Analysis of stylistic habits in translation:
A narrative account
Abstract
This study builds on a hypothesis proposed by Farahzad & Bolouri (2017) regarding the possible influence of linguistic habits on narrative (re)configuration through translation. It first interprets and clarifies the hypothesis using forensic stylistics and then outlines a methodology for examining stylistic habits in narrative construction. The hypothesis is subsequently tested through an empirical analysis of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Vida Eslamieh’s Persian translation, the same translator examined by Farahzad & Bolouri (2017). The analysis compared the source and Persian texts to identify recurrent, non-deliberate optional lexical shifts, as indicators of stylistic habits. The findings tended to support the hypothesis. In the case examined here, as in Farahzad & Bolouri’s (2017) study, the translator’s seemingly habitual preference for religiously marked variants in rendering everyday expressions such as I hope and I wish appeared to have become automatic, suggesting a subtle reframing of the source-text narrative world. Although neutral forms also appeared, the frequency and recurrence of religious variants pointed to tendencies toward routinized stylistic behaviour that was likely to unconsciously influence patterns of selective appropriation and causal emplotment, allowing for a subtle reframing of a world governed by magic toward one increasingly oriented toward divine will. The study offers a refinement to Baker’s narrative theory by showing that reframing may arise from linguistic habits as well as conscious ideologies.
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