Register Analysis as a Tool for Translation Quality
Assessment
by Liu Zequan (刘泽权)
National University of Singapore
1. Introduction
egister, or context of situation as it is formally termed, "is the set of meanings, the
configuration of semantic patterns, that are typically drawn upon under the specific
conditions, along with the words and structures that are used in the realization of these
meanings" (Halliday, 1978:23). It is concerned with the variables of field, tenor, and
mode, and is a useful abstraction which relates variations of language use to variations
of social context. Therefore, register analysis of linguistic texts, which enables us to
uncover how language is manoeuvred to make meaning, has received popular
application in (critical) discourse analysis and (foreign) language teaching pedagogy.
Regrettably, however, register analysis has been paid little attention to by the vast
translation scholarship in and outside China up to the 1990s. The western, or Englishlanguage, translation scholarship has long been debating upon the criterion of
"equivalence" and the illusory measures of it. In China, controversy has been centred
on the three-character standard of "Faithfulness," "Communicability" and "Elegance"
proposed by Yan Fu (1894/1984) but never observed by him (Hung and Pollard,
1998:371). In view of this scenario, this paper proposes and argues for the application
of register analysis, especially that of the Australian/Hallidayan tradition, for textual
analysis of parallel texts in question for the purpose of translation quality assessment.
This paper provides this argument, based, first, upon an introduction of register theory
per se, and second, upon the relevance and applications of register analysis to
translation studies. But before we do that, the concept of equivalence will be briefly
reviewed because of its significance to translation quality assessment.
2. Equivalence as Criterion
The area of translation quality assessment criteria is academically one "where a more
expert writer (a marker of a translation examination or a reviser of a professional
translation) addresses a less expert reader (usually a candidate for an examination or a
junior professional translator)" (Munday, 2001:30). However, what has long
constituted the core and co-current concern of all debates in translation studies is what
should be held as the criterion for translation quality assessment. Ever since the
ancient thematic controversy over "word-for-word" (literal) and "sense-for- sense"
(free) translation (ibid.:18-20), the history of translation theory has seen the theme as
"emerging again and again with different degrees of emphasis in accordance with
differing concepts of language and communication" (Bassnett, 1991:42).
Notwithstanding the fact that there is no denying that the issue "what is a good
translation?" should be "one of the most important questions to be asked in
connection with translation" (House, 2001:127), "[i]t is notoriously difficult to say
why, or even whether, something is a good translation" (Halliday, 2001:14).
Throughout translation studies, theorists have attempted to answer this question "on
the basis of a theory of translation and translation criticism" from various perspectives
(House, 2001:127), and have proposed, apart from the aforementioned opposing
binary pair, formal and dynamic equivalence (Nida, 1964), textual equivalence and
formal correspondence (Catford, 1965), etc. These dichotomies, despite their different
perspectives, seem to focus on a consensus in favour of "two basic orientations" (Nida,
1964:159) or types of translation where "the central organizing concept is presumably
that of 'equivalence'" (Halliday, 2001:15).
In the English-language scholarship criteria of translation, the concept of
(translational) equivalence is "central" but "controversial" (Kenny, 1998:77).
According to Koller (1995:197), it "merely means a special relationship—which can
be designated as the translation relationship—is apparent between two texts, a source
(primary) one and a resultant one." It is Jakobson (1959/2000) who first dealt with
"the thorny problem of equivalence" (Munday, 2001:36) in translation between the ST
and the TT. Following the relation set out by Saussure between the signifier (the
spoken and written signal) and the signified (the concept signified), Jakobson (1959/
2000) perceived "equivalence in difference" as "the cardinal problem of language and
the pivotal concern of linguistics" (p.114), which has become a "now-famous...
definition" from a linguistic and semiotic perspective (Munday, 2001:37). For him,
for the message to be equivalent in the ST and TT, the code-units will be different
since they belong to two different sign systems (languages) which partition reality
(Jakobson, 1959/2000:114). Specifically, he succinctly pointed out that there is no
complete equivalence in the intralingual translation of a word by means of a
synonymy, just as "on the level of interlingual translation, there is ordinarily no full
equivalence between code-units" (ibid.). This is so because "languages differ
essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey" (p.116).
