What exactly is “level shift” in translation theory by Catford?

up vote
3
down vote

favorite

Catford (1978) divides the shift in translation into two major types, level/rank shift and category shift. Level/rank shift refers to a source language item at one linguistic level that has a target language translation equivalent at a different level. In other words, it is simply a shift from grammar to lexis.

I don’t quite understand what the word ‘level’ in level shift refers to.
Level of what?

The only examples I have found so far use present continous or perfect
constructions, such has have been, to be + ‑ing, &c.

But are there other classes of examples of level shift to be had?

For example,

French: Elle est intelligente

English: She's intelligent

in french, the adjective intelligent has -e in the end of it because its gender, but in english there's no system like that.
So does that count as level shift?

Also in this example:

French: les fleurs

English: flower

The resulting translation used singular not plural like the source
language did. Should this also to be considered a level shift?

also, for anyone who understand this in Bahasa Indonesia, i have another example.

French: Ils sont devenus trop grands

Indonesian: Mereka jadi kebesaran

the adjective "grand" has "-s" in the end because it follows the subject but there's no such thing as that in Indonesian. does it also considered as a level shift?

edited 5 mins ago

asked 7 hours ago

user8930

162

migrated from english.stackexchange.com 2 hours ago

This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.

1

Perhaps this question would work better on linguistics stack exchange.
– Peter Shor
3 hours ago

thanks, some people recommend me to ask there. i'll ask there
– user8930
2 hours ago

Citations? Quotes from Catford? Definitions? Where did the question come from?
– jlawler
49 mins ago

@jlawler added it, is like that enough?
– user8930
34 mins ago

add a comment |

up vote
3
down vote

favorite

Catford (1978) divides the shift in translation into two major types, level/rank shift and category shift. Level/rank shift refers to a source language item at one linguistic level that has a target language translation equivalent at a different level. In other words, it is simply a shift from grammar to lexis.

I don’t quite understand what the word ‘level’ in level shift refers to.
Level of what?

The only examples I have found so far use present continous or perfect
constructions, such has have been, to be + ‑ing, &c.

But are there other classes of examples of level shift to be had?

For example,

French: Elle est intelligente

English: She's intelligent

in french, the adjective intelligent has -e in the end of it because its gender, but in english there's no system like that.
So does that count as level shift?

Also in this example:

French: les fleurs

English: flower

The resulting translation used singular not plural like the source
language did. Should this also to be considered a level shift?

also, for anyone who understand this in Bahasa Indonesia, i have another example.

French: Ils sont devenus trop grands

Indonesian: Mereka jadi kebesaran

the adjective "grand" has "-s" in the end because it follows the subject but there's no such thing as that in Indonesian. does it also considered as a level shift?

edited 5 mins ago

asked 7 hours ago

user8930

162

migrated from english.stackexchange.com 2 hours ago

This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.

1

Perhaps this question would work better on linguistics stack exchange.
– Peter Shor
3 hours ago

thanks, some people recommend me to ask there. i'll ask there
– user8930
2 hours ago

Citations? Quotes from Catford? Definitions? Where did the question come from?
– jlawler
49 mins ago

@jlawler added it, is like that enough?
– user8930
34 mins ago

add a comment |

up vote
3
down vote

favorite

Catford (1978) divides the shift in translation into two major types, level/rank shift and category shift. Level/rank shift refers to a source language item at one linguistic level that has a target language translation equivalent at a different level. In other words, it is simply a shift from grammar to lexis.

I don’t quite understand what the word ‘level’ in level shift refers to.
Level of what?

The only examples I have found so far use present continous or perfect
constructions, such has have been, to be + ‑ing, &c.

But are there other classes of examples of level shift to be had?

For example,

French: Elle est intelligente

English: She's intelligent

in french, the adjective intelligent has -e in the end of it because its gender, but in english there's no system like that.
So does that count as level shift?

Also in this example:

French: les fleurs

English: flower

The resulting translation used singular not plural like the source
language did. Should this also to be considered a level shift?

also, for anyone who understand this in Bahasa Indonesia, i have another example.

French: Ils sont devenus trop grands

Indonesian: Mereka jadi kebesaran

the adjective "grand" has "-s" in the end because it follows the subject but there's no such thing as that in Indonesian. does it also considered as a level shift?

edited 5 mins ago

asked 7 hours ago

user8930

162

Catford (1978) divides the shift in translation into two major types, level/rank shift and category shift. Level/rank shift refers to a source language item at one linguistic level that has a target language translation equivalent at a different level. In other words, it is simply a shift from grammar to lexis.

I don’t quite understand what the word ‘level’ in level shift refers to.
Level of what?

The only examples I have found so far use present continous or perfect
constructions, such has have been, to be + ‑ing, &c.

But are there other classes of examples of level shift to be had?

For example,

French: Elle est intelligente

English: She's intelligent

in french, the adjective intelligent has -e in the end of it because its gender, but in english there's no system like that.
So does that count as level shift?

Also in this example:

French: les fleurs

English: flower

The resulting translation used singular not plural like the source
language did. Should this also to be considered a level shift?

also, for anyone who understand this in Bahasa Indonesia, i have another example.

French: Ils sont devenus trop grands

Indonesian: Mereka jadi kebesaran

the adjective "grand" has "-s" in the end because it follows the subject but there's no such thing as that in Indonesian. does it also considered as a level shift?

grammar translation

edited 5 mins ago

asked 7 hours ago

user8930

162

edited 5 mins ago

asked 7 hours ago

user8930

162

edited 5 mins ago

asked 7 hours ago

user8930

162

asked 7 hours ago

user8930

162

asked 7 hours ago

user8930

162

migrated from english.stackexchange.com 2 hours ago

This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.

migrated from english.stackexchange.com 2 hours ago

This question came from our site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.

1

Perhaps this question would work better on linguistics stack exchange.
– Peter Shor
3 hours ago

thanks, some people recommend me to ask there. i'll ask there
– user8930
2 hours ago

Citations? Quotes from Catford? Definitions? Where did the question come from?
– jlawler
49 mins ago

@jlawler added it, is like that enough?
– user8930
34 mins ago

add a comment |

1

Perhaps this question would work better on linguistics stack exchange.
– Peter Shor
3 hours ago

thanks, some people recommend me to ask there. i'll ask there
– user8930
2 hours ago

Citations? Quotes from Catford? Definitions? Where did the question come from?
– jlawler
49 mins ago

@jlawler added it, is like that enough?
– user8930
34 mins ago

Perhaps this question would work better on linguistics stack exchange.
– Peter Shor
3 hours ago

thanks, some people recommend me to ask there. i'll ask there
– user8930
2 hours ago

Citations? Quotes from Catford? Definitions? Where did the question come from?
– jlawler
49 mins ago

@jlawler added it, is like that enough?
– user8930
34 mins ago

add a comment |

active

oldest

votes

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "312"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});

}
});

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2flinguistics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f29887%2fwhat-ex-act-ly-is-lev-el-shift-in-trans-la-tion-the-o-ry-by-cat-ford%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

active

oldest

votes

draft saved

draft discarded

Thanks for contributing an answer to Linguistics Stack Exchange!

Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid …

Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.

Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.

Please pay close attention to the following guidance:

Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid …

Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Name

Required, but never shown

Name

Required, but never shown

This page is only for reference, If you need detailed information, please check here

搜尋此網誌

Qfyilyi