The textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the occurrence of explicitation in scientific and technical translation

This paper discusses the textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the frequency and distribution of explicitation in scientific and technical translation (STT). Firstly, it explains how the degree of technicality, a concept drawn from German research into languages for specia...

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Main Author: Ralph Krüger
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: ZHAW 2016-07-01
Series:JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation
Online Access:https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/7756
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author Ralph Krüger
author_facet Ralph Krüger
author_sort Ralph Krüger
collection DOAJ
description This paper discusses the textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the frequency and distribution of explicitation in scientific and technical translation (STT). Firstly, it explains how the degree of technicality, a concept drawn from German research into languages for special purposes, is related to the subject-matter competence of the discourse participants and how these parameters – together with several others – are reflected in a corresponding ranking scale by Arntz (2001). Then, the scientific and technical corpus analysed for the purpose of this article is presented. This corpus is structured according to the textual degree of technicality and may thus be used to investigate the potential link between this parameter and the frequency and distribution of explicitation in STT. After discussing and interpreting the overall results of the analysis, the paper narrows down its perspective to compound-related explicitation as a prototypical feature of STT and proposes various examples from the corpus, attempting to relate them to the theoretical reflections made in the previous sections. The results of the corpus analysis show that a link between the textual degree of technicality and the frequency and distribution of explicitation in STT may indeed exist and that the observed correlation is quite prominent in compound-related explicitation.
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spelling doaj-art-d8a9c9df7ff84e41b7a59db303b36c3c2025-08-20T03:23:51ZdeuZHAWJoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation1740-357X2016-07-012610.26034/cm.jostrans.2016.279The textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the occurrence of explicitation in scientific and technical translationRalph KrügerThis paper discusses the textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the frequency and distribution of explicitation in scientific and technical translation (STT). Firstly, it explains how the degree of technicality, a concept drawn from German research into languages for special purposes, is related to the subject-matter competence of the discourse participants and how these parameters – together with several others – are reflected in a corresponding ranking scale by Arntz (2001). Then, the scientific and technical corpus analysed for the purpose of this article is presented. This corpus is structured according to the textual degree of technicality and may thus be used to investigate the potential link between this parameter and the frequency and distribution of explicitation in STT. After discussing and interpreting the overall results of the analysis, the paper narrows down its perspective to compound-related explicitation as a prototypical feature of STT and proposes various examples from the corpus, attempting to relate them to the theoretical reflections made in the previous sections. The results of the corpus analysis show that a link between the textual degree of technicality and the frequency and distribution of explicitation in STT may indeed exist and that the observed correlation is quite prominent in compound-related explicitation.https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/7756
spellingShingle Ralph Krüger
The textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the occurrence of explicitation in scientific and technical translation
JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation
title The textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the occurrence of explicitation in scientific and technical translation
title_full The textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the occurrence of explicitation in scientific and technical translation
title_fullStr The textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the occurrence of explicitation in scientific and technical translation
title_full_unstemmed The textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the occurrence of explicitation in scientific and technical translation
title_short The textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the occurrence of explicitation in scientific and technical translation
title_sort textual degree of technicality as a potential factor influencing the occurrence of explicitation in scientific and technical translation
url https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/7756
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