for the vernacular structures in the source language. Some of the flavour of originality is unavoidably lost. However, as Lefevere emphasizes, it is better to know foreign authors and texts in translation than not to know them at all. Any Woman’s Blues every woman is a victim of the feel blues, too. Soft lamp shinin and me alone in the night. Soft lamp is shinin and me alone in the night. Can’t take no one beside me need mo’n jest some man to set me right. I left peoples and places tryin not to be alone. Left many a person and places I lived my life alone. I need to get myself together. Yes, I need to make myself to home. Blues vsake ženske10 vsaka ženska je tudi žrtev občutja bluesa. Blaga luč sveti in jaz sama v noči. Blaga luč se sveti in jaz sama v noči. Ne morem vzeti nikogar na svojo stran rabim za šalo moškega da me spravi v red. Zapustila sem mnogo ljudi in krajev poskušala da ne bi bila sama. Zapustila mnogo oseb in krajev živela svoje življenje sama. Moram se spraviti k sebi. Ja, moram se spraviti domov. 0 Translated by Samo Šalamon and Kristina Kočan. 52 Kristina Kočan Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950 What’s gone can be a window a circle in the eye of the sun. What’s gone can be a window a circle, well, in the eye of the sun. Take the circle from the world, girl you find the light have gone. These is old blues and I sing ‘em like any woman do. These the old blues and I sing ‘em, sing ‘em, sing ‘em. Just like any woman do. My life ain’t done yet. Naw. My song ain’t through. Kar je bilo je lahko okno krog v očesu sonca. Kar je bilo je lahko okno krog, no, v očesu sonca. Vzemi krog svetu, punca, videla boš da ni več svetlobe. To je stari blues in pojem ga kot vsaka ženska. Ta stari blues in pojem ga, pojem ga, pojem ga. Kot vsaka ženska. Moje življenje še ni končano. Ne. Moje pesmi še ni konec. The following poem, “Monday Morning Blues,” by Naomi Long Madgett (1923–), is another example of blues in poetry. The structure in this poem is also AAB with a rhyme structure (aaa bbb ccc ddd) that the translator has completely preserved. However, for the sake of preserving the rhyme, some syntactic structures (word order or some additions to sentences) of the target language may sound archaic and awkward (“Kost črne mačke želim si, da bi našla, da vsaj nekaj sreče prikliče.” or “Čakala sem plačilo, pa poštar prinesel je le račune, nič manj.”). Again Lefevere says: …syntax tends to suffer most as it is stretched on the procrustean bed of sound similarity and metrical beat, and the information content is almost inevitably supplemented or altered in none too subtle ways by “padding”: words not in the original added to balance a line on the metrical level or to supply the all-important rhyme word. (Lefevere 1992, 71) And this is partly the case with this poem, when the translator added “nič manj” for the sake of the rhyme. One would have had to find a word for “instead”, which would be “namesto,” “namesto tega” or similar. The translator did not alter the information (or the theme) though. Another interesting phenomenon of the blues aesthetic, which Madgett also uses in this poem, is in connection with African culture/heritage. Many blues lyrics refer to voodoo, superstition and even the devil. Madgett refers in this poem to “black cat’s bones,” which in African tradition are supposed to bring luck to people. This is to some extent culturally foreign to Slovene readers, as Slovene superstitious tradition also uses black cats but only in order to bring bad luck if it crosses one’s path. Older Slovene people would even spit if a black cat crosses their path. Monday Morning Blues All night my bed was rocky, all night nobody by my side; My bed was cold and rocky, all night no good man by my side. The radiator sputtered, the furnace gave a groan and died. I woke up dreaming Friday, but Monday dragged me out of bed; Yes, woke up dreaming Friday, Monday dragged me out of bed. Was looking for a paycheck, mailman brought me bills instead. Well, no one comes to see me, no one ever telephones; Nobody but Misfortune visits me or telephones. Wish I could find me something as lucky as a black cat’s bones. You may not see me smiling, still you’ll never hear me cry; Seldom see me smiling, never gonna hear me cry; But I do a lot of laughing ‘cause I’m too damn proud to die. Blues ponedeljkovega jutra11 Moja postelja vso noč bila je majava, vso noč sama sem ležala; Moja postelja bila je mrzla in majava, vso noč brez dobrega moškega ležala. V radiatorju je pokalo, peč je zastokala in zaspala. Sanjajoč petek sem se prebudila, a ponedeljek me je zvlekel iz sanj; Ja, sanjajoč petek sem se prebudila, a ponedeljek me je zvlekel iz sanj. Čakala sem plačilo, pa poštar prinesel je le račune, nič manj. Ne, nihče me ne pride obiskat, nihče nikoli ne pokliče; Nihče razen Nesreče me ne pride obiskat ali pa pokliče. Kost črne mačke želim si, da bi našla, da vsaj nekaj sreče prikliče. Nikoli me ne vidiš, da bi se smejala, a tudi ne, da bi jokala; Redko vidiš, da bi se smejala, a nikdar, da bi jokala; A pogosto se režim, saj sem preponosna, da bi se predala. The poem “Blues” by Sonia Sanchez uses the blues theme differently from the previous two examples. The poet here alters the original blues form; Sanchez uses none of the typical blues structures. What matters the most in this poem is the theme: “In some instances, the influence is ornamental and thematic, as in Sanchez’s ‘Blues’ …” (Liggins Hill 1998, 1358). Sanchez decided to include the not-so-subtle sexual connotation (“… he put in the bacon/and it overflowed the pot.”) and an allusion to Bessie Smith12 (“…Yeah, bessie …”). The translator should first know the background and be aware that the theme has to stay as it is in the original. The translator should not “explain” too much with the translation, yet one decided on a more free type of translation: “… translation designed to match the ideological and ‘poetological’ expectations shared by ‘target readers’ …” (Lefevere 1992, 17). The translator chose the word “klobasica,” which refers to “a small sausage”. In the Slovene culture “klobasica” has a stronger sexual connotation than “bacon”, and the translator wanted to be sure the Slovene reader grasps the true meaning.  Translated by Samo Šalamon and Kristina Kočan.  Bessie Smith was the greatest of the classic female Blues singers of the 0s and the 0s. 5 Kristina Kočan Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950 Blues ... like when he took me to his home away from home place and i died the long sought after death he’d planned for me. Yeah, bessie he put in the bacon and it overflowed the pot. and two days later when i was talking i started to grin. as everyone knows i am still grinning. Blues13 ... kot takrat ko me je peljal k sebi domov stran od domačega kraja in sem umrla dolgo iskano smrt ki jo je načrtoval zame. Ja, bessie, dal je not klobasico in je zavrelo preko lonca. in dva dni kasneje ko sem govorila sem se začela režati. kot vsi vedo se še vedno režim. In the following example, the poem “A Poem For Myself (or Blues for a Mississippi Black Boy)” by Etheridge Knight (1931–1991) shows the reader how experimental a poet can become with the blues genre in poetry: “… contemporary black poets have experimented with the blues motif and form, as in Knight’s A Poem For Myself...” (Liggins Hill 1998, 1359). As in the Sanchez example, there is no particular blues form, and the theme also differs from the theme of pain or sexuality, because the poet is calling for African American people to return to their southern roots. The translator must be careful with syntactical structures, when the poet leaves out the auxiliary verb (“Born black in Mississippi”, “I been to Detroit & Chicago”). The poet also leaves out the subject at some points (“Been to New York city too”). The latter is not that problematic for the Slovene translator, since the Slovene language does not use the subject form explicitly before a verb, but expresses the subject in the verb form. The translator again chose to use formal Slovene. A Poem for Myself Pesem zame (ali Blues za (or Blues for a Mississippi Black Boy) mississippijskega črnega dečka)14 I was born in Mississippi; Rojen sem bil v Mississippiju; I walked barefooted thru the mud. Bos sem hodil po blatu. Born black in Mississippi, Rojen črn v Mississippiju, Walked barefooted thru the mud. Hodil bos po blatu. But, when I reached the age of twelve A, ko sem jih dopolnil dvanajst I left that place for good. Sem zapustil tisti kraj za vedno. Said my daddy chopped cotton Pravim očka je obiral bombaž And he drank his liquor straight. In ga dobro dajal na zob. When I left that Sunday morning Ko sem odšel tistega nedeljskega jutra He was leaning on the barnyard gate. Se je naslanjal na vrata dvorišča. Left her standing in the yard Jo pustil stati na dvorišču With the sun shining in her eyes. Z lesketajočim soncem v njenih očeh.  Translated by Samo Šalamon and Kristina Kočan.  Translated by Samo Šalamon and Kristina Kočan. And I headed North As straight as the Wild Goose Flies, I been to Detroit & Chicago Been to New York city too. I been to Detroit & Chicago Been to New York city too. Said I done strolled all those funky avenues I’m still the same old black boy with the same old blues. Going back to Mississippi This time to stay for good Going back to Mississippi This time to stay for good- Gonna be free in Mississippi Or dead in the Mississippi mud. In odšel sem na Sever Naravnost kot letijo divje gosi, Bil v Detroitu & Chicagu Bil tudi v mestu New York. Bil v Detroitu & Chicagu Bil tudi v mestu New York. Rekel dovolj mi je pohajkovanja po vseh teh sumljivih avenijahŠe vedno sem tisti stari črni deček z istim starim bluesom. Grem nazaj v Mississippi Da ostanem tam za vedno Grem nazaj v Mississippi Da ostanem tam za vedno – V Mississippiju osvobojen ali pa mrtev v mississippijskem blatu. . soul elements in poetry Like jazz and blues, soul music also had an impact on African American literature. Soul music derived from blues and gospel. James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and many more influenced a number of African American poets from the sixties and, later, poets like Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Ntozake Shange, Michael S. Harper and Jayne Cortez. James Brown’s “Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” was almost the black anthem in the sixties. Soul musicians influenced the poets exactly because they expressed similar ideas in their lyrics: “The lasting legacy of pop, funk, and soul artists to the written texts of African Americans derived from their profound recognition of human alienation and the black rhythms of existence that define it” (Liggins Hill 1998, 1361). Soul music in literature was more thematically present, and not like jazz or blues where poets used improvisatory language, as in the case of jazz influence, or the blues structure/form, motif, and theme, as in the case of blues influence. In the poem “Revolutionary Music” by Nikki Giovanni, the poet refers to soul music as revolutionary music. In a way the poet expresses the delight of soul music for black people; on the other hand the poet tells black people to reject white values; hence the title Revolutionary Music, revolution and delight. For the translator of such poetry, it is important that he becomes familiar with the names of the artists to whom the poet alludes. The translator should also notice that the poet inserted parts of lyrics by Brown and Franklin, which are not supposed to be translated. However, it would be recommended that the translator add a footnote with a translation of the lyrics. 56 Kristina Kočan Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950 Revolutionary Music ... james brown can go to viet nam or sing about whatever he has to since he already told the honkie “although you happy you better try to get along money won’t change you but time is taking you on”15 ... aretha said they better think but she already said “ain’t no way to love you”16 (and you know she wasn’t talking to us) ... Revolucionarna glasba ... james brown lahko odide v vietnam ali poje o čemerkoli mora saj je že povedal belčku “although you happy you better try to get along money won’t change you but time is taking you on” ... aretha je rekla naj raje razmislijo a sama je že povedala “ain’t no way to love you“ (in veš, da ni govorila nam) ... 5. Gospel A specific cultural expression in African American poetry is its inclusion of gospel. Gospel comes from the words “god spell.” African American poets include gospel as in the sense of a sermon, typical of the black church or the Baptist church. They either add biblical allusions or write a song in the way a sermon would be written. African American poets are often influenced by gospel music in their poetry: “…black gospel music emerged in the 1920s as the urban music counterpart to the rural spirituals” (Liggins Hill 1998, 777). In gospel songs they sing about Jesus and figures from the New Testament. Hand clapping, foot tapping and other rhythmic movements, together with constant shouts of “hallelujah,” are part of the gospel song. There is also the technique “call and response,” whereby someone sings a phrase or a word, and the chorus echoes it, and they repeat this. Michael S. Harper interweaves this precise technique into his poem “Dear John, Dear Coltrane.” The third stanza of the poem, written in italics, evokes a gospel song, a song within the poem. Feinstein expands on this: “The antiphonal, call-response / retort stanza,” Harper explains, “simulates the black church, and gives the answer to renewal to any question – ‘cause I am’ ”... Harper refers to Coltrane’s father’s church, yet the phrase “cause I am” is more than a rhythmic pattern, it is an expansive answer, with the “I” encompassing “all”... (Feinstein 1997, 130) To sing in the first person is only one feature of gospel song. For the translator, it is crucial to maintain the strong rhythm with repetition in translation and to transfer the feeling of a song so the Slovene reader can grasp the connection to gospel.  ”Money Won’t Change You” by James Brown  ”ain’t no way” by aretha Franklin LITERATURE 5 Dear John, Dear Coltrane Why you so black? cause I am why you so funky? cause I am why you so black? cause I am why you so sweet? cause I am why you so black? cause I am Dragi John, dragi Coltrane17 Zakaj ti tako črn? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako funky? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako črn? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako sladek? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako črn? zato ker sem Nikki Giovanni wrote the poem “The Great Pax Whitie” using a technique for writing a gospel sermon with a biblical theme – repetition (“be still”) and calls to Jesus or the lord. Giovanni expresses anger, and so in places the tone is quite sarcastic: “The rage felt by so many Black Americans at America’s persistent and destructive racism is registered in poems like the fine ‘Great Pax Whitie’…” (Fowler 1996, 1). In the poems there are also other allusions, such as to Pax Britannica or even to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Malcolm X; yet all underneath the “gospel form.” There are no major dilemmas for the translator; the biblical expressions are known to Slovene readers. The difference is that the Roman Catholic sermon is far more static without shouts or repetitions. The Great Pax Whitie In the beginning was the word And the word was Death And the word was nigger And the word was death to all niggers And the word was death to all life And the word was death to all peace be still The genesis was life The genesis was death … be still peace be still … Noah picked his wife and kiddies up for a holiday row row row row your boat … be still be still … hallelujah jesus … Veliki Pax belček Na začetku je bila beseda In beseda je bila Smrt In beseda je bila črnuh In beseda je bila smrt vsem črnuhom In beseda je bila smrt vsemu življenju In beseda je bila smrt vsemu mir bodi vedno Geneza je bila življenje Geneza je bila smrt … bodi vedno mir bodi vedno … Noe je vzel svojo ženo in otročičke na počitnice veslaj veslaj veslaj v svojem čolnu … bodi vedno bodi vedno … aleluja jezus …  Translated by Samo Šalamon and Kristina Kočan. 5 Kristina Kočan Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950 6. Conclusion The main focus of my paper has been on problems in translating musical elements within this poetry into Slovene – though not only on problems in translating this poetry into Slovene, but transferring the source culture for the target culture. This part of my work, presenting the musical aspect of African American poetry, shows to what extent African American poets have been under the influence of music. Music as well as Black speech is considered to be “indigenous” to African American writers. Jazz and blues, and even soul music have influenced a number of African American poets in writing after 1950. Translators of African American poetry cannot afford to ignore this feature, since they are immediately confronted with the question of how to retain the specific African American rhythm and the improvisational language. The most difficult issue for the translator is undoubtedly the influence of the blues aesthetic on their poetry. Poets adapt the rules that apply to blues within the genre of poetry, rules on the form, theme and linguistic aspect of blues. For the translator, it is very difficult to transfer this genre into a culture that has not been specifically exposed to blues. Soul music influenced some poets because the soul musicians shared ideas in their lyrics similar to the ideas of rebellious poets of the sixties. Moreover, there is the tradition of gospel and gospel song in African American poetry which shows how valuable the cultural tradition is also to the contemporary African American poets. This part of my work is surely incomplete; one could always find more dilemmas in the process of translation. My attempt was to present the most obvious dilemmas and problems the translator might immediately encounter when translating such poetry. Part of the African American originality is certainly lost through the process of translation. One cannot transfer blues adaptations in poetry into Slovene without sounding awkward and unnatural; neither can one replace Black Vernacular speech with any of the Slovene dialects. However, as Lefevere says, it is better to know the foreign authors than not to know them at all, and this assurance motivates translators to bring this body of poetic work to the Slovene reading public. Bibliography Baraka, A. 1995. Transbluesency: The Selected Poems of Amiri Baraka. New York: Marsilio Publishers. Dictionary of Literary Biography on Quincy Troupe. 2007. Book Rags. http://www.bookrags.com/Quincy_Troupe (accessed August 20, 2007). Feinstein, S. 1997. Jazz Poetry: From the 1920s to the Present. Westport: Praeger Publishers. Feinstein, S., and Y. Komunyakaa. 1991. The Jazz Poetry Anthology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Fowler, V. 1996. Foreword. The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1-12. Giovanni, N. 1996. The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. Harper, M.S. 2002. Songlines in Michaeltree: New and Collected Poems. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Harris, W.J. 1985. The Jazz Aesthetic: The Poetry and Poetics of Amiri Baraka. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. Hill Liggins, P., ed. 1998. Call and Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Kočan, K., and S. Šalamon. 2006. Govoreči boben: Antologija afriško ameriške poezije po letu 1950. Murska Sobota: Zveza kulturnih društev, Edicije revije Separatio. Landers, C.E. 2001. Literary Translation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, Ltd. Lefevere, A. 1992. Translating Literature. Practice and Theory in a Comparative Literature Context. New York: The Modern Language Association of America. Palmer, R. 1981. Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta. New York: Penguin Books. 60 Kristina Kočan Problems in Translating Musical Elements in African American Poetry after 1950 III. