Problems of directives translation within official discoure

Сумский государственный университет

Ключевые слова: директив, имплицитность, эксплицитность, исполнительный указ, официально-деловой дискурс.

Introduction

The present stage of development in linguistics is characterized by the pragmalinguistic and communicative approaches to the language, and this process is closely connected with the transition study from structural level of language researches to functional ones. The brightest field of implementing the pragmatic function of the language is directive speech acts, which reflect voluntative relationship between the communicants.

Both foreign (H. P Grice, J. L. Austin, J. R. Searle) and Ukrainian (O. L. Dmitrenko, G. I. Tyshchenko, L. V. Mikhailova, O. V. Yashchenkova, etc.) scientists dealt with the problem of studying directive speech acts.

The problem of translation directive speech acts is considered to be one of the important and almost unexplored subjects and that fact attracts general interest to the problem of comparative study of functional-semantic and communicative-pragmatic aspects of the English and Ukrainian languages. Besides, relevance of this research is determined on the one hand, by the importance of rendering direct and indirect directives in the translation, and by lack of fundamental research, on the other.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the contextual and pragmatic roles of the directive speech acts in the executive orders of the US presidents, their contextual meaning after reproduction by the means of Ukrainian language and after the transfer of illocutionary acts to another culture.

To achieve this purpose the following tasks had been completed:

-characterization of specific features of translation of official texts;

-defining optimal ways of achievement the adequate translation of directives from executive orders into Ukrainian language;

-analysis of explicitly and implicitly expressed components in the translation of directive speech acts.

The research object - different kinds of directive speech acts fixed in executive orders of the USA presidents and variants of their translation in the Ukrainian online mass media.

The subject matter of the study - the ways of translation of the implicit and explicit components of the directives in the executive orders of American presidents.

The following methods of modern linguistics are applied to the solution of the formulated tasks: comparative analysis (to compare the language means of rendering explicit and implicit directives in source and target languages), lexical-grammatical analysis (to analyze the language means of verbalization of directives on the grammatical level), syntactic analysis (to study the sentence structure and syntactic relations in executive orders in source and target language), pragmatic analysis (to follow the peculiarities of directives strategy realization).

The attention of the US President and his administration to Ukraine has considerably increased in the recent years, also within the legal framework. Since the USA is one of the most influential countries in the modern geopolitical space, there is no doubt that high-quality translation of executive orders from English into Ukrainian at the official level and in the field of international law is extremely necessary for the Ukrainian audience.

Taking into account that the presidential executive order is a legal act, that belongs to the legislative base of that country, where it was issued, and concerns, first of all, citizens of that country (however, provisions of presidential orders quite often deal with the issues of international law), executive orders of US presidents aren't translated into Ukrainian. We can find only Ukrainian translations of news reports about such orders.

Therefore, due to the lack of official translations of US executive orders, we had to compare the texts of different discourses: the source text is a specific sphere of official and political discourses, and the target text belongs to the discourse of the Internet mass media. Thus, there is the issue of adequate translation of the form and content of US executive orders for Ukrainian readers and the problem of content misrepresentation of legislative document by such a way of interpretation.

Modern translation studies are based on the functional-communicative approach to translation that is aimed at rendering the function of source text. Therefore, the main task for a translator, who will translate official texts, is to transfer the content of the source text into another language system, preserving the communicative function of the target text. That means, that representatives of the target culture should correctly interpret the core idea of the source version [1, p. 35-36]. explicitly translation directive discourse

Identifying the place of executive orders within the frames of two types of discourse: official and political, the research shows us, that some distinctive features of official discourse (documentary, stability, high level of standardization, lack of figurativeness, clearness, accuracy) and political one (evaluation of political, economic or ecological situations in the country and idealization of the proclaimed provisions) are simultaneously inherent to such legislative presidential acts as executive orders. That's why executive orders can be defined as specific sphere of overlapping of political and official discourse.

According to it, the main requirements to equivalent translation of official documentation, especially of presidential executive orders, include:

-accuracy (all provisions of the original text should be translated);

-brevity (all provisions of the source text should be translated briefly and succinctly); -clarity (brevity and laconicism shouldn't distort the initial meaning of lexis); -literariness (the target text should meet the standards of the literary language without applying syntactic constructions of source text) [2, с. 12];

-neutrality (all provisions of the original text should be translated without usage of emotional lexis and stylistic figures);

-standardization (it is necessary to use relevant terminology and language cliches and also to preserve the form of document in translation).

