Translation Universals.pdf - ymerleksi - home

28 Gideon Toury
determined, alongside the ways they act upon each other? It seems safe to
assume that some combination of ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ operations will
be required (see e.g. Steiner 2001). The [interim] results of initial theoretical
speculations will thus be examined against instances of real-world behavior
and, conversely, empirical studies will be conducted, moving gradually, and in
as controlled a way as possible, from individual instantiations to the culturespecific,
to more and more general regularities on higher and higher levels,
to generate new, or modified theoretical statements. This would no doubt
enhance the pivotal role of the descriptive-explanatory branch in the evolution
of Translation Studies as a whole, as foreseen in my 1995 book. It will be of
special significance in the transition from a basic theory of initial possibilities to
a more and more elaborate theory of ‘likelihoods’ (Toury 1995:14–17). For one
thing is certain: whatever we say, and whatever we do, ‘hunting for regularities’
is,andwillalwaysbe,thenameofthegame.
Which brings us back to our starting point.
7. Drawing some conclusions
Having thus brought to a close the circle I have been drawing throughout the
paper, it seems a good point to stop. Let me just recapitulate – and pay the one
debt I still have; namely, an explicit, if only brief consideration of the question
posed in the subtitle of the paper.
Here is my summary:
1. Regularities can be found on every level, from the individual act of
translation (or translated text), up the ladder leading to the overall notion
of translation, which should be applicable to all existing and possible
forms of translational behavior. It is therefore not only justified, but also
beneficial, to look for regularities, trying to understand not only what
translation may involve (in general), or does involve (in any particular
case), but also what it is, more or less, likely to involve, under different
sets of conditions.
2. Thecloserwearetothelegsoftheladder,theeasieritisnotonlyto
establish regularities as such, but also to quantify them – and assign at
least some significance to the frequency value itself. At the extreme bottom,
even 0 or 1 frequency of very low-level phenomena may sometimes be
encountered, i.e. complete absence or systematic occurrence, which would
no longer be the case higher up.