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE TEACHING Marina Novogradec Vocational School Buje – Istituto Professionale Buie A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were as presented in pedagogical materials Summary The aim of this paper is to discuss the impact corpora might have on the use of certain grammatical forms in pedagogical materials. As many coursebooks and grammar textbooks are lacking in both text authenticity and some specific forms used for the classroom, it is disputable whether they are applicable to the needs the students might have in their future life. The available corpora for this study were used and then compared to the discourse analysis of pedagogical materials – grammar textbooks and coursebooks. The results showed that if-conditional forms (If I was/were) were used differently across the registers. These results might be applied to the pedagogical materials in order to make students’ learning more natural and interesting. Firstly, general background of corpus linguistics will be discussed, as well as the existing pedagogical materials used in the classroom. Afterwards, specific features in the corpora chosen for this study will be presented and analysed from a corpus-based perspective. Key words: corpora, pedagogical materials, foreign language learning Korpusna študija pogojniških oblik If I was/were v pedagoških gradivih Povzetek Namen članka je ugotoviti, kakšen vpliv imajo lahko korpusi na rabo slovnic in drugih pedagoških gradiv. Glede na to, da veliko učbenikov in slovničnih priročnikov ne vsebuje avtentičnih besedil in specifičnih oblik, primernih za pouk, je vprašljivo, ali so primerni za potrebe študentov. V študiji smo uporabili nekaj korpusov in jih primerjali s pedagoškim gradivom – slovnični priročniki in učbeniki. Rezultati so pokazali, da se pogojniške oblike (If I was/were) rabijo različno v različnih registrih. Te rezultate bi bilo mogoče uporabiti v pedagoških gradivih in tako ustvariti bolj zanimiv in avtentičen pouk. Ključne besede: korpusi, pedagoška gradiva, pouk tujih jezikov A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were… as presented in pedagogical materials 1. Introduction Teachers in Croatian schools, whether primary or secondary, often encounter great problems when they present certain linguistic features to their students. Sometimes the coursebooks, workbooks and grammar textbooks they use are not appropriate for their students’ needs. This means that in some way they lack text authenticity concerning the linguistic features they are presenting; moreover, sometimes they are not systematically organised. In order to satisfy students’ needs, teachers often use additional materials from the Internet and other sources that might help their students learn and acquire the foreign language in a more natural way. Teachers also use different approaches while presenting these materials, especially when the topics are presented on the lexical level. When it comes to the grammatical level, things sometimes become more complicated. There are always some problematic grammar areas for teachers to teach; certain grammatical structures are very difficult for students to understand because they differ greatly from those of the students’ first language (in this case Croatian). In this regard, the presentation of grammar textbooks plays a crucial role in developing students’ communicative competence. Authors of grammar textbooks usually confront three basic issues (Biber and Reppen 2002, 199): which grammatical features should be included or excluded in a lesson or book, what the order of grammatical topics should be, and which specific words should be included when illustrating a grammatical feature. If we want to focus, as in this paper, on secondary school grammar teaching, then solid material development for grammar should primarily investigate at least two basic issues: what grammatical features will be presented in the class and in what way. The purpose of this paper is to show the study of a very common grammatical feature – one which is most problematic for the students in secondary school – and examine it from a corpus-based perspective. The grammar area in question includes if-conditionals. Teaching conditional sentences in English classes causes great effort for a teacher, but for students too. In my study I will compare several pedagogical materials (grammar textbooks and coursebooks) with the real (authentic) language use in the corpora, with a focus on a particular feature. Searching a corpus that consists of sentences used in real life situations can help the writers of pedagogical materials to see whether their examples of particular grammatical structures are in accordance with their presented materials. Firstly, some general background of corpus linguistics will be provided, as well as the existing pedagogical materials used in the classroom. Afterwards, specific features in the corpora chosen for this study will be presented and analysed from a corpus-based perspective. Lastly, what influence corpus might have on the presentation of pedagogical materials will be discussed. 6 Marina novogradec A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were… as presented in pedagogical materials 2. theoretical background 2.1 The impact of corpus linguistics Corpus linguistics provides an extremely powerful tool for the analysis of natural language and can provide tremendous insights into how language use varies in different situations, such as spoken versus written, or formal interactions versus casual conversation (Reppen and Simpson 2002, 92). Exploring language use through the methods of corpus linguistics has become very popular among many researchers. Biber, Conrad and Reppen (1998) state some of the features that seem to be characteristic of corpus-based analyses of language. These are: it analyses the actual patterns of use in natural texts; as the basis for analysis it uses a principled collection of natural texts, makes extensive use of computers for analysis and is available for both quantitative and qualitative analysis (O’Keeffe, McCarthy and Carter 2007, 1-2). The use of corpora has increased over time, especially in the process of dictionary-making. A core tool in corpus linguistics is concordancing, which refers to using corpus software to find every occurrence of a particular word or phrase (O’Keeffe, McCarthy and Carter 2007, 8). Such beginnings of using corpora also mark the beginning of incorporating them into the language classroom. Concordance lines can provide us with ample examples of how language patterns function in natural texts. In that way, they are of a great help and are applicable to the language classroom, and are often used in language teaching materials. In this paper the focus will be on written and spoken English language discourse and the specific features. 2.2 Pedagogical materials and corpus linguistics Many pedagogical materials, like grammars, dictionaries and coursebooks, are based on large language corpora. The corpora have not provided us only with our intuitions about the use of language, but have also brought into question many patterns of language use that counter our intuitions. In terms of what we actually teach, numerous studies have shown that the language presented in textbooks is frequently still based on intuitions about how we use language, rather than actual evidence of use (O’Keeffe, McCarther and Carter 2007, 21). Many researchers in the area of corpus linguistics have conducted research on textbook presentations and real language use in corpus. Burns (2001) argues that scripted dialogues rarely reflect the unpredictability and dynamism of conversation, or the features and structures of natural spoken discourse (O’Keeffe, McCarthy and Carter 2007, 21). This means that students cannot be adequately prepared for, or that they lack the opportunity to be prepared for, unpredictable interactions outside of the classroom. Biber and Reppen (2002) surveyed six ESL-EFL grammar books and showed the presentation of some grammatical features in comparison with frequency findings based on corpus research done for the LGSWE – Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. The grammar textbooks included sections on adjectives, participial adjectives and nouns as nominal premodifiers. Adjectives and participial adjectives are considered to be more common devices used for noun modification, while nouns are considered to be less important. Corpus-based analysis showed greater use of adjectives as premodifiers in textbooks, which is explained by the fact that they are a primary device for noun modification in the conversational English on which these textbooks are based, while newspaper writing showed nouns as premodifiers to be nearly as common as adjectives in their frequency. The authors note that the frequency information can provide a more solid basis for designing materials than just letting us rely on intuitions and accepted practice (Biber and Reppen 2002, 201). This example leads to the importance of understanding corpus-based research in this field, especially when dealing with the use of grammar textbooks and their presentation to the students. I also agree with those authors who claim that at some levels (both intermediate and advanced), students need greater exposure to the commonly encountered forms than comparatively rare forms like participial adjectives in this particular case. Holmes (1988) surveyed epistemic modality in ESL textbooks as compared with corpus data and found that many textbooks devoted an unjustifiably large amount of attention to modal verbs, at the expense of alternative linguistic strategies (O’Keeffe, McCarthy and Carter 2007, 21-2). Similar research was carried out by Gilmore (2004), who examined discourse features of seven dialogues published in coursebooks and contrasted them with comparable authentic interactions in a corpus. He found that the textbook dialogues differed considerably from their naturally-occurring equivalents across a range of discourse features. Those features included turn length and patterns, lexical density, number of false starts and repetitions, pausing, frequency of terminal overlap and the use of hesitation devices and response tokens. Hughes and McCarthy (1998) looked at the use of past perfect verb forms and found that, across a wide range of speakers in the CANCODE corpus, the past perfect had a broader and more complex function in spoken discourse than described (O’Keeffe, McCarthy and Carter 2007, 22). Following recent research on corpus-based study of pedagogical materials and linguistic features presented in them, we can see the importance of teaching language on the basis of materials produced through corpus-based findings. In order to evaluate the materials we use in the classroom, it would be very helpful to see how some problematic grammatical features appear in more natural texts. It is often argued that in language teaching examples drawn from corpus sources should form the basis for the materials used to exemplify the language and that one aim of language teaching should be to produce learners who are able to communicate effectively and competently (O’Keeffe, McCarthy and Carter 2007, 26). This opens the way to the use of more authentic data rather than contrived data. Contrived examples usually refer to language that is mostly invented for the pedagogic purposes of presenting a particular feature or rule of the language. Many texts included in pedagogical materials are also decontextualised. In such cases the presented material in the students’ books is taken from a particular corpus and incorporated into the text, but at the same time it has lost its originality. We know that particular features have different meanings in different contexts. Thus, taking these features out of the real context, where they appeared first, would not serve as a good example for teachers to simplify the usage and function of some of the structures for students. According to this, these texts, which are believed to be authentic, are not always authentic. Nowadays, many teachers make use of computer assisted language learning in class, including also the use of language corpora. Students usually receive a set of materials based on corpus 66 Marina novogradec A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were… as presented in pedagogical materials evidence, such as concordance lines. This kind of learning, through concordance lines, where students can see different usage of certain forms, has become very common and popular as data-driven learning (DDL) (O’Keeffe, McCarthy and Carter 2007, 24). The advantage of this approach is that it enriches students’ vocabulary and helps them see how the language functions in different contexts. Thispaperwillbasicallyfocusonthepresentationofspecificformsofif-conditionalsinpedagogical materials (coursebooks and grammar textbooks) and evaluate their appropriate usage in contrast with the real and natural texts in the corpora. 2.3 Previous research on conditional clauses in corpus linguistics If-conditionals have been the subject of the study of many researchers dealing with corpus-based research. A number of studies have reported that the ELT typology fails to account for a large number of attested if-conditionals, and provides learners with a narrow and inaccurate view of if-conditionals (Hwang, 1979; Maule, 1988; Fulcher, 1991; Wang, 1991; Ferguson, 2001 cited in Gabrielatos 2006, 1). Gabrielatos (2006) conducted a study of ten coursebooks for advanced learners contrasting the frequency of the types of if-conditionals usually presented in ELT coursebooks with the relative frequency of the ELT types in the corpus sample. The sample consisted of randomly chosen 1000 S-units containing the word if from the written sub-corpora of the BNC. The shortcomings of ELT typology presented in the research material in comparison with the corpus data were the following: there is no significant difference between zero and first types of conditionals; the mixed types are very rare; speech-act, indirect and pragmatic conditionals are not covered; modalised if-clauses and if + past tense are too frequent to be treated as special cases and the approach to modality is naive and restricted, and potentially misleading and restricting. Farr and McCarthy (2002) compared Farr’s 60 000-word POTTI corpus of post-observation teacher trainer-trainee feedback sessions with CANCODE. They began by observing the differences in frequency per million words of three hypothetical items (if, maybe, perhaps) in POTTI as compared with the 2.6-million-word sub-corpus of everyday socialising interactions from CANCODE and the spoken academic portion of CANCODE (approximately 340 000 words) (O’Keeffe, McCarthy and Carter 2007, 127-128). The study showed that the uses of if in POTTI were not dominated by the three types of conditional clauses that are well known to English language teachers and mostly used in the classroom. Ferguson (2000) focused in his work on if-conditionals in naturally occurring discourse, particularly in medical discourse. The study compared the use of conditionals in three medical genres in speech and writing (namely; research articles, journal editorials and doctor-patient consultations). If-conditional constructions were initially identified using concordance software (MicroConcord) but subsequently a manual search was undertaken to examine the conditionals in a wider discourse context. The findings suggested that there was significant variation across genres, in particular between the written and spoken ones. . overview and purpose of the study Recent research has revealed findings about language use from a corpus-based perspective and how these findings incorporate into effective material design for students. Since we can study various if-constructions in the corpora, we can also base our findings on the presentation of these constructions in the pedagogical materials. Conditional clauses cause many problems when presented to secondary school students. Types of conditional clauses are not usually presented together. According to students’ levels of English language learning, we can see the examples and exercises following certain types of conditionals. In this paper the focus will be on the use of particular constructions in hypothetical conditional clauses. A hypothetical condition expresses “the speaker’s belief that the condition will not be fulfilled (for future conditions), is not fulfilled (for present conditions), or was not fulfilled (for past conditions) and hence the probable or certain falsity of the proposition expressed by the matrix clause” (Greenbaum and Quirk 1998, 317). The table below, as presented by Greenbaum and Quirk (1998), shows the presentation of verbs in hypothetical conditions: Verbs in hypothetical conditions: Conditional clause Matrix clause Present & hypothetical past past modal Future reference Past reference hypothetical past perfect past perfect modal According to the table, we can name three examples of hypothetical condition in the following sentences: If she tried harder next time, she would pass the exam. (future reference) If they were alive, they would be moving around. (present reference) If they had invited him to the conference, he would have attended. (past reference) (Greenbaum and Quirk 1998, 293) As we can see, the most common modal used in the matrix clause is would. Other modals are also possible: should, could, might, ought to + inf. (Karlovčan 2002, 293). In this paper I will concentrate more on hypothetical condition with present reference, particularly on the construction in this type of conditional if I were… and if I was… (also with reference to If he, she, it was/were…). It is stated that the form were refers to the past subjunctive, used in formal discourse in hypothetical conditional clauses, as well as other constructions with hypothetical meaning. For example: I’d rather I were in bed. or If she were here, she would speak on my behalf (Greenbaum and Quirk 1998, 295) In informal styles the hypothetical past would be replaced then by the form was. 6 Marina novogradec A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were… as presented in pedagogical materials The paper will deal with different style uses (formal or informal) of If I was/were in hypothetical conditional clauses, and in what way these forms are presented in pedagogical materials for secondary school students. In order to confirm the presentation of these forms in pedagogical materials, I will compare several corpora where these forms are used or appear. One corpus will be spoken, more informal, and the other ones will be written, more formal genres. I chose these particular forms in this type of conditional clauses because it is very hard for students to understand this type of conditional clauses – hypothetical condition with present reference, especially when used with these forms. As we teach our students that the past simple of the verb to be is was in the first and third person singular, it is sometimes questionable whether students will understand the usage of these constructions and when they will use them for this particular type. According to most grammarians, were refers to singular past subjunctive form in the English language, conventionally for the idiom If I were you (Greenbaum and Quirk 1998, 44). Some researchers think that only If I was is incorrect, while if I were is correct. Where the fulfilment of the condition is considered highly improbable or impossible, the condition is expressed by means of were + to-infinitive, instead of the Past Tense was (Karlovčan 2002, 293). There are several research questions I would like to answer in this paper: 1. What is the frequency of if-conditionals in the corpora available for the purpose of this study? 2. What is the occurrence of the forms If I was/were (he, she, it was/were) in if-conditionals in the corpora? 3. How are these forms used in the corpora with regard to different registers? 4. How do these forms incorporate into the presentation of pedagogical materials to secondary school students? Firstly, I will conduct a corpus study of the available corpora where if-conditionals appear, discern the occurrences and frequency of the relevant forms, and then try to compare the results with the results of these forms presented in pedagogical materials. My corpus study consists of three main sub-corpora: senate speeches, newspaper articles and TV scripts of the series Friends. These corpora were chosen primarily on the basis of accessibility and suitability for the purpose of the study. In order to confirm the results with regard to the use of special forms in conditional sentences, I will also use and look at another sub-corpora taken from the British National Corpus of spoken and written language (BNC). . Methodology This section consists of two parts. In the first part the study of the frequency and use of particular conditional clauses in the corpora will be explained, while in the second part I will refer to pedagogical materials used for the study. Part 1 The study uses texts from several separate registers to investigate the frequency and occurrence of if-conditional forms, with special reference to the forms If I was/were and register variation in this particular construction – that is, whether they are used in formal or informal style. The texts used in this paper are taken from the corpora prepared by Dr. Enikö Csomay1 for her PhD course held in August 2007 at the University of Pécs. These sub-corpora include: senate speeches, newspaper articles and TV scripts of the series Friends. Another sub-corpus was taken from the British National Corpus of spoken and written language. The sub-corpus of senate speeches consists of 287,433 words, that of the newspaper articles of 53,321 words and sub-corpus of TV scripts of the series Friends of 839,937 words. The toolkit used for this analysis was AntConc 3.2.1. The search was conducted using this toolkit and looking at the occurrence of conditional clauses through the concordance list of the forms previously mentioned – forms If I was/were in if-conditionals. Since it is not the only form crucial for this particular type of conditional clause, other forms, such as If he was/were, If she was/were, If it was/were, were also searched for in the sub-corpora. In the BNC corpus, only 50 randomly chosen forms out of 898 found for the form If I was and 50 solutions out of 688 found for the form If I were were looked at in order to complete the previous corpora – senate speeches, newspaper articles and TV scripts of the series Friends. The BNC was used with the aim of investigating the forms’ occurrence in the corpus, as well as to see the usage of the forms. What I want to point out is that the sub-corpora chosen for this paper might not be completely valid, primarily due to its representativeness (Biber 1993, 243). Since it demands a great deal of work to make someone’s own corpora, as well as to choose the best representative pattern available for the aimed work, there might also be some disadvantages regarding its representativeness. I chose to look at concordance lists of the forms searched for, because they best show the way how these forms are integrated into the real language use. The frequency word list was also used that helped me look at the forms frequently used in the sub-corpora. Part 2 The forms I want to analyse in the corpora are also looked at in pedagogical materials. Since the forms refer to grammatical units used in secondary school classroom, different pedagogical materials are used. These materials include grammar textbooks and coursebooks shown in the table below:  I am very grateful to Dr. enikö Csomay for allowing me to use the corpora for the analysis in this paper 0 Marina novogradec A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were… as presented in pedagogical materials Author Rudolf Filipović, 1998 John Eastwood, 1999 Liz & John Soars, 2003 M. Harris, D. Mower & A. Sikorzynska, 2002 M. Harris, D. Mower & A. Sikorzynska, 2002 results Title of the book An outline of English Grammar Oxford Practice Grammar New Headway Intermediate Opportunities Intermediate Opportunities Upper Intermediate Level Intermediate– upper-intermediate Intermediate– upper-intermediate Intermediate Intermediate Upper-intermediate In this section, the frequency and occurrence of if-constructions in the corpora are presented, and then the same presentation of merely if-conditionals, excluding other constructions and forms with if, like the forms: only if, what if, as if, if not, even if, if only, if so, if ever and when if. The corpus analysis toolkit Antconc 3.2.1. provided us with the following results in the tables 1 and 2: Corpora Senate speeches Newspaper articles TV scripts of the series Friends Occurrence 1313 76 2127 Frequency (per 10 000 words) 32.77 9.93 21.26 Table 1: Occurrence and frequency of if-constructions in senate speeches, newspaper articles and TV scripts of the series Friends Corpora Senate speeches Newspaper articles TV scripts of the series Friends Occurrence 1170 68 1 926 Frequency (per 10 000 words) 27.79 8.43 18.8 Table 2: Occurrence and frequency of if-conditionals in senate speeches, newspaper articles and TV scripts of the series Friends The number of if-constructions and if-conditional clauses presented in the tables vary due to the number of words used in the corpora. They are used largely in spoken discourse – senate speeches and TV scripts of the series Friends. Since there are fewer words contained in the corpus of newspaper articles, we find fewer occurrences of if-constructions and if-conditionals. These corpora might not be adequately representative, because we have taken only a few of them for the study, but since the emphasis is not only on the frequency of particular constructions, but to search for the presentation of special if-conditional forms and compare them with their usage in pedagogical materials, the chosen corpora are enough to be used in the paper. I looked at if-conditional forms If I was/were that are the focus of my study, but I also referred to the forms If he, she, it was/were in order to provide the study with some more examples. In the following table the presentation and occurrence of the form If I was/were is shown. Corpora Senate speeches Newspaper articles TV scripts of the series Friends Occurrence 1 0 11 Table 3: Occurrence of the form If I was… Corpora Senate speeches Newspaper articles TV scripts of the series Friends Occurrence 0 0 9 Table 4: Occurrence of the form If I were… The forms If I was/were in the corpora are rather rare. There is only one occurrence of the form If I was found in senate speeches. In this particular case, the form is not followed by a pronoun or noun, but the verb: If I was being given that same intelligence information, I saw no reason for that shift to occur. As a senate speech is seen as formal discourse, the example found in this case does not agree with the fact that this form is found more in informal discourses. As we notice, the form If I were does not appear at all in senate speeches. Since the first person singular might be rather rare for newspaper discourse, we cannot find any occurrence of the forms. In TV scripts of the series Friends, we can see the greatest usage of these forms. This is due to the fact that the discourse is more spoken and informal than the previous ones. In the corpus of TV scripts of the series Friends the form If I was is usually followed by the verb (four times), adjective (three times), noun (twice) and adverb (twice). Here are some examples from the corpus: I don’t know if I was happier when um George Bailey destroyed the fami... If I was in this for the money, I’d be a millionaire. 