Sofi Röpelinen
NEOLOGISMS AND THEIR TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN SCIENCE FICTION
The Case of the TV Series Altered Carbon
Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences Bachelor’s Thesis April 2021
ABSTRACT
Sofi Röpelinen: Neologisms and Their Translation Strategies in Science Fiction: The Case of the TV Series Altered Carbon
Bachelor’s thesis Tampere University
Degree Programme in Languages April 2021
This Bachelor’s thesis examines neologisms and their translation strategies from English into Finnish in the science fiction television series Altered Carbon. In this thesis, neologisms have been defined as words that are either new or already existing with new meanings. Fictional neologisms are a characteristic of science fiction which is a genre that combines elements from advanced technology and fictive realms. The research questions are as follows: What kinds of neologisms can be found in the science fiction television series Altered Carbon, and what translation strategies has the Finnish translator used when subtitling the neologisms for a Finnish-speaking audience?
My material consists of all the neologisms collected from the fifth episode of Altered Carbon’s first season. Altered Carbon is an American science fiction television series that is set in a dystopian future where the human mind can be stored and transferred from one body to another. My thesis is based on previous research and literature on neologisms and their significance for science fiction, the potential constraints of audiovisual translation, and the characteristics and classifications of translation strategies.
For the purposes of my research, Molina and Hurtado Albir’s (2002) classification of 18 distinct translation strategies has been especially relevant.
Previous literature and research suggested that translators tend to consider neologisms as an important element of science fiction, and hence, fictional neologisms are generally transferred to the target language. This suggestion was supported by the results of my thesis, as each of the 44 neologisms I was able to detect had been transferred to the target language. Most neologisms were either common or proper nouns, and a total of nine translation strategies had been used in translating the neologisms. The most frequent strategies were calque, discursive creation, and the combination of multiple strategies, which constituted more than 60% of all neologisms.
Keywords: neologism, science fiction, translation strategy, audiovisual translation, subtitling The originality of this thesis has been checked using the Turnitin OriginalityCheck service.
TIIVISTELMÄ
Sofi Röpelinen: Neologisms and Their Translation Strategies in Science Fiction: The Case of the TV Series Altered Carbon
Kandidaatintutkielma Tampereen yliopisto Kielten tutkinto-ohjelma Huhtikuu 2021
Tämä kandidaatintutkielma tarkastelee tv-sarjassa Altered Carbon – Muuntohiili esiintyviä neologismeja ja niiden käännösstrategioita englannista suomeen. Tässä tutkielmassa neologismit määritellään sanoiksi, jotka ovat joko täysin uusia tai uusia merkityksiä synnyttäviä. Altered Carbon - Muuntohiili edustaa tyylilajiltaan science fictionia, jossa yhdistellään kehittyneeseen teknologiaan ja kuvitteellisiin todellisuuksiin liittyviä tekijöitä. Niinpä fiktiivisiä neologismeja voidaan pitää science fictionille ominaisena elementtinä. Tutkimuskysymykseni ovat seuraavat: millaisia neologismeja science fiction tv-sarjassa Altered Carbon – Muuntohiili esiintyy, ja millaisia käännösstrategioita tekstittäjä on käyttänyt neologismeja suomentaessaan?
Materiaalini koostuu kaikista sarjan ensimmäisen tuotantokauden viidennestä jaksosta kerätyistä neologismeista. Altered Carbon – Muuntohiili on amerikkalainen, tyylilajiltaan science fictionia edustava televisiosarja, jonka tarina sijoittuu dystopiseen tulevaisuuteen, jossa tietoisuuden varmuuskopioiminen ja kehosta toiseen siirtäminen on tehty mahdolliseksi. Tutkielmani perustuu aikaisempaan tutkimukseen ja kirjallisuuteen neologismeista sekä niiden merkityksestä science fictionille, audiovisuaalisen kääntämisen mahdollisista rajoitteista, sekä käännösstrategioiden luokittelusta ja ominaisuuksista.
Käännösstrategioiden analysoinnissa olen hyödyntänyt vertailevaa käännösanalyysia, jonka olen perustanut Molina ja Hurtado Albirin (2002) kehittämälle 18-osaiselle luokittelulle erilaisista käännösstrategioista.
Aikaisempi tutkimus ja kirjallisuus ovat esittäneet, että kääntäjät pääsääntöisesti pitävät neologismeja science fictionille ominaisena piirteenä, minkä johdosta ne pyritään tavallisesti siirtämään myös kohdekieleen. Tutkielmani tulokset tukevat tätä oletusta, sillä jokainen havaitsemastani 44 neologismista on siirretty kohdekielelle yhteensä yhdeksän eri käännösstrategian avulla. Suurin osa havaitsemistani neologismeista on yleisnimisiä substantiiveja tai erisnimiä. Käännösstrategioista yleisimmät ovat olleet käännöslaina (calque), diskursiivinen luominen (discursive creation) sekä usean eri strategian yhdistelmä, jotka muodostavat yhteensä yli 60 % kaikista aineistoni käännöksistä.
Avainsanat: neologismi, science fiction, käännösstrategia, av-kääntäminen, tekstittäminen Tämän julkaisun alkuperäisyys on tarkastettu Turnitin OriginalityCheck -ohjelmalla.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ... 1
2 Theoretical framework ... 3
2.1 Neologisms in science fiction ... 3
2.2 Audiovisual translation ... 4
2.3 Translation strategies of neologisms ... 5
3 Material and methods... 7
3.1 Altered Carbon ... 7
3.2 Methods ... 8
4 Findings and discussion ... 11
4.1 Neologisms in Altered Carbon ... 11
4.2 Translation strategies of neologisms ... 12
4.3 Discussion ... 16
5 Conclusions ... 18
References ... 20
Appendix ... 21
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1 Introduction
Science fiction is a popular genre that often combines ideas from technology, futuristic science, and extraterrestrial life. The characteristics of this genre include words and expressions related to these ideas and concepts that are somehow new to the audience, also known as neologisms.