Ever since Jakobson's seminal approach to the concept of equivalence, the question
has become a constant theme of translation studies, especially in the 1960s (Munday,
2001:37), and approaches to it "differ radically" (Kenny, 1998: 77):
Some theorists define translation in terms of equivalence relations
(Catford, 1965; Nida and Taber, 1969; Toury, 1980; Pym, 1992, 1995;
Koller, 1995) while others reject the theoretical notion of equivalence,
claiming it is either irrelevant (Snell-Hornby, 1988) or damaging
(Gentzler, 1993) to translation studies. Yet other theorists steer a
middle course: Baker [(1992:5-6)] uses the notion of equivalence "for
the sake of convenience—because most translators are used to it rather
than it has any theoretical status."
(Kenny, 1998:77)
Understandably, although the concept has been blatantly labelled by Nord as "a static,
result-oriented concept describing a relationship of 'equal communicative value'
between two texts or, on lower rank, between words, phrases, sentences, syntactic
structures and so on (In this context, 'value' refers to meaning, stylistic connotations or
communicative effect)" (Nord, 1997:36), it is still "variously regarded as a necessary
condition for translation, an obstacle to progress in translation studies, or a useful
category for describing translations" (Kenny, 1998:77). This thus explains why the ad
hoc criterion and the techniques for achieving it "continues to be used in the everyday
language of translation" (Fawcett, 1997:65), even in the applications of register
analysis for translation quality assessment as will be presented shortly.
3. Register Theory
In the Hallidayan (also called Australian) functional theory of language (Hyon, 1996),
"analysts are not just interested in what language is, but why language is; not just
what language means, but how language means (Leckie-Tarry, 1993:26). Halliday
stresses the need for a look into the context in which a text is produced while
analyzing and/or interpreting a text. He points out that the really pressing question
here is "which kinds of situational factor determined which kinds of selection in the
linguistic system?" (Halliday, 1978:32; original emphasis). Context here relates to the
context of situation and context of culture, both of which "get 'into' text by
influencing the words and structures that text-producers use" (Eggins and Martin,
1997:232). While the former is concerned with the register variables of field, tenor,
and mode, the latter is described in terms of genre. This part of the paper is therefore
devoted to a brief examination of the Australian (genre) approach to texts, i.e. register
analysis, and to a discussion of what resources the register tool has to offer to
translation texts analysis. This examination first traces the development of the register
theory, and then presents a Hallidayan definition of the three variables of register.
3.1 From Firth to Halliday
The term "register" first came into general currency in the 1960s (Leckie-Tarry,
1993:28). Following Reid's initial use of it in 1956, and Ure's development of it in the
1960s (ibid.), Halliday et al. (1964:77) describe it as "a variety according to use, in
the sense that each speaker has a range of varieties and chooses between them at
different times." This use-related framework for the description of language variation
(as contrasted with the user-related varieties called dialects) (Hatim and Mason,
1990:39) aims to "uncover the general principles which govern [the variation in
situation types], so that we can begin to understand what situational factors determine
what linguistic features" (Halliday, 1978:32).
De Beaugrande (1993:7) shows his sympathy for the concept of register when he
laments, "Throughout much of linguistic theory and method, the concept of 'register'
has led a rather shadowy existence." The term did not make appearance in such
foundational works as those of Saussure, Sapir and Bloomfield. This absence is
explained by the fact that it "is hard to define" the term as a(n abstract) language unit
that might be "comparable, say, to the 'system' of 'phonemes' of a language, or to its
'system' of noun declensions or verb conjugations, and so on" (ibid.).
It is only when linguists showed interest in actual speech and discourse that the term
turned up in foundational linguistics works like those of Firth and Pike. In Firth's
(1957) work, register finds a possible equivalent in the "restricted language," which
he defines as "serving a circumscribed field of experience or action" with "its own
grammar and dictionary" (p.124, 87, 98, 105ff, 112). He emphasizes the use of
practical methods in linguistic analysis, and points out that a domain becomes easier
to manage when the linguist must draw abstractions from a whole linguistic universe
which consists of many specialized languages and different styles (de Beaugrande,
1993:8). Firth considers science, technology, politics, commerce, industry, sports, etc,
or "a particular form of genre," or a "type of work associated with a single author or a
type of speech function with its appropriate style or tempo" (Firth, 1968:106, 98, 112,
118ff.) as domains of "restricted languages." He gives the notion of "collocation" a
"prominent" (ibid.) position when he suggests "studying key words, pivotal words,
leading words, by presenting them in the company they usually keep" (ibid.:106 ff.,
113, 182).