2 Marina novogradec A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were… as presented in pedagogical materials I’m sorry if I was a little weird after the last time we went out. I would feel more comfortable if I was having this conversation in private. I excluded the construction what if, which appears four times in some examples, and one construction with even if. The examples mostly followed by a noun, verb and an adjective express more a direct condition than an indirect one. This means that the situation in the matrix clause is directly contingent on the situation in the conditional clause (Greenbaum & Quirk 1998, 316). These results, although they might not be sufficient, confirm what many people have discussed about the informal usage of this form in conditionals. So far, it is noticed that only in the spoken discourse, as this one is, do we find the greatest usage of the form If I was. In the examples of the form If I were we can notice less occurrence of this form than in the previous corpus. There are only two idiomatic forms If I were you: If I were you I would wear them every day, every day! I think and she said you shouldn’t call her. But if I were you I would. Other forms are followed by a noun, verb or an adjective. These data disprove the view of many grammarians and coursebook makers that this specific form is mostly used in literary or more formal English. The figures presented in the corpus also indicate that the most common usage recommended for standard English in grammars and textbooks – if I were + pronoun – is not any more secured in everyday spoken English. What I find is that neither of the forms is preferred over the other when it comes to the imagination: If I was a superhero… and If I were a salmon shirt. With regard to the use of verbs after each form, the verbs with If I was prevail, while with If I were, only two occurrences are noticed. The data for both forms do not confirm that either If I was or If I were are used in spoken English, but that both forms are almost equally used, which gives another support for the coursebook creators, when presenting the forms. Corpora Senate Speeches Newspaper Articles TV scripts of the series Friends If he was 1 1 2 If he were If she was If she were If it was If it were 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 11 5 Table 5: Occurrence of other forms: If he, she it was/were… In the examples above, we also see very rare use of the forms with was and were in senate speeches and newspaper articles, while again in TV scripts of the series Friends, we see a little bit more occurrences of the forms, with the greatest usage of the form If it was, followed by If it were. This is because the third person singular in this discourse is surely more common when expressing some situations and actions than the first person singular. It is especially common in presenting events and situations in everyday speech, which is about we are talking about. I also excluded some other constructions with if like what if and even if. There is only one use of the form If he was in senate speeches, followed by an elliptical adverb: My client was not there. If he was, he did not commit the assault., while the uses of the forms If it was/were are followed in this case by verbs and nouns: If it was not working, it would have been terminated.; if it was not a crusade for economic justice.; If it were not my son or grandchild, killed in…; If it were a vote on the appropriateness of the response… In newspaper articles the only example of If he was is followed by a verb: It was unclear if he was referring to rebels or U.S. agents. In TV scripts of the series Friends If he was is followed by a noun and verb: If he was a regular at the coffee house, I’d be serving him. and You wouldn’t mind if he was dating someone else?, and the forms If she was/were are also followed by the same word classes, as in the previous examples – nouns and verbs: …If she was kidding was very funny.; Wouldn’t it be great if she was my wife; If she were marrying a guy, none of you’d expect me to be..., but there is one example where we can see If she were followed by an adverb: If she were here right now, she’d… According to the results, the forms If it was/were are more frequent than the rest and they are mostly followed by nouns and verbs. It is also interesting to note the same uses of both forms as they are followed by the pronoun: If it were/was me, I’d… BNC CORPUS In the BNC corpus I wanted to see whether the usage of some If I was/were forms differ from those found in the other corpora. I looked at 50 randomly-chosen concordance lines of If I was and If I were in the BNC corpus, since they appeared to be available in the search box giving the solutions of each form separately searched for. The query yielded a random selection of 50 solutions from the 898 found forms If I was, and the same number of solutions from the 688 found forms of If I were. According to the number of forms found, we can see that there are more forms with If Iwas. The verb was is mostly used after the verb, then noun and to-infinitive. There are three usages of the verb was followed by pronoun you, as in the sentences: I shouldn’t think of it if I was you. or If I was you I’d give it up.  Marina novogradec A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were… as presented in pedagogical materials The sentences are primarily used to give somebody advice. In the query for the form If I were I found a very wide range of the idiom If I were you… and the verb were followed by to-infinitive. Other word classes, such as nouns and adjectives, are rare. Since the examples with If I were you are very common in BNC, it is very disputable that this construction is only used in formal discourse, as it is considered by some grammarians. As we can see it is also very common in spoken discourse, more informal. Presentation of the forms If I was/were… in pedagogical materials An Outline of English Grammar/ intermediate – upper-intermediate level This type of grammar textbook is mainly used for secondary school students in Croatian schools from the age of fourteen to the age of eighteen. It refers to the intermediate and the upper-intermediate levels. There are only few examples of some constructions students may use in their everyday English, and some of them are not even mentioned. If I were Mr. Brown, I should repair the roof of the house. This example is the only one presented in the grammar textbook, which denotes the use of form If I were in conditional clauses to denote an unfulfilled condition, and is referred to as the subjunctive. Other examples and forms related to this type are not found, even in the texts. Oxford Practice Grammar/intermediate – upper-intermediate level This grammar textbook states the following examples of the aimed forms, with the explanation why they are used in such a way: In a type 2 if-clause we sometimes use were instead of was, especially in the clause If I were you: If Rachel were playing her stereo, it wouldn’t be so quite in here. This sentence has come out of the possibility to use the sentence in that way as explained, since they also provided us with the example: If Rachel was playing her stereo, it wouldn’t be so quiet in here. It is obvious that the examples give us the possibility of using the two forms, but in this case with the third person singular. The first person singular form is shown only in the idiomatic form if I were you: If I were you, I’d ask a lawyer for some advice. New Headway Intermediate/intermediate level We find three types of conditionals in this coursebook presentation (zero conditional, first conditional and second conditional). Since conditionals are among the more complex structures in the English grammar, it is understandable that these three types (later we will also find four types, which will include a third conditional) of conditionals are presented at the later stages of students’ learning. In the introduction of conditionals in the coursebook, there is one example stated as a variation for the unreal situation: If I were rich, I wouldn’t have any problems. What we find next in the presentation of the use of second conditional is that this type of conditional is used to express an unreal situation and its probable result. The situation or condition is improbable, impossible, imaginary or contrary to known facts. This rule is followed by three examples, out of which one is with If I were form: If I were the president of my country, I’d increase taxes. The second rule referring to the aimed form is also stated: If I were you, I’d… is used to give advice. The examples are the following: If I were you, I’d apologize to her. I’d take it easy for a while If I were you. This form, presented in the sentences, is not mentioned to be subjunctive. Opportunities Intermediate/intermediate level In this coursebook we find a review of four types of conditional clauses. In the examples of second conditional to which the forms was/were belong, we cannot find a lot of these forms, except the sentences with the idiomatic form If I were you: If I were you, I’d visit cities like Prague and Budapest.; If I were you, I’d go to university. The second conditional with were is only found in the sentence with third person plural: If they were older, they could go there on their own. Opportunities Upper Intermediate/upper-intermediate level This students’ coursebook gives us the presentation of mixed conditionals. It is also mentioned that there are four types of conditional sentences: the zero conditional, first conditional, second conditional and the third conditional. They are not presented separately due to the fact that the book is aimed at the students’ final stage of learning, and students have already come across these types. Among the use of mixed types of conditionals we find only one example with the verb was/were: If he was/were a more skilful player, he would have scored more points. Both verbs are shown, but without any explanation or examples to remind students of some more situations when we use these verbs. We can just notice that in a regular unit presentation with exercises there are few examples according to which students form several sentences using mixed conditionals with was or were, as in example: Use the cues to write mixed conditional sentences. 6 Marina novogradec A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were… as presented in pedagogical materials Example: If John weren’t so tall, he wouldn’t have had to have the doors in his house changed. The next example is followed by the exercise: Write three conditional sentences about some events in your life that these personality traits contributed to (lazy/hardworking, sociable/shy, well organised/disorganised): If I was more hardworking, I would have studied harder and passed the last chemistry test. These examples and exercises lack the fuller explanation of the verb to be – was/were in conditional sentences, that is, they lack everyday usage of these verbs in the sentences. 5. Discussion With regard to the results received from the corpora and pedagogical materials, we can draw the following conclusions: There is differing usage of the if-conditional forms if I was/were in different registers. They are rather rare, but still they present some of the common usages of the forms searched for. This is because conditionals are grammar structures not very applicable to all registers. Although we can find them occasionally in any register, they are not so common. Even in Croatian, some forms are used more than the others, depending on the registers. Apart from that, we are focused on teaching our students all the forms with which they can come across in the real language use, that is, in more natural contexts. I think the results gleaned from all corpora can be applied to the language classroom. Above all, they show that some grammars that are considered to be applicable to the public do not cover all the examples of some of the grammar areas important for someone’s needs. The results show that the form were – a singular past subjunctive form, used in hypothetical conditional clauses, which is considered to be used more in formal discourse, is not always in accordance with this. The form were can also be seen in a more informal spoken discourse, like TV scripts of the series Friends. The usages of both forms was/were verbs correlate in some registers, mostly in spoken discourse, since they are used particularly there. In all the corpora verb the form If I was is more frequent than If I were. They are in a way differently used, but still have some common usages. They are both followed by a noun or a pronoun, even the verb in some cases. What can be noticed is that the idiomatic form If I were is found more than If I was. This does not give us a complete conclusion that were, in the searched corpora prevails over was, but just helps us see things from different sides. Therefore, we cannot conclude that one form is more used than the other, and then presented more in pedagogical materials. Coursebooks and grammar textbooks that have been searched do not make us look at the things that way. They mainly stick to one or two rules, and do not show the exact examples that can be drawn from the corpora. Regardless of the fact that the grammar textbooks and coursebooks given in this paper are older editions (the new ones also follow the same structure), I think that the problematic structures – which conditional sentences seem to be in English – should be examined more carefully in the materials for students’ language learning. I need to point out that in this study there are certain limitations. Only specific forms were examined in the corpora and pedagogical materials, so the results cannot be generalised. If we look at other forms and combinations of conditional clauses, or even other discourses, we will certainly have more complete results. Since the aim of the paper was to compare the corpora results with those presented in pedagogical materials for secondary school students and to see whether we can help material designers to use the corpora in their work, I have been able to answer research questions proposed for the study. It would be also useful and interesting to investigate the use of these forms in other discourses as well as to search for these forms in merely grammar textbooks. 6. Conclusion The aim of this article was not to give advice or an answer regarding how to teach certain forms of conditional clauses, but to encourage those who create teaching material to take corpora into consideration when presenting their materials in order to help teachers in their classroom presentation of specific forms. What models of conditionals will be taught and when depends on the teachers, because they best know their students’ characteristics. By using information based on actual frequency and context of use (register differences), materials developers and teachers should be able to increase the meaningful input that is provided to learners (Biber & Reppen 2002, 207). Using authentic texts in the language classroom has always been a very useful pedagogical tool in creating more naturally-occurring environment in the classroom. For most pedagogic purposes in most contexts of teaching and learning a language, it is preferable to have naturally-occurring, corpus-based examples than contrived or unreal examples, but always in the context of freedom of choice and careful mediation by teachers and materials writers who know their own local contexts (O’Keeffe, McCarthy & Carter 2007, 27). To sum up, careful examination of the corpora and their incorporation into pedagogical materials can make learning specific language structures very useful to students, and help teachers in developing more interesting everyday environment in the English language classroom. Bibliography Biber, D. 1993. Representativeness in corpus design. Literacy and Linguistic Computing 8(4): 243-57. Biber, D., and R. Reppen. 2002. What does frequency have to do with grammar teaching? Studies in Second Language Acquisition 24: 199-208. Ferguson, G. 2000. If you pop over there: a corpus based study of conditionals in medical discourse. English for specific purposes 20: 61-82. Gabrielatos, C. 2006. Corpus-based evaluation of pedagogical materials - If-conditionals in ELT coursebooks and the BNC. Paper presented at the 7th Teaching and Language Corpora Conference, July 1-4, in Paris, France. Greenbaum, S., and R. Quirk. 1998. A Student’s Grammar of the English Language. England: Longman. Karlovčan, V. 2002. An Advanced Learner’s English Grammar. Zagreb: Profil International. Norris, R. W. 2003. How do we overcome difficulties of teaching conditionals?. Bulletin of Fukuoka International University 9: 39-50. O’Keeffe, A., M. McCarthy, and R. Carter. 2007. From Corpus to Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Reppen, R., and R. Simpson. 2002. Corpus linguistics. In An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, ed. Norbert Schmitt, 92–111. London: Arnold Press.  