Neologisms can often pose a challenge to translators and might require creative solutions as translators aim to produce functional target-language equivalents. Nevertheless, previous research on the topic is still very limited, which makes studying neologisms and their translation strategies an important and interesting topic of research.
This thesis focuses on the neologisms found in the television series Altered Carbon, and the translation strategies applied by the translator when subtitling these neologisms for a Finnish audience. Hence, my research questions are as follows: What kinds of neologisms can be found in the science fiction television series Altered Carbon, and what translation strategies has the Finnish translator used when subtitling the neologisms for a Finnish-speaking audience?
Altered Carbon is an American science fiction television series based on a novel by the same title. The series premiered on Netflix in 2018, and it is set in a futuristic world where human consciousness can be stored and transferred from one body to another. My material consists of all the neologisms collected from the fifth episode of the series’ first season. The approach of my analysis is mostly deductive as I use comparative analysis on the investigation of the translation strategies, which is based on an existing model. However, the approach is partially inductive as I investigate the source language neologisms according to my own classification based on different word classes.
As stated above, previous research on fictional neologisms has been rather limited and the available studies consist mainly of Master’s theses such as those of Hanna Karppinen (2003) and Riikka Kurki (2012). Karppinen’s thesis explores the characteristics of neologisms within different categories in the Finnish translations of the Harry Potter series, which comprises eight fantasy novels targeted to children and young adults. Although Karppinen’s material is not entirely comparable to mine and her analysis has concentrated on translated neologisms rather than the original ones, her findings provide interesting results on fictional neologisms. Kurki’s research material on the other hand is very similar to the material of this thesis, with respect to target audience, genre, and medium. In her thesis, Korpi investigates the Finnish translations of the neologisms of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 from the perspective of
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Gideon Toury’s law of growing standardization. Although I have not regarded this perspective in my thesis, I found Korpi’s thesis and its findings especially relevant for my study.
I begin my thesis with a theoretical review of previous literature and research. First, in section 2.1, I discuss the meaning and significance of neologisms in science fiction in more detail. Next, in section 2.2, I introduce the characteristics of an audiovisual medium and consider its restrictions and possible effects on the translator’s decisions. Lastly, in section 2.3, I discuss the characteristics of translation strategies for neologisms. In section 3, I introduce the material and methodology of my thesis, which provides a background for my analysis. In section 4, I introduce and discuss the findings of my analysis. First, in section 4.1, I introduce and classify all the neologisms found in the episode, and then, in section 4.2, I categorize the neologisms according to their translation strategies based on Molina and Hurtado Albir’s (2002) 18-part classification. In section 4.3, I discuss my findings in more detail with respect to previous research. Finally, in section 5, I summarize my observations and provide suggestions for further research.
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2 Theoretical framework
2.1 Neologisms in science fiction
As Newmark (1988, 140) has suggested, “neologisms can be defined as newly coined lexical units or existing lexical units that acquire a new sense”. In everyday life, neologisms are often connected to cultural and societal changes with new technological developments, popular culture phenomena, and colloquial expressions. Many recent neologisms are associated with COVID-19, such as the abbreviation corona which has only recently gained its current meaning referring to the 2019 identified pandemic. Taking into account this semantically creative nature of neologisms, they are often applied to fictional contexts as well. However, considering that neologisms are often very context-specific and do not always have target language equivalents, or their equivalents may not function as intended in the target language, they often pose a challenge to translators (ibid. 140). Nevertheless, Newmark (1988, 143) has stated that in a fictional context, every neologism should generally be recreated in the target language, hence, transferred and adapted to the norms and standards of the language.
Lexico (2021) has defined science fiction (SF) as a genre that covers topics related to “future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets”. Given that the world depicted in SF usually contains elements that do not exist in real life, neologisms are often considered a characteristic feature of the genre. Accordingly, neologisms in science fiction could be regarded as “genre-defining linguistic elements” that can distinguish SF from other genres by estranging the reader from reality and contributing to the creation of a world typical of SF (Korpi 2017, 88-90). However, SF usually contains plenty of scientific and technological terms and concepts that do exist in real life as well. Consequently, making a distinction between these existing and entirely new expressions can sometimes be difficult.
As it was suggested, it might not always be straightforward to decide whether a unit is a neologism or not, which might even compose yet another translational problem. To solve this problem, Cabré Castellví (1999, 205) has suggested four interrelated, yet often context-specific criteria for recognizing a neologism:
a. diachrony: a unit is a neologism if it has arisen recently b. lexicography: a unit is a neologism if it is not in dictionaries
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c. systematic instability: a unit is a neologism if it exhibits signs of formal instability (e.g. morphological, graphic, phonetic) or semantic instability
d. psychology: a unit is a neologism if speakers perceive it as a new unit
According to Carbé Castellví (1999, 205), neologists usually find the lexicographic criterion the most systematic in defining neologisms. Yet, this criterion does not include words that can be found in dictionaries, but with new meanings. In such cases the other criteria are especially helpful.
As the creation of fictional neologisms tends to be a conscious choice, neologisms are usually created for specific purposes. In SF, neologisms are often familiar elements for viewers and readers to expect and a way to recognize the genre. Therefore, it could be stated that transferring neologisms to the target text is of utmost importance in translation, and the translation strategies selected by the translator are essential in creating a successful science fictional translation (Korpi 2017, 89–90). The results from Kurki’s thesis on translating neologisms (2012) seem to support this idea, as most of the neologisms have been transferred to the target text, and there have been only a few exceptions where a neologism has been omitted from the translation.
2.2 Audiovisual translation
As discussed above, neologisms often pose a challenge to translators. Adding a medium with its own restrictions and challenges, produces yet another aspect for the translator to consider.
The audiovisual medium consists of three equally important and interrelated components: the image, the spoken word, and the subtitles (Díaz Cintas & Ramael 2014, 9). Consequently, the most important requirements of subtitling include conveying the most essential content of the spoken language while acknowledging the spatial restrictions of the medium, appearing in synchrony with the image, and being displayed long enough for the viewers to be able to read the subtitles (ibid. 9).
