Modality in Translation: A Case Study of Persian Translations of Woolf’s Narrative Style in The Waves

مطالعات زبان و ترجمه

Article 3, Volume 47, Issue 2, July 2014, Pages 73-93   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/lts.v47i2.40734

Authors

Somaye Delzendehrooy^{* 1}; Helen Ouliaeinia²

¹Department of English, Vali-e-Asr University, Rafsanjan, Iran

²Department of English, Esfahan University, Esfahan, Iran

Abstract

In discussing the notion of style, whether in literary or linguistic studies, we are in fact referring to the author's language habits. That is why we can assign each writer a particular style and call that style in the name of its author, for example, Shakespearian, Joycean, or Woolfian style. Given that modality and the repetitive use of modal verbs and adverbs is a determinant factor for the fictional universe represented by Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, this study aims to examine what the Persian translators do with these terms and whether their choices contribute to a change in the fictional universe represented in the texts and change the ‘feel’ of the text. To this end Virginia Woolf’s The Waves and its two Persian translations, one by Daryoush (1977) خیزابها and the other by Najafipour (1990) امواج, are selected and Bosseaux’s model (2004), based on Simpson’s model of a grammar of modality (1997) is chosen to see how the translators handle certain modals. The results showed that modality, i.e. the personal obligations, negative shading, possibilities, capacities and abilities of the focalizing characters are less emphasized in the translations than in the original but Daryoush translates them more systematically than Najafipour.

Keywords

Daryoush; Modality; Najafipour; Style; The Waves; Translation; Woolf

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