This book provides a detailed example of an eye-tracking method for comparing the reading experience of a literary source text readers with readers of a translation at stylistically marked points. Drawing on principles, methods and inspiration from fields including translation studies, cognitive psychology, and language and literary studies, the author proposes an empirical method to investigate the notion of stylistic foregrounding, with 'style' understood as the distinctive manner of expression in a particular text. The book employs Raymond Queneau’s Zazie dans le métro (1959) and its English translation Zazie in the Metro (1960) as a case study to demonstrate the proposed methods. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of translation studies, as well as those interested in literary reception, stylistics and related fields.
Author(s): Callum Walker
Series: Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting
Edition: 1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 428
Acknowledgements
Contents
Abbreviations
About the Author
List of Figures
List of Tables
1: Introduction
References
2: The Cognitive Paradigm in Translation Studies
2.1 Research Context
2.1.1 Translation Process Research
2.1.2 Translation Reception Research
2.2 Mixed-Methods Phenomenological Research
2.2.1 Qualitative Methods
2.2.2 Quantitative Methods
2.3 Case Study: Zazie dans le métro
2.3.1 Queneau and the French Language
Raymond Queneau
Queneau and the French Language
2.3.2 Zazie and Its English Translation
Zazie dans le métro
The English Translation of Zazie
References
3: Style, Stylistics and the Literary Experience
3.1 Authorial Intent and Reader Response
3.1.1 Authorial Intent
3.1.2 Reader-Response Criticism
3.2 From Literary Criticism to Stylistics
3.2.1 Eco and Openness
3.2.2 Relevance and Stylistic Foregrounding
3.3 The Phenomenology of Reading
3.3.1 Stylistic Openness
3.3.2 Stylistic Openness in the Opening of Zazie
References
4: The Psychology of Reading
4.1 Introduction to Eye Tracking
4.1.1 From Pre-history to the Modern Era
4.1.2 Eye-Tracking Technology, Principles and Definitions
4.2 Linguistic Influences on Eye Movements
4.2.1 Models of Reading
4.2.2 Eye-Movement Influences and Phenomena
4.3 Eye Movements, Depth of Processing and Cognitive Effort
4.3.1 Empirical Study of Literature
4.3.2 Application: Awkward Questions for Charles in Zazie
References
5: Translating the Cognitive Experience
5.1 Translational Stylistics
5.1.1 Assumptions
5.1.2 Poetic Effects
5.2 Cognitive States and Cognitive Equivalence
5.2.1 Equivalent Effect
5.2.2 Cognitive Equivalence
5.3 A Case in Point: Language Varieties in Translation
5.3.1 Translating Stylistic Language Varieties
5.3.2 Concertina-Words in Zazie
References
6: Eye-Tracking the Reader Experience
6.1 Principles of Experimental Research
6.1.1 Operationalisation and Hypotheses
6.1.2 Experiment Method
Variables
Participant Sampling
Text Selection
Equipment, Environment and Stimuli Presentation
Experiment Protocol
6.2 Data Handling and Statistics
6.2.1 Data Export and Adjustment
Data Export
Character-Adjusted Data
6.2.2 Descriptive Statistics and Data Distributions
Descriptive Statistics
Box Plots
Normal Distribution
Skewness and Kurtosis
Log-Normal Distribution
6.3 Approaches to Data Analysis
6.3.1 Testing for Difference Between Participant Groups
Analysis of Variance (ANOVAs)
Post-hoc Testing
6.3.2 Quantitising Qualitative Data
References
7: Case Study: Zazie dans le métro
7.1 Preliminary Experiment Observations
7.1.1 Experiment Meta-data
Gender
Age
Education
Reading Habits
Familiarity with Zazie
Nationality and Mother Tongue
Zazie’s Assumed Age
7.1.2 Experiment Evaluation
Technical Constraints
Stimuli Presentation
Calibration
Participant Conditions
7.2 Case Study Data Analysis
7.2.1 ‘Awkward Questions for Charles’ Data Analysis
7.2.2 Concertina-Word Data Analysis
7.3 Discussion of Results
7.3.1 Meta-analysis
Accuracy of Stylistic Predictions
Cognitive Equivalence in AOIs
7.3.2 Comparison Between Qualitative Analyses and Quantitative Data
References
8: Towards an Empirical Study of Literary Translation or Cognitive Translation Reception Studies
8.1 Implications for Stylistics
8.1.1 Correlation Between Higher Mean Gaze Durations and Data Dispersion
8.1.2 Mind Style Made Manifest?
8.2 A Retrospective Evaluation and Future Avenues of Research
8.3 A Proof of Concept
References
Appendix
Index