Indeed, the most important factors translators of audiovisual content must consider are related to the medium’s spatial and temporal restrictions. It is therefore essential for the translator to be able to determine whether something is important enough for the narrative to be included in the subtitle. This is especially relevant with challenging or unknown vocabulary, such as neologisms, as the translator must decide whether to create a slightly longer subtitle that is slower to read but perhaps easier to understand and does not require any significant omissions, or whether to omit something in order to provide a shorter subtitle that will be quicker to read
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(Díaz Cintas & Ramael 2014, 148). Since subtitles appear simultaneously with the spoken word and image, it is also noteworthy to consider viewers who may have knowledge of the source language. Otherwise leaving out words or expressions that are in some way distinctive may expose the translator to criticism (ibid. 56-57). Additionally, it is often more essential to consider the genre and style of the series rather than style of the spoken language (Aaltonen et al. 2015). This can mean, for example, that the visual effects or other on-screen activities are more relevant in terms of storytelling than the dialogue, in which case a shorter, less expressive subtitle might be more effective than a detailed one.
Taking into consideration the factors mentioned above, it could be argued that there are some indisputable motives that will affect the translator’s decision making both at the word and at the sentence level. However, considering the nature and function of fictional neologisms, not all restrictions may apply to them. The relevance of neologisms to SF and the narrative seems eminent, and earlier studies have suggested that omitting them, even in an audiovisual context, is unusual, which indicates that translators tend to treat them with a high priority (Kurki 2012;
54, 60).
2.3 Translation strategies of neologisms
The processes and operations of decision making in translation have been defined in varying ways by different scholars. For instance, Newmark (1997) has described these operations as
“methods” and Molina and Hurtado Albir (2002) have preferred the term “techniques”. In this thesis, I have decided to use the word “strategy” based on Chesterman’s definition (2016, 89) of translation strategies as potentially conscious processes of problem-solving with a certain goal in mind. Usually, this goal is not to achieve absolute equivalence, but to conform to the translator’s subjective perception of an “optimal translation” in the given context and circumstances (ibid. 86). Additionally, strategies are explicit in the text in the sense that they can be detected directly from the translation in contrast with the source product (ibid. 86).
As stated earlier, translation strategies are only possibly conscious, which means that some decisions or solutions may arise beyond the conscious scope. However, there can be different motivations for selecting specific strategies over others. According to Chesterman (2016, 109), these reasons can relate to the norms of accountability, communication, relation, or expectancy.
Accountability norms oblige the translator to remain loyal to the original author, the translator themselves, the prospective readership, or any other important party; communication norms
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simply refer to the optimization of communication both on behalf of others and the translators themselves; relation norms signify that the motivation lies in maintaining relevant similarity between the source and target text, and finally; expectancy norms require correspondence to the expectations of readers or clients (ibid. 66-67).
Taking into account the beforementioned expectations of SF consumers in Section 2.2 and Newmark’s suggestion (1988, 143) on recreating all fictional neologisms in the target text, it could be stated that especially the norms of relation and expectancy might be valid when translating neologisms. Meeting the viewers’ expectations of fictional neologisms in the context of SF and making sure that at least majority of the source text neologisms can be found in the target text, could both be considered the guiding motivations for selecting the most suitable strategy for each neologism. Nevertheless, translating is primarily based on a subjective, sometimes even an unconscious perception of an optimal target product, and hence, it is important to note that designating motives for the selection certain strategies is not possible without consulting the translators themselves.
Jääskeläinen (1993, 11 quoted in Chesterman 1997) has suggested that translation strategies can be distinguished at two levels. Global strategies function at a more general level where a translational problem comprises the entire text (ibid. 88). However, these are not relevant when considering neologisms which function at a word level. The strategies I am interested here are called local strategies which respond to problems related to specific structures, ideas, or items (ibid. 88). Nevertheless, an established classification of translation strategies for neologisms does not yet exist. This can also be seen from previous studies on translating neologisms, as many have either created their own lists based on multiple authors’ classifications or used a very general classification of translation strategies. For the purposes of my own thesis, I have selected Molina and Hurtado Albir’s (2002) 18-point classification of what they have referred to as translation techniques. This specific classification was also used in Kurki’s thesis (2012) and I found it comprehensive and well-functioning in the context of fictional neologisms.
Molina and Hurtado Albir (2002) have gathered their full list of techniques by combining multiple earlier classifications, and thus seek to combine a practical and comprehensive collection of distinct techniques. Considering that the classification is rather extensive, I have not been able to utilize the entire list and will only be concentrating on the strategies that I have been able to detect in my own material. I will introduce these strategies in more detail in Section 3.2.
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3 Material and methods
3.1 Altered Carbon
Altered Carbon is an American science fiction TV series created by Laeta Kalogridis, and it is set in a dystopian future where cloning, creating back-ups for consciousness and transferring them from one body to another allows humans to survive physical death. The series is based on Richard K. Morgan’s 2002 novel by the same title. Most of the main features have been retained in the series but there have been slight changes in the characters and structures of the novel.
The series’ first season premiered in the streaming service Netflix on February 2, 2018, and at the time of writing it has been produced for two seasons. The first season contains ten episodes altogether, but they vary in length from 40 to 60 minutes.
In the series, human minds can be stored in cortical stacks which are small chips that can be implanted under the skin. The only way to kill someone definitively is to destroy the cortical stack. Otherwise, the stack can be transplanted to a new body, also known as sleeve. The narrative sets in the year 2384 at a futuristic metropolis known as Bay City, and it is centered upon Takeshi Kovacs who is the only survivor of a group of Envoy soldiers who were destroyed in an uprising a few centuries prior to the beginning of the series’ first season. After being kept on ice the entire time, Kovacs wakes up in the sleeve of a deceased police officer, Elias Ryker, to solve the murder of a 300-year-old Laurens Bancroft.
