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ON LINGUISTIC ASPECTS OF TRANSLATION – Part 2

Roman Jakobson

Ana Bacelar

Ana Davies

History of Translation and Theory TP1

Zsófia Gombár, PhD

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“A faculty of speaking a given language implies a faculty of talking about this language.”

Roman Jakobson

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Drawing Hands (1948), M. C. Escher

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“All cognitive experience and its classification is conveyable in any existing language. ”

Roman Jakobson

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LOANWORDS OR LOAN-TRANSLATIONS:

Blog (english); Blogue (portuguese)

NEOLOGISMS OR SEMANTIC SHIFTS

Rato (animal); Rato (computer’s)

CIRCUMLOCUTION

Hedgehog: a small brown animal with sharp spikes covering its back.

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“No lack of grammatical device in the language translated into makes impossible a literal translation of the entire conceptual information contained in the original. ”

Roman Jakobson

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Portuguese

Lápis (singular and plural)

1 lápis, 2 lápis

Eu tenho lápis.

English

Pencil (singular); Pencils (plural)

1 pencil; 2 pencils

I have one pencil.

I have pencils.

I have either one or several pencils.

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LOST IN TRANSLATION

‘A gradual loss is like a circular series of unfavorable currency transactions.’

S. Karcevskij

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“Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.”

Roman Jakobson

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English: life. (noun)

Russian: жизнь (feminine noun)

Portuguese: vida (feminine noun)

Czech: život (masculine noun)

Сестра моя жизнь

My sister life

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Traduttore, traditore (italian) = Paranomastic value

Tradutor, traidor (portuguese) = Paranomastic value

The translator is a betrayer (english) = No paranomastic value

PARANOMASIA = PUN

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THANK YOU

ON LINGUISTIC ASPECTS OF TRANSLATION – Part 2

Ana Bacelar

Ana Davies