Marina novogradec A corpus-based study of if-conditional forms If I was/were… as presented in pedagogical materials IV. TRANSLATION STUDIES Daniel Dejica Polytechnic university of Timisoara Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation Summary Recent studies claim that the more translators know about the structure and the dynamics of discourse, the more readily and accurately they can translate both the content and the spirit of a text. Similarly, international research projects highlight directions of research which aim at helping translators make reasonable and consistent decisions as to the relevance and reliability of source text features in the target text. Other recent studies stress the importance of developing information structure theories for translation. In line with such current research desiderata, the aim of this article is to test the relevance of information theories for translation. In the first part, information theories are presented from different linguistic perspectives. In the second part, their relevance for translation is tested on a series of texts by examining how they have been or can be applied to translation. The last part presents the conclusions of the analysis. Key words: information structure, source text analysis, translation studies V iskanju relevantnosti: informacijske teorije in prevajanje Povzetek Zadnje raziskave kažejo, da bolj ko so prevajalci seznanjeni s strukturo in dinamiko diskurza, bolj vestno in bolj natančno so sposobni prevesti tako vsebino kot duh besedila. Podobno mednarodni raziskovalni projekti izpostavljajo smernice za sklepanje razumnih in doslednih prevajalskih odločitev glede relevantnosti in zanesljivosti izhodiščnih lastnosti v ciljnem besedilu. Druge sodobne študije poudarjajo pomen razvijanja teorij informacijske strukture za prevajanje. V skladu s takšnimi znanstvenimi prizadevanji je cilj pričujočega članka preveriti relevantnost informacijskih teorij za prevajanje. Prvi del predstavi različne jezikoslovne vidike informacijskih teorij. Jedro drugega dela predstavlja preizkus njihove relevantnosti na vrsti besedil v smislu njihove dosedanje in potencialne prevajalske rabe. Prispevek sklenejo ugotovitve analize. Ključne besede: informacijska struktura, analiza izhodiščnega besedila, prevodoslovje Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation 1. Introduction In the past decades there has been a veritable surge of interest in the way information is structured in communication. The terminology used to describe this field of research is varied and under-formalized: Functional Sentence Perspective, used by the scholars of the Prague School of linguists (Firbas 1964, 1992), information structure (Halliday 1967), information packaging (Chafe 1976), or informatics (Vallduví 1992), to name just a few. Under these headings, linguists usually speak of two information-structural parts of the sentence or the clause known as “Theme” and “Rheme” or “topic” and “comment”. Another set of terms include, on the one hand, “given,” “old” or “known” information, and, on the other hand, “new” or “unknown” information. Some of these notions and other new ones have been applied to higher levels of discourse than sentence or clause level: macro-and hyper-Themes (Daneš 1974) or grounding (Hopper 1979). In general, all these approaches imply that certain parts of discourse are more important, more salient or more foregrounded than others, and illustrate how connections between these parts account for discourse structure which, in its turn, accounts for the information flow in discourse and discourse coherence. Translation studies could not remain unresponsive to the input that such theories might bring to its practical or theoretical development. In fact, recent studies claim that the more translators know about the structure and the dynamics of discourse, the more readily and accurately they can translate both the content and the spirit of a text (Nida 1997, 42). Similarly, international research projects highlight directions of research which aim at helping translators make reasonable and consistent decisions as to the relevance and reliability of source text features in the target text (Gerzymisch-Arbogast 2005, 7). Other recent studies stress the importance of developing information structure theories for translation (Gerzymisch-Arbogast 2005, Gerzymisch-Arbogast/Kunold/Rothfuß-Bastian 2006). In line with such current research desiderata, the aim of this article is to test the relevance of major information theories for translation. In the first part, information theories are presented from different linguistic perspectives. In the second part, their relevance for translation is tested on a series of texts by examining how they have been or can be applied to translation. The last part presents the conclusions of the analysis. 2. Information theories – an overview Information structure, information packaging or informatics: under these concepts, linguists show how information is structured in sentences or texts with the aim of providing a better text understanding. In describing the information structure of a clause, Halliday (1994, 274–5) uses the concepts given and new. Instead of the mathematical concept of ‘information’, which has been developed 2 Daniel Dejica Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation in cybernetics, Halliday sees it as the interplay between given and new in the information unit, which can coincide with the clause. In more pragmatic terms, Lambrecht (1994, 5–7) states that information structure is concerned with the relationship between linguistic form and the mental states of speakers and hearers. According to him, the linguist dealing with information structure must deal simultaneously with formal and communicative aspects of language. In his perspective, information structure is viewed as related to sentence grammar (Lambrecht 1994, 5). Information packaging is a structuring of sentences by syntactic, prosodic or morphological means that arises from the need to meet the communicative demands of a particular context or discourse (Vallduví and Engdhal, 1996). In particular, information packaging indicates how information conveyed by linguistic means fits into a hearer’s mental model of the context or discourse. When communicating a proposition, a speaker may realize it by means of different sentential structures according to his or her beliefs about the hearer’s knowledge and attentional state with respect to it. The concept of information packaging is due to Chafe (1976): “I have been using the term packaging to refer to the kind of phenomena at issue here, with the idea that they have to do primarily with how the message is sent and only secondarily with the message itself, just as the packaging of toothpaste can affect sales in partial independence of the quality of the toothpaste inside.” (Chafe 1976, 28) In his theory of informatics, Vallduví (1990) proposes a hierarchical articulation of information. Sentences are divided into the focus, which represents that portion of information that is hearer-new, and the ground, which specifies how that information is situated within the hearer’s knowledge-store. The ground is further divided into the link, which denotes an address in the hearer’s knowledge-store under which he is instructed to enter the information, and the tail, which provides further directions on how the information must be entered under a given address. What these theories have in common is that, under different headings and using sometimes different approaches, they all involve the processes of information identification, analysis and structuring. Based on this shared-ground principle and wishing to avoid entering a terminological debate in this direction, the general term information theories is used in this article to refer to the previously mentioned theories. From this perspective, the term is to be distinguished from Information theory as a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering involving the quantification of information. 2.1 Putting information theories into practice – various approaches and perspectives The information theories presented in the previous section display various approaches to analysing information both at sentence and text levels. Most of these approaches see information organized as a two-part system in a sentence, one being always more salient, foregrounded, focused, etc. than the other; just like the theories which they stand for, they use differing terminologies. Among the most often distinguished notions in the area of information identification and analysis are Theme-Rheme, topic, focus, given-new, and foregrounding-backgrounding. Combinations of these may occur: Theme-contrast, Theme-tail, background-focus, etc. 2.1.1 theme and Rheme The semantic organization of the sentence or clause into two parts, the “Theme” and the “Rheme” has long been dealt with in linguistics. There are several detailed reviews of ideas and issues of clause level Theme (Dik 1981, 1989; Tomlin 1986; Firbas 1992; Halliday 1994). The standard approach – Theme as starting point of the sentence – considers the Theme to be whatever comes in first position in the sentence; whatever follows it is the Rheme. In this respect, every clause has the structure of a message: it says something (the Rheme) about something (the Theme). Other approaches regard Theme as “aboutness,” that is to say the Theme is what the sentence is about. In this respect, it acts as a point of orientation by connecting back to previous stretches of discourse and thereby maintaining coherence. Mathesius and Daneš were among the first linguists to develop the theory of Theme as “starting point of the utterance”. In this conception, the Rheme is everything else that follows in the sentence and consists of “what the speaker states about, or in regard to, the starting point of the utterance” (Mathesius 1942). The main functions of the Theme in this approach are to connect back and link to the previous discourse, maintaining a coherent point of the text, and to serve as a point of departure for the further development of the discourse (Daneš 1974). In the past decades, this approach has been explored in depth by a series of functional linguists, including, but not limited to Siewierska (1991), Firbas, Fortesque, Harder and Kristoffersen (1992), and Halliday (1994). Gundel (1974) and Lambrecht (1994), on the other hand, do not approach Theme as the starting point of the sentence, but relate it to the definition of “subject” in traditional grammars. In their view, the Theme of a sentence is what the proposition expressed by the subject is about. A similar approach of Theme as aboutness has been developed by Mudersbach (2008, 3–6) who proposed a Theme-Rheme model which uses pragmatic parameters, such as the scope of shared attention, joint stock of information, background knowledge, etc., for the for the identification of Themes and Rhemes in oral communicative situations. The model has been adapted for written communicative situations and it has been used for the analysis of coherence and cohesion of a text by illustrating various textual relations between Themes and Rhemes (Dejica 2006, 103–10). It has been rightfully claimed that “the selection of an individual theme of a given clause in a given text is not in itself particularly significant. But the overall choice and ordering of themes, particularly those of independent clauses, plays an important part in organizing a text and in providing a point of orientation for a given stretch of language” (Baker 1992, 126).This internal organization of Themes in units larger than the sentence has been labelled thematisation by Brown and Yule (1983), who see it as “a discoursal rather than sentence process” (1983, 133). Before than Brown and Yule, and in more technical terms, Daneš (1974) used the phrase thematic progression to refer to the way subsequent discourse re-uses previous Themes or Rhemes according to an overall textual plan. Thematic progression relates the way Themes and Rhemes concatenate within a text to the hierarchic organisation of the text and ultimately to rhetorical purposes. Daneš observed different patterns of matching sentence arrangements described in  Daniel Dejica Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation terms of linear progression, progression with constant Theme, and progression with derived Theme. These types of progression and new ones, i.e. progression with derived Rheme, have been presented in detail and exemplified in Dejica and Superceanu (2004). Thematic progression at paragraph (episodic) level can be represented hierarchically; since sentences consist of more than one clause, they will have several layers of thematic structure. Each clause will have its own Theme-Rheme structure which may be subordinated to a larger Theme-Rheme structure. This hierarchical nature of Theme-Rheme structures on a text is illustrated in Example 2.1; the identification of Themes and Rhemes at sentence and clause levels is represented in Fig. 2.1, and the comparative analysis of the relations between them is presented in Fig. 2.2: (2.1) The City of Los Angeles comprises 1,215 sq km (469 sq mi) and had a population of about 3.7 million people at the 2000 census. It is the largest municipality (in terms of size and population) among all the cities in Los Angeles County. It is irregular in shape because it has grown over the years through the annexation of surrounding territory and cities. The city proper is shaped like a lighted torch: its narrow handle extends north from the Port of Los Angeles to downtown Los Angeles, and its flames flicker irregularly to the north, west, and northwest. Several separate cities—such as Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Culver City—are partly or completely surrounded by the City of Los Angeles. The city is bisected by the Santa Monica Mountains, which run east to west. 1 (Los Angeles, in Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation) Fig. 2.1 Hierarchical thematic analysis of a text at clause and sentence levels Fig. 2.1 Hierarchical thematic analysis of a text at clause and sentence levels Fig. 2.2 Hierarchical thematic representation of a text at clause and sentence levels The thematic representation (Fig. 2.2) of the thematic analysis (Fig. 2.1) shows that there are two kinds of progression which characterize the paragraph at both sentence and clause levels: The thematic representation (Fig. 2.2) of the thematic analysis (Fig. 2.1) shows that there are progression with derived Theme, and linear progression. In non-technical terms, the emerging pattern for the text may be described as “parallel,” as the same Theme is repeated at the beginning two kinds of progression which characterize the paragraph at both sentence and clause levels: of almost all the clauses in the first part of the text, and “zig-zag,” as the Rhemes of the last progression with derived Theme, and linear progression. In non-technical terms, the emerging sentences become the Themes of the immediately succeeding sentences. attern for the text may be described as “parallel,” as the same Theme is repeated at the eginning of almost all the clauses in the first part of the text, and “zig-zag,” as the Rhemes of The above paragraph (example 2.1) is a relevant example for how successive Themes are related the last sentences become the Themes of the immediately succeeding sentences. to a single preceding Theme (or hyper-Theme as Daneš terms it). According to Daneš (1974), the hyper-Theme functions as what would be termed a Topic Sentence in rhetoric – in other words, as the Theme of the paragraph, rather than the Theme of a clause. Martin (1992) provides his own definition of the term, which is related to Daneš’s and which he extends to Themes which may occur at different levels of discourse. For Martin, “a hyper-Theme is an introductory sentence or group of sentences which is established to predict a particular pattern of interactions among strings, chains and Theme selection in following sentences. . . . On the basis of this definition of hyper-Theme, the term macro-Theme can be defined as a sentence or group of sentences (possibly a paragraph) which predicts a set of hyper-Themes; this is the introductory paragraph in rhetoric. . . . Macro-Themes may be themselves predicted as super-Themes, super-Themes as ultra-Themes and so on, depending on the number of layers of structure in a text.” (Martin 1992, 439–91) According to Martin’s classification, in longer texts, this pattern of macro-Themes predicting hyper-Themes can be extended, with hyper-Themes themselves functioning as macro-Themes in their own right. Once texts develop to this level of internal complexity, titles, subtitles, headings 6 Daniel Dejica Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation and subheadings are commonly deployed to keep track of the composition structure being erected. In other words, in much the same way as clause-level Themes are tied between them, so, too, are the units connected to yet higher-level structures. In writing, the use of macro-Themes to predict hyper-Themes, which in turn predict a sequence of clause Themes, is an important aspect of coherence, and texts which do not make use of predicted patterns may be considered as less coherent or incoherent. 2.2.2 topic There are mainly two distinct uses of the term topic at sentence level. On the one hand, topic is used widely to capture ideas similar to clause level Theme. On the other hand, topic is seen as part of the predication, different from Theme. In some studies, a clause level topic is identical to clause level Theme, the two terms being used virtually synonymously, especially by the academic inheritors and developers of the Prague School theories. This can be found in Sgall (1987), who uses the terms topic-comment to denote the Prague approach in which the sentence is divided into its two functioning parts, Theme (topic) and Rheme (comment). Thus, the topic, just as the Theme as starting point, links each sentence with what has gone before, while the comment cumulatively moves on the meaning which the discourse is to communicate. The topic can also function as Theme as aboutness, where the topic of the sentence is what the proposition expressed by the sentence is about (Lambrecht 1994). The notion of topic has also been applied to structures higher than sentence structures. For instance, Keenan and Schieffelin, discussed in Brown and Yule (1983), use the term discourse topic in an attempt to distinguish the notion of topic from sentence topic. For them, discourse topic is not a simple noun phrase, but a proposition which represents the whole of the fragment. Van Dijk (1982) also presents an explicit formal account for discourse topic or, as he terms it, topic of discourse (1982, 132). According to him, topic is basically as a macrostructure drawn from all the information contained in a text. To arrive at the topic, the addressee or the interpreter assembles all the factual statements of the text and summarizes them in a statement called a macroproposition. It should be stressed that van Dick’s approach is based on an underlying semantic representation of the text rather than on the sequence of sentences which constitute the text. This latter aspect of topic continuity in a text is an element which was developed by Givon and which accounts for the discourse structure (1983). He analyses how clauses are combined into larger units of discourse which he calls thematic paragraphs (1983, 7). Thematic paragraphs may further combine into larger discourse units such as sections, chapters, parts, or stories. Givon discusses the process of continuity of discourse at paragraph level in terms of thematic continuity, action continuity, and topic/participant continuity (1983, 8). It is to be noticed that Givon associates topic continuity with the higher-level Theme of the paragraph which stands for what the paragraph is about. This concept differs from the notion of hyper-Theme which was discussed in the previous section and which, in turn, is the introductory sentence of the paragraph, or the Topic Sentence in rhetoric. Topic continuity accounts for the coherence of a paragraph, and ultimately, for the internal structuring of a text, since a text consists of a series of paragraphs. If a different idea which has no connection with the main one occurs in the paragraph, one may speak of topic shift or topic discontinuity, which leads to paragraph incoherence; in order to avoid this, the new idea should be developed, exemplified, or illustrated in a different paragraph. Since a text consists of a series of paragraphs which express different ideas, it is inevitable for its internal building and structuring to make use of both continuity and discontinuity. 2.1. Given vs. new information As shown before, the sender may choose from different techniques to make certain parts of the message the topic of what he or she is saying, and others simply comments about that topic or Theme. These, however, are not the only interpretations of the information structure of discourse. Another interpretation which accounts for the two-part structure of each clause is the given-new approach. Despite the difference of terminology, this approach also agrees that the clause has a bi-partite structure but the ordering of information within that structure is determined by the sender’s hypotheses about what the receiver does and does not know. With this interpretation, information can be divided into two types (that which the sender thinks the receiver already knows, and that which the sender thinks the receiver does not yet know) and these two types can be labelled given information and new information, respectively. Similarly to Theme and topic, there are two basic ideas about given information: (1) given information represents a referent shared in some way by speaker and listener, or (2) given information is a cognitively activated referent. Mathesius (1942) analyses how information is packaged in discourse and what resources are available to speakers and writers for indicating to their addressees the status of information which is introduced in discourse. He suggests that one portion of the utterance represents information that is assumed to be possessed by the listener from the preceding context or may be inferred by him or her from the context. Such information is known (old, given) information. It is contrasted with the portion of the utterance which the speaker presents as new (unknown) information and which is the content of the utterance. Mathesius examines how this status of information is signalled via strategies such as word order, intonation, and other constructions. Many of the insights developed by Mathesius and other Prague School scholars were first brought to the attention ofWestern scholars by Halliday (1967), who elaborated and developed those aspects of the Prague school which related to the structure of texts. Particularly, he was concerned with relating each unit of information in a given sentence to the preceding discourse. He also drew a distinction between given information and new information. New information represents information the speaker treats as not known to the listener. Given information represents information the speaker treats as known to the listener. Thus, according to Halliday, in example 2.3, (2.3) A sedan is a car which usually has a fully enclosed passenger compartment, a permanent roof, two or four doors, front and rear seats, and a separate trunk. (Encarta World English Dictionary)  Daniel Dejica Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation car is given or old information because it refers to a concept previously introduced – in example 2.3 sedan – whereas the rest of the sentence, not know to the reader, a fully enclosed passenger compartment, a permanent roof, two or four doors, front and rear seats, and a separate trunk is new information. The given-new principle is best at work in longer units of discourse, where old or given information repeats a concept previously mentioned in discourse ensuring thus the coherence of that unit of discourse. Using the given-new principle, the coherence of a discourse at episodic and global levels is exemplified and analysed in example 2.4, (2.4) 1 American football is a body-contact, 11-man team sport played with an oval ball on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. Each team tries to score points by carrying or passing (to a team-mate) the ball 5 over the opponent’s goal line for a touchdown or by kicking the ball between the goalposts for a field goal. A team must advance the ball 10 yards (9.1 metres) in four attempts, called downs, 10 or turn possession over to the opponent. As the possession of the ball changes from side to side, defensive and offensive teams alternate positions on the field. This