Forms and functions of non-verbal elements

We have to distinguish non-verbal elements accompanying the text (e.g. layout or gestures) from those supplementing the text (e.g. tables or graphs) or those constituting an independent text part (e.g. pictures of a comic strip) or replacing certain text elements (e.g. the * that replaces a taboo word).

In face-to-face communication we tend to use gestures of the face and the body (such as winking or shrugging). We distinguishe between gestures used more or less involuntarily by speakers to express their feelings and those used intentionally with a specific meaning. While involuntary gestures constitute a universal phenomenon, which, apart from differences in temperament and certain culture-specific conventions, are common to all the peoples of the world, intentional gestures are signs belonging to a culture-specific code. In an interpreting situation it may therefore be necessary for the interpreter to verbalize certain gestures made by the speaker, if there is any risk of misinterpretation. The receivers only see the gestures of the ST speaker and do not usually notice the interpreter in the booth "translating" the gestures into a TC code.

The interplay of verbal and non-verbal text elements is particularly important on the stage. Plays in which the word is subordinate to the gestures are less problematic in translation than plays in which there is a carefully balanced tension between words and gestures. This tension should be regarded as an intentional feature of the text, which the translator may have to reproduce in the TT.

In spoken discourse there are situations where the hearer would not perceive any mimical expressions or gestures of the speaker because of the spatial distance between them (e.g. in an electoral speech on a market square). And there are text types or functions where the use of non-verbal signals is conventionally forbidden. In these cases, non-verbal elements are more and more replaced by suprasegmental linguistic signs, such as stress, intonation, slowing down, etc., which can even develop into genre-specific features (e.g. sermon).

In written communication, mimical expressions or gestures cannot be used; but the reduced pragmatic contextuality of written texts must, of course, be compensated for. This is done partly by the selection of particular verbal elements, especially those representing supra-segmental features in writing (e.g. punctuation, dash, bold type), and partly by additional non-verbal means, such as pictures (a photo of the author, a cartoon illustrating the subject, a drawing showing how to hold the handle of a machine). It may happen that the non-verbal elements convey a piece of information that is even more relevant to the reader than the message transmitted by the text. A number in small print on the label of a wine bottle may in itself be of little interest, but it tells the "connoisseur" more about the quality of the wine than the name.

The range of non-verbal elements used in literature extends from the ancient acrostics to the typographical means which are found in the poems of Klopstock or Stefan George, Apollinaire or E. E. Cummings.

Non-verbal elements can belong to the conventional form of certain text types, such as the shorter lines of traditional poetic texts or the "small print" in contracts.

Of course, it is not always the author or sender with their specific communicative intention who is responsible for the layout and format of a text. But no matter who makes the final decision on text organization - the effect that these elements produce on the receiver remains the same. If the translation skopos requires "equivalence of effect", the translator must, therefore, take account of all types of nonverbal elements.

Illustrations, diagrams, drawings of certain operations, etc. are conventional supplements or even form an integral part of operating instructions or manuals. In some cases it may even be convenient for the translator to try and carry out the instructions him or herself in order to check the coherence of verbal and non-verbal elements and the functionality of the text.

The analysis of non-verbal text elements usually yields some information about the aspects of text composition (e.g. paragraph markers), presuppositions (e.g. marks of omission), lexis (e.g. facial expressions which suggest an ironic meaning), and suprasegmental features (e.g. shortened lines in a poem). Of the extratextual factors it is mainly the intention of the sender and the function of the text which may be characterized by non-verbal elements.

The importance of non-verbal elements in translation Non-verbal text elements are, like verbal elements, culture-specific. Within the framework of a translation-relevant ST analysis the translator has to find out which of the non-verbal elements of the ST can be preserved in translation and which have to be adapted to the norms and conventions of the target culture. A particular logo or name which is intended to have a positive connotation in the source culture may be associated with a negative value in the target culture; the TC conventions may not allow the graphic representation of a certain piece of information; the TC genre norms may require non-verbal instead of verbal representation, etc. What is taken for granted as regards linguistic text elements (that they have to be "translated"), is not always accepted for non-verbal elements, because initiators are often unwilling to commit themselves to the extra expense involved in adapting nonverbal material.

It is not difficult to identify the non-verbal elements of the source text, as they are usually fairly obvious and often predictable in certain media or text types. But it is important in each case to analyze the function of these elements. Quotation marks, for example, can point to an ironical meaning (in which case they represent a suprasegmental feature, i.e. a certain intonation) or to a neologism introduced ad hoc and explained in the text or to a reference to somebody else's utterances (in which case the text producer may want to express a mental reservation, which would have been marked by a wink of the eye in spoken discourse).

Checklist

The following questions may lead to a functional interpretation of

non-verbal elements:

1.Which non-verbal elements are included in the text?

2.Which function do they perform with regard to the verbal text parts?

3.Are they conventionally bound to the text type?

4.Are they determined by the medium?

5.Are they specifically linked to the source culture?