It is Halliday, a pupil of Firth, who, along with his (mostly Australian) associates,
"eventually gave currency to the term 'register' as such (de Beaugrande, 1993:9). For
Halliday, register is "the clustering of semantic features according to situation type,"
and "can be defined as a configuration of semantic resources that the member of a
culture typically associates with a situation type" (Halliday, 1978:111). Seen this way,
"the notion of register is at once very simple and very powerful" and "provides a
means of investigating the linguistic foundations of everyday social interaction from
an angle that is complementary to the ethnomethodological one" (ibid.:31, 62). The
theory of register thus derived "attempts to uncover the general principles which
govern" how "the language we speak or write varies according to the type of
situation" (ibid.:32). For Halliday, the central problem in text linguistics lies in how
"the 'register' concept can take account of the processes which link the features of the
text" "to the abstract categories of the speech situation" (ibid.:62). He warns linguists
against "posing the wrong question" of "what features of language are determined by
register?" (ibid.:32) in the process of seeking such a link. He tells us that we should
instead seek for the factors that determine the selection of language (ibid.).
3.2 The Australian Perspective
Halliday (1994) points out that, in order to make sense of a text, "the natural tendency
is to think of a text as a thing—a product" while "see[ing] the text in its aspect as a
process" (p.xxii). The nature of text of the systemic genre theorists is lucidly summed
up by Kress (1985:18):
Texts arise in specific social situations and they are constructed with
specific purposes by one or more speakers or writers. Meanings find
their expression in text—though their origins of meanings are outside
the text—and are negotiated (about) in texts, in concrete situations of
social exchange.
Whereas interaction between text and context is seen in the form of the nexus between
language and society (Leckie-Tarry, 1993:33-34), social contexts comprise two
different levels of abstraction, i.e. genre and register, which are respectively described
in terms of context of culture and context of situation (Eggins, 1994:32), and which
"are the technical concepts employed to explain the meaning and function of variation
between texts" (Eggins and Martin, 1997:234).
3.2.1 Context of Culture: Genre
Context of culture in the Australian tradition "can be thought of as the general
framework that gives purpose to interactions of particular types, adaptable to the
many specific contexts of situation that they get used in" (Eggins, 1994:32). It
provides "a precise index and catalogue of the relevant social occasions of a
community at a given time" (Kress, 1985:20). Whereas the conventionalised forms of
such situations or occasions determine the conventionalised forms of texts, texts
derive their meanings not only "from the meaning contained within the discourse
(systems of meanings arise out of the organisation of social institutions), but also from
the meanings of genre, or the meanings about the conventionalised social occasions
from which texts arise" (Leckie-Tarry, 1993:33). Therefore, "texts belonging to the
same genre can vary in their structure," while "the one aspect in which they cannot
vary without consequence to their genre-allocation is the obligatory elements and
dispositions of the GSP [genre specific potential]" (Hasan and Halliday, 1985:108).
3.2.2 Context of Situation: Three Register Variables
"Following the functional-semantic tradition pursued by Firth" (Eggins, 1994:52),
Halliday (1978:64) finds the concept of register "a useful abstraction linking
variations of language to variations of social context" and suggests "that there are
three aspects in any situation that have linguistic consequences: field, mode, and
tenor" (Eggins, 1994:52). According to him, field refers to "what is happening, to the
nature of the social action that is taking place," mode concerns "what it is that the
participants [of a transaction] are expecting language to do for them in that situation,"
and tenor has to do with who are taking part in the transaction as well as the "nature
of the participants, their status and roles (Hasan and Halliday, 1985:12). These three
register variables delineate the relationships between language function and language
form. In other words, a register is constituted by "the linguistic features which are
typically associated with a configuration of situational features—with particular
values of the field, mode and tenor" (Halliday, 1976:22). For example, the tenor of a
text, which concerns the relationship between the addresser and the addressee, can "be
analysed in terms of basic distinctions such as polite-colloquial-intimate, on a scale of
categories which range from formal to informal" (Hatim and Mason, 1990:50). In the
same vein, the mode of an interaction which manifests the nature of the language code
being used can be distinguished in terms of, among other things, spoken and written.
