PAPER

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN TRANSLATION

PRAGMATIC DIMENSION:
Coherence in Translation
Narrative Analysis and Translation

Supporting Lecturer
Mrs. Imelda M.Simorangkir, S.S., M. Hum

Group 7
Class of R8H

Fadilah wardani H. (201912500832)

Farhan Hadi (201912500886)
Ryska Puji A. (201912500828)
Toro Budi W. (201912500888)

PROGRAM STUDI PENDIDIKAN BAHASA INGGRIS

FAKULTAS BAHASA DAN SENI
UNIVERSITAS INDRAPRASTA PGRI
2023
 PREFACE

With all the praise and thanks to God the Almighty, who has given His love and
mercy so that a paper entitled "Pragmatic Dimension: Coherence in Translation, Narrative
Analysis and Translation” can we finish well. The paper is structured to meet one of the tasks
of the courses Discourses Analysis in Translation.
On this occasion, we would like to thank profusely to all those who have helped us in
completing the writing of this paper, to Mrs. Imelda M. Simorangkir, S.S., M. Hum. as
lecturer in Discourses Analysis in Translation for the support and motivation and also to
friends who have contributed their ideas and motivation for writing this paper.
We are fully aware that the many flaws in the writing of this paper, in terms of
material, technical and presentation material. Therefore, we expect criticism and constructive
suggestions to further refine the writing of this paper. Finally, we hope that the paper can be
useful for readers.

Jakarta, Jun 6th 2023

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Table of contents
PREFACE.............................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1..........................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................3
A. Background................................................................................................................................3
B. Question of Problem..................................................................................................................4
C. Objectives..................................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 2..........................................................................................................................................5
DISCUSSION.......................................................................................................................................5
A. Definition of pragmatic..............................................................................................................5
B. Coherence in Translation...........................................................................................................5
C. Narrative text.............................................................................................................................6
D. Narrative Analysis.....................................................................................................................7
E. Translation.................................................................................................................................7
F. Types of translation...................................................................................................................7
CHAPTER 3..........................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCE........................................................................................................................................9

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

A. Background
Coherence concerns the ways in which the components of the textual world, i.e., the
configuration of concepts and relations which underlie the surface text, are mutually accessible
and relevant. (Beaugrande & Dressler, 2002) A concept is definable as a configuration of
knowledge (cognitive content) which can be recovered or activated with more or less unity and
consistency in the mind. Relations are the links between concepts which appear together in a
textual world: each link would bear a designation of the concept it connects to. Thus coherence
will be envisioned as the outcome of combining concepts and relations into a network composed
of knowledge space centered around main topics.

And for further discussion, language users are supposed to know something about
meaning and sense. If meaning is used to designate the potential of a language expression (or
other sign) for representing and conveying knowledge (i.e., virtual meaning), then they can use
sense to designate the knowledge that actually is conveyed by expressions occurring in a text.
Many expressions have several virtual meanings, but under normal conditions, only one sense in a
text. If the intended sense is not at once clear, non-determinacy is present. A lasting non
determinacy could be called ambiguity if it is presumably not intended, or polyvalence if the text
producer did in fact intend to convey multiple senses at the same time. Though not yet well
explained, the human ability to discover intended senses and preclude or resolve ambiguities is
one of the most amazing and complex processes of communication.

A text is also the record of the thinking process of the language user(s) either in written or
in spoken form. It is a semantic unit and pragmatic unit consisting of a group of coherent
sentences which are also cohesive within and between the sentences generally. And a text “makes
sense” because there is a continuity of senses among the knowledge activated by the expressions
of the text. A “senseless” or “nonsensical” text is one in which text receivers can discover no such
continuity, usually because there is a serious mismatch between the configuration of concepts and
relations expressed and the receivers prior knowledge of the world. This continuity of senses can
be defined as the foundation of coherence, being the mutual access and relevance within a
configuration of concepts and relations. The configuration underlying a text is the textual world,
which may or may not agree with the established version of the “real world”, i.e., that version of
the human situation considered valid by a society or social group. Note, however, that the textual
world contains more than the sense of the expressions in the surface text: cognitive processes
contribute a certain amount of commonsense knowledge derived from the participants’
expectations and experience regarding the organization of events and situations. Hence, even
though the senses of expressions are the most obvious and accessible contribution to the
meaningful-ness of texts, they cannot be the whole picture.

