Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF UDAYANA
2018 – 2019
1. Background of the Study
Nowadays, translation become one of the common specters in our life. The process of
translation can be seen in the community, for instances many books that spread in community
is one that have been translated from other language into Indonesian or vice versa from
Indonesian to English. Moreover, translation also can be considered as one of the forms of
communication and interaction between two different languages, one function as the source
language, whereas the other as the target language. In addition, communication that occur in
translation were more about the transfer of the language textual matter from the source
language into the target language. According to this then, it can be said that translation is a
medium for the exchanges of information from one language into another within the scope of
a country or between countries.
There are a lot of interesting topic when translation is included. For instances, in
translation there are differences in cultural point of view which is fascinating to talk about, how
one thing in one country seems like such as new thing for another. Moreover, there are also a
different in how the noun phrase, verb phrase, or any other kind of phrase translated within two
different language which have two different language structure. Thus, from this the topic in
this paper is the translation that occur within the noun phrase because it is one of the most
common elements in any language and noun phrase scope a wide range of information within
the language. It also plays an important role in the construction of sentence which is why the
writer choose this topic as the focus of this paper.
Furthermore, there are some translation theory which used widely in translation. They
are theories whom proposed by Nida, Vinay, Larson, Catford, etc. Their contribution in
translation is really big and it helps us as the student to understand more in detail about what
happen in translation. Therefore, this paper incline toward using the translation Shift theory
proposed by Catford, because for the writer this theory is one of the most applicable one and
easy to conduct. In addition, from this topic the writer decided to find what kind of structure
shift used in the translation of noun phrase data from Indonesian to English, and which kind of
structure shift that occur the most in the noun phrase translation.
4. Scope of Discussion
The focus of this writing is to answer the problem in this paper. Thus, there are
limitation in the discussion of data analysis. The theory that chiefly used is the Translation
Shift theory proposed by Catford. There are two types of Translation Shift by Catford, namely
level shift and structure shift. However, in this paper the focus is on the explanation of category
shift that occur in the translation of noun phrases. Category shift consists of structure shift,
class shift, unit shift, and intra-system shift.
5. Theoretical Framework
In this research, the theory proposed by Catford about Shifts is the main theory that
applied in this paper. Beside that, the theory of noun phrase and theory from Larson about
meaning based translation are adopted to support the analysis in this paper.
5.1 Translation Shift
The first theory of shift is proposed by J.C. Catford. He defined shift as departures from
formal correspondence in the process of going from the SL to the TL (1965:73). He then
divided the shift into two major types of shift that occur in translation, namely level shifts and
category shifts.
5.1.1 Level Shift
Catford defined level shift as a shift of level which mean that a SL item at one linguistic
level has a TL translation equivalent at a different level (1965:73). This means that level shift
occurs where there is a difference between the aspect of system, for instance between English
in present tense with English in continuous tense. Moreover, Catford also said that level shift
occurred from grammar to lexis, and vice versa. Below is the example of level shift that occur
in translation from SL (English) into TL (Indonesian).
SL: I am working hard
TL: Saya sedang bekerja keras
From this data it can be seen that the grammatical item to be + -ing (pattern of present
continuous tense in English) is translated into sedang which is a lexis in Indonesian. Thus, the
level shift in the translation is indicated by grammar in SL translated into lexis in TL.
A. Structure Shifts
Structure shifts are the shifts that occur when the source language structure and target
language structure are different. This shifts usually occur in the level of phrase, clause, and
sentence. This shift also amongst the most frequent category shift that occur at all ranks in
translation. (Catford, 1965:77). For instance:
(1) SL: I (S) wash (V) myself (O)
TL: Saya (S) mandi (P)
The structure of SL is S-V-O, whereas when it is translated into TL the structure change into
S-P, it can be seen that one element in TL which is the object (O) is not translated in TL. Thus,
structure shifts occur here.
(2) SL: Big (M) House (H)
TL: Rumah (H) besar (M)
The structure of SL is M-H with house as the head and preceding by big as the adjective pre-
modifier, whereas in TL the structure is H-M with Rumah as the head and followed by besar
as the post-modifier.
