register_analysis_in_translation.pdf

BabelRegister 46:1 Analysis-19 © Fédération in Literary Internationale Translation des Traducteurs (FIT) Revue Babel 1
Register Analysis in Literary Translation:
A Functional Approach
Josep Marco
1. Register Analysis and Literary Discourse
Register is defined as ‘the configuration of semantic resources that the
member of a culture typically associates with a situation type’(Halliday
1978: 111) and therefore provides the necessary link between munica-
tive act and the context of situation in which it occurs. In fact, register
analysis is the prehensive framework proposed for the characteriza-
tion of context. Other models have been proposed, with differing lists of
relevant contextual elements, but register is arguably unique in that it aims for
a higher level of abstraction than the rest: it provides a very limited number of
variables on the basis of which any given context may be defined. Here lies
the first advantage of register
The second advantage is related to the fact that, in the framework of
systemic functional linguistics, the notion of register posits a very close
correspondence between contextual factors and the linguistic elements of a
text, as follows: the three variables of register (field, tenor and mode) deter-
mine choices from the linguistic system in the three areas of meaning identi-
fied by Halliday (ideational, interpersonal and textual). Thus, the kind of
constraint that context works upon text does not remain vague, but is clearly
specified: a given configuration of field determines choices at the ideational
level of meaning, tenor is bound up with selections made at the interpersonal
level of meaning, and mode governs linguistic choice at the textual level.
Meanings, furthermore, are realized by specific lexico-grammatical struc-
tures. In this way, context is built into text (it leaves traces there), which
makes it possible both to predict textual elements from a given contextual
configuration and to