The fact, that in 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order about executive orders, which has defined specific rules pertaining style, spelling, even width of margins and size of paper [3], confirms the highly standardized form of executive orders. So, translator should take into account all external characteristics of the documents both in the source and target text. In case, there is a great difference between form and structure of the official document in source and target language, the equivalents, which would not lead to considerable losses of source text massage, should be found [4].

It should be noted, that translation of official documents is completely focused on the conveying of the contents, it has informative character. The form of such texts is mainly stereotypic [2, p. 462]. The structure of the source text is preserved in translation, but language stamps may differ in internal form, at the same time coinciding with the content of source text. English language of official documents is characterized by high culture and standardization, but there is far less well-established rhetorical clichйs in Ukrainian. For this reason literal translation is applied. However, it is a dangerous way to achieve a high level of adequacy, because in legal documentation each word is important, and incorrect interpretation can lead to change of whole content [4].

Translating texts of official discourse, translator should prefer unambiguous language and clearly distinguish recommended and obligatory actions for an addressee. The form of recommendations is allowed only in cases when failure to implement recommendations will not have negative consequences.

It is widespread thought that the official discourse due to its high level of standardization and accuracy is deprived of any hidden meanings. But the transition of the official relations to the new development level causes emergence of implicit meanings in texts of an official discourse [1, с. 13]. Besides, the process of reproduction of implicit information causes considerable difficulties for translator. Typically, the amount of implicit, indirect meanings non-fiction texts is insignificant, but this fact doesn't influence the importance of implicit components in source texts of official discourse and the ways of their translation.

The problem of speech acts translation is that, there is a high probability not to find syntactic equivalent to some units in source text. To achieve the adequate translation of communicative intentions of source language, a translator should apply a pragmatic adaptation of the source text. Such measures are caused, first of all, by a difference in nature and amount of knowledge of the source and target text recipients, and closely connected with specific organization of speech communication in various linguoculture [5, p. 137].

Particularly translation of directives demands paying special attention to adequate rendering the pragmatic contents of motivation to action. The translated text of executive orders should contain the pragmatic potential of different kinds of directives of source text, manner of order expression, taking into account aspect of implicitness and explicitness of the directive speech act in source text [6, p. 7].

Also one of the important factors, which translator should consider while conveying the directive speech, is interpersonal relations of communicants and their social and professional status. Considering directives within the presidential executive orders, it is necessary for translator to reflect legislative character of this document, officially recognized both at state and international level the high status of the president as addresser of the message and the status of lower-ranking officials, who are usually recipients of executive orders. Neglecting these components can lead to distortion of speech situation.

Translator should always take in consideration significant differences at the grammatical level between verbalization forms of directives. English is characterized by the frequent usage of passive constructions in order to achieve the effect of irrelevance to addresser or addressee of speech act. And active grammatical constructions are typical for Ukrainian language.

Most commonly pragmatic meaning of explicitly expressed directives is preserved in translation, although such translation transformation as functional replacement of active voice instead of passive one can be applied. Also the analysis of news reports in Ukrainian mass media about main provisions of recently signed executive orders in USA has revealed the tendency to combine two interconnected presidential orders within one report. For example,

It is hereby ordered as follows: ...Executive Order 13688 of January 16, 2015 (Federal Support for Local Law Enforcement Equipment Acquisition), is hereby revoked [7].

Указ Трампа скасовує обмеження на використання поліцейськими камуфляжної уніформи, бронежилетів, щитів, вогнепальної зброї тощо. Обмеження на озброєння для поліції були запровадження указом президента США Барака Обами в 2015 році... [8].

From the source text it is clear only that the executive order 13688 was cancelled, but the content remains to be unknown for the reader within the new executive order signed by D. Trump. But Ukrainian translation fully uncovers all important points of Trump's order, briefly describing the cancelled executive order by ex-US President Barack Obama.

