(Catford)A Linguistic Theory of Translation(周骄俪)

1J.C.Catford.1965.ALinguisticTheoryofTranslation.Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress.ALinguisticTheoryofTranslationJ.C.Catford1．GeneralLinguisticTheory1.0(p1)GeneralLinguisticsis,primarily,atheoryabouthowlanguageswork.Languageisatypeofpatternedhumanbehavior.Itisaway,perhapsthemostimportantway,inwhichhumanbeingsinteractinsocialsituations.Language-behaviorisexternalizedormanifestedinsomekindofbodilyactivityonthepartofaperformer,andpresupposestheexistenceofatleastoneotherhumanparticipantinthesituation,anaddressee.(p2)Languageispatternedbehavior.Itis,indeed,thepatternwhichisthelanguage.Onanygivenoccasion,theparticularvocalmovementsandtheresultantsound-wavescanbedescribedwithadelicacy,ordepthofdetail,limitedonlybythedelicacyoftheapparatususedforobservationandanalysis.Andtheprecisequalityofthesevocalmovementsandsound-waveswillbefoundtodifferondifferentoccasions,evenwhenthespeakeris‘sayingthesamething’.Fromthelinguisticpointofview,theimportantthingisthat,oneachoccasionof‘sayingthesamething’thevocalactivitiesofthespeakerconformtothesamepattern.Theovertlanguage-behaviordescribedaboveiscausallyrelatedtovariousotherfeaturesofthesituationinwhichitoccurs.Therearespecificobjects,events,relationsandsoon,inthesituation,whichleadtheperformertoproducetheseparticularvocalmovements,andnoothers.Theprecisenatureofthesituationalfeatureswhicharerelatabletotheperformer’slinguisticbehaviorwillbefoundtodifferondifferentoccasions,evenwhenheis‘sayingthesamething’.Formthelinguisticpointofview,however,theimportantthingagainisthat,ineachcase,thesituationalfeatureswhichleadto‘thesame’utteranceconformtothesamegeneralpattern.Languagethenisanactivitywhichmaybesaidtoimpingeontheworldatlargeattwoends.Ontheonehand,itismanifestedinspecifickindsofovertbehavior(e.g.vocalmovements):ontheotherhand,itisrelatedtospecificobjects,events,etc.insituation.Bothofthese—vocalmovements,andactualevents,etc.—areoutsideoflanguageitself.Theyareextralinguisticevents.Theyarethephonicsubstanceinwhichvocalactivityismanifested,andthesituation(orsituationsubstance)towhichthisactivityisrelated.Thelanguageitselfis,however,theorganizationorpatterningwhichlanguage-behaviorimplicitlyimposesonthesetwokindsofsubstance—languageisform,notsubstance.21.2(p3)inordertoaccountforlanguage-eventswemakeabstractionsfromtheseevents:abstractionsofvarioustypes,orataseriesoflevels.1.21Wedistinguish,first,thelevelsofmedium-substance(phonicsubstance,forthespokenmedium,andgraphicsubstanceforthewrittenmedium),andsituation(orsituationsubstance),bothofwhichare,infact,extralinguistic.Theinternallevelsoflanguagearethoseofmedium-form—phonologyandgraphology,arrivedatbyaprocessofabstractionfromphonicandgraphicsubstance,andthedifferentlyabstractedlevels,whichHallidaycallsthe‘formallevels’—grammarandlexis.Therelationshipbetween(theunitsof)grammar/lexisandsituation(substance)isthatofcontextualmeaning,orcontext.(p4)Therelationshipbetween(theunitsof)phonologyandphoneticsubstancehasnogenerallyrecognizedname,though‘phoneticmeaning’mightbesuggested.Therelationshipbetweengraphologyandgraphicsubstancemightlikewisebecalled‘grapheticmeaning’.Contextistheinterlevelrelatinggrammar/lexisandsituation,indicatedbythedashedlineontherightoftheabovediagram.1.22Thelevelsatwhichwemakeabstractionsfromlanguage-eventsarethusthefollowing:1.221Grammatical/lexicalform(i)Grammar:theleveloflinguisticformatwhichoperateclosedsystems:thecharacteristicsofaclosedsystembeing:(1)thenumberoftermsisfinite;(2)eachtermisexclusiveoftheother;(3)anychangeinthenumberoftermswouldchangethe‘values’(or‘formalmeanings’)oftheotherterms(e.g.systemsofpronouns,ofdeictics,ofnumber,ofcase,oftense…etc.)(ii)Lexis:theleveloflinguisticformatwhichoperatesopensets(e.g.theopensetsofitemsoftenoccurringasexamplesor‘exponents’ofnouns,verbs,etc.)1.222Mediumform(i)Phonology:theformalunitsintowhichphonicsubstanceisorganized,andwhichoperate,usuallyincombination,astheexponentsofgrammatical/lexicalforms.(ii)Graphology:theformalunitsintowhichgraphicsubstanceisorganized,andwhichoperate,usuallyincombination,astheexponentsofgrammatical/lexicalforms.1.223MediumSubstance(i)Phonicsubstance:actualvocalsounds—thesubstanceinwhichphonologyismanifested.(ii)Graphicsubstance:actualvisiblemarks—thesubstanceinwhichgraphologyismanifested.Bothtypesofmediumsubstancehaveacertainpatterningororganizationimposeduponthembymedium-form.1.224Situation(orsituationsubstance).Allthosefeaturesofsituations,excludingmediumsubstance,whicharerelatedorrelatabletolanguage-behavior.Situationsubstancehasacertainorganizationimposeduponitbygrammatical/lexicalform.1.23(p5)Inaddition,wemustconsidertheinterlevelofcontext(orcontextualmeaning):theinterlevelofstatementsaboutthedistinctivefeaturesofsituation-substancewhicharerelatabletoparticulargrammatical/lexicalforms.Aswehavesaidabove,thereisanotherinterlevel:the3interlevelofstatementsaboutthedistinctivefeaturesofmediumsubstancewhicharerelatabletomediumforms.Itwillbeclearthatcontextorcontextualmeaningiswhatismostusuallyunderstoodby‘meaning’:inourtheory,thisisonlyonepartofmean