Achieving Equivalent Effect in Translation of African American
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Achieving Equivalent Effect in Translation of African American Vernacular English: Foreignization versus domestication Silje Andrea T. Hauglund Master thesis, ILOS University of Oslo 10.11.2011 II © Silje Andrea T. Hauglund 2011 Achieving equivalent effect in translation of African American Vernacular English: Foreignization versus Domestication Silje Andrea T. Hauglund http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo III Abstract According to Eugene Nida’s theory of Dynamic Equivalence, the most important aim for translators should be to achieve equivalence in effect between original and translated text. Equivalent effect is achieved when a translated text creates the same associations and feelings in the minds of its readers as was produced in the minds of the readers of the original text. Venuti argues that equivalent effect can only be achieved using what he refers to as ethnocentric domesticating strategies – placing the text in the cultural context of the target audience. He claims that a foreignizing strategy – placing the reader in the cultural context of the original text – is more appropriate. Consequently, equivalent effect is, in his view, a poor guiding principle for translation. In this thesis, I challenge Venuti’s view that only domesticating strategies can achieve equivalent effect in translation. Using a response-oriented method, I measure the associations to African American Vernacular English (AAVE) produced in the minds of respondents from the source audience. Then, I compare these associations with the associations produced in the minds of readers of two translations of AAVE – one using a domesticating strategy to translate AAVE, and one using a moderate foreignizing strategy. In contrast to Venuti’s assertions, I find that the moderate foreignizing strategy produces associations in the minds of the target readers that are more in accordance with the associations produced in the minds of the source readers than the domesticating strategy. IV Acknowledgements I think I am one of the fortunate few who can say that the process of writing my master thesis has been a good experience. The person I am most to thank for this is my excellent supervisor, Hildegunn Dirdal, who has encouraged me and guided me along the way. She is a brilliant motivator, teacher and person, and I feel privileged to have had her as my supervisor. I am also extremely grateful to the members of ‘Strikkulf’ and ‘Fredagskos’ for making me feel at home on the 8th floor, and for cheering me through the roughest days. Good luck to all of you! A big thanks to the respondents of my study, and to Lawrence Hill and Stian Omland for taking the time to answer all of my questions concerning the use and translation of AAVE, and finally, thank you, Andreas, for teaching me all I needed to know about research method and statistics, for proofreading parts of my thesis, and for providing a shoulder to cry on when needed. To all: thank you! V Table of Contents 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research questions and design .............................................................................. 2 1.2 Outline ................................................................................................................. 3 2 Equivalent effect ............................................................................................... 5 2.1 Turns in Translation .............................................................................................. 5 2.1.1 The Linguistic Stage ............................................................................................... 6 2.1.2 The Communicative Stage ..................................................................................... 6 2.2 The concept of equivalence ................................................................................... 7 2.2.1 Koller ..................................................................................................................... 7 2.2.2 The Skopos Theory ................................................................................................ 8 2.2.3 Newmark ............................................................................................................... 8 2.2.4 Nida ....................................................................................................................... 9 2.3 What is effect? .................................................................................................... 10 2.3.1 Equivalent effect: the debate .............................................................................. 14 2.4 Summary ............................................................................................................ 16 3 Dialects and translation strategies ................................................................... 17 3.1 Translation of dialect .......................................................................................... 17 3.2 Foreignization versus Domestication ................................................................... 24 3.3 About AAVE ........................................................................................................ 27 3.3.1 Origins, History and Connotations ...................................................................... 28 3.3.2 Linguistic features ............................................................................................... 30 3.3.3 AAVE in fiction ..................................................................................................... 32 3.4 AAVE in the chosen books ................................................................................... 33 3.4.1 AAVE in The Color Purple .................................................................................... 34 3.4.2 AAVE in Someone Knows My Name .................................................................... 36 4 Research Design .............................................................................................. 40 4.1 Research plan ..................................................................................................... 40 4.2 Response-Oriented Quality Assessment .............................................................. 42 4.3 The Most Similar Systems Design Method ........................................................... 44 4.3.1 The choice of cases .............................................................................................. 45 4.4 Measuring effect ................................................................................................. 49 4.4.1 The effect of AAVE............................................................................................... 50 4.4.2 Operationalization of the effect of AAVE ............................................................ 50 4.5 Survey Design ..................................................................................................... 56 4.5.1 Dialogue extracts ................................................................................................. 56 4.5.2 Formulation of questions .................................................................................... 57 4.5.3 Selection of respondents and administration of survey ..................................... 59 4.6 Summary ............................................................................................................ 61 VI 5 Analysis ........................................................................................................... 63 5.1 Hypotheses ......................................................................................................... 65 5.2 Effect on source audience ................................................................................... 66 5.2.1 The SA respondents............................................................................................. 67 5.2.2 Associations to time, place and ethnicity – nominal data .................................. 67 5.2.3 Associations to social background – ordinal data ............................................... 71 5.2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 77 5.3 Effect on the target audience .............................................................................. 78 5.3.1 The TA respondents ............................................................................................ 78 5.3.2 Associations to time, place and ethnicity – nominal data .................................. 79 5.3.3 Associations to social background - ordinal data ................................................ 82 5.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 87 6 Summary ......................................................................................................... 92 7 Appendix ......................................................................................................... 98 VII 1 Introduction Our ideal in translation is to produce on the mind of our readers as nearly as possible the same effect as was produced by the original on its readers. (Souter 1920: 7) The principle of achieving equivalent effect or dynamic equivalence in translation—i.e. to transfer the effect of the original text onto the translated text—is a well-known principle in the field of translation and among the main goals