Table Of ContentContrastive Pragmatics and Translation
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Volume 261
Contrastive Pragmatics and Translation. Evaluation, epistemic modality and
communicative styles in English and German
by Svenja Kranich
Contrastive Pragmatics
and Translation
Evaluation, epistemic modality
and communicative styles in English and German
Svenja Kranich
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
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Table of contents
Acknowledgments ix
List of tables xi
List of figures xiii
chapter 1
Introduction 1
1.1 General description of the study and its central aims 1
1.2 Definitions of key terms 3
1.2.1 Contrastive pragmatics 4
1.2.2 Covert and overt translation 5
1.2.3 Translation ‘universals’ 8
1.2.4 Subjectivity and addressee-orientation 10
1.3 Contrastive studies of communication styles and cultural stereotyping 11
1.4 Organization of the study 15
chapter 2
General hypotheses, data and methods 17
2.1 General hypotheses 17
2.2 Methods and data 17
chapter 3
The five dimensions of English-German communicative contrasts 23
chapter 4
Contrastive perspectives on English-German pragmatic
and stylistic contrasts 29
4.1 English-German contrasts in academic discourse and popular science 30
4.1.1 Text organization and linearity of academic articles 31
4.1.2 Hedging and impersonal expressions in peer-addressed
and popular scientific writing 33
4.1.3 Popular science: An overview 35
4.1.4 Deictic elements in popular science 37
4.1.5 Connectivity in popular science 39
4.2 English-German contrasts in business communication 40
4.2.1 General findings 40
vi Contrastive Pragmatics and Translation
4.2.2 Text organization and linearity 43
4.2.3 Modality 43
4.2.4 Person deixis 43
4.3 English-German contrasts in other genres and cross-genre studies 44
4.4 Summary of previous results on English-German communicative
contrasts 46
chapter 5
The impact of English-German pragmatic and stylistic contrasts
on translations 51
5.1 Translations of popular science 51
5.1.1 General findings 52
5.1.2 Person deixis 52
5.1.3 Connectivity 53
5.2 Translations of business communication 55
5.2.1 General findings 55
5.2.2 Modality 56
5.2.3 Person deixis 57
5.2.4 Connectivity 57
5.2.5 Evaluative lexis 58
5.2.6 Explicitness versus implicitness 59
5.3 Translations of other genres 61
5.3.1 Connectivity 61
5.3.2 Explicitness versus implicitness 62
5.3.3 Verbal routines vs. ad-hoc formulation 63
5.4 Summary of previous results on English-German contrasts
in translation 63
chapter 6
English-German contrasts in evaluative practice 67
6.1 Why study evaluation 67
6.2 Hypotheses 70
6.3 Expressions of evaluation in discourse 71
6.4 Adjectives as means of expressing evaluation 75
6.5 Methods 83
6.6 Contrastive findings 84
6.7 Translation analysis 88
6.8 Summary 92
Table of contents vii
chapter 7
English-German contrasts in epistemic modal marking 95
7.1 Why study epistemic modality 95
7.2 Hypotheses 100
7.3 Epistemic modality in letters to shareholders 103
7.3.1 Previous findings 103
7.3.2 Methods 106
7.3.3 General function of epistemic modal marking in the genre 108
7.3.4 Contrastive findings 110
7.3.4.1 General contrasts in frequency 110
7.3.4.2 Contrasts in preferred lexico-grammatical categories 110
7.3.4.3 Contrasts in the use of modalized statements
in different domains of reference 113
7.3.4.4 Contrasts in the use of markers of high
and low probability 118
7.3.4.5 Summary 119
7.3.5 Translation analysis 120
7.3.5.1 General contrasts in frequency 120
7.3.5.2 Preferred lexico-grammatical categories in translations 121
7.3.5.3 Use of modalized statements in different domains
of reference 123
7.3.5.4 Summary 126
7.4 Epistemic modality in popular science 127
7.4.1 Previous findings 127
7.4.2 Methods 128
7.4.3 General function in the genre 133
7.4.4 Contrastive findings 135
7.4.4.1 General contrasts in frequency 135
7.4.4.2 Contrasts in preferred lexico-grammatical categories 135
7.4.4.3 Contrasts in the use of markers of high
and low probability 138
7.4.4.4 Summary 139
7.4.5 Translation analysis 140
7.4.5.1 General differences in frequency 140
7.4.5.2 Preferred lexico-grammatical categories
in translations 142