gridiron sport, as it is called because of the field’s markings, is indigenous to the United States 15 and has not been taken up in the rest of the world to the degree that other American sports, such as basketball and baseball, have. It has spread to some other countries, however, and has achieved a degree of international popularity 20 through television viewing. (American Football, in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004 CD-ROM edition) where the bold-faced NPs are generally taken to be given information and the italicized NPs new information. Overall, this paragraph describes American football. Several of the clauses exhibit straightforward cases of given information as well as straightforward cases of new information. The bold-faced NPs in 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, and 18 represent given information because they have been mentioned before in the text. The italicized NPs in 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 19, and 20 represent new information, for they have just been introduced. Other cases are a bit less clear. The NPs in 5, 7, and 11(2) are marked bold, and their putative status as given must be related to knowledge shared by writer and reader about American football fields. One important problem in accounting for reference management in discourse is understanding how speaker and listener keep track of referents during discourse production and comprehension. According to Tomlin (1997, 80), keeping track of referents involves three related problems: (1) introducing referents to the discourse, (2) sustaining reference once a referent has been introduced, and (3) reintroducing referents after a long hiatus. In example 2.4, the newly-introduced referent American football is sustained through anaphoric forms such as noun phrases (team sport) or pronouns (it), or is reintroduced (elliptically) after a long pause in the paragraph. Therefore, a unit of new information (American football in the previous example), may change its status as the discourse proceeds, and what was new in one sentence becomes given in the next, precisely because it has just been said. This given-new dichotomy is essential in the process structuring information to achieve unity and coherence in discourse. Cook (1993) elaborates on the topic, and states that communication might be defined as the conversion of new information into given information; and a successful communicator as a person who correctly assesses the state of knowledge of his or her interlocutor. If we misjudge, and treat what is given as new, we will be boring; in the reverse case when we assume the new to be given, we will be incomprehensible. (Cook 1993, 46) 2.1. Focus Like Theme or Topic, the term focus has also been used in recent linguistics in differing, albeit to some extent related. Focus is used to refer to the newness of particular pieces of information in the utterance, a position traditionally linked with the Prague School’s notion of Rheme. Focus is also related to the cognitive notion of prominence or salience being referred to as “object of attention.” Finally, focus may be regarded as the addressor’s attempt to get the addressee to replace some incorrect information with the correct information, aspect which is usually referred to in terms of contrast. In a similar way to that in which Halliday (1967) uses the given-new dichotomy, he states that in communication, “the speaker marks out a part (which may be the whole) of a message block as that which he wishes to be interpreted as informative” (1967, 204). In his approach, it is suggested that “the focus of a message ... is that which is represented by the speaker as being new, textually (and situationally) non-derivable information” (Halliday 1967, 204). The second aspect of Focus is related to the cognitive notion of prominence or salience. In this case, focus is not represented by the Rheme of a sentence but rather by the information that “stands out” from other information and which can be placed anywhere in a sentence in order to achieve a particular effect or to draw the attention of the addressee. Erteschik-Shir (1997), one of the exponents of this theory, states that “the focus of a sentence S = the (intention of a) constituent c of S which the speaker intends to direct the attention of his/her hearer(s), by uttering S.” (Erteschik-Shir 1997, 11). For Erteschik-Shir, a sentence in discourse has only one main focus which is assigned to a syntactic constituent which may be a noun phrase, a verb phrase, or the whole sentence. Dik (1981) was also concerned with what the focus of a sentence is, but, unlike Erteschik-Shir, he states that focus may be assigned to more than one constituent. Thus, the answer to the question “Who ate what in the restaurant?” must have two referents which act as an object of attention. Last but not least, Dik (1981) defines focus as the pragmatic function which characterises constituents which present – relatively speaking – the most important information with respect to the pragmatic information of the speaker and the addressee. Dik offers a very useful and detailed discussion of focus as contrast and identifies five different sub-types of focus phenomena 0 Daniel Dejica Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation found in language, each sub-type having a special function. All five sub-types of focus identified by Dik are contrastive since, according to him, “the speaker tries to put some piece of information in opposition to other information, either explicitly or implicitly” (1981, 149). 2.1.5 Foregrounding vs. backgrounding Like the notions discussed so far, the idea of foreground versus background information in discourse arises from attempts to explain structural alternations in language for which no obvious semantic explanations are apparent. The major contributions made to the theory of foregrounding find their roots in Russian Formalism; they were elaborated in Prague Structuralism and later on developed by Western linguists (Grimes 1975; Levinson 1983; van Peer 1986; Tomlin 1986; Vallduví 1992) in extended studies. This theory, like focus theory, implies that information in a sentence is structured in two main parts: the foreground – the focused information, the most important information – and the background – the rest of the sentence. One way of foregrounding information is to alter the usual word order in a sentence. The closer to the beginning or to the end of a sentence the information is placed, the more foregrounded it is because it is in those positions that information is most likely to be noticed or to be more prominent to the readers. This strategy of moving information to the first or last position in a sentence is not the only one through which information can be foregrounded. The same effect noticed or to be more prominent to the readers. This strategy of moving information to the can be obtained by preserving the normal ordering and by adding emphasizers to particular bits first or last position in a sentence is not the only one through which information can be of information in the sentence. foregrounded. The same effect can be obtained by preserving the normal ordering and by adding emphasizers to particular bits of information in the sentence. The foreground/background theory can also be used to account for the structure of larger units f disc rse. Hoppe (1979) uses the term foreground to refer to the parts of the narrativ which The fo regro u nd/backgr ound theory can also be used to account for the structure of larger relate events b longing to the skeletal structure of the discourse, and background o refer to the units of discourse . Hopper (1979) uses the term foreground to refer to t he parts of the supportive material which does not itself narrate the main event. To support his claim, Hopper narrative which relate events belonging to the skeletal structure of the discourse, and (1979, 214) uses a translated text from Swahili of a nineteenth century traveller’s tale: background to refer to the supportive material which does not itself narrate the main event. To support his claim, Hopper (1979, 214) uses a translated text from Swahili of a (2.5) We returned to the camp, and ran away during the night, and we travelled for several nineteenth century traveller’s tale: days, we passed through several villages, and in all of them we did not have to pay tribute. (2.5) We returned to the camp, and ran away during the night, and we travelled for several days, we passed through several villages, and in all of them we did not have to pay tribute. The distinction between foregrounded and backgrounded sentences becomes clear if they are arranged in a chart, with the chronology of events running from left to right, and events not on The distinction between foregrounded and backgrounded sentences becomes clear if they the main route indicated by a subroutine to the side: are arranged in a chart, with the chronology of events running from left to right, and events not on the main route indicated by a subroutine to the side: YY BACKGROUND Fig. 2.4 Chronologic representation of events Fig. 2.4 Chronologic representation of events The notions of foregrounding and backgrounding have led many researchers to consider them The notions of foregrounding and backgrounding have led many researchers to consider as crucial factors in structuring information because, according to them, the way a discourse is them as crucial factors in structuring information because, according to them, the way a structured has a prominent effect on the process of discourse interpretation. discourse is structured has a prominent effect on the process of discourse interpretation. TRANSLATION STUDIES 1 3. Relevance of information theories for translation Th ti di d f if iditil th tif ti i . Relevance of information theories for translation The notions discussed so far, even if varied in terminology, assume that information is usually structured at sentence level into two parts, one part which contains more prominent or salient information usually foregrounded, focused or staged, and another part which is backgrounded or which contains information about the first part. In the same way, at higher levels of discourse, certain information seems more central or important to the development of discourse than other. One of the characteristics of coherent discourse is that entities, once introduced at a given point in the text, are often referred to again at a later point (Tomlin 1997, 77). As shown before, the problem of how reference is managed in discourse production and comprehension / interpretation has been the focus of considerable research on discourse because it is fundamental in accounting for its structure, development, and coherence; since translators are concerned with both discourse interpretation and production, they should be the main beneficiaries of such research. To probe the relevance of information theories for translation, only the theories which analyse information at levels higher than sentence level are tested here: Thematic progression – Theme as starting point (Daneš 1974, Halliday 1994), topic continuity and topic structuring (Givon 1983), given information as shared information, (Halliday 1967), foregrounding and backgrounding (Hopper 1979). This decision is justified by the general premise that the translator can take the most appropriate decisions only when faced with a holistic view of the text to be translated or analysed. It is therefore assumed here that the other approaches, even if useful for the translator at sentence level, since they are not developed into approaches which look at information at higher text levels, cannot help the translator take overall decisions regarding aspects of information structure, focus, coherence, etc. To exemplify Daneš’s (1974) thematic progression the following text and its translation into English has been selected from a bilingual magazine: (.1) Clubul Investitorilor La finele anului trecut, la iniţiativa conducerii Comisiei Economice a Senatului--respectiv a preşedintelui Dan Mircea Popescu şi a secretarului general Ion Zara, s-a înfiinţat Clubul investitorilor. Asociaţie nonguvernamentală, cu personalitate juridică şi apolitică, clubul se bucură de toate drepturile conferite de lege pentru promovarea unui climat favorabil afacerilor şi investiţiilor în România. The Investors’ Club The Investors Club was founded at the end of last year, at the initiative of Dan Mircea Popescu and Ion Zara, president and general secretary respectively of the Senate Economic Commission. A non-governmental, non-party political association, the club enjoys all the rights accorded by the law for the promotion of a climate favourable to business people and investors in Romania. (Timisoara--What, Where, When, 2002: 7) The following Themes and Rhemes can be identified using Halliday’s (1994) Theme-Rheme principle, i.e., Theme as the starting point of the utterance: 2 Daniel Dejica Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation Rheme principle, i.e., Theme as the starting point of the utterance: Clubul Investitorilor (ST) The Investors’ Club (TT) T1 -- La finele anului R1 -- s-a înfiinţat Clubul Investitorilor (ST) R1 -- was founded at T1 -- The Investors The Investors’ Club (TT) trecut, la iniţiativa T1 --La finele anului Club Clubul investitorilor T1 --The Investors R1 --s-a înfiinat the end of last year, at R1 --was founded at the conducerii Comisiei trecut, la iniiativa Clubul investitorilor Club the initiative of Dan end of last year, at the Economice a Senatului conducerii Comisiei Mircea Popescu and initiative of Dan Mircea - respectiv a preşedintelui Economice a Senatului - Ion Zara, president Popescu and Ion Zara, Dan Mircea Popescu şi a respectiv a preoedintelui and general secretary president and general secretarului general Ion Dan Mircea Popescu oi respectively of the secretary respectively of Zara a secretarului general Senate Economic the Senate Economic Ion Zara Commission. Commission. T2 -- Asociaţie T2 --Asociaie R2 --se bucura de T2 --A non­ R2 -- enjoys all the R2 --enjoys all the rights R2 -- se bucură T2 -- A non­ de toate drepturile toate drepturile governmental, governmental, non- rights accorded by the accorded by the law for nonguvernamentală, cu nonguvernamentala, cu personalitate juridică şi personalitate juridica oi conferite de lege conferite de lege party political law for the promotion the promotion of a climate non-party political apolitica, clubul pentru promovarea association the club favourable to business apolitică, clubul pentru promovarea association the club of a climate favourable unui climat favorabil people and investors in unui climat to business people and afacerilor oi Romania. favorabil afacerilor investors in Romania. investiiilor în şi investiţiilor în România. România. Fig. 3.1 Exemplification of Theme-Rheme identification – Theme as starting point (Halliday 1994) Fig. 3.1 Exemplification of Theme-Rheme identification – Theme as starting point (Halliday 1994) the following thematic representations can be obtained: Using Daneš’ (1974) approach to Theme-Rheme analysis at the level of the whole text, Using Daneš’ (1974) approach to Theme-Rheme analysis at the level of the whole text, the following thematic representations can be obtained: Source text (Romanian) Target text (English) T1 R2 T1 R2 Fig. 3.2 Exemplification of a thematic progression in a source text and of its re-creation in a target te Fig. 3.2 Exemplification of a thematic progression in a source text and of its re-creation in a target tex t Even if in both texts the macro-Themes (which in this case are The Investors’ Club) predict what the texts will be about, the difference between the thematic organizations of each text is obvious. The “zig-zag” pattern in the ST, typical for linear progression, places the importance on when and who set up the club (a fact which might be of importance in a wider context), while the “parallel” pattern in the TT displays a progression with constant Theme and places the importance on the club itself. This shift in point of view gives a subjective flavour to the TT, and it can even be regarded as a way of manipulation. Such analyses are useful for translators in that they can (a) identify the thematic structure of the ST and decide whether to preserve it or change it in the TT according to the requirements of the client, of the target language preferences for particular structures, etc., (b) label a source text as coherent or incoherent and if necessary, make the appropriate changes in the target text, etc. Translation studies researchers can also apply this approach to information structure to draw comparative structural analyses between parallel texts and establish source or target language preferences for particular thematic structures. Last but not least, genre analysts can use it to establish genres’ preferences for particular thematic structures. The following example has been selected to see how and if thematic progression can work at higher text levels: (3.2) Rob Roy Rob Roy, real name Robert MacGregor (1671-1734), Scottish brigand, [was] sometimes called the Scottish Robin Hood. Known as Rob Roy, or Robert the Red, because of his red hair, he was a member of the outlawed Scottish clan Gregor. After his lands were confiscated in 1712 by James Montrose, 1st duke of Montrose, to whom he was in debt, Rob Roy became a leader of uprisings and a freebooter. He later lived in peace for a time under the protection of John Campbell, 2nd duke of Argyll, taking the name Robert Campbell, but he was imprisoned by the English in the 1720s. The Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott turned the brigand into a romantic hero in his popular novel Rob Roy (1818). In 1995 a movie about his struggle was released called Rob Roy. (Rob Roy, Encarta® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1999, 2000 Microsoft Corporation) The underlined Themes in example 3.2 have been identified using the same Theme as starting point principle. The Themes are presented in the order of their appearance in Fig. 3.3. In the same figure, the thematic progression containing the links between the Themes and Rhemes is illustrated: Fig. 3.3 Exemplification of Theme identification in a text and of its thematic progression (Theme as starting point) At a first sight, the paragraph reads well and does not seem to cause any translation At a first sight, the paragraph reads well and does not seem to cause any translation problems. problems. When trying to identify the thematic progression of the text (Fig. 3.3) using Theme as starting point, the translator might encounter a problem when establishing the Theme in sentence 3. When trying to identify the thematic progression of the text (Fig. 3.3) using Theme as  Daniel Dejica Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation starting point, the translator might encounter a problem when establishing the Theme in sentence 3. The problem is generated by the fact that it is difficult to establish where the Theme ends and where the Rheme begins: (1) if one considers only the beginning of the sentence, i.e., “after his lands”, as Theme, it would be difficult to establish the progression The problem is generated by the fact that it is difficult to establish where the Theme ends and where the Rheme begins: (1) if one considers only the beginning of the sentence, i.e., “after his lands”, as Theme, it would be difficult to establish the progression and the links with the remaining text; (2) if one takes T3 as Theme, this problem would be solved, but one would immediately notice that the Theme contains rhematic information in itself, i.e., information about Rob Roy, e.g., that his lands were confiscated by in 1712 by James Montrose, 1st duke of Montrose, and that he was in debt to the duke, information which, according to this approach, follows the Theme. Another problem is that, if using the same approach to Theme-Rheme analysis, it is difficult to establish links between (T5) and the remaining text, represented with dotted arrows in Fig. 3.3, respectively (T6), (R6), (T7), (R7), which can be considered as new information, indirectly related to the hyper-Theme of the text, i.e. Rob Roy. An indirect implication of this problem is that, from this analysis, the paragraph might be considered incoherent. The above discussion and examples prove that not all the information that comes at the beginning of a sentence is necessarily thematic, and that the identification of Themes and Rhemes of a text from a syntactic perspective, which takes into account the leftmost information unit in a sentence as being thematic, can be inaccurate. Also, from the same perspective, it is not always easy to establish links between Themes and Rhemes and account for text coherence. To conclude, if the syntactic identification and analysis of Themes and Rhemes can sometimes work on smaller or simpler texts in terms of sentence structure and organization, this is not the case with longer units displaying complex sentences, information shifts, voice changes, etc. As shown in section 2.1.2, Givon (1983) discusses topic continuity in discourse in terms of thematic continuity, action continuity, and topic/participant continuity. Givon uses the same parameters for Theme identification as the proponents of the approach who see Theme as starting point of the sentence: this means that when applied to example (3.2), the thematic continuity would display the same results and problems as presented above. What topic continuity brings as new is the analysis of action continuity of events which facilitates text understanding and proves the chronological coherence of a text. In example (3.2), the action continuity can be represented as follows: 1995 Movie about his struggle 1995 Movie about his struggle The analysis of participant continuity in the same example displays the following results: The analysis of participant continuity in the same example displays the following results: Fig. 3.5 Representation of participant continuity in discourse Fig. 3.5 Representation of participant continuity in discourse As figures 3.4 and .5 show, the text is coherent from the viewpoint of chronology of events and As figures 3.4 and 3 .5 show, the text is coherent from the viewpoint of chronology of identity of referents. Analyses of action continuity and participant continuity may prove to be events and identity of referents. Analyses of action continuity and