It can be safely concluded, therefore, that a coherent text is a continuity of senses of the
outcome of combining concepts and relations into a network composed of knowledge space
centered around main topics. And this conclusion can be directed towards the process of
translation to yield a truthful target text with smoothness.

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B. Question of Problem

1. What is pragmatic?
2. What is coherence?
3. What is narrative text?
4. What is narrative analysis?
5. What is translation?
6. What kind types of translation?

C. Objectives

1. To know about pragmatic

2. To know about coherence in translation
3. To know about narrative analysis and translation

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 CHAPTER 2

DISCUSSION

A. Definition of pragmatic

People cannot really understand the nature of a language unless they understand how it is
used in communication. It is important for people to understand language because it always
expresses ideas, thoughts, feeling, and the speaker’s intention. One branch of linguistics which
studies language as being used is called pragmatics.

There are some points of view on pragmatics. According to Yule (1996:3), firstly,
pragmatics is the study of utterances as communicated by a speaker and interpreted by a hearer.
Secondly, pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning. It requires a consideration of how a
speaker organizes what he or she wants to say. Thirdly, pragmatics is the study of how the hearer
gets the implicit meaning of the speaker’s utterances. The last, pragmatics is the study of the
expression of a relative distance. It is assumed as the study of the relationship between linguistics
forms and the users of those forms.

In addition, Leech (1983:6) states that pragmatics is the study of meaning which is related
to the speech situations. Further he explains that pragmatics can be seen as a way to solve
problems which can arise, both from the perspective of a speaker and a hearer. For example from
the speaker’s point of view, the problem is the planning about how to produce an utterance. On
the other hand, from the hearer’s point of view, the problem is related to the interpretation, which
forces the hearer to be able to interpret the possible reason that makes the speaker saying the
utterance.

Meanwhile, Mey (1993:42) considers pragmatics as the study of human language uses’
condition, which has a close relationship with the context of society. Similarly, Levinson (1983:5)
states that pragmatics is the study of the use of language in communication. In this study, people
try to see the relation between language and contexts.
In conclusion, pragmatics is the study of meaning of utterances in relation to the contexts
which involves how a speaker produces an utterance to deliver his or her intention and how the
listener interprets it.

B. Coherence in Translation

Coherence is referred as the property of “unity” and of “hanging together” (Hasan 1984,
p. 181). The study of coherence is always closely related to cohesion. According to Halliday and
Hasan (1985 [1989], p. 94), “cohesion is the foundation on which the edifice of coher-ence is
built”, and “the basis for textual coherence lies in cohesion” (Hasan 1984, p. 210).

In the present research, cohesion is treated as a key factor in building up coherence of the
text. Cohesion is considered as “the aspect of texture which upholds textuality by making a
sequence of sentences hang together as a coherent text” (Hatim & Mason, 1990, p. 210).

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 The cohesive chains serve to connect the units of text, and are taken as threads of seman-
tic sequence of the text. In order to determine how cohesion contributes to coherence, co-hesive
chains are the focus of this research. Coherence is the collective effect of the different
metafunctions. It can be probed from different perspectives in the systemic functional framework.
Since lexicogrammar is the core of the language (Halliday 1984), coherence is realized in
lexicogrammar through different systems in different metafunctions.

While cohesion concerns the surface relations that organize and create a text, coherence is
the network of conceptual relations which underlie the surface text as perceived by the language
users.
The mere presence of cohesive markers, such as linkers or lexical chains, is not sufficient to
create a coherent text.
Imagine we said:
(a) I'm terribly tired because (b) bananas are yellow.
Or:
(c) I'm very tired at the end of the week. (d) On Wednesday I usually see my
sister.
Although a conjunction such as because suggests a cause/effect relationship between the
two clauses or parts of the sentence, in fact it would be very difficult to find a logical reason why
(b) should cause (a).
And although week and Wednesday belong to the same lexical chain, it is hard to find a
connection between (c) and (d).

