Module 09 - 10
Problems in Translating
• Connotative Meaning
Associative meaning
• According to Geoffrey Leech, the
associative meaning of an expression
has to do with individual mental
understandings of the speaker. They, in
turn, can be broken up into six sub-types:
connotative, collocative, social, affective,
reflected and thematic
(Mwihaki 2004).
Connotative Meaning
Connotation is the aspect of meaning that
deals with the emotional attitude of the
author and the emotional response of the
receptor.
• The connotative meanings of an
expression are the thoughts provoked by a
term when in reference to certain entities.
Though these meanings may not be
strictly implied by relevant definitions, they
show up in common or preferred usage
regardless. This is not to be confused with
what is historically referred to as
connotation, which more closely describes
rigid definitions of words.
Connotative Meaning
The word ‘koboi’ from the English ‘cowboy’ and the
indigenous word ‘gembala sapi’. They have the same
denotation, still no one would say ‘film gembala sapi’
instead of saying ‘film koboi’.
The latter still contains Western, especially American,
connotations. The word ‘koboi’ immediately takes the
Indonesian hearer or reader to American cowboys on the
ranch, riding on horseback with their particular hats,
pants, boots, guns, rearing cows. The hearer or reader
might even seem to hear the typical cowboy songs.
These connotations would not appear with the word
‘gembala sapi’. The power of a word to make emotional
and interpretative suggestion, beyond the designated
meaning, is the word’s connotation.
The emotional reactions to words can be good
or bad, strong or weak; words with very strong
connotations, either good or bad, often became
taboo.
For example, the word daging babi denotes
particular edible meat. The connotation of this
word, that is to say, the way people react
emotionally to the word is usually quite different.
In all translation work, one must be careful to
check constantly the denotation as well as the
connotation of words. Words dealing with sex
and procreation must be carefully examined,
since here in Indonesia those words are still
taboo, except when they are used scientifically
or used at certain places, such as universities,
lecture halls, etc.
Words of negative taboos need to be euphemized
to avoid producing negative connotations.
Connotative meanings can be used to persuade,
to move, or to stimulate emotion.
Compare the following that describes the same
incident:
• ‘Didepan Rapat Dewan semalam Ketua gembar gembor
soal perbaikan nasib anggota-nya’.
• ‘Di depan Rapat Dewan semalam Ketua dengan gigih
memperjuangkan nasib anggota-nya’.
Remember:
As a translator, one must realize that the
readers will respond not only intellectually
but also emotionally to the words chosen.
Again, he must not lean toward or be
biased against words that will cause a
departure from or a distortion of the actual
content of the message.
Collocation
Collocation is the way in which words are used together
regularly. Collocation refers to the restrictions on how
words can be used together, for example which
prepositions are used with particular verbs, or which
verbs and nouns are used together.
For example, in English the verb perform is used with
operation, but not with discussion: The doctor performed
the operation.
High collocates with probability, but not with chance: a
high probability but a good chance
Jack C. Richards, John Platt, Heidi Platt. 1992. Longman Dictionary of Language
teaching and Applied Linguistics, Longman Group UK Limited(2nd Ed).
If the expression is heard often, the words become
'glued' together in our minds. 'Crystal clear', 'middle
management' 'nuclear family' and 'cosmetic surgery' are
examples of collocated pairs of words. Some words are
often found together because they make up a compound
noun, for example 'riding boots' or 'motor cyclist'.
Collocations can be in a syntactic relation (such as verbobject: 'make' and 'decision'), lexical relation (such as
antonymy), or they can be in no linguistically defined
relation. Knowledge of collocations is vital for the
competent use of a language: a grammatically correct
sentence will stand out as 'awkward' if collocational
preferences are violated. This makes collocation an
interesting area for language teaching.
Social meaning
Where words are used to establish relationships
between people and to delineate social roles.
For example, in Japanese, the suffix "-san"
when added to a proper name denotes respect,
sometimes indicating that the speaker is
subordinate to the listener; while the suffix "chan" denotes that the speaker thinks the
listener is a child or childlike (either for purposes
of affection or derision).
Affective meaning
Affective meaning has to do with the
personal feelings or attitudes of the
speaker.
Reflected meaning
• Reflected meaning has to do with when
one sense of a particular word affects the
understanding and usage of all the other
senses of the word.
Thematic meaning
• Thematic meaning concerns itself with
how the order of words spoken affects the
meaning that is entailed.