participant continuity extremely helpful for the translator when accounting for and preserving source text coherence may prove to be extremely helpful for the translator when accounting for and preserving in the target text. source text coherence in the target text. The advantage of using the given-new analysis, at whole text level is that it can account for text coherence; in the following representatio of example (3.1), the elements in italic are New, and The advantage of using the given-new an alysis, at whole text level is that it can account for the lements bold are Given: text cohe rence; i n the following representation of example (3.1), the elements in italic are New, and the elements in bold are Given: Fig. 3.6 Identification and analysis of given-new elements in a text Fig. 3.6 shows that the given and the new elements are the same at all levels in both texts, a 6 Daniel Dejica Probing for Relevance: Information Theories and Translation fact which analytically proves that the target text is as coherent as the source text. However, what the given-new approach brings as new, as compared to the previous Fig. 3.6 shows that the given and the new elements are the same at all levels in both texts, a fact which analytically proves that the target text is as coherent as the source text. However, what the given-new approach brings as new, as compared to the previous approaches, is that, in identifying the given and new elements, it offers a perspective on the word order in the two texts: preserving in the target text the same given or new information as in the source text, but ordered differently, may also constitute a subject of study for translation. The last approach analysed here at whole text level is foregrounding-backgrounding. The analysis of sequentiality in narrative discourse proposed by Hopper (1979) (Fig. 2.4) is very much identical with the concept of action discourse proposed by Givon (1983) (Fig. 3.4). What differs in Hopper’s perspective is that actions can also be presented in the background, usually subordinated to those in the foreground. The relevance for translation is that both approaches account for chronology of events, and implicitly logical coherence of discourse. . Conclusion The aim of this paper was to present an overview of existing linguistic theories and approaches to information identification and analysis in texts and to probe their relevance for translation. Several theories and approaches which use different parameters for the identification and analysis of information in texts, i.e. syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, were covered, and eventually, their relevance to translation was tested. As to their relevance for translation, several conclusions can be drawn. On the one hand, knowledge of information theories may prove extremely helpful for professional translators in that by applying them, they can • identify the information structure of the source text and decide whether to preserve it or change it in the target text according to the requirements of the client, of the target language preferences for particular structures, etc; • label a source text as coherent or incoherent and if necessary, make the appropriate changes in the target text, etc; • identify the chronology of events and identity of referents which leads to understanding the source text better; The information theories presented here can also be of interest to translation scholars, in that they can • apply various approaches to information structure to draw comparative structural analyses between parallel texts and establish source or target language preferences for particular structures; • establish genres’ preferences for particular information structures. On the other hand, the analyses performed here showed that • not all of the theories focusing on the identification of information can be applied to the analysis of information on larger text segments; they work only on isolated excerpts of texts, e.g. at local or sentence level, and due to this limitation, they cannot offer the translator a holistic view needed for text understanding in terms of information structure and relations; • most of the parameters used by their proponents are semantic or syntactic in nature and cannot provide consistent identification of salient information; • they cannot always account for text coherence on all levels (local, episodic, global); • none of these theories, as far as we know, have been integrated into a translation method. Most of the studies dealing with information theories in translation were comparative in nature and focused on differences between language structure, ordering of information, etc. in the source text and in the target text. 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The Informational Component. New York: Garland. Vallduví, E., and E. Engdhal. 1996. The Linguistic Realization of Information Packaging. In Linguistics 34: 459–519. van Dijk, T.A. 1982. Text and Context. London: Longman. van Peer, W. 1986. Stylistics and Psychology: Investigations of Foregrounding. London: Croom Helm. Nina Grahek Križnar university of Ljubljana Faculty of arts, Department of Translation Studies What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? Contrastive analysis of culture-specific expressions in two translations of Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat Summary It rarely happens that a literary work is translated twice into Slovenian. The elements in a text that tie it most strongly to its temporal, social and cultural background are culture-specific concepts. They would be the first to sound archaic, even incomprehensible to the contemporary reader. Based on the contrastive analysis of the two Slovenian translations of Jerome K. Jerome’s travelogue, Three Men in a Boat, the study tries to clarify what stimulated the second translation thirty-five years after the first one. The first translation by Avgust Petrišič was published in 1952, the second by Maja Kraigher thirty-five years later. In view of the fact that languages undergo constant changes, did the translations of culture-specific concepts in the first translation become too archaic, even incomprehensible? Or did the strategies and norms for dealing with culture-specific concepts at the time of the first translation become dated? The results may help to explain why some translations become obsolete and what motivates the appearance of new ones. Key words: literary translation, culture-specific concepts, outdated translation, new translation of the same literary work. Zakaj književni prevod postane zastarel? Povzetek Redko se zgodi, da bi bilo književno delo iz tujega jezika v slovenščino prevedeno dvakrat. Namen članka je dognati, zakaj nekateri književni prevodi zastarijo in kaj spodbudi nastanek novih. Analiza temelji na dveh slovenskih prevodih dela Trije možje v čolnu angleškega pisatelja Jeroma K. Jeroma. Prvi prevod, delo Avgusta Petrišiča, je bil objavljen leta 1952, drugič pa je knjigo petintrideset let pozneje prevedla Maja Kraigher. Humoristični potopis Trije možje v čolnu je izšel leta 1889 in opisuje angleško stvarnost ob koncu 19. stoletja; značaji so stereotipno angleški, pripoved pa se nanaša na pisateljevo sodobnost in oddaljeno angleško preteklost. Knjiga vsebuje obilo kulturnospecifičnih pojmov, ki ne izvirajo zgolj iz za slovenskega bralca tuje, tj. angleške kulture, temveč tudi iz obdobij, ki so oddaljena od časa tako drugega kot tudi prvega prevoda. Domnevati gre, da je prevajalske odločitve obeh prevajalcev določalo družbeno in kulturno okolje v času prevoda, na prevajanje pa so nedvomno vplivale tudi prevajalske norme in strategije, ki so bile takrat v veljavi. Primerjava prevodov kulturnospecifičnih elementov v obeh prevodih skuša razjasniti, kaj je privedlo do drugega prevoda le petintrideset let po nastanku prvega, in s tem pojasniti, zakaj nekateri prevodi postanejo zastareli. Ključne besede: književni prevod, kulturnospecifični pojmi, zastareli prevod, novi prevod istega književnega dela. What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? 1. Introduction Why does a translation become outdated? Outdatedness does not seem relevant when talking about the original. Great literary works are never considered outdated. We never claim that Shakespeare or Sophocles is outdated (Vidrih 1996, 73). When reading a 19th century novel in the original, the archaic expressions and syntax do not bother us, as we consider these linguistic features as congruent with the contents and the style of writing of the time the original was produced. Why does this not apply to translations? Why would we need a new translation if the original always remains the same and is read as such (Bratož 1995, 1)? Is the answer that provided by Meta Grosman, who claims that translators are foremost readers of the text, which is why their interpretation is temporally, culturally and socially determined? Does this mean that a translation is meant primarily for the contemporary reader and that it becomes obsolete for future generations? (Cited in Bratož 1995, 1). Why does it then happen so rarely that a literary work is translated twice into Slovenian? The elements in a text that tie it most strongly to its temporal, social and cultural background are culture-specific concepts. They would be the first to sound archaic, even incomprehensible to a contemporary reader. Leaving aside translation field factors such as publisher’s policy, editor preferences, critique etc.,1 the study compares the culture-specific concepts from the two translations of Jerome K. Jerome’s travelogue Three Men in a Boat. The contrastive analysis is an attempt to clarify what stimulated the second translation. 2. Culture, language and translation The life of a society and the lexicon spoken by members of a society are closely connected (Wierzbicka 1997, 1). According to Teliya et al. (1998), “culture is assumed to be implemented, one way or another, on the content plane of linguistic expressions, reproduced in an act of denomination and transmitted from generation to generation through linguistic and cultural norms of usage. Thus, language can be looked upon as a crucial mechanism contributing to the formation of a collective cultural identity.” In defining culture, Hofstede (as cited in Katan 1999, 39–42) uses the metaphor of onion skins: he talks of the superficial and deeper layers of culture. The superficial layer is visible and includes practices, symbols, heroes and rituals. The deeper layer is not visible and refers to values. Words with culture-specific meanings reflect a way of life; they are names for material culture, social rituals and institutions – and the way of thinking of a given society (Wierzbicka 1997, 2). Those words with culture-specific meanings in one language often lack equivalents in other languages and may therefore present obstacles for a translator. The translator of a text containing culture-specific concepts should first be able to identify them and then to adopt appropriate strategies to deal with them. The problem of non-equivalence of culture-specific concepts may be approached in various ways. Baker (1992, 21) lists a number of strategies used by professional  Due to temporal remoteness and inaccessibility of the editors or translators of either translation. 102 nina grahek Križnar What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? translators to deal with different types of non-equivalence at the word level. The same strategies may also be applied to culture-specific concepts. Gonzales (2004, 88–9) adapts Hervey, Higgins and Haywood’s system of strategies used in the translation of culture-specific items. The list below is a combination of both these systems, adapted for the purpose of the present research: 1. Cultural borrowing – the source language expression is rendered without change in the target language. 2. Calque – the source language expression is introduced into the target language by translating it from the source language. 3. Transliteration – the cultural referent is changed according to the phonic conventions of the target language. 4. Cultural substitution – the source language expression is replaced by a reference that is more in accordance with the norms of the target culture; it may not have the same propositional meaning, but is likely to have the same impact on the target language reader. 5. Translation by a more general expression. 6. Paraphrase, using either related or unrelated words. 7. Note. 8. Translation by omission. Standards that dictate translators’ decisions change and, according to Mette Hjort (as cited in Bassnett and Lefevere 1990), translations satisfy the appropriateness conditions, rules and norms dominant in the field of translation in a certain culture at a certain time. Norms that governed translation decisions at one time may become inappropriate or unacceptable at another time. Translations produced at different times are, therefore, made under different conditions and turn out differently, not because they are good or bad, but because they have been produced to satisfy different demands (ibid.). . study Description The aim of this study is to compare the two Slovenian translations of Jerome Klapka Jerome’s book, Three Men in a Boat, to see how the two translators tackled the problem of translating culture-specific elements of the original text. The attempt is to establish whether decisions in translating culture-specific items can render a translation obsolete, thus encouraging a new translation of the same work. The first translation by Avgust Petrišič came out in 1952. The second translation by Maja Kraigher was published in 1987. Both were translated from the original English version. The English writer Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859–1927) is best known for his travelogue Three Men in a Boat, published in 1889. It is a work of fiction loosely based on fact, marked by the first person narrative perspective and a diary-like mode of writing. Jerome did make several trips up the river Thames with his two life-long friends, George Wingrave and Carl Hetschel, George and Harris (as they are named in the book). In his biography, Jerome himself commented on the book: “Its pages”, he says, “form the record of events that really happened. All that has been done is to colour them… George and Harris and Montmorency are not poetic ideals, but things of flesh and blood...” (as cited in Connolly 1982, 52). In this manner Jerome created various comic situations which entwine with the history of the Thames region. The first reviews were not particularly favourable. It was not the humour that attracted the attention but the “vulgarity” of the language, which was defined as “colloquial clerk’s English of the year 1889” (ibid., 75). The book was further criticized for merely imitating the American concept of what humour ought to be and for not being as funny as Dickens’s Pickwick Papers. The British public, however, liked the book, probably for the very reasons that the critics hated it: it was new, fresh, and vulgar in so far as it faithfully reflected the way people spoke. It was a very English book, its humour marked by the alternation of understatement and exaggeration, a strategy considered to be stereotypically English. Three Men in a Boat is a humorous book about English reality at the end of the 19th century, set in the very English Thames region. Its characters are stereotypical Englishmen and the narrative refers to Jerome’s contemporary England and England’s remote past. It is therefore understandable that the text abounds in culture-specific concepts originating not only in a culture obviously different from Slovenian culture but also in a period of time distant from the time of both the first and the second translation. Jerome’s contemporary readers were probably familiar with the book’s cultural references. Taking into consideration the continuing popularity of the book, we may assume that contemporary English readers are still able to identify basic cultural references in the book, and yet some new editions (Jerome 1998) have been complemented with a glossary to inform English (and other English-reading) present-day readers about remote, 19th century, culture-specific references. It is assumed that the socio-cultural atmosphere at the time of each translation may have influenced the translation decisions of the two translators. In view of the fact that languages undergo constant changes, the two translators may have used different strategies, and a different lexicon, for dealing with culture-specific concepts. To have a book of fiction translated twice is a rare occurrence in Slovenian literary history. The parallel analysis of both translations may clarify the reasons that led to the second translation “only” 35 years after the publication of the first and further help to explain why some translations become obsolete and what motivates the appearance of new ones. Could it be that the first translation became obsolete because the translator either did not understand the culture-specific concepts in the source culture, or did the norms for translating culture-specific concepts grow out of date? Toury (1995, 86) claims that “Methodologically… a descriptive study would always proceed from the assumption that equivalence does exist between the assumed translation and its assumed source. What remains to be uncovered, is only the way this postulate was actually realized, e.g., in terms of the balance between what was kept invariant and what was transformed.” Toury further admits that the notion of equivalence – which is of little importance in itself – may help explain the textual-linguistic representation of the translational solutions within studied translation units. 10 nina grahek Križnar What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? For the purpose of the present analysis, the culture-specific English concepts contained in Jerome’s book, Three Men in a Boat, were classified according to Nida’s categories (1964), and compared to their equivalents in the two Slovenian translations. The categories taken into consideration were the following: concepts referring to the area of ecology which includes different aspects of nature – flora and fauna – and geographic concepts; the area of material culture is related to everyday life and everyday objects (household objects, food, clothes, housing and transport); the area of social culture (concepts referring to work, leisure, customs and rituals, historical concepts, arts and literature). The units of measurement, which abound in the text, were included in the area of social culture. Their use is basically a matter of mutual agreement within a particular society. Taking into consideration Hofstede’s Onion model of culture, the lexicalized culture-specific concepts express mainly the visible layer of culture, whereas the deeper, non-visible layer may be expressed through what is called linguistic culture (as cited in Katan 1999, 39–42). . the Results The analysis contains the most illustrative examples of concepts that are either unknown or not lexicalized in the target culture. The aim was to establish what strategies the two translators used in rendering these culture-specific concepts into the Slovenian language. 4.1 Ecology Few lexical items in the field of ecology refer to concepts that do not exist in Slovenian culture. There is, though, an instance of superordination in both translations referring to a dog breed of British origin – a retriever. There were a mastiff, and one of two collies, and a St Bernard, a few retrievers and… (Jerome 1998, 106). In both translations the word is rendered into Slovenian by a more general expression, lovski pes (1952, 130; 1987, 142). One can justifiably speculate that a contemporary translator would not hesitate to use the term prinašalec, since the golden retriever has in recent years become a highly popular dog breed in Slovenia. 4.2 Material culture In the category of household objects a hearth-rug (a rug laid on the floor in front of the fireplace in English homes) in the sentence … and George stood on the hearth-rug, and gave us a clever and powerful piece of acting… (1998, 8) is translated by the more general expression preproga in T12 (1952, 11) and a calque preproga pred kaminom inT2(1987, 13). A Gladstone (a large travelling bag made of stiff leather) in We got a big Gladstone for the clothes, … (1998, 30) is translated as Imeli smo velik gladstonski kovček za obleke,.. in T1 (1952, 38) and Imeli smo velik kovček za obleke in T2 (1987, 41), the former being a case of calque with partial explication, the latter an example of translation by a more general expression. A carpet-bag (a travelling bag made of carpet, commonly from an oriental rug, popular in 19th-century England) in the sentence …, two other men disembarked from the starboard, and sat down among boat-hooks and sails and carpet-bags and bottles (1998, 71) is translated as potna vreča in T1 (1952, 90) and potovalka in T2 (1987, 97), both instances of cultural substitution, the former being an old-fashioned piece of luggage, the latter a modern one.  