It may be hypothesized that translation is always possible among diverse languages (Lakoff, 1987) or that it is never possible (Givón, 1989). In order to provide empirical evidence, 250 speakers of English and Chinese were tested in randomly selected blocks of 25 subjects each on one version of an original and another of a translated text in their respective native languages. A fixed- ratio cloze procedure was used deleting every fifth word from two distinct versions over each text so that every word of both texts was clozed exactly once in one of the five versions. English speaking subjects (n = 125) completed two cloze tests in English: one over the text originally written in English and another over the text translated from Chinese. Chinese-speaking subjects (n = 125) also completed two tests: one over the text originally written in Chinese, and the other over the translation from English. MANOVA comparisons between originals and translations irrespective of group showed no significant contrast. There was, however, a small but significant (p < .05) contrast between groups, but none between the passages averaging over the treatment and group. Results support the universality theory (along Peircean lines) and the conclusion that a high degree of translation equivalence is achievable across radically distinct languages and cultural settings.
References
1.
Bachman, L.F.1982: The trait structure of cloze test scores. TESOL Quarterly16, 61-70.
2.
— 1985: Performance on cloze tests with fixed-ratio and rational deletions. TESOL Quarterly19, 535-56.
3.
Bickerton, D.1981: Roots of language. Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma.
4.
— 1990: Language and species. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
5.
Brislin, R.W.1970: Back-translation for cross-cultural research. Journal of CrossculturalPsychology1, 185-216.
6.
Brown, J.D.1983: A close look at cloze: validity and reliability. In Oller, J.W. jr, editor, Issues in language testing research. Rowley, MA: Newbury House, 237-50.
7.
Burks, A.W., editor 1957-58: Collected writings of C.S. Peirce (Vols 7 and 8). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
8.
Carrell, P.1984: Evidence of a formal schema in second language comprehension . Language Learning34, 87-112 (also in Oller, J. W., editor, Methods that work: ideas for literacy and language teachers. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle, 191-20.
9.
Carroll, J.B.1993: Human cognitive abilities: a survey of factor-analytic studies. New York: Cambridge University Press.
10.
Chomsky, N.1976: Reflections on language. London: Temple Smith.
11.
— 1982: Some concepts and consequences of the theory of government and bindingCambridge, MA: MIT Press .
12.
— 1988: Language and problems of knowledge: the Menagua lectures . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
13.
Dewey, J.1916: Essays in experimental logic. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
14.
Einstein, A.1936: Physics and reality. In Einstein, A., Out of my later years. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel, 59-9.
15.
— 1941: The common language of science. In Einstein, A., Out of my later years. Secaucus NJ: Citadel, 111-13.
16.
— 1944: Remarks on Bertrand Russell's theory of knowledge. In P.A. Schilpp, editor, The philosophy of Bertrand Russell. New York: Tudor Library of Living Philosophers, 277-91.
17.
— 1956: Out of my later yearsSecaucus, NJ : Citadel.
18.
Fisch, M., Kloesel, C.J.W. , Moore, E.C., Roberts, D.D., Ziegler, L.A. and Atkinson, N.P., editors 1982 : Writings of C.S. Peirce: a chronological edition. (Vol. 1). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
19.
Givón, T.1989: Mind, code, and context: essays in pragmatics. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
20.
Hartshorne, C. and Weiss, P., editors 1931-35: Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (Vols 1-6). Cambridge, MA: Belknapp Press of Harvard University.
21.
Jonz, J.1987: Textual cohesion and second language comprehension. Language Learning37, 409-38.
22.
— 1990: Another turn in the conversation: what does cloze measure ? TESOL Quarterly24, 61-83.
23.
Katz, J.J.1978: Effability and translation. In Guenthner, F., et al., editors, Meaning and translation . London: Duckworth.
24.