I have limited my material to the fifth episode of the series’ first season called “The Wrong Man” which has been translated into Finnish by Meri Myrskysalmi. In the episode, Kovacs discovers the identity of his new sleeve and makes a significant finding in solving Bancroft’s murder which leads him and his partner closer to the final answer. I chose the series as my source for two reasons: first, it has emerged only recently, and hence, provides a novel research material, and second, it contains plenty of fictional neologisms. I selected the fifth episode hoping to collect a more diverse set of neologisms. This assumption is based on my earlier experiences with series containing vocabulary previously unknown to the viewer, as its amount usually increases as the viewer becomes more familiar with the narrative world.
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3.2 Methods
I began gathering my research material by watching the episode and collecting every potential neologism. The next stage was the most difficult, yet probably the most important one for building my thesis, as I had to decide which words or expressions should be classified as neologisms and which should not. Some words were easy to recognize, such as ONI-keyed or re-sleeving facilities, but some of them were more difficult to identify, as it was sometimes challenging to try to decide whether the meaning of the word or expression really was different from the one already existing, and whether the meaning was fully restricted to the context of the series.
To distinguish between neologisms and existing words, I applied Cabré Castellví’s (1999, 205) four criteria presented earlier in Section 2.1. The criterion of diachrony is essentially relevant as I am investigating neologisms of a very recent television series, but I did not find using only this criterion sufficient for my study. Additionally, the criterion of systematic instability was not particularly useful as the limitations of my material do not allow me to evaluate the stability of a unit properly. Hence, for the purposes of my material, the criteria of lexicography and psychology seemed the most useful. For the lexicographic criterion I used two dictionaries and two corpora to help with my classification process, but I also had to leave some words to my own interpretation.
The dictionaries and corpora I used were Merriam-Webster, Lexico, Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), and iWeb: The Intelligent Web-based Corpus. I chose both dictionaries and corpora because corpora provide the rate of incidence and context for linguistic items and allow readers to examine their meanings and usages in more detail. Dictionaries on the other hand, provide information on established definitions. I searched every word and expression in each dictionary and corpora, and if the word did not have any matches, or it did not bear the same meaning as it does in the series, I counted the word or expression as a series- specific neologism. However, some of the words were easier to determine than others.
For place names, I only counted the ones that did not refer to any specific place, such as The Raven, and omitted all the ones that already had a referent in real life, such as Edmonton which is an existing city in Canada. For names of people, I only retained the ones that had been used as nicknames or in a qualifying manner, such as Right Hand of God martyr. Lastly, the word stallion usually refers to an uncastrated male horse, but in the series, it was used as a name for a drug that causes its users to behave extremely erratically. Although it supposedly retains the
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original connotations, the referent is not the same which is why I counted the word as a neologism.
Some other units also had existing entries in dictionaries, such as the term stack. One of the word’s definitions refers to a set of data storages used in computing, which is very similar to the meaning the word has in the series. However, the meaning inevitably changes when the storage exists within a chip that can be implanted under the skin. Therefore, I decided to count the word as a neologism. The verb to spin up had also been defined in Merriam-Webster but within the context of airplanes. According to COCA, the verb has also been used within physics and cycling, but none of these definitions had the same meaning the verb has in the series.
Therefore, I was able to count the verb as a series-specific neologism.
Some of the words also appeared in the corpora although they did not have established definitions in dictionaries. Examples of such words are cloning facility and gene-locked which both had been used in other SF contexts, but their usage seemed very limited to these specific narratives. Therefore, I did not consider them to be set or established expressions in the language and decided to count them as neologisms. Real death and religious coding also provided results in the corpora, but again, they did not have the same meaning and function as they do in the series where they could be considered established expressions referring to something very specific. That is, these word combinations could be used outside the series as well, but they would probably have different meanings and connotations altogether. The verb slow-grow also had a few matches in the corpora, but it was mostly used as a noun there. In a few instances it was used as a verb in the context of gardening. The meaning between the two verbs is quite similar, and it is possible that the author has noted this connection as well.
Nevertheless, these instances were infrequent in the corpora, which suggests that the term is not yet an established expression and led me to count it as a neologism.
After deciding which words and expressions were neologisms, I had to classify them into categories and identify the strategies the Finnish translator had used when subtitling the neologisms into Finnish. I categorized the neologisms according to their word classes into common nouns, proper nouns, adjectives, and verbs. I have based my analysis of translation strategies on Molina and Hurtado Albir’s (2002) 18-point classification of general translation strategies mentioned earlier in section 2.3. I was able to find nine different strategies that had been used in my own material, some of which appeared alone, some together with other
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strategies. The full list of these nine strategies can be found in Table 1 below. The examples presented are my own.
Table 1. Translation strategies detected in the material based on Molina and Hurtado Albir’s (2002) classification
Translation strategy Definition Example
Amplification More detailed translation of a foreign
word or phrase Paris → Ranskan pääkaupunki
Pariisi Borrowing Transferring a foreign word or phrase
either straight to the target text, or naturalizing it slightly to fit the spelling rules of the target language
software → software rock → rokki Calque Literal translation of a foreign word or
phrase cheesecake → juustokakku
Discursive creation Using an equivalent that is
unpredictable out of the context The Shawshank Redemption → Rita Hayworth – avain pakoon Established equivalent Using a term or expression that is
considered an equivalent in the target language
lovely weather for ducks → koiranilma
Generalization Using a more general or neutral term or
expression Golden Retriever → koira
Literal translation Translating an expression word-for-
word lovely weather for ducks→ ihana
ilma ankoille Reduction Leaving out information in the target
text
Paris, the capital of France → Pariisi
Transposition Changing a grammatical category sunflower → auringonkukka
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4 Findings and discussion
4.1 Neologisms in Altered Carbon
The final list of neologisms I was able to detect, contains 44 words and expressions together with their Finnish translations. The full list can be found in Appendix 1. I categorized the neologisms found in the episode according to their function into four main categories: proper nouns, common nouns, adjectives, and verbs. I have further sectioned the nouns into smaller subcategories according to their referents.
