Differences in Construal in Douglas Adams’s "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" and its Polish Translations
Agnieszka Majcher
a:1:{s:5:"pl_PL";s:42:"Uniwersytet Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach";}Abstract
This paper, aiming to illustrate construal, is a study of selected extracts taken from Adams’s science-fiction novel: the source text, and its two translations by Banaszak and Wieczorek. While analyzing corresponding parts, we observe the discrepancies in terms of dimensions of construal. They are presented in the subsections: Prominence, Specificity, Perspective. The concepts in Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar, focusing on human mind, allow us to study grammatical and semantic aspects (regarding them as equally meaningful) with the same tools. Analyzing different aspects of texts or expressions’ conceptualization, the level of equivalence between the source and target texts can be investigated.
Keywords:
translation, science-fiction, Langacker, Cognitive Grammar, dimensions of construal, Douglas AdamsReferences
Adams, D. (1992), Przewodnik. Autostopem przez galaktykę. Trans. Banaszak, A. Poznań: Faktor. Google Scholar
Adams, D. (2005), Autostopem przez galaktykę. Trans. Wieczorek, P. Warszawa: Albatros. Google Scholar
Adams, D. (2009), The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. London: Pan Books. Google Scholar
Feret, M.Z. (2017), Dimensions of Imagery. Translation Analysis on the Example of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Respectus Philologicus 31/36: 122–133. DOI: 10.15388/RESPECTUS.2017.31.36.12. Google Scholar
Langacker, R.W. (1986), An Introduction to Cognitive Grammar. Cognitive Science 10: l–40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1001_1. Google Scholar
Langacker, R.W. (1987), Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, v. 1: Theoretical Perspectives. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Google Scholar
Langacker, R.W. (1991), Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, v. 2: Descriptive Application. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Google Scholar
Langacker, R.W. (1993), Universals of Construal. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 19: 447–463. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3765/bls.v19i1.1532. Google Scholar
Langacker, R.W. (2005), Wykłady z gramatyki kognitywnej. Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej. Google Scholar
Langacker, R.W. (2008), Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
Langacker, R.W. (2019), Construal. In: Dąbrowska, E./Divjak, D. (eds.), Cognitive Linguistics – Foundations of Language. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton: 140–166. Google Scholar
Tabakowska, E. (1990), Językoznawstwo kognitywne a poetyka przekładu. Teksty_Drugie_teoria_literatury_krytyka_interpretacja-r1990-t-n3-s97-114.pdf (muzhp.pl) [accessed: 15.10.2023]. Google Scholar
Tabakowska, E. (1999), O przekładzie na przykładzie. Kraków: Znak. Google Scholar
Tabakowska, E. (2001), Językoznawstwo kognitywne a poetyka przekładu. Kraków: Universitas. Google Scholar
Tabakowska, E. (2002), Bariery kulturowe są zbudowane z gramatyki. In: Lewicki, W.R. (ed.), Przekład – język – kultura. Lublin: UMCS: 25–34. Google Scholar
Tabakowska, E. (2009), Tłumacząc się z tłumaczenia. Kraków: Znak. Google Scholar
Tabakowska, E. (2014), Teaching Translation: Can Cognitive Grammar Be of Any Use? https://www.intralinea.org/specials/article/2083 [accessed: 15.10.2023]. Google Scholar
Taylor, J.R. (2002), Cognitive Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
Dictionaries Google Scholar
CDO – Cambridge Dictionary Online. http://dictionary.cambridge.org [accessed: 15.10.2023]. Google Scholar
CCED – Collins Cobuild English Dictionary. http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/ [accessed: 15.10.2023]. Google Scholar
MWO – Merriam-Webster Online. http://www.merriam-webster.com [accessed: 15.10.2023]. Google Scholar
OED – Oxford English Dictionary. http://www.oed.com/ [accessed: 15.10.2023]. Google Scholar
SJP – Słownik języka polskiego PWN. http://sjp.pwn.pl [accessed: 15.10.2023]. Google Scholar
a:1:{s:5:"pl_PL";s:42:"Uniwersytet Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach";}
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Agnieszka Majcher, Matters of (Non) Mortality and Flesh – Selected Stanisław Lem’s Neologisms in The Futurological Congress and Their Translations by Michael Kandel , Acta Neophilologica: Vol. 1 No. XXVIII (2026): Acta Neophilologica
Similar Articles
- Marcelina Pietryga, Perception of Directionality in Translation Among Students , Acta Neophilologica: Vol. 1 No. XXIV (2022): Acta Neophilologica
- Małgorzata Maria Kodura, Exploring translation competence through retrospective self-reports – a case study , Acta Neophilologica: Vol. 1 No. XXV (2023): Acta Neophilologica
- Anna Andrzejewska, CONSTRUAL IN FOREIGN GRAMMAR TEACHING , Acta Neophilologica: Vol. 1 No. XIX (2017): Acta Neophilologica
- Hubert Arentewicz, Street Names in Translation – the (in)Significance of Hodonyms in the English Translation of Zygmunt Miłoszewski’s Gniew , Acta Neophilologica: Vol. 1 No. XXVIII (2026): Acta Neophilologica
- Ewa Kujawska-Lis, INTO THE HEART OF MATTERS - IN SEARCH OF THE FINALITY OF THE TRANSLATION PROCESS , Acta Neophilologica: No. IX (2007): Acta Neophilologica
- Katarzyna Kozak, Back to the Sonnet: On Piotr Kondrat’s New Translation of William Shakespeare’s "Sonnets" , Acta Neophilologica: Vol. 1 No. XXVIII (2026): Acta Neophilologica
- Anna Kuźnik, A Thousand and One Names of Polish Translation Enterprises in the Lower Silesia Region. Exploring the Polish REGON database , Acta Neophilologica: Vol. 2 No. XXVI (2024): Acta Neophilologica
- Ewelina Berek, Lucyna Maria Marcol Cacoń, Interdisciplinarity in the Scientific Text Translation. French and Italian Academic Language Translated into Polish , Acta Neophilologica: Vol. 2 No. XXII (2020): Acta Neophilologica
- Agnieszka Kruk, Linguistic modifications as a manifestation of postcolonial transculturality in original and translation , Acta Neophilologica: Vol. 1 No. XXVII (2025): Acta Neophilologica
- Monika Cichmińska, PRAGMATIC CONSIDERATIONS IN SONG INTERPRETATION - CONSTRUAL AND BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE , Acta Neophilologica: No. IX (2007): Acta Neophilologica
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.