7.4.5.3 Use of markers of high and low probability
in translations 145
7.5 A cross-genre comparison of epistemic modality in two genres 153
7.6 Summary 162
viii Contrastive Pragmatics and Translation
chapter 8
Translations as trigger of linguistic change? Changes in the genre
of popular science in English texts, English-German translations
and German originals 165
8.1 Diachronic change in English popular scientific articles 168
8.2 Diachronic change in English-German translations of popular scientific
articles and in German originals 169
8.2.1 The case of we ~ wir 170
8.2.2 The case of And ~ Und 171
8.2.3 The case of But ~ Aber ~ Doch 171
8.2.4 The case of epistemic modal markers 172
8.3 Discussion of the reasons for the diachronic changes observed 174
8.4 Summary and conclusion 176
chapter 9
Conclusion and outlook 179
9.1 Summary 179
9.2 Evaluation of the general hypotheses 184
9.3 Outlook 188
References 191
Index 203
Acknowledgments
I would like to start by thanking Juliane House, whose seminal work on English-
German pragmatic contrasts and their impact on translation has inspired the pres-
ent investigation. Thank you for always taking an active interest in my work and
in me and for being the best mentor anyone could wish for. I would also like to
especially thank Silvia Hansen-Schirra. Both of you have helped to shape the pres-
ent work with your thoughtful comments and have often kept me going with your
enthusiasm and support.
The exchange of ideas with other colleagues has also furnished me with inspi-
ration. I am particularly grateful to Viktor Becher, with whom I had many inspir-
ing discussions when we still shared an office. I often miss our days together at
the Research Center on Multilingualism. For inspiring discussions and feedback
on previous versions of studies presented in the present work, I would further-
more like to thank my colleagues in Mainz, especially Walter Bisang, Matthias
Eitelmann, Britta Mondorf, Damaris Nübling, Anke Lensch, and Anneli Sarhimaa,
all my co-authors, Viktor Becher, Andrea Bicsár, Volker Gast, Victorina González-
Díaz, Steffen Höder, and Juliane House, more former colleagues at the Research
Center on Multilingualism, like Agnieszka Czachór, Imme Kuchenbrandt, Bernd
Meyer, Birte Pawlack, Esther Rinke, Manuela Schönenberger and other former col-
leagues in Hamburg, like Inke Du Bois, Monika Schulz, and Martin Schweinberger,
as well as colleagues whom I met at workshops and conferences, like Karin Aijmer,
Nicole Baumgarten, Gabriele Diewald, Cathrine Fabricius-Hansen, Alberto Gil,
Kerstin Kunz, Stella Neumann, Erich Steiner, Elizabeth Traugott, Jean-Christophe
Verstraete, Andrea Wurm, and all other colleagues with whom I had the oppor-
tunity to discuss ideas presented in this work. I would also like to thank Elisabeth
Sommermann for her help with the final formatting of the manuscript and
Margaret Parks and Wera Neuhäuser for their careful proofreading.
Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge gratefully the support from the DFG
(German Research Foundation) for providing the means for a highly stimulating
and pleasant working environment at the SFB Mehrsprachigkeit (Collaborative
Research Center on Multilingualism), where a substantial share of the research
presented in this work has originated in the project ‘Covert Translation’. The initia-
tor and principal investigator of the project was Juliane House. Other researchers
who worked on the project at various stages are Nicole Baumgarten, Viktor Becher,
x Contrastive Pragmatics and Translation
Claudia Böttger, Demet Özçetin, Julia Probst, and myself. Graduate students who
have contributed to the academic research are Andrea Bicsár, Svenja Junge, and
Eva-Maria Romero Perez. This book would not be what it is without the work of
all of these colleagues.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends, in particular my
parents, August and Ingrid Kranich, for always being there for me and my daughter
Zoe. I also thank Zoe’s dad Martin and his parents, Klaus and Erika Schweinberger,
for stepping in to look after her when this book wanted my attention. But most of
all, I thank my daughter Zoe, for being the sunshine of my life.
S. K.
October 2015