Figure 1. Percentages of each word class of the neologisms detected in the fifth episode of Altered Carbon’s first season
As presented in Figure 1, nouns cover more than 80% of all the neologisms found in the episode.
Of those, common nouns constitute the biggest and most diverse category as it contains 22 nouns altogether. I have divided these into technical devices and items (6), digital technology (5), action-related nouns (4), people (3), places (2), and substances (2). Technical devices and items contain words such as clone tank¸ synth sleeve¸ and portable 3-D bio-organic printer.
Digital technology, on the other hand, refers to more abstract, non-concrete technical neologisms. These include words such as counter-infiltration firmware and religious coding.
Nouns related to action include words such as gene-mat sweep and real death which propose the functions of sweeping and dying. However, the word real death can also be found in the next category where it refers to someone murdering another person definitively by destroying
50 %
32 % 9 %
9 %
Common nouns Proper nouns Verbs Adjectives
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their stack. Other instances of nouns referring to people include data rats and double sleever.
Finally, cloning facility provides an example of a place noun, and altered carbon of a substance.
The second category contains 14 proper nouns referring to people (8), places (4), organization (1), and substance (1). The most interesting observation was that five out of eight personal nouns refer to either one of the two versions of Dimi the Twin, hence, Dimi the First or Dimi the Second. The remaining three instances of personal nouns are a CTAC, Ghostwalker, and Right Hand of God martyr. Place nouns can be distinguished between nouns referring to specific buildings, such as Fightdrome, and larger geographical areas such as The Old City. The AI Management Association and Stallion are examples of more rare instances of proper nouns, as the former refers to an organization, and the latter to a substance.
The smallest categories were adjectives (4) and verbs (4) although both word classes had been used as a basis for other neologisms, such as religious coding and coded Neo-C. All adjectives were compound words, two of which have been hyphenated (gene-locked and ONI-keyed), and three out of four adjectives have an -ed suffix as in the examples. Examples of verbs include to sleeve and to Kovacs, both of which been derived from nouns.
4.2 Translation strategies of neologisms
In my material, every neologism had been transferred to the target language in some way, and for most instances one prominent strategy could be identified. However, seven instances contained more than one strategy. Most of these were either compound words or otherwise longer expressions. As Figure 2 shows, the most frequent strategy was calque with 12 instances followed by discursive creation (9). Next came the combination of multiple strategies (7) followed by borrowing (6), transposition (4), and amplification (2). The least number of instances had established equivalent, generalization, literal translation, and reduction, all of which had been used only once. The full list neologisms together with their translation strategies can be found in Appendix 1.
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Figure 2. Percentages of the translation strategies used in translating the neologisms detected in the fifth episode of Altered Carbon’s first season
The largest individual category is that of calques which constitutes almost a third of all the translation strategies. Most neologisms in this category constitute compound words referring to technological or scientific neologisms of different word classes. The most common word class is common nouns (Examples 1–4) which contains examples referring to digital technology (Example 1), technological devices or objects (Example 2), place (Example 3), and an action (Example 4). The second most common word class is proper nouns which contains nouns referring to people (Example 5), place (Example 6) and a substance (Example 7). It is an interesting insight that the source language proper noun in Example 6 has been translated into a common noun, instead of proper noun. Finally, this category includes two adjectives (Examples 8 and 9), as well as one verb (Example 10).
(1) DHF (digital human freight) – DIL (digitaalinen ihmislasti) (2) contagion bomb – tartuntapommi
(3) cloning facility – kloonauslaitos (4) real death – tosikuolema.
(5) Ghostwalker – Aavekulkija (6) Fightdrome – taisteluareena (7) Stallion – Ori
(8) multisleeved – monisukkainen (9) gene-locked – geenilukittu (10) to slow-grow – hidaskasvattaa
The second most frequent strategy has been discursive creation. The strategy is mostly used for neologisms referring to the common noun sleeve translated into sukka (lit. “sock”). The derivatives offer examples of digital technology (Example 11), an action-related noun
27 %
20 % 16 %
13 % 9 %
7 %
2 %2 % 2 % 2 %
Calque
Discursive creation
Combination of multiple strategies Borrowing
Transposition Amplification Established equivalent Generalization Literal translation Reduction
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(Example 12) and an adjective (Example 13). In addition to those, three other instances could be detected: Example 14 represents a common noun, Example 15 is a verb, and Example 16 is an adjective.
(11) sleeve mortgage – sukkalaina (12) double sleeving – kaksoissukitus (13) multisleeved – monisukkainen (14) stack – implantti
(15) to spin up – uusintaa (16) bubblefab – iloluontoinen
Except for Example 17 which is a common noun, every instance of borrowing represents examples of proper nouns referring to either people (Example 18) or place (Example 19). As can be seen from the examples, slight changes have been made in the process of borrowing.
These changes include leaving out articles, changing the letter combination “ph” to “f”, and using numbers instead of letters. Although there have been different ways in referring to Dimi 1 and 2 in the source language, the Finnish translations have been consistent in using numbers in each case. It is also noteworthy that borrowing has been the most frequent individual strategy for translating proper nouns.
(17) synamorphesterone – synamorfesteroni (18) Dimi the Second – Dimi 2
(19) The Raven – Raven
Transposition has been used for common nouns only. Two of these, Examples 20 and 21, refer to digital technology, while Example 22 is a substance and Example 23 represents an example of a noun related to an action. In Example 20, the prefix -re has been translated into an adjective, whereas in Examples 21 and 22, the source language combination of an adjective and a noun translates into two nouns. In Example 23, the verb coded has been translated into a noun
“koodi”. It is also noteworthy that three out of four words relate to “Neo-C coding”, which also covers more than half of all the coding-related neologisms detected in the episode.
(20) re-code – uusi koodi
(21) religious coding - uskontokoodi (22) altered carbon – muuntohiili (23) coded Neo-C – UK-koodi
Amplification has been used only twice, and both neologisms represent a different word class.