3.2.3 Metafunctions of Language and Register Variables
Halliday (1994) also perceives meaning as the fundamental component of language
when he observes that "all languages are organised around two main kinds of meaning,
the 'ideational' or reflective, and the 'interpersonal' or active" (p.xiii). He further
envisages these two meaning components as "metafunctions," that is "the two very
general purposes which underlie all uses of language"—whereas the former aims "to
understand the environment" [of language use], the latter is intended "to act on the
others in it" (ibid.). Together with these two metafunctional components, Halliday
sees a third, i.e. the "textual," "which breathes relevance into the two" (ibid.), and
which is also called "the enabling metafunction" because it "is the level of
organisation of the clause which enables the clause to be packaged in ways which
make it effective given its purpose and context" (Eggins, 1994:273).
The entire system of meanings of a language, expressed by grammar as well as by
vocabulary is defined in Halliday's (1994) term "the semantic system" (p.xvii), as
opposed to lexicogrammar, the "complex semiotic system composed of multiple
levels, or strata," "include[ing] both grammar and vocabulary" (p.15). As for the
relationship between semantics and lexicogrammar, Halliday perceives it as being
"natural, not arbitrary" (p.xix). In fact, he sees "no clear line between semantics and
grammar" (ibid.) since the "systems of meaning engender lexicogrammatical
structures" (p.xviii). As far as the interrelationships of semantics, lexicogrammar, and
register variables are concerned, Halliday (1978) asserts that while register is
"recognisable as a particular selection of words and structures," it must be defined in
terms of meanings because "it is the selection of meanings that constitutes the variety
to which a text belongs" (p.111). In Halliday's term, the relationship between the
language components (the ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions) and the
context variables (field, tenor and mode) is called "realisation," i.e. "the way in which
different types of field, tenor and mode condition ideational, interpersonal and textual
meaning" from the perspective of context (Eggins and Martin, 1997:241).
To be specific, the ideational metafunction, which is concerned with mapping the
reality of the world around us (i.e. who is doing what to whom, when, where, why,
how), reflects differences in field which are realised through both transitivity selection
and lexical choices. In the same way, differences in tenor are realised through mood
and subject, and modality plus appraisal choices which in turn construct the social
relationships played by interactants, i.e. the interpersonal metafunction. And finally,
the register variable of mode manifests the textual metafunction which is realised
through nominalisation and Theme choices. Hence a picture can be drawn of the
triadic relationships of the three register variables, the lexicogrammar, and three
meanings and metafunctions, of language use. Tabulated below is the relationship
between context of situation and language systems in the Hallidayan model adapted
from Eggins and Martin (1997:242)
Table 3.1 Relationship between context, strata, and systems in the systemic functional
model
Context
Register variable
Language
Type of meaning
Discourse-
Lexico-
"at risk"
semantic
grammatical
patterns
patterns
(cohesion)
Field
Tenor
Ideational
Interpersonal
Lexical cohesion
Transitivity (case)
Conjunctive
Logical-semantic
relations
relations (taxis)
Speech function
Mood, modality,
Exchange
vocation, attitude
structure
Mode
Textual
Reference
Theme,
(participant
Information
tracking)
structure
Nominalisation
Apart from metafunction, i.e. the organisation of the content strata (lexicogrammar
and semantics) in functional components, Halliday (2001:15) identifies two more
"vectors" that are "most relevant" in construing the parameters of language, that is,
"stratification" and "rank." For him, stratification refers to the organisation of
language in ordered strata: phonetic, phonological, lexicogrammatical and semantic—
and one or more contextual strata outside of language proper (ibid.). Rank, on the
other hand, involves the organisation of the formal strata (phonology and
lexicogrammar) in a compositional hierarchy (ibid.). These three vectors, according to
him, provide language users with "a round of choices and operations (a 'systemstructure cycle') at each rank, with clause choices realised as clause structures,
realised as phrase/groups choices, realised as phrase/group structures and so on" with
the benefit that "the higher-rank choices in the grammar can be essentially choices in
meaning without the grammar thereby losing contact with the ground" (Halliday,
1994:xix).