B. Class Shifts
Catford definition of class shift is derived from Halliday and he defined class as ‘that
grouping of members of a given unit which is defined by operation in the structure of the unit
next above’. Moreover, he said class shifts occur when the translation equivalent of a SL item
is a member of a different class from the original item (1965:78). It can be said that SL has
different class with TL such as from noun to verb, verb into noun, adjective into verb, verb into
adjective, noun into adjective, adjective into adverb, and vice versa. The example of class shift
that occurs from adjective to adverb and adjective to verb.
(1) SL: Mereka bekerja dengan lambat.
TL: They are working slowly.
In this sentence the word lambat in SL is an adjective, whereas in TL it is translated into slowly
which is an adverb. Thus, the class shifts occur here.
(2) SL: It’ll be lovely
TL: Itu akan menyenangkan
In this sentence the word lovely in SL is an adjective, yet when it is translated into the TL it
becomes menyenangkan which is a verb. It is obvious that the word class of word lovely shifted
into another word class which is verb in TL.
C. Unit/Rank Shifts
Unit/Rank shifts is a change of rank that is departures from formal correspondence in
which the translation equivalent of a unit at one rank in the SL is a unit at a different rank in
the TL (Catford, 1965:79). It can occur from word to phrase or vice versa, and phrase to clause.
The example of unit/rank shift that occurs from word to phrase, that is:
(1) SL: Your watch is very sophisticated
TL: Jam tangan anda sangat canggih
It can be seen here in SL the word watch is translated into a noun phrase jam tangan in TL.
This example shows that there was a shift from rank of a single word to rank of noun phrase.
(2) SL: Late in winter of my seventeenth years
TL: Di penghujung musim dingin usia ketujuh belasku.
It can be seen here that in SL the word winter is translated into a noun phrase musim dingin in
TL. This shows the occurrence of unit/rank shift from the lower rank (word) into higher rank
(phrase).
D. Intra-System Shifts
According to Catford intra-system shifts is a shift that occurs internally within a system;
that is for those cases where SL and TL possesses systems which approximately correspond
formally as to their constitution but when translation involves selection of non-corresponding
term in the TL system it may possess formally corresponding system of number (1965:80). In
each language, the system operates in nominal groups is characterized by concord between the
exponents of S and P in clauses and so on. Moreover, in each language the system is one of
two terms singular or plural and these terms may be regarded as formally corresponding. For
instances:
SL: His eyes were the problem
TL: Mata itulah yang menjadi masalah.
It can be seen from this sentence that the intra-system shift occurs where the SL is plural and
the translation of it in TL is singular.
A. Head
The word noun phrase is self-explanatory. It is obvious that the most common kind of
head word in a noun phrase is a noun. In some cases, a pronoun may also act as the central part
of a noun phrase. There are four kinds of pronouns functioning as heads namely personal
pronoun (a), indefinite pronoun (b), possessive pronoun (c), and demonstrative pronoun (d).
For example:
a. he in he is a doctor
b. someone in someone in the house
c. his in his is large.
d. this in this happens every two years.
Usually, when a pronoun takes the role of head in a noun phrase, it is not preceded by pre-
modification; however, it can be followed by post-modification, e.g. he who hesitates.
B. Pre-modification
The pre-modification of noun phrase can be demonstrated as the following:
Pre-determiner + identifier + numeral/quantifier + adjective + noun modifier
A noun phrase can be introduced by a pre-determiner. The most common pre-
determiners are all, both, half, and fractions. For example, in the noun phrase all the students,
all functions as a pre-determiner.