The first one, Example 24, is an example of a verb, and the second one, Example 25, represents a common noun referring to people. Although these examples represent different word classes, they are both related to people. The noun has been amplified with a person-related noun
“tappaja”, while the verb has been derived from the name Kovacs. Additionally, all these words have been amplified with a hyphen which does not exist in their source text equivalents.
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(24) to Kovacs – käyttää Kovacs-konstia (25) real death – TK-tappaja
Established equivalent (Example 26), generalization (Example 27), literal translation (Example 28), and reduction (Example 29) have each been used only once. In Example 26, both “rotta”
(‘rat’) and “vasikka” (‘calf’) can be used metaphorically in the Finnish language, but they refer to different things. Therefore, a direct translation of the common noun data rat would not have corresponded to the source language expression. Example 27 illustrates an incidence where a proper noun has been substituted with a more general pronoun, and the literal translation of a proper noun in Example 28 differs from calque in that it contains multiple components that are presented in the same order in the translation, hence, the elements have been translated word- for-word. The lack of capital letters except for the word “Jumala” (‘God’), and the added hyphen in the Finnish translation are features based on differing grammars. Lastly, in Example 29, the action-related noun has been reduced in the target language, as the word “mat” has been omitted from the translation.
(26) data rats – datavasikka (27) Dimi the Twin – hän
(28) Right Hand of God martyr – Jumalan oikea käsi -marttyyri (29) gene-mat sweep - geenietsintä
The combination of multiple strategies has been used seven times. Common nouns (Examples 30 and 31) and proper nouns (Examples 32–35) have been the most frequent word classes in this category. In Example 30, the word “portable” has been omitted from the translation that is otherwise literal. Example 31 also contains two strategies, as the prefix re- has been omitted and the word pair sleeving – sukitus follows the previous formula of discursive creation.
Example 32 offers an example of a proper noun where the translation “yritys” is more general than the literal translation “hallinto”. Otherwise, the term has been translated literally, word- for-word. Example 33 represent a personal noun which has first been borrowed into the target language, and then amplified with a descriptive noun “tyyppi”. This amplification may partly replace the omitted article in the translation. Similarly, the first half of Example 34 has also been borrowed to the target language. The second half, on the other hand, has been translated with a calque. Lastly, the adjective in Example 35 contains both borrowing and transposition, as the beginning of the word has been borrowed, while the rest has been translated with transposition with the adjective “keyed” changing into a noun “avainnus”.
(30) portable 3-D bio-organic – kolmiulotteinen bio-orgaaninen tulostin (31) re-sleeving facilities – sukitustilat
(32) The AI Management Association – Tekoäly-yritysten yhdistys (33) a CTAC – CTAC-tyyppi
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(34) Harlan’s World – Harlanin maailma (35) ONI-keyed – ONI-avainnus
4.3 Discussion
It is noteworthy that most of the neologisms I was able to detect have been formed by either compounding or changing the meaning of existing words. Additionally, multiple neologisms refer to the same concepts, objects, and items, or they are otherwise connected to each other.
Examples of such neologisms are Stallion and synamorphesterone, Dimi the Twin and Mr.
Disembodied, religious coding and coded Neo-C, and finally, to sleeve and multisleeved.
Although Karppinen’s classification (2003) focused on translated neologisms, our findings concerning neologisms and their word classes are mutually supportive. Nouns have been the most frequent category in both of our material, while adjectives and verbs were the smallest categories. Additionally, common nouns have been more frequent than proper nouns in both cases. However, there are some differences in translating proper nouns. Karppinen’s findings demonstrated that most untranslated neologisms were personal names, but place names had been translated almost without exception. My findings on the other hand suggested quite the opposite, as three out of four place names had been either completely or partly borrowed, and only one had been translated. Quantitatively most untranslated or borrowed words have been personal names as four out of eight names have been translated, but the relative number remains larger with place names (75% versus 50%). One possible explanation for this difference in our results is different target audiences. Karppinen studied the Harry Potter series, which is mainly targeted to children and young adults, while Altered Carbon is targeted to adult viewers. Hence, the usage and characteristics of proper nouns may vary between these two materials.
As I presented in Section 2.1, Newmark (1988, 143) suggested that every fictional neologism should generally be recreated in the target language while considering the norms and standards of the language. This suggestion was supported by the results of my thesis, as every neologism has been transferred to the target language with either minor or more comprehensive adaptation strategies. The decision to retain all the neologisms, whether conscious or unconscious, also seems to support Kurki’s suggestion (2012; 54, 60) that translators tend to perceive neologisms as an important element of the SF genre. Additionally, although established guidelines for translating neologisms do not yet exist, the results of my analysis concerning translation strategies seem to align with those of Kurki’s (2012). The three most frequent individually used
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strategies have been calque, discursive creation, and borrowing which constitute approximately 60% of all strategies in both studies. Additionally, the combination of multiple strategies constitutes 11% of all strategies in my material, and 12% in Kurki’s.
Although the restrictions of the audiovisual medium have not affected the frequency of translated neologisms, there are a few instances where these restrictions and characteristics may have had an impact on the translation strategies. Examples of such instances are reduced translations, such as re-sleeving facilities – sukitustilat, the generalization of the proper noun Dimi the Twin into a pronoun hän, and the translation of letters into numbers. However, in a few instances elements that were not present in the original expression have been added to the translation, as in to Kovacs – käyttää Kovacs-konstia. One possible reason behind these amplifications is to help the target-language audience to understand the meanings behind these expressions properly, as in practice, languages rarely function in the same way, and certain structures might need amplifying when transferred into another language.
Lastly, the connection between certain word classes and translation strategies seems to be quite arbitrary. Common nouns have been translated with every other strategy expect generalization and literal translation, but transposition was the only strategy that has been used for common nouns only. The strategies used for proper nouns were almost equally as varied. However, proper nouns constituted the prevalent word class of borrowing which had been additionally used for one common noun only. As it was presented earlier in Figure 1, common and proper nouns together constitute more than 80% of the neologisms found in the episode which is why it is somewhat logical that they have been translated with the highest number of strategies.