4. Relevance of Register Analysis to Translation
Regrettably, however, the register approach has not found much application in
translation studies until the 1990s. And this comes only when translation theorists
realised the nature of translation as "a textual thing" (House, 1981:65), a crosscultural communication which is both "socially and culturally necessary and useful"
(Gregory, 2001:19). Since then there has been an increasing acknowledgement of the
relevance of the notion of register, and of the model of register analysis, to a
translation-oriented analysis and assessment of texts (Marco, 2001:1). By way of
illustration and substantiation of this point, both Halliday and his followers'
contribution to the development of registered-based translation criteria are introduced
in the forthcoming section. This introduction is also intended as a justification of the
use of register analysis as a tool in translation analysis, a theme proposed in this paper.
4.1 Halliday's Perspective of Equivalence
To begin with, Halliday (2001) contrasts the linguist's interest in translation theories
(which involves "how things are") and a translator's interest in a theory (which
concerns "how things ought to be") (p.13), refines the questions and sets them in a
wide context of reflection on language, thus offering thought-provoking comments on
system, equivalence and value in respect of translation assessment (Steiner and Yallop,
2001b: 6). With reference to the process of translation, Halliday (1967) suggests that,
translating proceeds by three stages: (a) item for item equivalence; (b)
reconsideration in the light of the linguistic environment and beyond
this (it is almost an afterthought) to a consideration of the situation; (c)
reconsideration in the light of the grammatical features of the target
language where source language no longer provides any information.
(Newmark, 1991: 65).
As far as translation quality assessment is concerned, Halliday (1967) rightly points
out that,
The equivalence of units and of items is lost as soon as we go below
the sentence; the further down the rank scale we go, the less is left of
the equivalence. Once we reach the morpheme, most vestiges of
equivalence disappear. The morpheme is untranslatable...
(Newmark, 1991:67)
In respect of the register variables field, tenor and mood in translation, Halliday
(2001:17) emphasises the importance of contexts in deciding the "value" of different
strata. As a guideline for translators to follow, he stipulates what can be seen as "a
principle of hierarchy of values" (ibid.) when he (ibid.) lucidly observes that,
[E]quivalence at different strata carries differential values; ...in most
cases the value that is placed on it goes up the higher the stratum—
semantic equivalence is valued more highly than lexicogrammatical,
and contextual equivalence perhaps most highly of all; but ...these
relative values can always be varied, and in any given instance of
translation one can reassess them in the light of the task.
And finally, Halliday (2001) justifies his interrogating of translation equivalence by
asking: "equivalence with respect to what?" (p.15). Equivalence, he asserts, should be
defined in respect of the metafunctions (ideational, interpersonal, textual) (ibid.: 16).
For him, although "in any particular instance of translation, value may be attached to
equivalence at different ranks, different strata, different metafunctions," it is "usually
at the higher lexicogrammatical units" in rank, and "typically" at the highest stratum
within language, i.e. that of semantics in strata, that equivalence is most highly valued
(ibid.:17). As far as With regard to the three metafunctions proper, Halliday thinks
that "high value may be accorded to equivalence in the interpersonal or textual
realms—but usually only when ideational equivalence can be taken for granted"
(ibid.). In this juncture, Halliday (ibid.) concludes:
[A] "good" translation is a text which is a translation (i.e., is equivalent)
in respect of those linguistic features which are most valued in the
given translation context and perhaps also in respect of the value which
is assigned to the original (source language) text.
4.2 Register-based Equivalences
Following Hallidayan linguistics, especially the Australian tradition of genre and
register theories (see Ghadessy, 1993; Hyon, 1996), theorists concentrate themselves
on (offering) ways to tackle translation equivalence in terms of functional
perspectives. Among these, Newmark, Marco, House, teamworkers Hatim and Mason,
and Baker deserve mention here.
