Toward a Genre-Sensitive Model of Stylistic Variation in Translation: Patterns, Challenges, and Theoretical Insights

Hishomudin Ahmad; Iman Mohamadamin Khader Alkielani; Norfarhana Ahmad Ghafar

doi:10.18535/sshj.v9i08.2012

Abstract

This article develops a genre-sensitive conceptual model for understanding stylistic variation in translation, aiming to address the complex interplay between genre-specific norms and translational choices. Synthesizing insights from translational stylistics, systems theory, and discourse-oriented approaches, the study examines how multiple forces such as genre conventions, ideological constraints, audience expectations, and translator agency interact to shape the stylistic profile of translated texts. By conducting a comparative analysis across five major genres, namely poetry, fiction, drama, religious texts, and public discourse; it identifies recurrent patterns of stylistic vulnerability. These include phenomena such as metaphor loss, deictic flattening, tonal shifts, and narratorial dislocation, all of which challenge the preservation of nuanced stylistic effects during the translation process. In response to these challenges, the article proposes two heuristic tools designed to aid both analysis and practice: (1) a taxonomy of genre-based stylistic variation that maps typical stylistic pressures within each genre, and (2) a translator decision-making model grounded in norm-based and functionalist translation theories, which conceptualizes stylistic choices as contextually driven and often negotiated. Together, these frameworks reconceptualize style not as an aesthetic afterthought but as a core, contextually contingent dimension of meaning-making. By advancing an integrated theoretical approach to stylistic transformation, the study contributes both descriptive precision and pedagogical value to ongoing research, practice, and training in translation studies.

Keywords

LanguageIdentitySocial MediaCommunication StyleGeneration Z

References

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Yang, J. (2020). Participatory, self-organising, and learning: The patterns and influence of peer communication in online collaborative translation. Target. 32:2, 327-357.Google Scholar ↗
Zaki, M., & Mohamed, E. (2024). Two translations of Mahfouz’s Awlad Haratina (Children of Our Alley): A computational-stylistic analysis. Journal of Cultural Analytics, 9(3).Google Scholar ↗
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[refR-1] Baker, M. (1992). In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. Routledge.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-2] Biber, D., & Conrad, S. (2009). Register, Genre, and Style. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-3] Boase-Beier, J. (2014). Stylistic Approaches to Translation (4th ed.). Routledge. http://www.revistas.uma.es/index.php/trans/article/view/3141Google Scholar ↗

[refR-4] Chesterman, A. (2000). Memes of Translation: The Spread of Ideas in Translation Theory. John Benjamins.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-5] Dorst, A. G. (2019). Translating metaphorical mind style: Machinery and ice metaphors in Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Perspectives, 27(6), 875–889.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-6] Ferguson, C. A. (1994). Sacred style: Colloquial and formal registers in Arabic. In B. Hoffer & J. Hardman (Eds.), The Functions of Style (pp. 7–24). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-7] Gandin, S. (2015). Translating the representation of the tourist landscape: A corpus-based study. Topics in Linguistics, 15(1).Google Scholar ↗

[refR-8] Hatim, B., & Mason, I. (1997). The Translator as Communicator. Routledge.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-9] Hermans, T. (1999). Translation in Systems: Descriptive and System-oriented Approaches Explained. Routledge.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-10] House, J. (2023). Towards a new linguistic-cognitive orientation in translation studies. Target, 35(1), 46–60.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-11] Klinger, S. (2019). Repetition: Translating the interplay between its linguistic form and its literary function. Babel, 65(2), 316–332.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-12] Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-13] Lugea, J. (2015). The intralingual subtitling of The Wire: Changes of style and substance. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, 12(1), 23–49.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-14] Malmkjær, K. (2004). Translational stylistics: Dulcken’s translations of Hans Christian Andersen. Language and Literature, 13(1), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963947004039484DOI ↗Google Scholar ↗

[refR-15] Mohar, T., & Onič, T. (2021). Margaret Atwood’s poetry in Slovene translation. ELOPE, 18(1), 125–137.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-16] Morini, M. (2014). Translation, stylistics and To the Lighthouse: A deictic shift theory analysis. Target, 26(1), 128–145.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-17] Munday, J. (2013). The role of archival and manuscript research in the investigation of translator decision-making. Target. 25(1). 125-139.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-18] Munday, J., & Wang, B. (2021). Advances in Discourse Analysis of Translation and Interpreting. Routledge.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-19] Nikolaeva, N. G., Yermoshin, A. V., & Volskaya, A. S. (2024). Transposition — retelling — translation: The destiny of the Areopagitica in Slavia Orthodoxa. Slovo.ru: Baltic Accent, 15(1), 126–139.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-20] Nord, C. (1991). Text Analysis in Translation: Theory, Method, and Didactic Application of a Model for Translation-Oriented Text Analysis. Rodopi.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-21] Oborneva, Z. E., & Savel’eva, N. V. (2022). Interpretations to Tetrastichae sententiae by Gregory the Theologian in Anthologion (1660): Text and its Greek source. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta, Yazyk i Literatura, 19(2), 7–9.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-22] Pym, A. (1993). On Nord’s text analysis [Review of the book Text analysis in translation, by C. Nord]. TTR: Traduction, terminologie, rédaction, 6(2), 184–190.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-23] Rahman, L.A, Ramli, S, Ahmad, H, Amat, R.A. (2020). Kerelevanan Optimum dalam Terjemahan Sifat Allah dalam al-Quran ke Bahasa Inggeris: Analisis Baseer dalam surah al-Isra’. Al-Abqari, 23(1), 250-266.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-24] Risku, H. & Windhager, F. (2013). Extended Translation: A Sociocognitive Research Agenda. Target. 25(1), 33-45.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-25] Sotoca-Fernández, D. (2023). Corpus linguistics in stylistics and translation: A comparative analysis of gender in Happy Days by Samuel Beckett in English and French. New Voices in Translation Studies, 28(1), 105–128.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-26] Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-27] Tahiri, L., & Çapriqi, S. (2020). Lost in translation: Narrative perspective silenced by the voice of the translator. Respectus Philologicus, 38(43), 202–213.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-28] Venuti, L. (1995). The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. Routledge.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-29] Vlainić, M. (2024). Does poetry get lost in translation: Stylistic challenges in translating Anka Žagar. Croatica et Slavica Iadertina, 20(2), 171–193.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-30] Wright, C. (2010). Exophony and literary translation: What it means for the translator when a writer adopts a new language. Target, 22(1), 22–39.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-31] Xu, S. Y. (2023). Choice of words, expressions of mind: Understanding the marginality of translation in Singapore’s public services. Translation Studies, 16(1), 64–83.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-32] Yang, J. (2020). Participatory, self-organising, and learning: The patterns and influence of peer communication in online collaborative translation. Target. 32:2, 327-357.Google Scholar ↗

[refR-33] Zaki, M., & Mohamed, E. (2024). Two translations of Mahfouz’s Awlad Haratina (Children of Our Alley): A computational-stylistic analysis. Journal of Cultural Analytics, 9(3).Google Scholar ↗

[refR-34] Zanotti, S. (2020). Translaboration in a film context: Stanley Kubrick’s collaborative approach to translation. Target. 32:2, 217-238.Google Scholar ↗