However, the same cannot be said of adjectives and verbs which had only eight instances altogether. It is also noteworthy that none of the translation strategies was favoured in either word class, and either of them was never the only word class in cases where a strategy had only been used once.
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5 Conclusions
The purpose of this thesis was to examine what kinds of neologisms could be detected in the science fiction television series Altered Carbon, and what kinds of translation strategies the Finnish translator had used when translating the neologisms for a Finnish audience. My material consisted of all the neologisms gathered from the fifth episode of the series’ first season. I approached my material both inductively and deductively, and the method I used was comparative analysis. I began my thesis with a theoretical review of previous studies and literature which attempted to demonstrate the significance of neologisms to science fiction and discussed the impacts of spatial and temporal restrictions of audiovisual medium to translation.
Additionally, I introduced the characteristics of translation strategies, and discussed their applicability to neologisms. Previous studies suggested that translators tend to treat fictional neologisms with high priority, as neologisms are usually transferred to the target language regardless of the restrictions of the audiovisual medium. However, there did not seem to be any established classification or preference for certain strategies for translating fictional neologisms.
With the help of previous research and the theoretical background, I was interested in finding answers to two research questions: What kinds of neologisms can be found in the science fiction television series Altered Carbon, and what translation strategies has the Finnish translator used when subtitling the neologisms for the Finnish audience? I was able to detect altogether 44 neologisms and their Finnish translations from the episode. My analysis indicated that more than 80% of all the neologisms were nouns. The majority of these were common nouns which I further categorized into nouns related to technical devices and items, digital technology, actions, people, places, and substances. The category of proper nouns contained nouns related to people, places, an organization, and a substance. Adjectives and verbs constituted the smallest categories, both of which contained only 9% of all the neologisms detected in the episode.
The examination of the translation strategies applied by the translator seem to support the suggestion that neologisms tend to be retained and therefore could be considered an important characteristic of science fiction. I based my evaluation of the strategies used for translating the neologisms on Molina and Hurtado Albir’s classification (2002) of 18 distinct translation strategies. Of these, I was able to detect nine in my own material. A total of 84% of the neologisms had been translated with one prominent strategy. Of these, calque (27%) was the
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most frequent, followed by discursive creation (20%), borrowing (13%), transposition (9%), amplification (7%), established equivalent (2%), generalization (2%), literal translation (2%), and reduction (2%). A total of 16% of the neologisms had been translated with more than one strategy, and all these neologisms were either compound words or otherwise longer expressions.
It is important to note that my material was very limited, and this thesis focused on the decisions and strategies of only one translator. Therefore, the results provided by this thesis are not generalizable, but can be of assistance, for instance, for practicing translators who are new to the field. Nevertheless, I am aware of the possibility that I may have dismissed a neologism while gathering my data. Therefore, for further research, it might be profitable to have someone else go through the material as well. However, compiling a list that is completely undisputable may not even be possible, and I have intended to minimize any major errors by using the criteria Carbré Castellví (1999, 205) suggested for recognizing neologisms as the basis for my evaluation. Additionally, the classification of the neologisms into four main categories was rather approximate, and thus, using a more detailed or precise classification might provide more explicit result. However, by classifying the nouns into smaller subcategories, I sought to obtain more detailed information about the function of the neologisms. Finally, I would like to note that a different classification of translation strategies might have produced different results. As I mentioned earlier in Section 2.3, most researchers have their own preferences regarding the definition and categorization of translation strategies, and an established classification for the study of neologisms does not yet exist. I chose a classification that I regarded the most appropriate for the purposes of my thesis. I perceive fictional neologisms and their translation as an interesting and multidimensional topic, and I hope that more extensive research will be executed in the future.
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References
Primary sources
Altered Carbon, Season 1. Episode 5. 2018. Mythology Entertainment / Skydance Television.
Available on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80097140
Other references
Aaltonen, Sirkku, Nestori Siponkoski, and Kristiina Abdallah. 2015. ”Käännetyt maailmat:
johdatus käännösviestintään.” Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
Cabré, Castellví, M. Teresa. 1999. “Terminology: Theory, methods, and applications.” Edited by Juan C. Sager. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ProQuest Ebook Central.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/tampere/detail.action?docID=623202 Chesterman, Andrew. 2016. “Memes of Translation: The spread of ideas in translation
theory.” Revised edition, John Benjamins Publishing Company. ProQuest Ebook Central:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/tampere/detail.action?docID=4412789.
Díaz, Cintas, Jorge, and Aline Remael. 2014. “Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling.” Taylor &
Francis Group. ProQuest Ebook Central:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/tampere/detail.action?docID=1702387 Karppinen, Hanna. 2003. ”Harry Potter -kirjojen suomennoksissa käytetyt uudissanat.”
Tampere University, Master’s Thesis.
http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uta-1-11973
Korpi, Suvi. 2017. “Neologies as the Voice of Science Fiction in Translation: The Quest for Generic Fluency.” VAKKI Publications 8, 88–99.
http://www.vakki.net/publications/2017/VAKKI2017_Korpi.pdf
Kurki, Riikka. 2012. “The Finnish subtitling of neologisms in the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1.” University of Helsinki, Master’s Thesis.
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/33365
Molina, Lucía & Amparo Hurtado Albir. 2002. “Translation Techniques Revisited: A Dynamic and Functionalist Approach.” Meta: Translators’ Journal, 47:4, 498–
512.
Newmark, Peter. 1998. “A Textbook of Translation.” New York: Prentice Hall International.
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Appendix
Appendix 1. Neologisms and their translation strategies in the fifth episode of Altered Carbon’s first season Word class Source language Target language Translation
strategy
Description Common nouns
Technical devices and
items A complex with a
clone tank Rakennuskompleksi,
jossa on kloonisäiliö Calque Literal translation A contagion bomb
went off by accident
Tartuntapommi räjähti vahingossa
Calque Literal translation Portable 3-D bio-
organic printer Kolmiulotteinen bio-
orgaaninen tulostin Reduction + literal
translation The word portable has been omitted.
