Paragraph structure and translation: the theory and practice of paragraph and other high level structures in English and Russian narrative and the effect of the translation process upon these structures

Steele, Mary Helen (1992) Paragraph structure and translation: the theory and practice of paragraph and other high level structures in English and Russian narrative and the effect of the translation process upon these structures. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Although a substantial amount of research exists on translation and on text structure, there are comparatively few works in which both subjects are combined; and to our knowledge, the effect of translation upon paragraph structure had never been thoroughly investigated. This study is an investigation of the alterations to the paragraph structure of the source text introduced by translators when translating from Russian into English and from English into Russian. In Chapter 1 we discuss linguistic and extralinguistic theories of relevance to translation, including the areas of pragmatics, norms and semiotic polysystem theory, and survey a range of theories of paragraph structure. In Chapter 2 a corpus of 8 English source texts together with the corresponding Russian translations, and 8 Russian source texts together with the corresponding English translations, is analysed for alterations to paragraph structure occurring in translation affecting either speech or narrative structure. Possible linguistic reasons for these alterations are examined in Chapter 3: the paragraph structure of the English and Russian source texts is compared for differences which could account for the alterations; and the paragraph structure of both is compared with non-translated texts in English and Russian. A high degree of similarity is found in the proportions of paragraph features across all groups, except in the area of paragraph length. It was found that a combination of factors are regularly present at alterations to paragraph structure occurring in translation, including one-sentence paragraphs, paragraphs the length of which did not conform to the source text norm, and other features of paragraph construction. This supports the hypothesis that the translator tended to alter paragraphs in conformity with the norms of the source text. In Chapter 4 we consider a higher level of factors which may promote or inhibit the the freedom of the translator to introduce alterations, such as the political and cultural climate in which the translation takes place, and the organization and production of translations.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities
• Supervisor's Name: Fronek, Dr. J.
• Date of Award: 1992
• Depositing User: Mrs Marie Cairney
• Unique ID: glathesis:1992-38940
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 21 Nov 2018 17:03
• Last Modified: 21 Nov 2018 17:03
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/38940