Despite the fact that passive voice in English texts of executive orders usually transforms into active one in Ukrainian translations due to functional replacement, sometimes this translation transformation can be applied in the reverse direction: an active voice of source text is replaced by the passive construction in target text:

...I temporarily suspended the USRAP (United States Refugee Admissions Program) for 120 days [9].

... на 120 днів призупинена програма прийому біженців у США [10].

In this case translator found adequate way to translate the directive speech act by literal equivalent «призупинена» in the meaning temporarily stopped, suspended.

Performatives, by means of which directives can be verbalized, are usually translated by verbs which are dominants of the semantic field of verbs of target language. Using performative verbs, translators connect content of a statement with specific conditions of communication, social roles of its participants [5, p. 139]:

The following are prohibited:

-new investment in the Crimea region of Ukraine by a United States person, wherever located;

-the importation into the United States, directly or indirectly, of any goods, services, or technology from the Crimea region of Ukraine;

-the exportation, reexportation, sale, or supply, directly or indirectly, from the United States, or by a United States person, wherever located, of any goods, services, or technology to the Crimea region of Ukraine... [11].

Зазначено, що даний документ забороняє експорт американських товарів, технологій і послуг в Крим, а також інвестиції в розвиток півострова. Також заборонений імпорт товарів, технологій і послуг з Криму в США [12].

In this case of translation the syntactic transformation - functional replacement of the passive voice by active one was used again. To our mind, this translational decision matches perfectly to the functional style of mass media reports.

Explicitly expressed directives are characterized by correspondence between their illocutionary purpose and the formal sample assigned to it in language. So, explicitly expressed directives in the texts of executive orders are often translated by performatives. For example:

I hereby order: All blocked funds held in the United States in accounts in the name of the Government of Iraq ... are hereby confiscated and vested in the Department of the Treasury... [13].

Президент США Джордж Буш наказав конфіскувати мільярд сімсот сорок мільйонів доларів із заблокованих рахунків іракського уряду в американських банках [14].

The illocutionary force of directive speech acts may be changed in target text according to rules of language usage and specific cultural features: the indirect speech act can be translated as direct and vice versa, - everything depends on the speech situation, background knowledge and the status of communicants [5, p. 138]. The intension of a directive speech act may be obvious, explicit or hidden, implicit. The translator's task is to identify the implicit intension and to render it properly in translation.

Research the problem of translation of directive speech acts has highlighted one more important aspect: not always the directive illocutionary act is expressed by the direct imperative. Also it may be expressed by the hints, implicit context, polite forms or transpositional speech acts that cause the greater explication of the source text [6, p. 12-14].

Generally English is characterized by higher degree of synsemantization in comparison with Ukrainian, therefore, it is expected, and that to convey the meanings of multilevel language units and logical-semantic relations between them, the explication from English into Ukrainian is registered more often than implication [15, p. 147]. For example, implicitly expressed prohibition in source text can be translated explicitly in order to achieve a certain level of unambiguity for Ukrainian audience:

Every appointee in every executive agency appointed on or after January 20, 2017, shall sign, and upon signing shall be contractually committed to, the following pledge upon becoming an appointee:

"1. I will not, within 5 years after the termination of my employment as an appointee in any executive agency in which I am appointed to serve, engage in lobbying activities with respect to that agency.

"4. I will not, at any time after the termination of my employment in the United States Government, engage in any activity on behalf of any foreign government or foreign political party which, were it undertaken on January 20, 2017, would require me to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of1938, as amended [16].

Дональд Трамп підписав указ про заборону чиновникам лобіювати в США інтереси іноземних урядів і ввів п'ятирічну заборону на інші види лобіювання [17].

The pragmatics of this presidential executive order - "To prohibit lobbying" - verbalized implicitly by directive speech act, but of another subtypes: instead of a direct prohibition of lobbying activities it was ordered to sign a pledge about abstinence from any lobby activities. The pragmatics of source text is rendered correctly in translation, but were applied to very different lexical and syntactic means of playback pragmatics of this statement. In translation of the pragmatist of this order is reproduced truly, however other lexico-syntactic means have been applied to convey the pragmatics of this executive order.