Kloesel, C.J.W., Fisch, M.H. , Houser, N., Niklas, U., Simon, M., Roberts, D.D. and Houser, A., editors 1986: Writings of Charles S. Peirce : a chronological edition (Vol. 4). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
25.
Lakoff, G.1987: Women, fire, and dangerous things: what categories reveal about the mind. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
26.
Malakoff, M. and Hakuta, K.1991: Translation skill and meta-linguistic awareness in bilinguals . In Bialystok, E., editor, Language processing in bilingual children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
27.
Mandler, J.M., Scribner, S., Cole, M. and Deforest, M.1980: Cross-cultural invariance in story recall. Child Development51, 19-26.
28.
Moore, E.C., Fisch, M., Kloesel, C.J.W., Roberts, D.D., Ziegler, L.A. and Atkinson, N.P., editors 1984: Writings of C.S. Peirce: a chronological edition (Vol. 2). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
29.
Nida, E.A.1964: Toward a science of translating. Leiden : Brill.
30.
Ola, P. and D'Aulaire, E.1987: Chain of circumstance. Reader's Digest131, 143-45.
31.
Oller, J.W. jr 1979: Language tests at school. London: Longman. — editor 1989: Language and experience: classic pragmatism. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
32.
— editor 1933a: Methods that work: ideas for literacy and language teachersBoston, MA: Heinle & Heinle .
33.
— 1993b: Reasons why some methods work. In Oller, J.W. jr, editor, Methods that work: ideas for literacy and language teachers. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle, 374-85.
34.
— in press: Connecting formal and content schemata: some results of recent research in semiotics. Paper presented at the 1994 Annual Conference of the American Association of Applied Linguistics, Baltimore, Md, March (manuscript, Department of Linguistics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.
35.
Oller, J.W. jr, Bowen, J.D., Dien, T.T. and Mason, V.1972: Cloze tests in English, Thai, and Vietnamese: native and non-native performance. Language Learning22, 1-15.
36.
Oller, J.W. jr, Chihara, T., Chávez-Oller, M.A., Yii, G.K.S., Greenberg, L. and Hurtado de Vivas, R.1993: The impact of discourse constraints on processing and learning. In Oller, J.W. jr, editor, Methods that work: ideas for literacy and language teachers. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle, 206-29.
37.
Oller, J.W. jr and Jonz, J., editors 1994: Cloze and coherence. Cranbury, NJ: Bucknell University Press.
38.
Oller, J.W. jr and Kennedy, C. in press: The determinacy of linguistic evidence. Manuscript, Department of Linguistics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.
39.
Oller, J.W. jr, Sales, B.D. and Harrington, R.V.1969: A basic circularity in traditional and current linguistic theory. Lingua22, 317-28.
40.
Oller, J.W. jr, Scott, R. and Chesarek, S.1991: Language and bilingualism: more tests of tests. Cranbury, NJ: Bucknell University Press.
41.
Peirce, C.S.1878: How to make our ideas clear. Popular Science Monthly12, 286-392 (also in Hartshorne, C. and Weiss, P., editors, Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (Vols 1-6). Cambridge, MA: Belknapp Press of Harvard University, 248-71).
42.
— 1897: The logic of relatives. The Monist7, 19-40 (also in Hartshorne C. and Weiss, P., editors, Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (Vols 1-6). Cambridge, MA: Belknapp Press of Harvard University, 266-87).
43.
— 1903: Lecture IV. Scholastic realism. In Hartshorne C. and Weiss, P., editors, Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (Vols 1-6). Cambridge, MA: Belknapp Press of Harvard University, 64-67.
44.
Taylor, W.1953: Cloze procedure: a new tool for meaning readability. Journalism Quarterly30, 415-33.
45.
von, Uexküll, J.1934, reissued in 1992: A stroll through the worlds of animals and men: a picture book of invisible worlds (illustrated by G. Kriszat). Semiotica89, 319-91.
46.
Xiao, S.1992: A universality approach to translation studies. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of New Mexico.
