Relation of comparative stylistics with translation theory

Teaching foreign languages gives rise to pedagogical and theoretical problems that need to be solved to ensure continuous improvement of the ways of teaching, a better acquisition of language as well as knowledge by the students, and to enhance scientific research in this field. Students learning English as a foreign language, for instance, encounter various difficulties. They study how to effectively translate from one languge into another. In this process it should be noted that translation closely connected with comparative stylistics. So fist of all, we should now what is comparative stylistics, its function and methods that can be used in it.

Stylistics, a branch of applied linguistics, is the study and interpretation of texts of all types and/or spoken language in regard to their linguistic and tonal style, where style is the particular variety of language used by different individuals and/or in different situations or settings. For example, the vernacular, or everyday language may be used among casual friends, whereas more formal language, with respect to grammar, pronunciation or accent, and lexicon or choice of words, is often used in a cover letter and résumé and while speaking during a job interview. Stylistics examines the creativity in the use of language. It enhances the way we think about language and its uses. Thus the stylistic process, examining the creativity of language use, develops our understanding of literature. The purpose of stylistics is to connect linguistic analysis with literary criticism. This can be done by expanding the literary intuitiveness of linguists and by expanding the linguistic observation and knowledge of critics. Stylistics, as an academic field, is an invention of the twentieth-century. However, its origins are traced back to the era where the concentration was made on the oral expressions, the era of Aristotle's Rhetoric. In the twentieth-century, Stylistics began in 1966 when Roger Fowler published a book he edited, called Essays on Style and Language.

The curriculum of the English Master’s being so comprehensive and diverse, difficulties do exist either on the part of the student or the teacher. As for the student, his learning is often slow and his writing skill is usually below his reading, mainly because of a neglect of reading, a lack of reading methodology, or a failure to find the connections between different subjects, enabling better exploration of interchangeable data, ideas, expressions or formulations. As translation unveils students’ problems in the comprehension of English texts, the course should help them to acquire a good methodology in reading and understanding texts by stimulating conscious and organized efforts. Translation theory and comparative stylistics are two philological disciplines which have a single methodological basis, the comparison of linguistic and literary material at the contextual level. This common foundation unquestionably determines the relative similarity of the two disciplines, but it does not make them completely identical, since they differ both as to the materials they study and as to the nature of the problems addressed. Therefore criticism directed at the founders of the French school of comparative stylistics for not distinguishing these two young branches of philology, for, on the contrary, placing them on the same footing and virtually identifying them must be considered completely justified

Translation theory being at an early stage of development at the Arab level, scholars and teachers conceive translation differently. They also hold opposing views on translation theory and some even consider that comparative stylistics is simply translation. Drawing on the significant progress which is occurring in the West in these branches of knowledge and on personal experience in teaching translation theory as well as practice and research, I’ll try in this paper to dismantle the complex web linking the three components: language, translation and comparative stylistics. Linguistic interference occurs whenever a bilingual person uses in either language a characteristic or a feature that is specific to the other language. So, linguistic interference is usually produced spontaneously by the inevitable coexistence of two or three different languages, especially among beginners. However, when teachers notice this kind of error in the students’ writing, which is obviously due to interference from Arabic or French, they very often call it “translation.” So, it is worthwhile to stress the distinction between linguistic interference as a non deliberate phenomenon leading to a misleading “translation” or “transcoding,” on the one hand, and translation as a linguistic and cognitive exercise revolving around interpretation and stimulating conscious and organized efforts for a better command of English, on the other hand.

Some people might argue that this question of terminology does not matter; yet, we are convinced that it makes all the difference, since terms, which are used to express concepts, do not convey the same meaning to everybody as long as they are not clearly and precisely defined. Moreover, we strongly believe that the standardization of terminology in human sciences can only improve understanding between teachers of different subjects and enhance collaboration and interdisciplinary research. Students can also benefit from this terminological issue. As far as a translation course is concerned, students are initially sensitized to the connection of the course with other courses, especially reading and writing. In addition to the prevailing notion of translation, pertaining to the transmission of the author’s thought from one language to another, students are acquainted with an equally important acceptance of the process. It is translation in the same language, ie to express something in a different, especially more concrete form, to judge or guess that something has the specified meaning or intention.

Since the comparison of two languages requires primarily the performance of translation, we can assert that comparative stylistics is subsequent to translation and not prior to it. Therefore, the seven techniques are no more than means of comparison. If we reconsider the example “he was blown away,” it appears that, to translate it into Arabic, one would immediately look for its functional equivalent rather than think of the “technique” to be used, whether it is transposition, modulation or equivalence… As a matter of fact, if the translator fails to find the appropriate equivalent in Arabic, /dhahaba adrâja arriyâhi/, it will be useless to know that this kind of transfer is called “modulation” from a comparative viewpoint. The same thing applies, of course, to the other techniques offered by comparative stylistics. Moreover, comparative stylistics usually suggests only one equivalent among several possible equivalents of a lexical unit or expression. In the previous example, we can say in Arabic: /dhahaba adrâja arriyâhi/ as well as /c asafat bihi arriyâhu/ or /huwa fi: mahabbi arri:hi/, all of which are expressions with the same meaning.The objective of comparative stylistics is to study the stylistic characteristics of one language in comparison with those of another one. This systematic study offers students a better and deeper knowledge of the features that distinguish one language from another.

In conclusion it should be highlighted that The translation process is a complex yet interesting phenomenon. Because this process requires communication between the two peoples and the speakers of the two languages. Of course, each nation has its own traditions and concepts. This complicates the translation process and requires great skill from the translator.