Coherence is mostly receiver-centred. It depends on the ability of the hearer/reader to

interpret a stretch of language on the basis of his/her expectations and experience of the world.
Which, in their turn, are influenced by the society he/she lives in.
For example, in order to attribute sense to a stretch like:
He looked like Frodo coming down the mountain. The hobbit was walking slowly and singing to
himself.

One has to know that "Frodo" and "the hobbit" are the same person, which means that
he/she must have read the novel Lord of the Rings, seen the movie drawn from it, or at least heard
about one of the two. If a translation of the sentence were addressed to a public who is not likely
to have done any of the above mentioned things, the translator would probably have to intervene
and modify it, for instance in the following way:
He looked like Frodo the hobbit coming down the mountain. He was walking slowly and singing
to himself.
Thus coherence is not really a property of text but of the event/situation and of the people and
things involved in it.

C. Narrative text

Narrative is one of the texts thought in junior and also senior high school level. Narratives
text are usually told by a story teller. Another definition, clouse defined the narrative text is a kind
of story either fictive or real which contains a series of events in which how the story is told and
how the context is presented as aspects of the story construction (Strouse et al., 2018).

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 From the definition above, it can be concluded, narrative text is a story tells us about
something interesting that has purpose to amuse and to entertain for the readers or viewers. We
used narrative when we tell something interesting that happen to us at work or school and we tell
someone joke.

D. Narrative Analysis

Narrative analysis takes as its point of departure the idea that narrative is the principal
mode by which we experience the world, that it is ‘the shape of knowledge as we first apprehend
it’ (Fisher 1987:193) rather than a genre or particular type of text.

Moreover, the narratives we tell ourselves and others about the world(s) in which we
live construct rather than represent reality. Translation can then be understood as a form of
(re)narration that participates in constructing the world rather than merely a process of
transferring semantic content from one language to another.

E. Translation

Translation is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the
author intended the text. It means the translation should describe clearly the meaning of a text in
the target language so that the reader can get the message or statement in another language
(Newmark 1981:7). Here, Newmark wants to accentuate that the main point of a translation is on
the replacement of the message. It should be the same message between the source language and
target language. For Newmark, the main point of translation is on the meaning. Translation has to
carry the message that the writer wants. In restructuring the message, it may be wordy, for it will
not be a good translation. Besides, a translation should fulfill the aim of writer’s source language.
According to Newmark, translation theory is concerned with the translation method appropriately
used for certain type of text, for example; expressive, vocative, informative, and it is therefore
dependent on an equivalent effect theory of language.

F. Types of translation

There are many types and kinds of translation according from many experts of translation,
especially it has similar characteristic. According to Jakobson in Basnett, he divides three types of
translation based on semiotic approach to language (Pym, 2017). Further, there are eight kinds of
translation with different purpose (Munday, 2016).

The types can be concluded that used based on their semiotic approach to language, they
are (1) intralingual translation which is related to language variation. (2) Interlingual translation
which is related reproducing of target language message with the closest natural equivalent
meaning of the source language text and (3) Inter-semiotic Translation which is related to the
interpretation between sign systems in which verbal signs are transferred into non-verbal system.
While, the kinds of translation are (1) word-for word translation. (2) Literal translation. (3)
Faithful translation. (4) Semantic translation. (5) Adaptation. (6) free translation. (7) Idiomatic
translation and (8) Communicative translation. from number 1 to number 4 is what called source
language-oriented translation while number 5 to number 8 is called target language-oriented

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 translation. Besides, the researcher focuses on interlingual translation type with kind of
communicative translation.

CHAPTER 3

CONCLUSION

In a word, a translator, in terms of semantic and cognitive level, can yield a truthful text by
the employment of the above-mentioned means: retention of the continuity of senses of a text;
reconstruction of the target text for the purpose of continuity; coherence complement in translation
and the extract and foregrounding of topic sentences in translation. Such means can serve as the basis
of translation on the textual level

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 REFERENCE

M. Halliday & R. Hassan. Cohesion in English. 1976.

Baker, M. 1992. In Other Words: a course Book on Translation. Sage Publication: London.

Venuti, Lawrence. 2000. The Translation Studies Reader. London: Routledge.