The occurrence of shifts and the question of equivalence in translation

The study focuses on translation shifts, on their occurrence and their consequences, and especially how they relate to the question of equivalence in translation. For this purpose, eight Indonesian source language texts (SLTs) and eighty English translations (TLTs) were analysed, in terms of their, notional and prominent text features, rhetorical purpose, cohesion, topic-comment structures, and topical progression. The results of the analysis show how translators' behaviour and reactions to the SLTs vary, as indicated by divergencies in their translations. The variations indicate the kinds of shift fostered in the translation: obligatory and/or optional. -- Another fruit of the study is the identification of a number of shiftsensitive items in Indonesian grammar, such as /DI-/, /NG-/, /-LAH/. The textual effects of the shifts vary from the localized shift of interpersonal tenor to global shifts affecting text type and sub-type, and even to shifts of referential meaning. Although the shifts of text type and of sub-type show a tendency towards directness and neutrality, the shifts raise the question of whether or not the resulting TLTs can be considered as justified translations and as translation equivalences. The answer is the need to postulate a more flexible and wider view of equivalence, whilst setting up limits to acceptance of shifts which cause mistranslations, i.e shifts of referential meaning. This view provides a basis for distinguishing translation from adaptation and from mistranslation, a distinction which has hitherto been taken for granted in translation and in the training of translators. -- Appendices containing the TL texts (the SL texts are presented in each chapter of analysis) are presented at the back of the thesis. There is also a glossary of terms used in the study.