Newmark is fascinated with Halliday's (1994) seminal work An Introduction To
Functional Grammar, especially with the chapter on the equivalent representations of
metaphorical modes of expressions (i.e. "Beyond the clause: metaphorical modes of
expressions"). Here, Halliday supplies good examples illustrating how choices are
made when representing metaphors. Newmark (1991) recommends this chapter highly,
claiming that it "could form a useful part of any translator's training course where
English is the source or target language" (p.68).
Next comes Marco (2001) who contributes to register analysis in the field of
translation quality evaluation by specifically justifying the use of register analysis in
literary translation. He points out that such a tool "provides the necessary link
between a communicative act and the context of situation in which it occurs" (p.1).
For him, register analysis is "the most comprehensive framework proposed for the
characterisation of context," and has the advantage of "provid[ing] a very limited
number of variables on the basis of which any given context may be defined" (ibid.).
Like Marco, teamworkers Hatim and Mason (1990, 1997) also employ register
analysis as part of their overall account of context in translation. Despite their claim
that there are other contextual factors, i.e. pragmatic and semiotic ones, which
transcend the framework of register, they
continue to assume that identifying the register membership of a text is
an essential part of discourse processing; it involves the reader in a
reconstruction of context through an analysis of what has taken place
(field), who has participated (tenor), and what medium has been
selected for relaying the message (mode). Together, the three variables
set up a communicative transaction in the sense that they provide the
basic conditions for communication to take place.
(Hatim and Mason, 1990:55; original emphasis)
Also noteworthy in the application of register analysis for practical translation studies
are House (1981, 1997) and Baker (1992) who not only adopt Halliday's model of
register analysis but also develop substantial criteria whereby both the ST and TT can
be systematically compared. House (1981) rejects the "more target- audience oriented
notion of translation appropriateness" as "far too general and elusive" and
"fundamentally misguided" (p.1-2). Instead, she advocates a semantic and pragmatic
approach. Central to her discussion is the concept of "overt" and "covert" translations.
In an overt translation like that of a political speech, House asserts, the TT audience is
not directly addressed and there is therefore no need at all to attempt to recreate a
"second original" since an overt translation "must overtly be a translation" (ibid.:189).
By covert translation, on the other hand, she means the production of a text, for
instance, a science report, which is functionally equivalent to the ST, and which "is
not specifically addressed to a TC (target culture) audience" (ibid.: 194). Significantly,
House claims that ST and TT should match one another in function, with function
being characterised in terms of the situational dimensions of the ST (ibid.:49). Based
upon the Hallidayan model of register analysis, she proposes what she calls "the basic
requirement for equivalence of ST and TT," and asserts that "a TT, in order to be
equivalent to its ST, should have a function—consisting of an ideational and an
interpersonal functional component—which is equivalent to the ST's function"
(House, 1981:Abstract). To measure the degree to which the TT's ideational and
textual functions are equivalent to those of its ST's, House develops a model (see
Figure 1 below) as the scheme for systematic comparison of the textual "profile" of
the ST and TT (1997:43) in terms of both functions in question. This schema, though
"draw[ing] on various and sometimes complex taxonomies" (Munday, 2001:92), can
be reduced to a register analysis of both ST and TT according to their realisation
through lexical, syntactic and "textual" means. By the last term, House (1997:44-45)
refers to: (1) theme-dynamics (i.e. thematic structure and cohesion), (2) clausal
linkage (i.e. additive, adversative, etc.), and (3) iconic linkage (i.e. parallelism of
structures).
Baker, on the other hand, albeit using the term equivalence "for the sake of
convenience" (1992:5), extends the concept to cover similarities both in ST and TT
information flow, and in the cohesive roles ST and TT devices play in their respective
texts, both of which she collectively calls "textual equivalence." She also examines
equivalence at a series of levels: at word, above-word, grammatical, and pragmatic
levels (Baker, 1992).
To wrap up our look at the Hallidayan approaches to translation equivalence, it seems
fair to say that the Hallidayan register models have "become extremely popular" and
fruitful "as a useful way of tackling the linguistic structure and meaning of a text" in
"linguistics-oriented" translation studies (Munday, 2001:101). At the same time,
however, these models have their weakness. First of all, they are "over-completed in
[their] categorization of grammar and [their] apparently inflexible one-to-one
matching of structure and meaning" (ibid.). Secondly, they are, for the most part,
English-language oriented in nature. It can be argued that the analytical frameworks
developed in these studies "become problematic with other languages, especially in
the analysis of thematic and informational structures," for instance, in some European
language with a more flexible word order and subject-inflected verb forms (ibid.).
