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UNIT 4
STYLYSTIC ANALYSIS OF NON-FICTIONAL TEXTS IN THE PROCESS OF TRANSLATION: TEXTS OF OFFICIAL AND BUSINESS DOCUMENTS
Main points:
4.1. The general notion of a functional style
4.2. Major functional styles and sub-styles in English
4.3. The style of official and business documents: specific lexical and grammatical features
4.4. Sample texts for illustration and analysis
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4.1. The general notion of a functional style
There exist many definitions of a functional style of language (FS) given by various writers on the subject. I.R.Galperin [1977: 249] gives the following definition of the functional style:
“A FS is a patterned variety of literary text characterised by the greater or lesser typification of its constituents, supra-phrasal units (SPU), in which the choice and arrangement of independent and interwoven language media are calculated to secure the purport of the communication”.
For practical reasons we will reword this definition as follows:
“A functional style (FS) of language is a system of language means which serves a definite aim of communication”.
It is also assumed by I.R.Galperin [see: ibid.] that each FS is a relatively stable system at the given stage of development of the literary language, but it changes from one historical period to another. I.R.Galperin refers the notion of a functional style only to the literary standard of language while other authors [see Арнольд 1981: 245; Брандес, Провоторов 2003: 92-97; Кожина 1977: 157] also list the colloquial style among the functional styles of language. Whatever the academic argument may be, we will not discuss the colloquial style of language here, because professional translators and interpreters seldom have to translate “colloquial discourse” (which is no doubt a very interesting and important subject of a separate research) but mostly deal with written or oral literary discourse.
4.2. Major functional styles and sub-styles in English
So we assume that functional styles appear mainly in the literary standard of language. What we will call here “functional styles” of language is also called in the Western-European linguistics “registers” or “genres” of language [Toolan 1991: 202-204]. Most scholars of linguistics distinguish between the following styles (and sub-styles) of language:
In this book we will consider main properties of texts belonging to the above-mentioned styles focusing on the features that are relevant for translators’ activity and bearing in mind similarities and differences observed between the texts of these styles.
4.3. The style of official and business documents: specific lexical and grammatical features
The style (the language) of official documents has the following sub-styles:
The aim of communication in the official style of language is to bind the addressee (the reader) to a certain kind of behaviour. Therefore, according to our terminology, these texts are artefacts with high degree of authority and binding force. They are intended to change behaviour of people and, therefore, to change the reality. The label of performatives (i.e. texts that “work” in the real world or rather “change reality”) may also be applied to these texts [see: Аспекты 1982; Максимов 1984; Остин 1986; Austin 1962; 1979; Maksimov 1992].
Communication by means of official documents may occur:
Official documents, being binding texts, have a high degree of authority and responsibility encoded in them. This is achieved by direct reference to the authors of the document and its addressee, to the time and place of compiling the document, by the use of “binding” words (performative verbs and nouns) such as advise, agree, undertake, guarantee, shall, will, bind, promise, ask, reiterate, recognize, respect, request, recommend; agreement, resolution, decision, order, etc. The binding nature of official documents is also ensured by the extensive use of modal verbs, such as should, would, may, need, must, have to, be to, etc. The binding nature of international legal documents, for example, is so high that their translations are not viewed as official versions of these texts and require the legal procedure of authentication, when the parties to an agreement mutually agree to consider texts in different languages to be originals. This is explained by the fact that in the process of translation the text is transformed through the “ego” of a translator and thus loses its binding force. Therefore a special clause reading that parties consider both texts (e.g. in English and Ukrainian) to be “equally authoritative” (or “authentic”) is introduced in the closing remarks to each international legal instrument (treaty, agreement, convention, etc.) while “translations” (into the third language, e.g. into French) are regarded as unofficial and may be used only for reference [Евинтов 1981]. Preambles to international legal documents play a very important role as they usually contain the “performative” formula “have agreed” or “agree as follows”, which makes the rest of the text binding for the parties to perform what they have agreed upon.
Texts of official documents are also characterised by:
4.4. Sample texts for illustration and analysis
Text 1
Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ukraine on co-operation in the fields of education, science and culture
The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ukraine, (hereinafter referred to as “the Contracting Parties”);
Desiring to strengthen and develop the friendly relations between the two countries and their peoples;
Being convinced that exchanges and co-operation in the fields of education, science and culture as well as in other fields contribute to a better mutual knowledge and understanding between the British and Ukrainian peoples;
Have agreed as follows:
Article 1
The Contracting Parties shall encourage the development of relations between the two countries in the field of education by:
Article 2
The Contracting Parties shall encourage and facilitate the development of exchanges and research on problems of mutual interest in the fields of science and technology, including direct co-operation between scientific and research institutions in the two countries.
Article 3
The Contracting Parties shall encourage and facilitate direct contacts in the fields of literature, the visual arts, the performing arts, film, television and radio, architecture, museums and galleries, libraries and archives and in other cultural areas.
Article 4
Each Contracting Party shall encourage the establishment in its territory of cultural and information centres of the other Contracting Party to organise and carry out activities in pursuit of the purposes of this Agreement, and shall grant every facility within the limits of its legislation and capabilities to assist such centres. The expression “cultural and information centres” shall include schools, language teaching institutions, libraries, resource centres and other institutions dedicated to the purposes of the present Agreement.
Article 5
The Contracting Parties shall encourage co-operation between press and publishing organisations in the two countries.
Article 6
The Contracting Parties shall facilitate the exchange of information about measures to protect the national heritage.
Article 7
The contracting Parties hall encourage co-operation between the authorities of their respective countries in order to ensure the mutual protection of copyright.
Article 8
The Contracting Parties shall encourage contacts between young people and direct co-operation between youth organisations of the two countries.
Article 9
The Contracting Parties shall encourage the development of tourism between the two countries.
Article 10
The Contracting Parties shall encourage co-operation between sporting organisations and participation in sporting events in each other’s countries.
Article 11
The Contracting Parties shall facilitate in appropriate ways attendance at seminars, festivals, competitions, exhibitions, conferences, symposia and meetings in fields covered by this Agreement and held in either country.
Article 12
The Contracting Parties shall encourage direct co-operation and exchanges between non-governmental organisations in all fields covered by this Agreement.
Article 13
All activities covered by this Agreement shall comply with the laws and regulations in force in the State of the Contracting Party in which they take place.
Article 14
The British Council shall act as principal agent of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the implementation of this Agreement.
Article 15
Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall, whenever necessary or at the request of either Party, meet as a Mixed Commission to review developments relating to this agreement.
Article 16
In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement.
Done in duplicate at London this 10th day of February 1993 in the English and Ukrainian languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
For the Government of the United Kingdom For the Government
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: of Ukraine:
Emily Blatch A.M.Zlenko
Text 2
REGULATIONS TO BE OBSERVED BY ALL STUDENTS
3. Every full-time student is required to keep the three University terms every year in full. Any student who wishes to be absent from the University for any term must first obtain the permission of the Head of the School or Department or, where appropriate, the appropriate officer of the University concerned.
Text 3
Health conditions of migrants and refugees in Europe
Opinion
Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee
Rapporteur: M. Francisco Arnau, Spain, Socialist Group
(Council of Europe Doc. 8878, 16 October 2000)
1 Some authors [see Galperin 1977] list the publicistic and the newspaper styles separately. However others [see Кожина 1977] believe that the newspaper style (or rather the style of the mass-media of today) should be regarded within the publicistic style of language. Here we support here the second approach.