Form, Meaning and Function in Collocation

A Corpus Study on Commercial Chinese-to-English Translation

Haoda Feng

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781000046953
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

The issue of differences between translational language and native-speaker language has become a topic of increasing interest in linguistics and Translation Studies (TS). One of the primary tasks in this research area is to employ a corpus approach and analyse collocations with authentic language data by comparing comparable corpora consisting of translated and native-speaker texts. Collocation in linguistics and TS refers to the relationship of co-occurrence between lexical items. The book shows that examining the use of collocations constitutes an integral part in assessing the naturalness of second language (L2) use, and therefore can be a valid measure to make a distinction between translational language and native-speaker language.

Nevertheless, the role of collocation has not been given enough attention or discussed systematically in TS and, to date, there are hardly any translation theorists who have clarified the mechanism of collocation in TS, by which translators acquire receptive and productive knowledge of collocations in their L2. In addition, previous research in this area is largely confined to Indo-European languages, resulting in a lack of empirical evidence involving Asian languages. This book therefore attempts to bridge the gap in the literature and constitute an integral part in the research area.

1 Form, meaning and function in collocation

A corpus study on commercial Chinese-to-English translation

1.1 Introduction

The issue of differences between translational language and native-speaker ­language has become a topic of increasing interest in linguistics and Translation Studies (TS). Many researchers have conducted relevant research to identify the features of translational language and have suggested solutions to the existing challenges and difficulties that translators are confronted with. As Xiao (2010) notes, “[t]he distinctive features of translational language can be identified by comparing translations with comparable native texts, thus throwing new light on the translation process and helping to uncover translation norms” (p. 8). In addition, Baker (2004) also points out that “questions relating to how one selects the features to be compared and, more importantly, how the findings may be interpreted, invite us to elaborate our methodology far more explicitly than in other types of research” (p. 167). Such viewpoints appear to indicate that the investigation into the features of translational language cannot be comprehensive, but can only be carried out through employing particular measures. Only in such a way can researchers in this area specify from what aspect they would need to compare translational language and native-speaker language, and clarify how they would effectively outline a suitable methodology and construct a theoretical model to conduct the comparison. In this respect, the use of accurate collocations plays a very significant part in identifying non-native speakers’ second language competence (see e.g. Wray, 2002), which implies that collocation can be a valid measure to make a distinction between translational language and native-speaker language. Previous studies (e.g. Baker, 2004; Xiao, 2010) have demonstrated some theoretical frameworks to distinguish translational language from native-speaker language which, to a certain extent, contribute to both the studies of translational language and the studies of collocation. Particularly, along with the advent of large-scale corpora, researchers are provided with more opportunities to explore collocation patterns in translational language by examining authentic language materials. The findings of these studies appear to reflect a similar generality: L2 learners deviate from native speakers in the way they learn and use collocations. In other words, this type of research aims to uncover how receptive linguistic skills can be turned into productive linguistic skills, resulting in the use of native-like collocation in translations. This is also the rationale underpinning the present study.

Nevertheless, the role of collocation has not been given enough attention or discussed systematically in TS. To be more specific, much of the previous research on collocation merely focuses on L2 acquisition, rather than comparing translational language and native-speaker language to identify the role of collocation in translation. In addition, no studies have, up to date, shown that the inappropriate use of collocations may cause some translation universal features in translational language, or have discussed the relationship between collocation and the indicators of these translation universal features. From the angle of collocation learning, there are no studies documented in the literature which attempt to suggest a pedagogical model with regard to how translators should effectively learn collocations in translator training and use them appropriately in translation practice. Instead, most researchers in this area have to rely on some theoretical models in linguistics regarding second language (L2) collocation learning if they are to explain translators’ use of collocations in their research. Needless to say, there are at times discrepancies in the mechanism of L2 collocation learning. For instance, Ellis (2001, 2003) believes that L2 collocation learning can follow the native language (L1) speakers’ model, largely relying on the memory system, and that the chunking in formulaic sequences is the main factor developing the language acquisition process. In contrast, Wray (2002) claims that L2 learners do not follow the same strategy as L1 learners and L2 learners basically adopt a ‘non-formulaic’ approach. On account of this discrepancy, Durrant and Schmitt (2010) carried out a lab-based study based on three different training conditions of encountering L2 adjective–noun collocations, specifically, single exposure, verbatim repetition and varied repetition. The results from their study demonstrate that L2 learners retain information about the co-occurring words to which they are exposed. Nevertheless, this model is constructed mainly on an ideal learning environment. That is to say, this model fails to present some other factors that may interfere with L2 collocation learning, such as L1 transfer. For this point, Crezee and Grant (2013) argue that L2 learners first of all need to recognise such idiomatic phrases for what they are, despite the fact that such collocations often ‘fly under the radar’. Therefore, no conscious recognition means no conscious acquisition. In other words, their statement largely indicates that, even though L2 learners hear the collocations that also occur as ‘chunks’ or ‘strings’ of language, they do not really ‘hear’ them or recognise them. This situation can also be explained in terms of L2 learners’ pre-existing knowledge. When L2 learners tend to produce new collocations that they have never come across, their pre-existing knowledge will serve as a screening device and select collocational candidates more from their L1 than from their L2. Then those candidates will be combined according to their conceptual associations to form so-called ‘collocations’, which may or may not be acceptable in their L2. In this sense, this pattern largely deviates from the memory-based chunking mechanism. This is the reason why Durrant and Schmitt (2010) limit their suggestions merely to the investigation of the “words that they [L2 learners] are already assumed to know” (p. 181). This is also the reason why they did not talk too much in their model about the learning pattern of unknown collocations, but simply mentioned that “[i]t is possible that somewhat different processes will be involved for collocations of previously unknown words” (Durrant and Schmitt, 2010, p. 181).