Otherwise translated word- for-word.
You needed an
affective sleeve Tarvitsette tehokkaan
sukan Discursive creation The translation is unpredictable out of the context (lit.
sleeve = hiha) Blow your stack out Ammun implanttisi Discursive creation The translation is
unpredictable out of the context Is that a synth sleeve? Onko tuo uusi
keinosukka? Discursive creation The translation is unpredictable out of the context (lit.
sleeve = hiha) Digital technology Several decades’
worth of counter- infiltration firmware
Kasa
soluttautumisenesto- ohjelmistoja
Calque Literal translation
They only touch DHF (Digital human Freight) when someone’s shipping between worlds
Vain maailmanväliset DIL (digitaalinen ihmislasti) -siirrot koskevat heitä
Calque Literal translation
His office writing the
re-code Vain uusi koodi hänen
toimistostaan Transposition The prefix -re has been translated into an adjective You can’t fake
religious coding
Ei uskontokoodia voi väärentää
Transposition The adjective religious has been translated into a noun
She’s been paying his
sleeve mortgage Kristin maksoi Rykerin
sukkalainaa Discursive creation The translation is unpredictable out of the context (lit.
sleeve = hiha) Action-related She was coded Neo-C Hänellä olikin UK-
koodi Transposition The verb coded
has been translated into a noun She’s got you cold for
double sleeving Jäit kiinni
kaksoissukituksesta Discursive creation The translation is unpredictable out of the context (lit.
sleeve = hiha) I need a team for a
gene-mat sweep
Tarvitsen geenietsinnän Reduction The word mat has been omitted You skip real death Vältät tosikuoleman
(TK) Calque Literal translation
People We have data rats Meillä on datavasikoita Established
equivalent The word vasikka is considered an
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equivalent in its metaphorical sense The double-sleever,
that’s great for erasure Kaksoissukituksesta
voidaan tuhota Discursive creation
+ transposition The translation sukitus is unpredictable out of the context. The SL noun translates into a verb Reputation for wanton
real death
Maine
umpimähäkäisenä TK (tosikuolema) - tappajana
Amplification The word tappaja has been added to the translation
Places I found a single
cloning facility in Edmonton
Kloonauslaitos
Edmontonissa Calque Literal translation
A complex with a clone tank, re-sleeving facilities
Rakennuskompleksin, jossa on kloonisäiliö ja sukitustilat
Reduction +
discursive creation The prefix re- has been omitted. The translation sukitus is unpredictable out of the context (lit. sleeve = hiha) Substances Altered carbon would
free us Muuntohiili vapauttaisi
meidät Transposition The adjective
altered has been translated into a noun
High on
synamorphesterone Oli ottanut
synamorfesteronia Borrowing The word has been transferred to the TL with only slight changes Proper nouns
People Framed Ryker for the
murder of a CTAC
Lavasti Rykerin CTAC- tyypin murhaajaksi
Borrowing + amplification
The word has been transferred straight to the TL and amplified with the word tyyppi Dimi 1 (one) came
after me
Dimi 1 kävi kimppuuni Borrowing The word has been transferred straight to the TL
He thinks that Ryker killed his so-called brother, Dimi the First
Hän luulee Rykerin tappaneen “veljensä”, Dimi 1:n
Borrowing The word has been transferred to the TL with only slight changes Then we got Dimi the
Second Sitten oli Dimi 2 Borrowing The word has been
transferred to the TL with only slight changes Dimi the Twin framed
Ryker?
Lavastiko hän Rykerin?
Generalization The proper noun has been replaced with a pronoun Found my
Ghostwalker yet? Löysitkö jo
Aavekulkijan? Calque Literal translation
Then we got Dimi the Second, Mr.
Disembodied
Sitten oli Dimi 2, herra
Ruumiiton Calque Literal translation
Right Hand of God
martyr resisted arrest Jumalan oikea käsi - marttyyri vastusti pidätystä
Literal translation Word-for-word translation
Places The AI who manages
Fightdrome Tekoälystä, joka johtaa
taisteluareenaa Calque Literal translation
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DNA harvested on
Harlan’s World Saimme DNA:ta
Harlanin maailmasta Borrowing + calque The word Harlan has been
transferred straight to the TL. The word world has been translated literally Laurens has gone to
the Old City
Laurens on mennyt Old Cityyn
Borrowing The word has been transferred straight to the TL but the article the has been omitted
Dimi 1 (one) came after me at The Raven
Dimi 1 kävi kimppuuni Ravenissa
Borrowing The word has been transferred straight to the TL but the article the has been omitted
Organization The AI Management Association
Tekoäly-yritysten yhdistys
Generalization + literal translation
The term yritys is more general than the SL
management.
Otherwise translated word- for-word
Substance They call it Stallion Kutsutaan Oriksi Calque Literal translation Adjectives Just a little bubblefab
street whore Vain yksi iloluontoinen
katuhuora Discursive creation The translation is unpredictable out of the context It’s gene-locked Se on geenilukittu Calque Literal translation I’m multisleeved Olen monisukkainen Discursive creation The translation is
unpredictable out of the context (lit.
sleeve = hiha) They’re ONI-keyed Niissä on ONI-
avainnus Borrowing +
transposition The word ONI has been transferred straight to the TL.
The adjective keyed has been translated into a noun
Verbs We could Kovacs Voimme aina käyttää
Kovacs-konstia Amplification The word konsti has been added to the translation Bancroft sleeves me Bancroft sukitti minut Discursive creation The translation is
unpredictable out of the context (lit.
sleeve = hiha) Even Bancroft slow-
grows his clones Jopa Bancroft
hidaskasvattaa ne Calque Literal translation Cops went to spin her
up Poliisit yrittivät
uusintaa hänet Discursive creation The translation is unpredictable out of the context
