tranlation 2

TEXTUAL EQUIVALENCE: COHESION

Cohesion is the network of lexical, grammatical, and other relations which provide links between various parts of text. These relations or ties organize and, to some extent create a text, for instance by requiring the reader interpret words and expressions by reference to other words and expressions in the surrounding sentences and paragraphs. Cohesion is a surface relation; it connects together the actual words and expressions that we can see or hear.

Halliday and Hasan identify five main cohesive devices in English:

1. Reference

The term reference is traditionally used in semantics for the relationship which holds between a word and what it points to in the real world. In Halliday and Hasan’s model of cohesion, reference is used in a similar but more restricted way. Instead of denoting a direct relationship between words and extra-linguistic objects, reference is limited here to the relationship of identity which holds between two linguistic expressions. Reference is a divice which allows the reader/hearer to trace participants, entities, event, etc. in the text. One of the common patterns of establishing chains of reference in English and a number of other languages is to mention a participant explicitly in the first instance, for example by name of title, and then use a pronoun to refer back to the same participant in the immediate context. Another type of reference relation which is not strictly textual is that of co-reference. Co-reference can be incorporated somewhere around the repetition/synonym level of the continuum if we decide to adopt a more flexible notion of reference for our current purposes.

For example:

• A duck swam in the pool. When I caught, it flapped its wings.  (it / its refers to A duck)
• Budi’s mother sings with her friends. She looks happy. (She / her refers to mother)
• Yudi’s sister called him with his short name.  (him / his refers to Yudi)
• There are some roses in the garden. They are blooming.  (they refers to roses)
• Maria lost her money. This made her sad. (this refers to lost her money)
• Mimin sometimes cries in the night. I am often afraid of that. (that refers to cries in the night)
• The beach is now in disorder. We never go there anymore.  (there refers to the beach)

2.  Substitution and ellipsis

Unlike reference, substituation and elipsis are grammatical rather than semantic relationship. In substitutation, an item (or items) is replaced by another item (or items):

I like movies.

And i do.

Ellipsis involves the omission of an item. In other word in ellipsis, an item is replaced by nothing. This is a case of leaving something unsaid which the hearer or reader has to supply missing information, but only those  cases where the grammatical structure itself points to an item or items that can fill the slot  in question. Example:

~ joan brought some carnations, and Catherine some sweet peas. (ellipted item: brought  in seecond  clause)

~here are thirteen cards. Take any. Now give me any three. (ellipted items: card after anyin second clause and  cards after any three in third clause)

~have you been swimming? Yes  i have. (ellipted items: been swimming I second clause)

Halliday and Hasan give a detailed description of several types of substituation and ellipsis in english. Since substituation and  ellipsis are purely grammatical relation which hold between linguistic forms rather then between  lingustic  forms and their meanings, the details are highly language-specific and  are therefore not worth going into here.

Note that the  boundar  lies  between  the three types of cohesive deice  (reference, substitustion, and ellipsis) are not clear cut. Hoey (1991) gives the following example. A  quetion such as Does Aghata sing in the bath?  May elicit three answer, of which answer:

(a)  No, but I do

(b) Yes, she does

(c) Yes, she does it to annoy us, I think

3. CONJUNCTION

Conjunction involves the use of formal markers to relate sentences, clauses and paragraphs to each other. Unlike reference, subtitution, and ellipsis, the use of conjunction does not instruct the reader to supply missing information either by looking for it elsewhere in the text or by filling structural slots. Instead, conjunction signals the way the writer wants the reader to relate what is about to be said to what has been said before. Conjunction expresses one of a small number of general relations. The main relations are summarized below, with examples of conjunctions which can or typically realize each relation.

a.       Additive: and, or, also, in addition, furthermore, besides, similarly, likewise, by contrast, for instance;

b.      Adversative: but, yet, however, instead, on the other hand, nevertheless, at any rate, as a matter of fact;

c.       Causal: so, consequently, it follows, for, because, under the circumstances, for this reason;

d.      Temporal: then next, after that, on another occasion, in conclusion, an hour later, finally, at last;

e.       Continuatives (miscellaneous): now, of course, well, anyway, surely, after all.

A number of points need to be borne in mind here. First, the same conjunction may be used to signal different relations, depending on the context. Second, these relations can be expressed by a variety of means; the use of a conjunction is not the only device for expressing a temporal or causal relation. Third, conjunctive relations do not just reflect relations between external phenomena, but may also be set up to reflect relations which are internal to the text or communicative situation.

Adjusting patterns of conjunctionin line with target-languange general and specific text-type preferences is less straightforward than adjusting patterns of reference. The problem with conjunction is that it reflects the rhetoric of a text and controls its interpretation. This suggests that adjustments in translation will often affect both the content and the line of argumentation.

Apart from questions of naturalness, accuracy, and the ‘logic’ of a text, there are sometimes stylistic considerations which may make the translation of conjunctions particularly difficult. For instance, Milic (1970), suggests that one of the most striking features of Jonathan Swift’s style relates to the way he uses conjunction. Swift’s fovourite conjunctions, according to Milic, are and,but, and for. He apparently makes ‘unusually heavy use’ of these items ( Milic;1970:246).

4. Lexical Cohesion 

Lexical Cohesion refers to the role played the selection of vocabulary in organizing relations within a text. A given lexical item cannot be said to have a cohesive function, but any lexical item can enter into a cohesive relation with other item in a text.

Halliday and Hasan divide lexical cohesion into two main categories: reiteration and collocation. Reiteration, as the name suggests, involves repetition of lexical items. A reiterated item may be a repetition of an earlier item, a synonym or near-synonym, a superordinate, or general word. In this sense, it represents the same with the exception of pronominal reference. 
            A reiteration is not the same reference, however, because it does not necessarily involve the same identity. If the above sentence is followed by a statement such as `girls can be ugly`, the repetition of girl => girls would be still bean instance of reiteration even though the two items would not be referring to the same individual.      
            Collocation, as a subclass of lexical cohesion in halliday and hasan model, covers any instance which involves a pair of lexical items that are associated with each other in the language in some way. The notion of lexical cohesion as being a dependent on the presence of networks of lexical items rather than the presence of any specific class or type of item is important.

For example:
There is a boy climbing that tree.
The boy is going to fall if he doesn't take care. (repetition)
The lad's going to fall if he doesn't take care. (synonym)
The child's going to fall if he doesn't take care. (superordinate)
The idiot's going to fall if he doesn't take care. (general word)