Theory of Translation 1 Introduction

2.13 Six Linguistic Aspects of the Study
The practical study of the selected texts carried out in the succeeding chapters is based 
on six aspects of language: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, 
sociolinguistics and stylistics. Here, it is worthwhile to study these six aspects briefly. 
The first three aspects viz. phonology, morphology and syntax are parts of the 
structure of language; so, they are studied under structural base of literary translation.
 

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2.13.1 Structural Base of Literary Translation
In this section, the structural base of literary translation is discussed in brief. It 
includes language as a system, its structure and discussion regarding various 
components of language at three levels – phonology, morphology and syntax. 
2.13.1.1 Language as a System 
In the latter half of the twentieth century, Chomsky’s ‘
Syntactic Structures
’ (1957) 
focused attention on the structural properties of language. He suggested that these 
properties can be investigated from a mathematically precise point of view. He 
defines language “to be a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and 
constructed out of a finite set of element” (Lyons, 7). 
Ferdinand de Saussure views language as an organized totality, a ‘gestalt’ having its 
own pattern. The components of language are interdependent and they derive their 
significance from the system as a whole. One cannot add, remove or displace any 
element without affecting the entire field of force (qtd. in Ullmann, 4). Similarly, 
Edward Sapir stresses the systematic structure and some unique and idiosyncratic 
features of language. Sapir explains the structure as a basic plan: 
[S]uch a thing as a basic plan, a certain cut, to each language. This type or plan 
or structural ‘genius’ of the language is something much more fundamental, 
much more pervasive than any single feature of it that we can mention nor can 
we gain an adequate idea of its nature by a mere recital of the sundry facts that 
make up the grammar of the language” (Study of Speech, 120, emphasis in 
original). 
In Sapir’s opinion, the activity of translation demands a harmonizing effort between 
the unique and idiosyncratic features and the systematic structures of the source 
language and the target language. In the process of translation, the two linguistic 
systems come into clash and the translator has to bring about a compromise to restore 
semantic equivalence.