| Keywords [eng] |
Legal translation, court rulings, modal stance, epistemic, deontic, dynamic, lexical bundles, Teisinis vertimas, teismo sprendimai, požiūrio žymikliai, episteminis, deontinis, dinaminis, leksinės samplaikos |
| Abstract [eng] |
Modality is a grammatical device used to express the speaker’s attitude toward the events described in a sentence. Modality is complex because its expression can be interpreted in various ways, which poses challenges for translators. They must choose equivalents that preserve the same legal meaning and subtext, and cross-linguistic differences in the expression of modality complicate the translators’ work. Consequently, linguists and other scholars are taking an increasing interest in this field. This specific topic is based on material from the LECOLT parallel Lithuanian-English corpus. The corpus consists of 60 court decisions, compiled from rulings of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania and their officially published translations into English. The court decisions cover the period from 2014 to 2021. Eight instances of modal meaning most frequently identified in the Lithuanian part of the corpus were selected for analysis: gali ‘you can/you may’, pažymėtina ‘it should be noted/it is to be noted’, galėtų ‘could/would be able to’, turėtų ‘should/would have/would be supposed to’, galima ‘it is possible/one can/may’, būtina ‘it is necessary/must be’, pabrėžtina ‘it should be emphasized’, and akivaizdžiai ‘obviously/evidently/manifestly’. This study examines the translation of these modal expressions into English in order to illustrate the main similarities and differences in the expression of modality between Lithuanian and English, as well as the translation equivalents chosen by translators. In addition, the second part of the study sought to examine the recurring lexical combinations in which words expressing modality are most frequently used, and how those combinations are translated into English. The results of the study show that the translations reveal the main patterns of preservation and change in modal position groups. Various methods were applied when translating Lithuanian modal position groups into English. In some cases, they were translated literally, preserving the modal meaning. In other cases, they were altered or rephrased. Overall, the translations primarily sought to preserve the legal consequences and modal strength of the original text, although certain changes are noticeable. Nevertheless, this study remains rather limited, as it sought to discuss only the most common instances of modal expression. In the future, it would be interesting to select a larger sample of expressive means and expand the study. Modality plays an important role in legal language, so such studies would contribute to improving the quality of translation. |