Thoughout the article, T1 refers to the first, i.e. 1952 translation, and T2 to the second, i.e. 1987 translation. Expressions denoting food like Worcester (Worcester sauce – a dark brown spicy liquid added to food to increase its flavour) in If Harris’s eyes filled with tears, you can bet it is because Harris has been eating raw onions, or has put too much Worcester over his chop (1998, 15) is translated by a calque and partial cultural substitution worcesterska gorčica in T1 (1952, 19) and a calque worcesterska omaka in T2 (1987, 22). Ginger-beer (a British, normally non-alcoholic beverage with a strong taste of ginger) in Then he [Harris] flew off about lemonade, and ‘such-like Sunday-school slops,’ as he determined them, ginger-beer, raspberry syrup, &c., &c. (1998, 57) is replaced by a cultural substitution oranžada in T1: Nato je spet zabavljal zoper limonado, in “podobno čvekanje iz nedeljske šole”, kakor se je izrazil, oranžado, malinovec itd. itd (1952, 72) and a calque ingverjevo pivo in T2: Potem je začel udrihati čez limonado in “take brozge za nedeljsko šolo”, kakor jih je imenoval, ingverjevo pivo, malinovec itd (1987, 78). A bottle of Bass in … when he came to a little shanty where they kept it, he kicked up a most fearful row because they charged him five francs for a bottle of Bass (1998, 100) (Bass being the name of a former brewery and the brand name for several English beers originally brewed in Burton upon Trent at Bass Brewery) is translated by a superordinate as steklenica piva in T1 (1952, 123), whereas the T2 translator preserved the cultural connotation and translated it as a cultural borrowing steklenica bassa (1987, 133). Various other types of English beer, like porter, ale and bitter are all translated by the general expression pivo in T1, likewise in T2, with the exception of bitter, which is rendered into Slovenian by the paraphrase grenko pivo. Another interesting example is the translation of muffin (a small round flat type of bread, usually sliced in two and eaten hot with butter) in After hot muffins, it [our stomach] says, ‘Be dull and soulless…’ (1998, 79) is translated by a slightly old-fashioned cultural substitution Po vročih ponvičnikih pravi želodec:… in T1 (1952, 101) and a more general expression Po vročih kolačkih z maslom reče:… in T2 (1987, 107), which also contains an explication of the way muffins are eaten in England, i.e. with butter. One might speculate here about how a contemporary translator would render muffins into Slovenian; it seems quite possible that he/she might decide on a cultural borrowing or even transliteration (mafin), since the sweeter, American-style muffins have become common in Slovenia and are referred to by their original name. Culture-specific expressions in the category of housing denote different types of dwellings that either do not exist in Slovenian culture or have a different connotation in the Slovenian language. A four-room cottage in It was a little four-roomed cottage where the boy lived, and his mother – good soul! – gave us hot bacon for supper, and we ate it all – … (1998, 99) implies a modest, even poor family home in the countryside. In T1 it is rendered into Slovenian as a superordination, majhna štirisobna hiša (1952, 122), and as a calque, koča s štirimi prostori in T2 (1987, 132). One cannot help but observe the difference between the English and the Slovenian conceptions of what small is in terms of a house or cottage. A four-room house would not be considered particularly small in the Slovenian culture of today, much less in the 19th century; furthermore, a koča (defined in Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika [SSKJ] – the standard Slovenian dictionary – as majhna preprosta hiša or bajta) would hardy contain four rooms, a problem the T2 translator tries to solve by changing soba (room) into prostor. 106 nina grahek Križnar What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? A house-boat (a barge that is designed and equipped to be used as a dwelling, often kept in one place on a river or canal) in ‘Let me see, sir; was yours a steam-launch or a house-boat?’ (1998, 109) is translated as the slightly ambiguous paraphrase ladja s hišo: “Kako, gospod, ali je vaša parna ladjica ladja s hišo?” in T1 (1952, 135) and possibly insufficient paraphrase barka s kabino in T2: “Čakajte no, gospod; ste imeli parnik ali barko s kabino?” (1987, 147). It is easy to understand that a book about a boat trip down the Thames contains many expressions connected with transportation, more precisely, boating. Many of its concepts are known in Slovenian culture; they are even lexicalized, but since the practices have long been abandoned, the general readership may not be familiar with them and would require an explanatory note to understand them. One such interesting cultural peculiarity is punting (travelling on a river in a punt, i.e. a long narrow boat with a flat bottom and a square area at each end, which is moved by a person standing on one of the square areas and pushing a long pole against the bottom of the river). A punt is translated by means of superordination as čoln in both T1 and T2; the very action of punting: George said he had often longed to take to punting for a change (1998, 131), however, is paraphrased as riniti čoln z drogom in T1: George je rekel, da si je čestokrat želel, da bi za ispremembo rinil čoln z drogom (1952, 160) and as poganjati čoln s palico in T2: George je rekel, da si je dostikrat zaželel za spremembo voziti se s čolnom, ki ga poganjaš s palico (1987, 176). Slovenian culture is familiar with this sort of river transportation; the method called droženje, or rather its verbal form drožiti, is explained in the SSKJ: z drogom poganjati splav ali čoln. Another specific method of transportation on the river or canal is a barge pulled by a barge-horse following a tow-path along the river bank. This kind of transportation was also used in Slovenia in the past; on the Sava River, for example, horses, but mainly oxen, were used to pull boats against the current. One of the expressions to do with boat-towing is a tow-path (a path along a canal or river used by animals towing boats). Jurij Vega (Umek 1986, 233–68; Južnič 2003) uses the expression vlečna pot when writing about Gruber’s introduction of cargo transport on the Sava River. A tow path in Three Men in a Boat occurs in the following passage: The quaint back streets of Kingston, where they come to the water’s edge, looked quite picturesque in the flashing sunlight, the glinting river with its drifting barges, the wooded towpath, the trim-kept villas on the other side, Harris, in a red and orange blazer, grunting away at the sculls…(1998, 41) The wooded tow-path is translated by a paraphrase senčna obrežna steza, po kateri so čolnarji z vrvmi vlačili čolne in T1 (1952, 53) and lesen hodnik za vleko čolnov, an obvious mistranslation, in T2 (1987, 57). In another place tow-path is translated as a calque steza za vlečenje in T1 (1952, 87), and a superordinate obrežna steza in T2 (1987, 94), which is somehow semantically insufficient. 4.3 Social culture Concepts referring to social culture are largely conditioned by the division of social classes and the professional hierarchy in England at the end of the 19th century. The social situation at the times of the two translations undoubtedly influenced the translation decisions of the two translators. Translation of three police force ranks, a policeman, a constable and a detective are clearly marked by these circumstances. A policeman (a general expression for a male police officer) (1998, 85, 86) is translated by both a rather archaic, even though perhaps the most appropriate substitution stražnik (1952, 85) and semantically problematic stražar (1952, 86) in T1 and by a cultural substitution miličnik (a term used for a member of the Slovenian police force during the Socialist regime) in T2 (1987, 115, 116). A constable (a British police officer of the lowest rank) (1998, 86) is replaced by redar in T1 (1952, 106) and translated as a cultural substitution stražnik in T2 (1987, 116). An errand boy (a boy who earns money by running errands) is in both T1 and T2 translated by a more general word and a cultural substitution: vajenec in T1 and potepuh in T2, the latter a deviation from the original lexical meaning. Biggs’s boy was the first to come round. Biggs is our greengrocer, and his chief talent lies in securing the services of the most abandoned and unprincipled errand-boys that civilisation has yet produced. (1998, 39) T1 Prvi je prišel Biggsov vajenec. Biggs je naš zelenjavar, ki kaže največji dar za to, da si za svoje delo zagotovi najbolj zanikrne in brezznačajne vajence, kar jih je kdaj ustvarila civilizacija. (1952, 49) T2 Prvi se je prikazal Biggsov vajenec. Biggs je naš zelenjadar in njenov največji talent je, da si najde za pomočnike najbolj zanikrne in lopovske potepuhe, kar jih je doslej dala civilizacija. (1987, 53) A police-court (a synonym for a magistrate’s court, a court that has jurisdiction over various minor offences) is translated by a calque policijsko sodišče in T1 and replaced by a cultural substitution policijska postaja in T2: … and then these two detectives would rush and handcuff him, and march him off to the police-court. (1998, 8) T1 … nakar bi onadva detektiva pridrvela v hišo, ga vklenila in odvedla na policijsko sodišče. (1952, 108) T2: … in da bosta tista dva miličnika planila noter in ga uklenila in odgnala na policijsko postajo. (198, 11) Among the expressions referring to culture-specific English institutions, a vestry meeting stands out, meaning either a business meeting of an English parish or a meeting of an elective body in an Episcopal parish composed of the rector and a group of elected parishioners administering 10 nina grahek Križnar What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? the temporal affairs of the parish: The whole lobby was a perfect pandemonium, and the din was terrific. A crowd assembled outside in the Haymarket, and asked if it was a vestry meeting; or if not, who was being murdered, and why? (1998, 107) T1 Vsa veža je bila v popolni peklenski zmedi in trušč je bil grozovit. Zunaj se je zbrala množica ljudi in povpraševala, ali ima občinski zbor sejo ali, če ne, koga so morili in zakaj? (1952, 131) T2 Direndaj v veži je bil neznanski in trušč strahoten. Zunaj na Haymarketu se je zbrala množica in spraševala, ali imajo cerkveni gospodje kak sestanek; če pa ne, koga so potem umorili in zakaj? (1987, 142) In T1 a vestry meeting is translated as the cultural substitution občinski zbor and is devoid of its religious connotation. In T2 the translator paraphrased it as sestanek cerkvenih gospodov. It has to be observed, though, that the functional aim of both translations has been achieved, since both references contain humorous connotation. A case of translation omission is noted in T1, where the translator chose not to translate the name of the British commission for control and protection of an area of land, a river etc., a Conservancy (1998, 146). In the original, the author in a footnote ridicules the policy of the commission of appointing as lock-keepers “excitable, nervous old men, quite unfitted for their post”. In T2, the Conservancy is translated by a cultural substitution Urad za zaščito rek (1987, 196). Among the expressions denoting leisure activities, two interesting cases may be mentioned. A beanfeast (an annual party given by an employer for the employees). Another good way we discovered of irritating the aristocratic type of steam launch, was to mistake them for a beanfeast, and ask them if they were Messrs Cubit lot or the Bermondsey Good Templars, and could they lend us a saucepan. (1998, 111) In T1 beanfeast is rendered into Slovenian by means of a paraphrase that avoids the translation of the culture-specific concept: Potem smo odkrili še neki drug način, da smo jezili parne ladjice takele gosposke vrste. Imeli smo jih za izletnike ter jih pomotoma vpraševali, ali spadajo k Tvrdki Cubit ali pa so bermondseyski templarji in ali bi nam mogli posoditi kako kozico. (1952, 136) In T2 the translator rendered the expression with the cultural substitution veselica: Drugi dober način draženja aristokratskih ladjic na paro, ki smo ga odkrili, je bil ta, da smo jih zamenjali za veselico na reki in jih vprašali, ali so mogoče druščina gospodov Cubitov ali dobri templarji iz Bermondseya in ali bi nam lahko posodili kako kozico. (1987, 148) Neither of the translations preserved the original connection of the concept with the context. The humorous effect in this passage derives from the writer’s disdain for “aristocratic” steam boats, which had obviously become popular among people who at the time could afford them and threatened to oust the “idyllic” row boats or tow boats. In the writer’s mind, such people could by no means be employees in a firm or members of a fraternal organization and would consider such thoughts offensive. A ball game similar to baseball, rounders and touch (1998, 134), has been translated by a more general expressions igra z žogo in T1 (1952, 163) and igre z žogo in T2 (1987, 179). Similarly, the card game resembling whist, penny nap (1998, 155), is rendered into Slovenian in T1 by the paraphrase Po večerji smo kartali po peniju za piko (1952, 189) and in T2 by a superordinate Po večerji smo kartali (1987, 207). English possesses a number of expressions for a public house, where people can socialize and drink alcohol. The differences in meaning between the English expressions are blurred and many are interchangeable, hence the arbitrary choices in both translations. A public house and its shorter version pub (1998, 42, 57) are translated by the cultural substitution krčma, in both T1 (1952, 53, 72) and T2 (1987, 58) and on one occasion by gostilna in T2 (1987, 77); an inn (1998, 5, 80) is translated as gostilna in T1 (1952, 18, 102) and gostišče and krčma in T2 (1987, 20, 109). An ale-house (1998, 90) and a beer-shop (1998, 98) are pivnica in both translations (1952, 112, 120; 1987, 122, 131). For any translator some of the most problematic transpositions between English and Slovenian are the names for daily meals. Apart from breakfast, none of the English meals – at least in the traditional past – corresponded to the Slovenian ones. This is also applicable to the two translations of Three Men in a Boat. Lunch (1998, 10) is translated by substitutes in both translations, the obsolete expression predjužnik in T1 (1952, 13) and as kosilo in T2 (1987, 16). Dinner (at six) (1998, 10) is translated by the more general expression obed in T1 (1952, 13) and by the substitution večerja (ob šestih) in T2 (1987, 16). Supper (1998, 8) is večerja in both translations (1952, 11; 1987, 13). Tea (1998, 101, 112) as a meal is translated as čaj in both translations, mostly expanded into phrases piti čaj, skuhati čaj etc. (1952, 125, 137; 1987, 135, 150). Concerning translation of references to English historical events and figures, huge differences can be observed between the two translations. While the T2 translator used the conventions in use nowadays for transliteration of names and titles, the T1 translation is based either on obsolete conventions or on what seem to be arbitrary solutions in transliteration (Ana clevska, vojvodinja yorška, grof esseški, princ oranjski, surovi Odo and St. Dunstan). The same names and titles in T2 are transliterated in accordance with contemporary Slovenian orthographic conventions (Ana Klevska, vojvodinja Yorška, grof Esseški, princ Oranški, surovi Odo and sveti Dunstan). Nevertheless, in some cases T1 provides better solutions: King James (1998, 136) is domesticated as kralj Jakob in T1 (1952, 166), but remains kralj James in T2 (1987, 181). According to Slovenski pravopis (29), names of rulers are domesticated. Similarly, Edward the Confessor (1998, 95) is Edvard Spoznavalec in T1 (1952, 118) and Edvard Spovednik in T2 (1987, 128). The majority of Slovenian sources refer to the king as Edvard Spoznavalec. The T1 110 nina grahek Križnar What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? translator also provides a thoughtful solution to translation of the affectionate denomination for Elizabeth I., the good Queen Bess (1998, 42). Since the queen is known to Slovenian readers as kraljica Elizabeta, it may be argued that the T1 translation dobra kraljica Liza (1952, 53) is a solution providing better understanding than dobra kraljica Bess, used in T2 (1987, 58), even though Good Queen Bess is a common denomination for the famous English monarch. Furthermore, neither translation tried to explicate the notion of the Great Charter (1998, 93). T1 translator rendered it into Slovenian as a superordinate listina (1952, 116), the T2 translator as a calque velika listina (1987, 125), both leaving the non-informed reader in the dark as to the historical importance of its meaning. What seems odd about the translation of references to English historical events and figures is the large number of omissions in T1. This may be due to the insufficiency of proper reference sources at the time the first translation was produced. The translator was particularly likely to leave out references to less known figures that were probably well-known to the English public of the 1890s. Here are some examples: The village of Hurley, five minutes’ walk from the lock, is as old a little spot as there is on the river, dating, as it does, to quote the quaint phraseology of those dim days, ‘from the times of King Sebert and King Offa.’ (1998, 104) T1 Vas Hurley, pet minut od zatvornice, je ena izmed najstarejših na reki. (1952, 129) T2 Hurley pet minut hoda od zapornice je najstarejša vasica ob reki, kar jih je, saj izhaja, če naj uporabim starinsko govorico tistih mračnih dni, “iz časa kralja Seberta in kralja Offa”. (1987, 140) The famous Memenham monks, or “Hell Fire Club”, as they were commonly called, and of whom the notorious Wilkes was a member, were a fraternity whose motto was, ‘Do as you please,’ and that invitation still stands over the ruined doorway of the abbey. (1998, 105) T1 Prosluli medmenhamski menihi ali “bratovščina pleklenskega ognja”, kakor so jih splošno nazivali, so bili bratovščina, katerih geslo je bilo “Delaj, kakor ti je všeč”, in to vabilo še danes stoji nad podrtim opatijskim vhodom. (1952, 129) T2: Slavni medmanhamski menihi ali “Bratovščina peklenskega ognja”, kakor so jih večinoma imenovali in katerim je pripadal tudi zloglasni Wilkes, so imeli za geslo stavek “delaj, kar ti je všeč”, in to povabilo je še danes zapisano nad porušenm vhodom v opatijo. (1987, 141) This following passage, containing reference to two Victorian professors of painting at the Royal Academy, and a religious reference to the motif of St. George and the dragon is left out altogether in T1. In T2, however, it is translated, even though St. George is for some reason not domesticated as sv. Jurij: The ‘George and Dragon’ at Wargrave boasts a sign, painted on the one side by Leslie, R.A., and on the other by Hodgson of that ilk. Leslie has depicted the fight; Hodgson has imagined the scene, ‘After the Fight’ – George, the work done, enjoying his pint of beer. Day, the author of Sandford and Merton, lived and – more credit to the place still – was killed at Wargrave. (1998, 115) T2 “George in zmaj” v Wargraveu se šopiri z izveskom, ki ga je po eni strani poslikal Leslie s Kraljevske akademije in po drugi Hodgson z iste ustanove. Leslie je upodobil boj; Hodgson pa si je zamislil prizor “Po boju” – ko si George po opravljenem delu privošči vrček piva. V Wargraveu je živel in – kar je za mesto še večja čast – umrl Day, avtor Sanforda in Mertona. (1987, 154) Jerome made a number of references to literary works, either contemporary or older. Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” was written in 1750 and it was from this poem Thomas Hardy took the title for his novel Far from the Madding Crowd, which was published in 1874. It can therefore be assumed that Jerome referred either to the poem or the novel when he writes: I agreed with George, and suggested that we should seek out some retired and old-world spot, far from the madding crowd, and dream away a sunny week among its drowsy lanes…(1998, 9) T2 translator, obviously aware of the reference, makes use of the 1979 Slovenian translation of the novel’s title: Pritegnil sem Georgeu in predlagal, naj bi poiskali kak odmaknjen, staroveški kotiček daleč od ponorelega sveta in med njegovimi dremotnimi kolovozi odsanjali sončen teden…(1987, 14) It is not evident whether the T1 translator recognized the reference to Hardy’s novel. He translated the reference as follows: Pritrdil sem Georgeu in predlagal, sa bi si poiskali kak odmaknjen, starosveten kraj, daleč stran od množic, ki človeka narede blaznega, ter bi presanjali kak sončen teden med dremavimi stezami… (1952, 12) Additionally, there is reference to the legend about the seven Christian youths of Ephesus who allegedly hid in a cave during persecution by the emperor Decius and slept there for several hundred years: We shouted back loud enough to wake the Seven Sleepers – I never could understand myself why it should take more noise to wake seven sleepers than one – and, after what seemed an hour… (1998, 123) is replaced by a cultural substitution in T1: Zakričala sva nazaj dovolj glasno, da bi prebudila polha in… (1952, 149). The translator altogether omitted the author’s personal comment. The legend of the seven sleepers has given origin to the word syvsover (literally seven-sleeper) in Scandinavian, as in “one of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus”. It has come to refer to someone who “sleeps hard and long”. In both Scandinavian languages and German the word secondarily refers to a hibernating rodent, the 112 nina grahek Križnar What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? edible dormouse. The T2 translator translated the reference by a calque: Zavpila sva nazaj tako naglas, da bi zbudila tudi sedem zaspancev – jaz pravzaprav nisem nikoli razumel, zakaj bi bilo za sedem zaspancev potrebnega več hrupa kakor za enega – in… (1987, 164). Even though the religious connotation may be lost to those who are not familiar with the legend, the effect of the translation seems adequate. In the following passage Jerome makes a reference to the traditional children’s tale “Babes in the Wood”, about two orphans abandoned by their uncle who made a promise to their dying parents to look after them. The two children are taken to the woods where they die. The story was first published in Norwich in 1595 as a ballad by Thomas Millington: We despairingly tried what seemed in the darkness to be the fourth island, but met with no better success. The rain was coming down fast now, and evidently meant to last. We were wet to the skin, and cold and miserable. We began to wonder whether there were only four islands or more, or whether we were near the islands at all, or whether we were anywhere within a mile of where we ought to be, or in the wrong part of the river altogether; everything looked so strange and different in the darkness. We began to understand the sufferings of the Babes in the Wood. (1998, 122) The T1 translator translated the reference as a calque, capitalizing the expression and placing it in quotation marks, indicating that it is the title of a literary work. However, by using the noun in the plural – and not in the dual – he wrongly implies that there are more than two children in question: Začela sva razumevati trpljenje, ki so ga morali prestajati »Otroci v gozdu«. (1952, 149) The T2 translator put the expression in italics. The noun is in the genitive, which may express either plural or dual: Začenjala sva razumeti trpljenje Otrok v gozdu. (1987, 164) The book also contains a reference to Shakespeare’s