On the theory and practice of intralingual translation and its typologies

ABSTRACT

This article aims to advance the discussion on the nature of intralingual translation which, while having been marginalized for a long time within the field of translation studies, has currently increasingly attracted the interest of the academic community. Building on the work of previous researchers in the field, this article suggests the adoption of additional categories with a view to facilitating a more comprehensive description, analysis, and practice of this form of translation, identifying its various typologies. To demonstrate how the model proposed here can work as a useful guide to intralingual translators, the article provides examples taken from various literary and non-literary texts.

KEYWORDS:

• Intralingual translation
• accessibility
• popularization
• intralingual translation brief

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For a detailed discussion see Korning Zethsen and Hill-Madsen (2016).

2 According to Trudgill (1999), standard dialect is a type of dialect that has undergone a significant process of regularisation and is associated with formal schooling, official print publications, institutions of various kinds, the language of newspapers and television, etc.

3 The term ‘neurodivergent’ indicates a wide range of conditions in which information processing deviates from the norm, reflecting atypical ways of handling data and stimuli in the brain (Asasumasu, 2017).

4 I would like to thank my friend and colleague Michele Daloiso for his help in choosing a suitable name for this type of translation. Please note that the term ‘neurodiversity’ (Singer, 2016) is often used to describe a group of neurodivergent individuals.

5 Figure 1 is based on the notation used in Systemic-Functional Linguistics to represent paradigmatic sets of options, whereby square brackets mean ‘or’, indicating a choice between several different options or categories. Curly brackets mean ‘and’ indicating parallel sets of options in each of which a choice must be made simultaneously, leading to a combination of features.

6 See for example Hill-Madsen’s analysis of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (2019, p. 551).

7 The term ‘Generation Z’ (often abbreviated as ‘Gen Z’) refers to ‘the group of people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s’ (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.).

8 Unless otherwise stated, all translations are the author’s.

9 Unless otherwise stated, the examples provided in this article are drawn from the author’s experience as a teacher, a translator and a consultant in various hospitals and law firms. For reasons of privacy, names and places have been either omitted or modified.

10 Example taken from a final dissertation entitled ‘Translating The Last of Us intersemiotically’, presented in 2023 for the final exam of the Bachelor’s Degree in Modern Foreign Languages and Civilizations at the University of Parma, Italy.

11 For an overview of the development of plain English movements, see Tiersma (2016).

12 In addition to these verbal changes, the Association also recommends a number of typographic changes that are semiotic changes of a non-verbal nature, and are therefore not included in this article.

13 The legacy of this gendered language still affects some of the official nomenclatures of the University organs, as in ‘Prorettrice con delega al diritto allo studio e ai servizi agli studenti’ [Vice Rector for the Right to Education and Student Services] (2024).

14 The origins of this prayer – a liturgical form in which sinfulness is acknowledged and intercession for God’s mercy requested – date back to before the tenth century (Mabillon, Sixth Roman Ordo, Museum Italicum, II, 70–76).

15 For a description of the various strategies and procedure of intralingual translation see: Canepari, 2023.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michela Canepari

Michela Canepari is an Associate Professor of English Linguistics and Translation at the University of Parma, Italy. She holds a PhD in English Literature from the University of Sussex, UK. Her major research interests cover interlingual, intralingual and intersemiotic translation, postcolonial and cultural translation, various branches of linguistics (e.g., discourse analysis, critical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and English for specific purposes). She has published several monographs and articles on different aspects of translation, as well as on the popularization of specialized languages and the development of new methodologies in teaching English as a second language.