An analysis of explicitation in the COVALT corpus: The case of the substituting pronoun one(s) and its translation into catalan

The so-called explicitation hypothesis was first formulated by Blum-Kulka (1986) and later put forward as a possible translation universal by corpus-based translation scholars. Even though it has given rise to a considerable body of literature, the notion is far from unproblematic as regards definition, nature of the findings and reasons underlying explicitating techniques.

After providing a brief overview of the kinds of problems just mentioned, the present article attempts to determine to what extent explicitating techniques are used in the English-Catalan sub-corpus of the COVALT corpus with regard to a specific cohesive device, the substituting pronoun one(s).

A number of translation techniques for dealing with the substituting pronoun are first identified and then arranged on the explicitation-implicitation scale. The results of the quantitative analysis provide evidence of explicitation, as explicitating techniques account for 17.89% of the total number of segment pairs where either explicitating or neutral techniques have been used.

A qualitative analysis suggests that explicitating techniques tend to occur when clarity or even intelligibility are at stake. In line with previous research, the present study indicates that explicitation is used to make reference more unambiguous and to avoid repetition through the use of synonyms, both features making for more readable target texts.