A corpus-based study of syntactic complexity of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements

The chairman’s statement of the corporate annual report plays an important role in informing the decision-making of investors. Thus, it is often targeted at an international audience. The present study compares the syntactic complexity of translated chairman’s statements (Chinese to English) and non...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhongliang Wang, Kanglong Liu, Riccardo Moratto
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Western Sydney University 2023-02-01
Series:Translation and Interpreting : the International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/article/view/1667/431
_version_ 1811162464668090368
author Zhongliang Wang
Kanglong Liu
Riccardo Moratto
author_facet Zhongliang Wang
Kanglong Liu
Riccardo Moratto
author_sort Zhongliang Wang
collection DOAJ
description The chairman’s statement of the corporate annual report plays an important role in informing the decision-making of investors. Thus, it is often targeted at an international audience. The present study compares the syntactic complexity of translated chairman’s statements (Chinese to English) and non-translated ones (English), to determine the role that translation plays in conveying the chairman’s message. The results show that translated chairman’s statements are significantly simpler in subordination as well as overall sentence complexity, using fewer verbal phrases and T-units than the non-translated ones. However, translated chairman’s statements have longer length of production units, use more coordinate phrases and complex nominals than their non-translated counterparts. The findings indicate that simplification exists in half of the 14 syntactic complexity measures, providing some evidence for the simplification universal. They also reveal that in addition to translation universals, social factors also affect the complexity level of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements. The findings of the present study contribute to a systematic understanding of syntactic features of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements, enrich the present knowledge of translation universals and provide pedagogical implications for translation teaching and training in the context of Chinese-English translation.
first_indexed 2024-04-10T06:30:07Z
format Article
id doaj.art-ea7845f308f3489db675b17b07dc1f7c
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1836-9324
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-10T06:30:07Z
publishDate 2023-02-01
publisher Western Sydney University
record_format Article
series Translation and Interpreting : the International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research
spelling doaj.art-ea7845f308f3489db675b17b07dc1f7c2023-03-01T11:07:38ZengWestern Sydney UniversityTranslation and Interpreting : the International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research1836-93242023-02-0115113515110.12807/ti.115201.2023.a07A corpus-based study of syntactic complexity of translated and non-translated chairman’s statementsZhongliang Wang0Kanglong Liu1Riccardo Moratto2Sun Yat-sen UniversityThe Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityShanghai International Studies UniversityThe chairman’s statement of the corporate annual report plays an important role in informing the decision-making of investors. Thus, it is often targeted at an international audience. The present study compares the syntactic complexity of translated chairman’s statements (Chinese to English) and non-translated ones (English), to determine the role that translation plays in conveying the chairman’s message. The results show that translated chairman’s statements are significantly simpler in subordination as well as overall sentence complexity, using fewer verbal phrases and T-units than the non-translated ones. However, translated chairman’s statements have longer length of production units, use more coordinate phrases and complex nominals than their non-translated counterparts. The findings indicate that simplification exists in half of the 14 syntactic complexity measures, providing some evidence for the simplification universal. They also reveal that in addition to translation universals, social factors also affect the complexity level of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements. The findings of the present study contribute to a systematic understanding of syntactic features of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements, enrich the present knowledge of translation universals and provide pedagogical implications for translation teaching and training in the context of Chinese-English translation. http://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/article/view/1667/431chairman’s statement; syntactic complexity; translation universals; simplification; corpus-based translation studies
spellingShingle Zhongliang Wang
Kanglong Liu
Riccardo Moratto
A corpus-based study of syntactic complexity of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements
Translation and Interpreting : the International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research
chairman’s statement; syntactic complexity; translation universals; simplification; corpus-based translation studies
title A corpus-based study of syntactic complexity of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements
title_full A corpus-based study of syntactic complexity of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements
title_fullStr A corpus-based study of syntactic complexity of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements
title_full_unstemmed A corpus-based study of syntactic complexity of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements
title_short A corpus-based study of syntactic complexity of translated and non-translated chairman’s statements
title_sort corpus based study of syntactic complexity of translated and non translated chairman s statements
topic chairman’s statement; syntactic complexity; translation universals; simplification; corpus-based translation studies
url http://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/article/view/1667/431
work_keys_str_mv AT zhongliangwang acorpusbasedstudyofsyntacticcomplexityoftranslatedandnontranslatedchairmansstatements
AT kanglongliu acorpusbasedstudyofsyntacticcomplexityoftranslatedandnontranslatedchairmansstatements
AT riccardomoratto acorpusbasedstudyofsyntacticcomplexityoftranslatedandnontranslatedchairmansstatements
AT zhongliangwang corpusbasedstudyofsyntacticcomplexityoftranslatedandnontranslatedchairmansstatements
AT kanglongliu corpusbasedstudyofsyntacticcomplexityoftranslatedandnontranslatedchairmansstatements
AT riccardomoratto corpusbasedstudyofsyntacticcomplexityoftranslatedandnontranslatedchairmansstatements