Hamlet: ‘Angels and ministers of grace defend us!’ exclaimed George. (1998, 85) Neither translator made use of the 1933 translation by Oton Župančič (Two more translations of Hamlet have appeared since, the 1989 one by Janko Moder and the 1995 one by Milan Jesih). No imperative binds a translator to use the existing translation; however, it is unclear whether either the T1 or the T2 translator recognized the line as one taken from the famous tragedy. Jerome also makes several references to Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas, especially H.M.S. Pinafore and The Mikado. The line He’s got’em on,’ from the passage I still went on pulling, however, and still no lock came in sight, and the river grew more and more gloomy and mysterious under the gathering shadows of night, and things seemed to be getting weird and uncanny. I thought of hobgoblins and banshees, and will-o’-the-wisps, and those wicked girls who sit up all night on rocks and lure people into whirlpools and things; and I wished I had been a better man, and knew more hymns; and in the middle of these reflections I heard the blessed strains of ‘He’s got ‘em on,’ played, badly, on a concertina, and knew that we were saved (1998, 75) is from The Mikado in which Gilbert satirized British politics and institutions. In the song “As some day it may happen”, sung by the character Ko-Ko in Act I, the character goes through “a little list” of society offenders who, if executed, “would not be missed”. Both T1 and T2 translators make no reference to the origin of the line, but translate it by means of cultural substitution: T1: “Mi se pa peljemo.” (1952, 95) T2: “Kaj nam pa morejo.” (1987, 101) The song “Two Lovely Black Eyes” was written by the British hall singer and comedian Charles Coborn in 1886 as a parody of another song. The black eyes refer to bruises the first person narrator has received for expressing freely his political preference, first for the Tories, then for the Liberals. The refrain of the song occurs in the book: Two lovely black eyes! Oh! what a surprise! Only for telling a man he was wrong, Two-! (1998, 156) The T1 translator chose a literal translation. Presumably he was not aware of the original meaning of the song. The title is translated »Dve ljubki črni očesi« and the refrain in translation goes like this: »Dve ljubki črni očesi me presenetita močno, samo ker možu sem dejal, da nikakor ni imel prav! Dve…« (1952, 190) The T2 translator did not take into consideration the meaning of the original. She translated the title as Dvoje črnih oči. Both the song title and the refrain imply a love song, not a political satire: O, dvoje lepih črnih oči, lepih tako, da sapo ti vzame, ki fantu povejo, da vse je le zmota, o… (1987, 209) The approach to translating measurement units is practically identical in both translations. In most cases, English measurement units are translated into Slovenian as follows: pound 11 nina grahek Križnar What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? – funt, foot – čevelj, inch – palec. Yard is rendered into Slovenian by a cultural substitution, the metrical unit meter, and mile by a calque milja. Stylistic differences between the two translations, in comparison with the original, can be seen in the example below. The two translations of the passage contain several of the established advantages and deficiencies of both translations. T1: the absence of dual and the superfluous translation of a chop as telečji zrezek, and T2: mistranslation of the Gladstone (a suitcase) and inappropriate choice of the word lokal for a theatre. Stylistically, the T1 translation sounds somewhat archaic but also more credible as a text depicting the reality of the late 19th century. On the other hand, the T2 translation is more communicative, using language familiar to a contemporary reader. The passage portrays the moment in the story – at the end of the last chapter – when the three friends decide to cut short their journey because of bad weather and return to London by train: ‘If we hadn’t made up our minds to contract our certain deaths in this bally old coffin,’ observed George, casting a glance of intense malevolence over the boat, ‘it might be worth while to mention that there’s a train leaves Pangbourne, I know, soon after five, which would just land us in town in comfortable time to get a chop, and then to go on to the place [the former West End theatre and music hall Alhambra] you mentioned afterwards.’ Nobody spoke. We looked at one another, and each one seemed to see his own mean and guilty thoughts reflected in the faces of the others. In silence we dragged out and overhauled the Gladstone. We looked up the river and down the river; not a soul was in sight! (1998, 158) T1 »Ako bi se ne bili odločili, da se s pogodbo zapišemo gotovi smrti v tej vražji krsti,« je pripomnil George, ko je ošvrknil čoln z zlohotnim pogledom, »bi nemara bilo vredno omeniti, da odhaja iz Pangbourna kmalu po petih vlak, ki bi nas pripeljal v mesto še ravno o pravem času, da bi dobili telečje zrezke, nakar pa bi šli v tisti kraj, ki si ga omenil.« Nihče ni izpregovoril. Gledali smo drug drugega in zdelo se je, ko da vsakdo vidi lastne nizkotne in pregrešne misli, kako se zrcalijo z obrazov drugih. Molče smo pograbili veliki gladstonski kovček. Pogledali smo gor in dol po reki; žive duše ni bilo videti! (1952, 191–2) T2 »Če ne bi sklenili, da si nakopljemo gotovo smrt v tej prekleti krsti,« je pripomnil George in s skrajno neprijaznim pogledom poblisnil po čolnu, »bi bilo mogoče vredno omeniti, da odpelje vlak iz Pangbourna malo po peti – to vem; v mestu bi nas odložil ravno pravi čas, da bi dobili kak zrezek, potem pa bi šli v lokal, ki si ga omenil.« Nihče ni nič več rekel. Gledali smo se in najbrž je vsak videl svoje podle in pregrešne misli zapisane na obrazih drugih dveh. Molče smo veslali naprej in prišli mimo Gladstonea. Ozirali smo se gor in dol po reki; niti žive duše ni bilo nikjer! (1987, 210–11) 5. Conclusion The comparison of the two translations of J.K. Jerome’s travelogue, Three Men in a Boat, shows that in the categories of ecology, material culture and social culture – with the exception of references to historical facts and arts and literature – the number of calques, superordinates, cultural substitutions and paraphrases used by the two translators in translating culture-specific concepts is almost identical, with superordinates and cultural substitutions by far exceeding the other two. The only observed case of cultural borrowing comes from the 1987 translation. The strategies and norms for dealing with culture-specific concepts therefore did not change much from the time of the first translation to the time of the second. Within these categories there are three omissions in the 1952 translation and one in the 1987 translation – the only omission in the whole 1987 translation. The 1987 translation contains some mistranslations of concepts such as errand-boy, tow-path, and house-boat. The most obvious difference between the two translations seems to be in the lexis chosen to replace the culture-specific concepts. The translation solutions are conditioned by the reality at the time of the translation. The 1987 translation solutions seem closer to present day language, whereas the 1952 translation solutions often sound exotic and archaic. The comparison of culture-specific references to history shows a significant number of omissions from the 1952 translation, particularly those referring to less known historical events and characters in Jerome’s England. This may to some degree be attributed to the limited and scarce sources available to the 1952 translator. In the category of arts and literature, in both translations imprecision can be observed in some cases in which literary works are quoted. Both translators tend to choose cultural substitution in preference to cultural picturesqueness. It cannot be denied that the 1987 translation is more communicative and up-to-date; nevertheless the 1952 translation, despite its obvious deficiencies, possesses something the 1987 translation does not. The 1952 lexis – and syntax for that matter – even though sounding archaic and exotic, adds to the illusion of authenticity of a text portraying a late 19th-century reality. One can understand that the “new” translation in 1987 was probably stimulated by the considerable number of unnecessary omissions of culture-specific concepts in the 1952 translation. Is it possible that the obsolescence of the language also contributed to the decision? If language, as Edward Sapir claims, is “a guide to social reality” (as cited in Bassnett 1980, 9), should not archaic language be considered valuable, especially in a literary text portraying a culturally colourful remote past? Furthermore, should the 1987 translation be considered obsolete with equal justification, given translation solutions such as miličnik (for a constable), an expression that, to a present day reader, bears a connotation completely different – and possibly unpleasantly loaded – from the obsolete stražnik? Therefore, in an attempt to answer the question of when a translation becomes obsolete, one cannot help but observe that “updating” a literary text culturally marked by time and space is a delicate matter and not always the best option. Solving culture-specific translation problems 116 nina grahek Križnar What Makes a Literary Translation Obsolete? primarily by cultural substitution would soon render translations obsolete, regardless of how communicative they were at the time of creation. The case of the 1952 translation shows how obsolete translation solutions eventually gain a new function, making the seemingly outmoded translation interesting and attractive. Bibliography Baker, M. 1992. In Other Words. London and New York: Routledge. Bassnett, S. 1980. Translation Studies. London and New York: Routledge. Bassnett, S., and A. Lefevere, eds. 1990. Translation, History and Culture. London and New York: Pinter. Bratož, S. 1995. Two Slovene Translations of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Degree thesis, University of Ljubljana. Connolly, J. 1982. Jerome K. Jerome: A Critical Biography. London: Orbis. Gonzalez Davies, M. 2004. Multiple Voices in the Translation Classroom: Activities, Tasks and Projects. John Benjamins. Grosman, M. 1997. Književni prevod kot oblika medkulturnega posredovanja leposlovja. In Književni prevod, eds. M. Grosman and U. Mozetič, 11–56. Ljubljana: Znanstveni inštitut Filozofske fakultete. Jerome, K. J. 1952. Trije možje v čolnu, da o psu niti ne govorimo. Trans. Avgust Petrišič. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga. – – –. 1987. Trije možje v čolnu, da o psu niti ne govorimo. Trans. Maja Kraigher. Murska Sobota: Pomurska založba. – – –. 1998. Three Men in a Boat, Three Men on the Bummel. Oxford University Press. Južnič, S. 2003. Gabriel Gruber in navigacijski inženir Jurij Vega. Arhivi 26(1): 69–80. Katan, D. 1999. Translating Cultures. An Introduction for Translators, Interpreters and Mediators. Manchester: St Jerome. Nida, A.E. 1964. Toward a Science of Translating. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Nord, Ch. 1997. Translating as a purposeful activity: functionalist approaches explained. Manchester: St Jerome. Teliya, V., N. Bragina, E. Oparina, I. Sandomirskaya. 1998. Phraseology as a Language of Culture: Its Role in the Representation of a Collective Mentality. In Phraseology: Theory, Analysis, and Application, ed. A.P. Cowie,55–75. Oxford Studies in Lexicography and Lexicology. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Toury, G. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Umek, E. 1986. Plovba po Savi v XVIII. stoletju. Zgodovinski časopis 40(3): 233–68. Vidrih, N. 1996. Zastaranje prevoda ob primeru Haškovega Švejka. Prevajanje romana. 20. zbornik Društva slovenskih književnih prevajalcev, ed. M. Stanovnik, 73–6. Ljubljana: Društvo slovenskih književnih prevajalcev. Wierzbicka, A. 1997. Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. V. BOOK REVIEW Jason Blake Necessary Edutainment – A Review of Miracles of Rare Device: English Verse from the Elizabethans to the Moderns (Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, 2009) The overtly-expressed goal of Miracles of Rare Device: English Verse from the Elizabethans to the Moderns is to provide a student-friendly anthology of poetry. In this, the book is a success. Mojca Krevel and Uroš Mozetič are sneaky and wily in their attempts to make poetry more palatable to young people: for each poet they begin with easy-to-digest biographical and historical facts, throw in some trivia and delectable quotations, before setting you up with fine lines of verse; then they knock you out with questions in the section “To Consider” that follows each poem. Those students still standing are referred to more traditional studies in the way of a short bibliography for further reading. Aside from students forced to read poetry for English studies, I can well imagine armchair poetry enthusiasts perusing this volume with enjoyment. I have always felt that teaching poetry in the classroom is a fundamentally unnatural way of promoting this most intimate of reading acts, and Krevel and Mozetič seem to share this view. They state in the introduction that their aim is “also to encourage further individual explorations” (8), especially in the series of questions that accompany each poem. These are not the facile or intensely focused questions typical of such anthologies, but truly thought-provoking as well as wide-ranging. For example, apropos Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” readers are asked to “Identify the lines revealing specifically pre-Romantic attitudes and stances” (94). This is laudable because, rather than inviting students merely to regurgitate that this poem is taken a precursor of the Romantic movement, individuals have to look for particular images and thoughts within the poem. The focus on interconnection between poems and poets is also admirable, making for a degree of flow and continuity even as Krevel and Mozetič whisk us through five centuries in three hundred pages. They revisit the sonnet tradition (with regard to Wyatt, Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare and later practitioners) often enough that students who merely read the questions will already be in good shape to discuss this fourteen-line poetic form. Elsewhere, Krevel and Mozetič authors make thematic connections and invite links across generations, such as when asking that readers compare Robert Southey’s 19th century coolly distant “After Blenheim,” about the 1704 Battle, with Wilfred Owen’s tragic and graphic “Dulce Et Decorum Est” written during World War I. A student who conscientiously worked through all of the suggestions in this book would be deserving of a PhD in English literature. Indeed, many of the individual questions warrant a PhD thesis: “Situate Robert Browning within his historical and literary context and point out the main trends in the literary production on his time” (178); “Investigate the usage of the comma in Shakespeare’s times” (34) (and that’s only part of the query!). This is not bad. A range of questions is positive, because often a sameness of thought can develop if all the questions are more or less of the same form (such as in anthologies that ask us to consider rhyme scheme or metre ad nauseam over centuries of verse). The book is thinner than your average anthology, but also more fun. My two-volume Norton Anthology of English Literature – all 5194 pages of it – left me bereft of this knowledge: “actress Meg Ryan’s film production company is named Prufrock Pictures after her favourite poem” (234). This tidbit was a double surprise for me, since not only does it fly in the face of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” as a poem for reticent males, it also portrays Ms. Ryan as a wallflower. Who knew? At a time when poetry appears to be on the decline among young people, I consider such shameless popularization a noble undertaking. More than edutainment, this is an awareness of the customer’s needs. The desire to make things attractive occasionally leads to stumbling. Krevel and Mozetič attribute this line to Rabbie Burns: “Opera is where a guy gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings” (108). If this does not sound like an 18th century Scotsman’s voice, it is because it is not. My dictionary claims that this particular use of “guy” post-dates the famous dialect poet (entering the lexicon about a decade after Burns’s death in 1796), and my Oxford Book of Quotations tells me that it stems from a radio joker who died in 1963. Burns may have said something similar, but never in these words. Any poetry anthology necessarily exposes itself to criticism of the selection made, and every anthology review I have ever read asks in genuine or mock horror why Lewis Carroll and his seminal “Jabberwocky” are missing, or why there is no room for Sir John Betjeman and his edifying verse about All Things Very English. Choices have to be made, and in this volume the authors have done a good job. They want to popularize canonical works rather than attack the canon itself as they help students become familiar with the major poets of the past few centuries. Nevertheless, I have a few nuanced quibbles. Rubert Brooke is less seminal and influential a poet than Robert Graves, and the absence of Thomas Hardy is hard to fathom. That said, Brooke’s meretriciously optimistic “The Hill” (1915) is more thought-provoking than Thomas Hardy’s uniformly grim “Channel Firing” (1914) – especially when Krevel and Mozetič highlight this optimism in their post-poem questions. Philip Larkin’s “The Winter Palace,” which prosaically begins, “Most people know more as they get older: / I give all that the cold shoulder”, is a fine poem for old people. But perhaps his racier, trashier “This Be the Verse” – which begins “They fuck you up, your mum and dad. / They may not mean to, but they do” – would have been the better choice in a volume out to attract students. Miracles of Rare Device concludes with a section entitled “Tools of the Trade,” which takes readers on a terminological journey from “Acatalectic” to “Zeugma,” briefly stopping for humour and cranial repose at “Poet” (“a person who writes poetry”). The list is more complete than those in many similar anthologies, but the definitions occasionally err on the side of brevity or glibness. For “Assonance,” we are referred to lines 38–40 of Yeats’s “Byzantium.” Surely it would have been just as easy to write something like, “ride to the sky” or, failing that, to refer the busy student to a poem actually contained in this volume. Nevertheless, the glossary, like the anthology as a whole, deserves space on every Slovenian English student’s desk. 122 Jason Blake Necessary Edutainment – A Review of Miracles of Rare Device: English Verse from the Elizabethans to the Moderns VI. eLoPe english language overseas perspectives and enquiries notes for contributors general. ELOPE publishes original research articles, studies and essays which address issues of the English language, literature, teaching and translation. The language of contributions is English. Manuscripts are welcomed from all countries and should be sent to Gašper Ilc, Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za anglistiko in amerikanistiko, Aškerčeva 2, 1000 ljubljana, slovenia, gasper.ilc@ff.uni-lj.si. submission of manuscripts. Manuscripts should be submitted for review on three anonymous printed copies and a diskette or a CD in Word (.doc, .rtf) and PDF. A separate sheet with the title of the paper, the name of the author, affiliation and address should be attached. Only one contribution by the same author per volume will be considered. Each paper should be accompanied by abstracts in English and Slovene (maximum 150 words) and keywords. Abstracts by non-native speakers of Slovene will be translated into Slovene. suggested length of manuscripts is between 5,000 and 8,000 words. Manuscript style. Page one should contain the following information: • article title in the language of the article • author(s) name(s) • author(s) affiliation(s) • correspondence address (full address, phone number, e-mail address) The manuscript starts on page two, in the following format: • title in English • abstracts in English and Slovene (between 150 and 180 words each) • the paper should be divided into: • introduction • body of the paper (possibly subdivided) • conclusion references. References should comply with The Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition, 2003). As You Write it: issues in literAture, lAnguAge, And trAnslAtion in the context of europe in the 21st centurY ii. Volume Vi/1-2 editors Smiljana Komar Uroš Mozetič editorial board Dušan Gabrovšek (Ljubljana, Slovenia) Meta Grosman (Ljubljana, Slovenia) Adolphe Haberer (Lyon, France) Darja Hribar (Maribor, Slovenia) Victor Kennedy (Maribor, Slovenia) J. Lachlan Mackenzie (Lisbon, Portugal) Milena Milojević Sheppard (Ljubljana, Slovenia) Janez Skela (Ljubljana, Slovenia) Rastislav Šuštaršič (Ljubljana, Slovenia) editorial secretary Gašper Ilc proofreading Jason Blake editorial policy ELOPE. English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries is a journal devoted to the research and academic discussion of linguistic and literary issues from theoretical and applied perspectives regardless of school of thought or methodology. Its aim is to promote original enquiry into linguistics, literary and translation studies, language and literature teaching with the main focus on English. ELOPE will publish two issues per year. Subscription for 2009 costs 12,50 EUROS. Members of the Slovene association for the study of English are entitled to a free copy. publisher’s address Slovensko društvo za angleške študije, Aškerčeva 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana Slovene Association for the Study of English, Aškerčeva 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana and Oddelek za anglistiko in amerikanistiko, Filozofska fakulteta, Univerza v Ljubljani Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana udK classification Angelika Hribar design Gašper Mrak cover Marjan Pogačnik, Zimsko cvetje, 1994 7,6 x 10,0 cm; colour etching, deep relief Owner: National gallery, Ljubljana Photo: Bojan Salaj, National gallery, Ljubljana printed by Birografika Bori number of copies 300 ljubljana, 2009 ISSN 1581-8918 12