Abstract
Using unsupervised clustering techniques this study explores sentence alignment patterns in a parallel corpus of Norwegian source texts and Spanish translations, the NSPC (Hareide and Hofland 2012). The results show that three strategies with respect to sentence alignment dominate: one to one correspondence, merging two sentences into one, and removing sentences altogether (omission). The strategies are intricately correlated with the variables translator , author , and genre . However, we show how visualization techniques for cluster analyses offer a possibility for teasing apart these interactions as well as their relative importance. Our results indicate that non-fiction texts allow translators more freedom with respect to the treatment of sentences than do texts that are written by professional authors of fiction. The style of the author appears to play only a secondary role, but is especially important in fiction. Keywords: corpus based translation, cluster analysis, parallel corpora, corpus alignment, unidirectional bilingual corpus
Highlights
Mainstream linguistics has been somewhat slow in appreciating and adopting a methodology based on corpus linguistics despite increasing focus on usage-‐based approaches (Gries and Divjak 2010)
The two texts by Saabye Christensen are both novels, and are both translated by the team Kirsti Baggethun/Asunción Lorenzo (KBAL), who incidentally have translated all three of Gaarder’s contributions to the corpus
Seierstad’s four texts are all categorized as journalism, and as mentioned in section 2.1., two of the texts are translated by the team Sara Høyerup/Marcelo Covian (SHMC), whereas the remaining two are translated by Carmen Freixanet (CF)
Summary
Mainstream linguistics has been somewhat slow in appreciating and adopting a methodology based on corpus linguistics despite increasing focus on usage-‐based approaches (Gries and Divjak 2010). Recent papers have criticized research in corpus based translation studies for not adhering rigorously enough to the methodology of corpus linguistics (De Sutter, Delaere, and Plevoets 2012:326), (De Sutter, Goethals, Leuschner, and Vandepitte 2012). They argue that researchers in Corpus Based Translation Studies tend to study only one variable, thereby demonstrating insensitivity to other factors such as text type and source language variation that may influence the variable studied or have explanatory power. Studies on alignment-‐patterns in parallel corpora have previously been conducted by Johansson (2011), Johansson & Hofland (2000) and by Ebeling & Ebeling (2013)(this volume)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
