Abstracts
Abstract
Ever since the publication of Laviosa’s (1998a; 1998b) pioneering work, the study of lexico-syntactic simplification has held centre stage in corpus translation research concerned with the typical features of translated texts. The simplification hypothesis states that translated texts are simpler than non-translated texts. The convergence hypothesis, also discussed by Laviosa (1998a; 1998b), but less so in follow-up studies, is that translated texts are more homogeneous than original texts, that is they display less variance. To date, simplification has mostly been operationalised in CBTS as type-token ratio, lexical density, core vocabulary coverage, list head coverage and average sentence length. Relying on these parameters, previous research has produced mixed results, with simplification varying across translation modalities, language pairs and registers. The present article sets out to revisit the simplification and convergence hypotheses through the lens of NLP-informed readability research. In particular, we rely on a larger set of simplification indicators and make use of multivariate statistical techniques. We present a simplification study of Europarl corpus data in French translated from English and in non-translated French. The results show that translated French is simpler than original French, lexically and syntactically. We also find evidence of convergence that shows that translators smooth out cross-speaker lexical heterogeneity in translated parliamentary proceedings.
Keywords:
- corpus-based translation studies,
- simplification,
- simplicity,
- readability,
- Europarl
Résumé
Depuis les travaux de Laviosa (1998a ; 1998b), les études de corpus se sont souvent penchées sur le phénomène de simplification lexico-syntaxique, afin de déterminer si les textes traduits sont plus simples que les textes non traduits. Laviosa (1998a ; 1998b) traite également de l’hypothèse de convergence, selon laquelle les textes traduits sont plus homogènes que les textes non traduits. Jusqu’à présent, cette question a cependant suscité moins d’intérêt que la simplification. En traductologie de corpus, la simplification a été opérationnalisée à l’aide de cinq paramètres principaux. Sur la base de ceux-ci, les études ont montré que la simplification varie en fonction des modalités de traduction, des paires de langues et des registres analysés. Notre article a pour objectif de revisiter ce type de recherche à travers le prisme des études de lisibilité. En particulier, nous utilisons un ensemble plus fourni de paramètres de simplification et avons recours à des statistiques multivariées. Nos analyses portent sur des données en français tirées du corpus Europarl (français traduit de l’anglais et français non traduit) et montrent que le français traduit est plus simple, d’un point de vue lexical et syntaxique, que le français non traduit. Une tendance à la convergence lexicale est également mise au jour en français traduit, ce qui semble indiquer que les traducteurs lissent les différences lexicales entre les orateurs de la langue source.
Mots-clés :
- traductologie de corpus,
- simplification,
- simplicité,
- lisibilité,
- Europarl
Resumen
Desde que Laviosa publicara su trabajo pionero sobre la simplificación léxico-sintáctica en traducción (1998a; 1998b), esta ha ocupado un lugar destacado en los Estudios de Traducción. De acuerdo con esta hipótesis, los textos traducidos son más simples que los no traducidos. La hipótesis de la convergencia, también elaborada por Laviosa, pero con menor seguimiento en el campo en investigaciones posteriores, postula que los textos traducidos son más homogéneos que los textos originales. Hasta la fecha, la simplificación se ha abordado en los estudios de traducción basados en corpus como la relación tipo-caso, la densidad léxica, la cobertura del vocabulario básico, la cobertura del list head, y la longitud media de la oración. Teniendo en cuenta estos parámetros, investigaciones previas han ofrecido resultados diversos, en los que se observa que la simplificación varía en función de las modalidades de traducción, pares de lenguas o registros. El objetivo de este artículo es revisitar las hipótesis de simplificación y convergencia a la luz de la investigación sobre legibilidad informada por el procesamiento de lenguaje natural. Para ello, nos basamos en un conjunto de indicadores de simplificación más amplio e hicimos uso de técnicas de estadística multivariante. Analizamos la simplificación en datos de francés traducido del inglés y en francés original, extraídos de Europarl. Los resultados muestran que el francés traducido es más simple que el no traducido, tanto a nivel léxico como sintáctico. También observamos casos de convergencia, de acuerdo con la cual los traductores minimizarían la heterogeneidad léxica entre interlocutores en la traducción de las actas parlamentarias.
Palabras clave:
- estudios de traducción basados en corpus,
- simplificación,
- simplicidad,
- legibilidad,
- Europarl
Appendices
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