A lot of scientists in the field of translation studies pay special emphasis to the fact, that the explication is one of linguistic features, which a priori inherent rather to target texts than to source ones. Explication is subjective aspiration of translator to disclosure the hidden meanings of source text. From the pragmatic point of view, it means that the number of possible interpretations of the target text is quite more limited in comparison with the number of possible interpretations of the source text. And sometimes this translational technique can develop into the translator's strategy that may lead to undesirable results.

But despite this point of view, Baklan I. M., considering the fact that Ukrainian language tends to implication, regards that target text is characterized by shifts connected with removal of a certain fragments of source text or with adding some elements into target text in order to raise the level of understanding among the representatives of target language culture [1, p.12]. The translation analysis of executive orders of the USA president also revealed that direct directives, which were expressed by modal verbs in source text can be transformed in representatives in target text.

...The executive branch operates its information technology (IT) on behalf of the American people. Its IT and data should be secured responsibly using all United States Government capabilities.... Effective immediately, each agency head shall use The Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (the Framework) ... to manage the agency's cybersecurity risk.... Within 90 days of the submission of the reports, ... the agency heads listed in this subsection, ... shall provide a report to the President, ..., documenting an engagement strategy for international cooperation in cybersecurity [18].

Президент США Дональд Трамп підписав указ про посилення кібербезпеки та захисту критичної інфраструктури країни від хакерських атак, .... Як передає Reuters, указ спрямований на зміцнення безпеки федеральних агентств, .... Документ також спрямований на поліпшення захисту критичної інфраструктури, такої як енергомережі і фінансовий сектор, від цільових атак. Крім того, в указі йдеться про необхідність розробити нову стратегію стримування в кіберпросторі, в тому числі шляхом налагодження тісної співпраці з союзниками [19].

In source text the directive speech act is verbalized by modal verbs shall and should, which according to the context express an obligation and appropriateness, at the same time criticizing current situation in this sphere. But in target text all the directives implicit within representative speech acts, which only state the fact of signing another executive order by the President and summarize its main provisions. For the average news reader, the translated text may seems to be completely deprived of the imperative component.

It is well known that English-speaking verbal behavior is characterized by the high level of implicitness and compromise pertaining the interests of communicants, that's why "soft" directives can turn into more rigid and categorical ones in Ukrainian translation:

I am imposing a temporary pause on the entry of nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen ... for a brief period of 90 days... [9].

Громадянам Ірану, Лівії, Сирії, Сомалі, Судану та Ємену заборонять 90-денні візити до США [20].

Besides, there is a content mistake in this translation variant of the presidential executive order 13780 (according to the source text restriction is imposed for a period of 90 days, there is no any information about 90-day visits

Other option of publicizing of maintenance of this order is more approximate to the original, according to us:

There is another more close to the original meaning, in our opinion, variant of describing main provisions of this order:

Президент США Дональд Трамп підписав новий указ, що припиняє на 90 днів дозвіл на в'їзд у США для громадян шести країн - Ірану, Ємену, Лівії, Сирії, Сомалі і Судану [10].

Also, the process of implicating the addresser's intention is quite often observed in speech. Due to this process the same pragmatic situation can be expressed by means of indirect illocutionary act.

Explicit order expressed by a performative can become "softer" or neutral in translation:

I hereby prohibit such donations as provided by subsection (a) of this section... [21].

Згідно з інформацією видання, Трамп заявив, що новий указ припинить фінансові потоки в КНДР і, відповідно, в розробки смертоносної зброї [22].

The usage of implicit directive speech acts in the target text contributes to creating pleasant climate in the communication process and softens the addresser's imperative intention. Implicit directives can help to save the speaker's face, to soften possible negative assessment from the specific addressee, or society in general.

Thus, the following conclusion can be made that, firstly, translation of official documentation requires to follow the principles of equivalent functionality, precision and unambiguity, neutrality, informativeness and standardization of forms, but at the same time great attention should be paid to implicit components of the text. It is very important for translator to find the main message and communicative intension of the author of source text during the process of translation the directive speech acts

Secondly, to achieve the communicative equivalence of translation of directives, translators most often apply the transformation of functional replacement (active voice instead of passive one), performatives are translated literally.

Thirdly, translation of indirect directive speech acts isn't literal and syntagmatic equivalent. In order to convey the pragmatic meaning of latent directives, translator is forced to transposing and an explication, in regard with cultural distinctions between source and target languages.