By MSM YAQOOB
Noam
Chomsky is generally regarded as the father of modern linguistics and the founder
of cognitive science, an American philosopher who played a major role in
translation studies.
He proposed the universal grammar notion, and he argues that the fundamental structures of language, according to Chomsky's theory, are already encoded in the human brain at birth. According to this "universal grammar theory," every language shares some of the same rules. Every language, for example, has a way of asking a question or making a negative statement.
In translation, Chomsky has a deep influence and proposed a Generative transformational model, which analyzes sentences into a series of related levels governed by laws. The overall model can be summarized in three points.
1.
Phrase structure rules generate deep structure, which is,
2.
Transformed by transformational rules relating one underlying structure to
another to generate
3.
A final surface structure that itself is subject to phonological and morphemic
rules.
Let's
take a closer look at this model to understand its notion of Chomsky. This
model can be closely presented as;
Phrase
structure rules = deep structure = Transformational Rules = Surface structure.
According
to Chomsky, this is a universal structure, and basically, it is comprised of
Kernel Sentences which are simple, active, and declarative that need minimum
transformation.
The
influence of this model is that many scholars use the concepts of deep
structure and surface structure to provide a theoretical basis for translation
studies.
In
Nida's 'Science of translation,' these sentences provide the translator with a
technique for decoding ST and encoding TT. It can be presented briefly as;
SL
= Restructuring = TL
Nida's
model can be divided into four functional classes, where he takes Kernal as a
base structure.
Events
Objects
Abstracts
Relations
Both
Nida and Taber say that all languages have six to a dozen simple kernel
structures and that they agree much more on the level of kernels than on the
level of more complex structures. The message is translated into the receptor
language at the kernel level before being transformed into the surface
structure in three stages: literal, minimal, and literary transfer.