What comes after a pre-determiner is the class of identifiers. Identifiers include articles
(a, an, the), demonstratives (this, that, these, those) and possessives (my, your, his, her, its, our,
their), only one of which can occur in a noun phrase. It means that they are “mutually exclusive
in English”. One thing special about noun phrase is that the article “the” can go with any head
be it singular or plural (a). In contrast, Baker in Phung said that demonstratives must “agree in
number with the common noun phrase” (b). For example:
(a) the book, the books
(b) this book, that book but these books, those books
The identifier can be followed by a numeral/quantifier. Unlike the identifier, the
numeral/quantifier can have more than one component. In general, this constituent of noun
phrase may have the three favourite sequences:
(a) ordinal numeral + indefinite quantifier, e.g. the first few guests
(b) ordinal numeral + cardinal numeral, e.g. the first two guests
(c) indefinite quantifier + cardinal numeral, e.g. several thousand guests
The groups of words coming after a numeral/quantifier are called adjectives. More than
one adjective can co-occur in a noun phrase. In this case, adjectives are arranged in a rather
fixed order. Jackson has suggested an ordering for adjectives with an example: a charming
small round old brown French oaken writing desk. In this example, the adjectives appear in an
order basing on a principle:
1. epithet (charming)
2. size (small)
3. shape (round)
4. age (old)
5. colour (brown)
6. origin (French)
7. substance (oaken)
8. Present participle (writing).
However, it is necessary to bear in mind that there is no fixed formula for a sequence
of adjective. Placed between adjectives and a head noun is a noun modifier. A noun modifier
is a noun that is placed immediately before a head noun to modify the head noun. For example,
in a country garden, the village policeman, and the news agency; country, village and news are
noun modifiers. Jackson also points out that “it is unusual for more than one noun modifier to
occur in a noun phrase” and that “noun modifier + head noun constructions are often the first
stage in the formation of compound nouns”.
C. Post-modification
After the head noun, there appears post-modification. Post-modifications can be a word
such as an adjective, an adverb or a phrase such as prepositional phrase or a clause such as
relative clause, non-finite clause. Usually, when people need an adjective to modify the head
noun, they place it in the pre-modification position. However, in some cases, an adjective can
go after the head noun, especially in some few set phrases like blood royal, heir apparent. In
addition, in comparison with adjectives, adverbs are more frequently found in the position of
post-modification and they can be regarded as reductions of a prepositional phrase. For
example, the time before can be understood as the time before this one.
A relative clause is a clause composed of a relative pronoun as a head which refers
back to the head noun of the noun phrase. The relative pronoun “who” and “whom” refer to
people. The relative pronoun “which” is used for plants and animals. If the relative pronoun is
an index of an object, it can be omitted. For example: in the noun phrase the girl whom I met
yesterday, “whom” is optional.
A Non-finite clause can also function as post-modification. There are three kinds of
non-finite clauses according to the verb that introduces them: Infinitive Clause (a), Present
Participle Clause (b) and Past Participle Clause (c). For example:
(a) a movie to see
(b) the man talking to the teacher
(c) the movie chosen by the teacher
An infinitive clause is introduced by a to-infinitive. Likewise, a present participle and
a past participle clause are introduced by a present participle and a past participle respectively.
Non-finite clauses can be reconstructed into full relative clauses. For example:
(a) movie to see a movie that we should see
(b) the man talking to the teacher the man who is talking to the teacher
(c) the movie chosen by the teacher the movie that is chosen by the teacher
A prepositional phrase is form by a preposition + a noun phrase, e.g. in the corner.
Prepositional phrases are said to be the most frequent kind of postmodifiers in noun phrases.
For example: the man in the corner. A prepositional phrase can also be rebuilt into a relative
clause, e.g. the man who is in the corner. To sum everything up below are the brief summary
of English noun phrase:
8. Conclusion
After analyzing the translation process that occurred in the noun phrase from five
sentences in the short story entitled Gadis dari Jendela, it can be seen that category shift occur
in these data. Out of four category shifts namely Structure shift, Class shift, Unit/Rank shift,
and Intra-System shift; all of them can be found here. In total, the noun phrase that found in
the data is 11 noun phrases.
Moreover, out of the four category shifts, the most used category shift is the Structure
shift which dominated by 5 out of 11 occurrences in noun phrases. Furthermore, the other
category shifts are tied with each other with 2 occurrences in NP for each of the category shifts.
Bibliography
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Catford, J. C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford University Press, London.
Phung, N. (2009). The Structure of Noun Phrase in English and Vietnamese [Internet].
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Phrase-in-English-and-Vietnamese> [23 November 2018].
Putro, R. (2016). Shift of Noun Phrases in The Translation of The Fault in Our Star into
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