From the perspective of TS, no translation theorist has, to date, systematically clarified the mechanism in TS by which translators acquire receptive and productive knowledge of collocations in their L2. In other words, much of the previous studies in this area appear to ignore the importance of L2 collocation learning and acquisition, but concentrate more on other factors to seek the evidence of the difference between translational language and native language from other aspects, such as collocation type–token ratio, degree of collocability, delexicalisation and semantic prosody. In respect to this, researching different collocation patterns produced by L1 users and L2 translators can also provide researchers with reliable evidence to identify the features of translational language. However, it would appear that this has not been done in previous studies, thus leaving a gap in the literature.

More importantly, few collocation studies in this area look at the practical merits of collocation studies regarding how to utilise theoretical achievements and findings to help language users and translators enhance their L2 proficiency. In addition, most previous studies only involve languages of the Indo-European language family, which would call for more reliable empirical evidence from investigating ‘inter-family’ language pairs, such as English and Chinese. Furthermore, language varies in the different areas in which it is used, and these varieties of language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting are termed as ‘registers’ in language studies. In this sense, register, as a significant factor influencing the variation in the formation of collocations, should also be considered in this type of research.

Therefore, it appears that researchers in this area would need to establish a valid theoretical framework to demonstrate the importance of collocations in translation and clarify the issue of how collocation is associated with the indicators of translation universal features in translational language. Researchers would also need to employ an appropriate research approach, such as a corpus approach, to examine the validity of the established theoretical framework with empirical evidence. Researchers would also need to identify the mechanism of learning collocations from both the L1 and the L2 perspectives, based on which they can suggest a pedagogical and practical model of learning L2 collocations to help facilitate translators’ translation tasks.

1.2 Research objectives

In respect to the issues mentioned above, the present study will use a corpus-driven approach to investigate Chinese translators’ use of English collocations in commercial translation. Firstly, this study aims to clarify the role of collocation in the process of translation and investigate the difference between translational English and native English with regard to collocation use, thus bridging a gap in the literature. From this angle, this study will discuss the relationship between translators’ control of collocation use and the presentation of translation universal features in the target text, and attempt to uncover how translators’ collocation knowledge would influence their production of L2 in the target language. This study will use a corpus-driven approach to investigate the use of English collocations from a corpus made up of translated English from Chinese and a corpus compiled with native-speaker English. The data (collocations) collected from these two corpora will be integrated as wholes to provide empirical evidence to support the hypothesis of translation universals and examine whether the statements described in the theoretical framework are fully consistent with the findings from the empirical research.

Secondly, this study aims to clarify the intrinsic relationship between collocation and the indicators of translation universals, and attempts to identify the different collocation patterns produced by Chinese translators and native speakers of English through comparing two designed corpora. Based on the rationale of this study, that is, the L1-L2 difference in learning collocations, I will generalise the features of English collocations used by Chinese translators from a number of perspectives, such as form, meaning and function, and investigate the Chinese translators’ deviation in using English collocations with the Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis (CIA) research method. It should be noted that the CIA method in this study combines the traditional Contrastive Analysis approach and the tools of corpus linguistics, aiming to discover the non-native expressions in commercial Chinese-to-English translation. Furthermore, this study also intends to re-assess some previous theoretical models (e.g. Wray, 2002) regarding L2 collocation learning and use, and analyse the possible cause leading to Chinese translators’ deviation in using L2 English collocations.