As far as House's model is concerned, although it seems to be much more flexible
than that of Catford's, it sill raises the doubt that whether the model is able to recover
authorial intention and ST function from register analysis (Gutt, 1991:46-49). Even if
it is possible, it is further argued, the basis of House's model is to discover
"mismatches" between ST and TT (ibid.). Regarding Baker's framework, she
obviously assigns new adjectives to the notion of equivalence (grammatical,
pragmatic, textual, etc.), thus adding to the plethora of recent works in this field.
Importantly, by putting together the linguistic and the communicative approach, she
offers a fresh, and more detailed list of conditions upon which the concept of
equivalence can be defined. Unfortunately, however, she fails to provide an
operatable checklist against which degrees of equivalence can be established at the
various ranks she proposes. In respect of Hatim and Mason's studies, "their focus
remains linguistics-centred, both in its terminology and in the phenomena investigated
(lexical choice, cohesion, transitivity, style shifting, translator mediation, etc.)"
(Munday, 2001:102).
5. Conclusion
As the equivalence criterion, "a concept that has probably cost the lives of more trees
than any other in translation studies" (Fawcett, 1997:53), lives on, the concept of
equivalence develops from a mere translation typologising standard to a rank- and
meaning-classifying criterion. While earlier works on equivalence, like that of Catford
(1965) and Nida's (1964), focus on macro mappings between the ST and TT and
divide translations rigidly into two broad types, recent theorists who maintain that
translation is predicated upon some kind of equivalence narrow down the level of
equivalence to the more tangible aspects of rank, i.e. word, sentence/clause, and text.
The rise of this trend can mainly be attributed to the general realisation among
translation theorists of the nature of translation as "a textual thing" (House, 1981:65).
Thus, to study texts entails looking into the social context within which texts are
embedded. Such a study "provides evidence of ongoing processes, such as the
relationship between social change and communicative or linguistic change, the
construction of social identities, or the (re)construction of knowledge and ideology"
(Schäffner, 1996:1). Ideology, with its various definitions, is here considered as "basic
systems of fundamental social cognitions and organising the attitudes and other social
representations shared by members of groups" (van Dijk, 1995:243). As "a more
abstract contextual dimension" of the systemic approach, ideology denotes "the
positions of power, the political biases and assumptions that all social interactants
bring with them to their texts" (Eggins and Martin, 1997:237). Hence, all texts
embody certain ideological perspectives which have functional motivations: "they tell
us something about the interests of the text-producers" (ibid.). Whereas "there is
widespread agreement that language and language use, i.e. discourse and/or social
interaction, are of major relevance to the study of ideologies," "it has been stressed
that ideologies find their clearest expression in language, and at different levels"
ranging from the lexical-semantic level to the grammatical-syntactic level (Schäffner,
1996:3-4). It is in this vein that register is envisaged as an ideologically particular,
situation-specific meaning potential. After all, the codification of meaning appropriate
to a situation is ultimately a function of the ideological formation.
Translation, which is recognised as an ideology-laden rather than a neutral or
ideology-free activity (Hatim and Mason, 1997:145), consists of "the ideology of
translating" and "the translation of ideology" (ibid.:143). These are two inter- and
intra-related issues. While the extent of the translator's mediation affects (the fidelity
of) his translation, the intention or function of the text to be translated impinges on the
degree of his integrity as a translator. While Bassnett and Lefevere (1990) offer
evidence of ideology at work in literary translating, both Barnard (1999) and Chang
(1998) show the consequences of translator's "ideological filter" in operation in
translations of a political nature. This said, we can now delineate the tripartite
relationship of ideology, genre and register in the systemic functional tradition with
Figure 2 (adapted from Eggins, 1994:113).
We have presented a model for register analysis of the ST and TT in order to establish
the textual profiles of both for the purpose of translation quality assessment.
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