Abstract
The present paper comprises a study of how the German word class of modal
10 particles can be indicative of translator style. German modal particles as a word
class are described in detail and I take stock of the research on this linguistic
feature that moved into the centre of researchers’ interest in the late 1960s and
continues to be a topic of controversial debate. I show how corpus methodologies
are useful in the identification and analysis of modal particles and provide a case
15 study based on an electronic corpus that consists of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel
The Beautiful and Damned and its two translations into German by Hans-Christian
Oeser and Renate Orth-Guttmann, both published in 1998. A quantitative
analysis reveals usage patterns of modal particles applied by each translator, as
well as preferences of each translator for individual modal particles. A qualitative
20 analysis with a focus on the modal particle wohl shows how it can be used to shift
the point of view, explicitate the relationship between characters etc. and how
these strategies affect the macrolevel of the translated novel.
10 particles can be indicative of translator style. German modal particles as a word
class are described in detail and I take stock of the research on this linguistic
feature that moved into the centre of researchers’ interest in the late 1960s and
continues to be a topic of controversial debate. I show how corpus methodologies
are useful in the identification and analysis of modal particles and provide a case
15 study based on an electronic corpus that consists of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel
The Beautiful and Damned and its two translations into German by Hans-Christian
Oeser and Renate Orth-Guttmann, both published in 1998. A quantitative
analysis reveals usage patterns of modal particles applied by each translator, as
well as preferences of each translator for individual modal particles. A qualitative
20 analysis with a focus on the modal particle wohl shows how it can be used to shift
the point of view, explicitate the relationship between characters etc. and how
these strategies affect the macrolevel of the translated novel.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 427-445 |
| Journal | Perspectives: Studies in Translatology |
| Early online date | 7 Aug 2012 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |