Abstract
This paper seeks to promote deeper reflection within the field of corpus-based translation studies (CTS) regarding the digital tools by means of which research in this discipline proceeds. It explicates a range of possibilities and constraints brought to the analysis of translated texts by the keyword in context (KWIC) concordancer and other data visualisation applications, paying particular attention to the ways in which these technological affordances have actively shaped central theoretical hypotheses within CTS and related fields, as well as the general principles of corpus construction. This discussion is illustrated through a small case study which applies the suite of corpus analysis tools developed as part of the Genealogies of Knowledge project to the investigation of two English translations of the Communist Manifesto.
Highlights
The use of text corpora for the investigation of language predates the invention of the modern computer (Fenlon 1908; Svartvik 1992: 7)
In the following paragraphs we argue that the concordancer as medium is not a neutral tool of representation: does its design reflect a specific set of concerns among researchers interested in language use, but its affordances have actively shaped central theoretical hypotheses within corpus-based translation studies (CTS) and related fields, as well as the general principles of corpus construction
The examples we offer serve to indicate that there is a myriad of ways to approach language, and the tools we use put in place specific constraints that narrow down the possibilities productively, but in the process transform the qualities of the textual material in view as well as our intuitions about it
Summary
The use of text corpora for the investigation of language predates the invention of the modern computer (Fenlon 1908; Svartvik 1992: 7). The transition from an analogue to a digital work environment and the shift towards binary code as the lingua franca of the twenty-first century has inaugurated a paradigm change within several established scholarly disciplines, and inspired the creation of hybrid, interdisciplinary approaches to knowledge production In this respect, digital humanities has come to serve as an umbrella term for a variety of practices, including the digitization of texts and artefacts, the study of born-digital material, as well as the development of digital tools and the new methods they facilitate (Sheridan 2016). Equivalence between a dataset and the objects of study it is made to represent depends upon a specific, situated agreement on perceptual conventions established within a given research culture Building on these principles, we seek to encourage deeper reflection within CTS and related fields on the mediality of corpus research. Just like multiple retranslations of a single text can, even within the space of a phrase, produce widely divergent images that invite a range of different interpretations, varying digital representations of textual material are only equivalent to their source insofar as the medium’s mutational qualities are left uninterrogated
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