Transformational strategies in diaphasic translation: three case studies

Abstract

This article is concerned with a special case of translation, namely the registerial transformation of specialized LSP discourse into lay-oriented texts. This type of rewriting is intralingual mostly, but may also occur in combination with an interlingual element. Since previous research has mainly been concerned with one specific genre (Patient Information Leaflets as products of registerial rewriting), the present study investigates and compares three additional genres, all belonging to the field of medicine. Using the classic 'coupled-pairs' method (Toury 1995), the investigation uncovers the lexical and grammatical changes underlying the interregisterial derivation of targets from sources. The three genres turn out to be remarkably similar in terms of transformational strategies, with largely the same types of lexicogrammatical changes manifested in all target texts. However, a comparison of the different types of changes with each other reveals remarkable heterogeneity in terms of stylistic effect. In fact, different groups of strategies turn out to contribute very differently to the lay-oriented 'skopos' of the target texts. To capture these differences, a superordinate typology of five 'genera' of strategies (each subsuming a small handful of 'species') is proposed and arranged on a cline according to their degree of lay-orientedness.