Thirdly, this study will only look at collocation use in commercial Chinese-to-English translation. This is because collocation patterns in this register might demonstrate completely different features when compared with those in other registers, or in a general sense. In other words, some high-frequency collocations used in a particular register might not be of a high frequency, or might not occur at all in another register. These high-frequency collocations restricted to a particular register can be simply regarded as specialised collocations. This indicates that register-based research of collocations would bring more convincing and detailed evidence to this research area. In addition, translation is normally classified in terms of register, such as commercial translation, medical translation and legal translation. Accordingly, translation practice, in most cases, requires translators’ expertise in one or more areas. This indicates that the accurate use of specialised collocations in a particular register calls for the familiarity with the relevant knowledge in this register. Needless to say, commerce is an area of growing international importance and commercial translation covers a large proportion of translations, so there is a large-scale Chinese–English commercial translation available in the public domain, to which researchers will find it easy to get access. Furthermore, I am a qualified translator, working in the Chinese–English language pair, and a researcher specialising in applied linguistics. My enthusiasm in translational language motivated me to conduct this study by ‘marrying’ these two disciplines (Translation Studies and applied linguistics).

Last but not least, this study aims to utilise the theoretical findings and attempts to suggest an acceptable pedagogical method for teaching non-English speaking background (NESB) translators how to identify and use appropriate collocations in commercial Chinese-to-English translation. This objective can be twofold: on the one hand, this study will demonstrate Chinese translators’ weakness in their use of L2 English collocations, and suggest from what aspect they would need to improve their ability of collocation use so they can come closer to native-like selection and fluency; on the other hand, this study will present a pedagogical model, in which translators can not only add declarative knowledge to what they know, but also integrate procedural knowledge into the L2 collocation knowledge system they have already constructed. Thus, it is hoped that translators can enrich their L2 collocation knowledge ‘database’ and essentially turn their receptive knowledge into productive knowledge.

1.3 Translator training programmes in China

This study is relevant because it aims to show the recurring problems in using L2 English collocations by the translators who are undertaking commercial Chinese-to-English translations in China. It also attempts to provide solutions to these problems and offer suggestions to the current translator training programmes, particularly in China. Therefore, this section will briefly introduce the background of translator training in China.

In response to the increasing needs for inter-cultural communication, there are several translator training programmes established in China. Translator training strategies at China’s higher education institutions, such as universities, are part of the pedagogical activities aimed at the development of versatile graduates. The graduates (including postgraduates) have become the majority of the large translation force of nearly one million translators at foreign affairs offices, research institutes, colleges and universities, international trade enterprises, travel agencies, publishers, translation companies and other workplaces in China.

In mainland China, for trainee translators who deal with English–Chinese translation, the duration of the training session is based on trainee translators’ experience, study programme and professional pursuits. The timeframe of the training session could be designed on different levels. For undergraduate students of non-English majors, translation training is carried out with their L2 English learning over their first two years of university study. Trainee translators’ translation skills will be improved through in-class tutorials, exercises and practice, and will be assessed in the College English Test (abbreviated as CET, two bands available: CET-4 and CET-6) provided by the Ministry of Education. For undergraduate students of English majors, a separate translation practice course is offered in their third and/or fourth year of university study. It normally takes 16 to 32 weeks to finish the whole course. Their translation skills will be improved with teachers’ instruction of translation strategies and in-class practice, and will be assessed using the Test for English Majors (abbreviated as TEM, two bands available: TEM-4 and TEM-8) which are also provided by the Ministry of Education. At postgraduate level, translation courses are only compulsory for the students with English-related majors, such as Translation Studies, Applied Linguistics and English Literature, even though they may be available to some students of non-English majors who show their interest in Translation Studies. In the 159 universities that are entitled to grant the degree of Master of Translation and Interpreting, the translation course is given over two years, including both translation theory and translation practice. This normally covers two semesters of the two-year Masters programme, introducing trainee translato...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• 1 Form, meaning and function in collocation: a corpus study on commercial Chinese-to-English translation
• 2 Literature review: collocation and Translation Studies
• 3 Preliminary study: setting the stage
• 4 Research design: methodology and data processing
• 5 Data analysis: features of Chinese translators’ use of English collocations in the commercial register (Part I)
• 6 Data analysis: features of Chinese translators’ use of English collocations in the commercial register (Part II)
• 7 Translation universals in Chinese translators’ use of L2 English collocations
• 8 Implications of findings
• 9 Conclusion
• Appendices
• Bibliography
• Index