APPLICATION OF KATHARINA REISS’ TEXT TYPOLOGY IN TRANSLATION – AN ANALYSIS OF MARK TWAIN’S THE DAMNED HUMAN RACE

Katherine Reiss is a prominent researcher in the field of second language acquisition and language education. Her work focuses on the role of text in second language learning, with a particular emphasis on text typology and text-based approaches to language teaching. Katherine Reiss's text typology is a framework for analyzing the linguistic features of texts and categorizing them into different types. By applying this theory, the study will examine translation of Mark Twain's The Damned Human Race to explain briefly how the text typology guides translation activities. This article will provide an overview of Reiss's text typology and its key components, including its use of the distinction between communicative and referential functions of language, and its classification of texts into four main types: informative, expressive, operable, and imaginative. The article will also explore the advantages and limitations of using Reiss's text typology in text analysis and discuss its potential applications in fields such as literary studies, language education, and language testing.


INTRODUCTION
Based on equivalency theory, Reiss proposed text typology in 1970s in line with German linguist Karl Bühler's who classified three functions of language. Karl divides them into three categories namely informational function, expressive function, and appellative function. Using his categorization technique, Reiss connects these functions to their association with language "dimensions" and exact kinds or communication circumstances where they are utilized. As a result, she categorizes texts into three primary categories and one supplemental type: informative texts, expressive texts, operational texts, and audio-visual texts. The primary features of each type are described as under (Reiss, 1989, p. 108-9): a.
Informative text type: "Plain communication of facts": It includes information, knowledge, viewpoints, etc. The language dimension utilized to transfer the information is logical or referential, and the content or topic is the primary emphasis of the communication. b.
Expressive text type: "Creative composition": The artistic component of language is employed by the author. The message's form, as well as the author or sender, are highlighted. c.
Operative text type: "Inducing behavioral responses": The appellative function's is to attract and entice a reader or receiver of the text to do something, such as buy a product (in the case of an advertisement) or agree to an argument (in the case of a political speech or a barrister's final remark). The language is dialogic, with an appellative focus. d.
Audio-medial texts. It includes films, visual and spoken ads which add on the other three functions with visualizations, music, etc.

Research Objectives
Reiss's text typology is a framework for classifying texts based on the degree of explicitness and creativity present in the language used. The research objectives of applying this typology in translation would likely include: a.
Identifying the type of text being translated and understanding the characteristics of that type in order to make informed decisions about how to approach the translation process. b.
Examining the relationship between source text and the target text in terms of creativity and how that relationship may affect the translation. c.
Investigating how the translation of different types of text may vary based on translator's skills and experience. d.
Understanding how the typology can be used to evaluate and improve the quality of translators.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Text typology in translation refers to the categorization of texts based on their genre, style, and purpose. This field of study examines how the characteristics of a text can affect the translation process and the strategies that are used to convey meaning across languages. Some examples of text typologies in translation studies include literary texts such as novels, poetry and plays; technical texts such as manuals, instructions and reports; scientific texts such as research articles and dissertations; legal text such as contracts and laws; media texts such as news articles and advertisements. There is a significant amount of literature on text typology in translation with many researchers and practitioners highlighting the importance of understanding the unique features of different text types in order to produce effective translation. Overall, a literature review of text typology in translation would provide a comprehensive overview of the state of the field, highlighting the key issues, challenges and trends in the area and would provide insights for future research and practice. There are many writers and researchers who have contributed to this field each bringing their own unique perspective and insights. Peter Newmark is a British translator and translation theorist who has written extensively on text typology and the principles of intercultural communication. He is known for his work on the importance of understanding the genre, style and purpose of a text in order to select appropriate translation strategies.
Lawrence Venuti, an American translator, translation theorist and cultural historian is known for his emphasis on translation as a cultural practice and the importance of taking into account the target language culture and its conventions. He also stresses on the translator's subjectivity and its impact on the final translated text. Gideon Toury, an Israeli linguist and translation theorist, has made significant contributions to the field of descriptive translation studies with a focus on the notion of "norms" in translation and how they shape the final translated text.
Mona Baker, a British translator, translation theorist and editor, has written and edited several books on translation studies including "The Routledge Handbook of Translation Studies" where she addresses the challenges of translating idiomatic expressions, specialized vocabulary and cultural references across languages.
Christiane Nord, a German translator, translation theorist and teacher, is known for her work on translation strategies, text typology and the translation of technical texts. She has written several written books on translation studies including "Text Analysis in Translation: Theory, Methodology and Didactic Application of a Model For Translation -Oriented Text Analysis" where she explains how to analyze texts in order to prepare for translation.
These writers and researchers have made significant contributions to the field of text typology in translation by providing a deeper understanding of the characteristics of different types of texts and strategies and techniques used to effectively convey meaning across languages. These are just a few examples of writers who have contributed to the field. There are many more researchers and practitioners who have also made significant contributions to the field. Overall, this review has provided us a comprehensive overview of the state of the field.

Application of Reiss's Text Typology in Translationan Analysis of Mark Twain's The Damned Human Race
Once Eugene Nida said: Two languages can't be same in terms of meaning attributed to equivalent symbols or in a way these symbols are arranged in phrases and sentences. Thus, an absolute correlation between languages is impossible. Resultantly, there is no possibility of exact translations. Although a translation's overall affect may carry similarity to the original text, yet in-depth identity is not possible. One should not expect the translation process to be free of some degree of interpretation by the translator. (Nida, 2004, p. 153).
While translating Mark Twain's The Damned Human Race, I had to take some realities, or more precisely, some constraints, into account. I set myself the task of answering some problems before beginning to translate Mark Twain's article. I would call them who, where, what, why and when of translation. I call them the Wh-Questions which are necessary for a translator to know. I could never translate a work effectively until I knew who the original writer was, when he wrote, after all what the reasons were that he wrote and where he wrote. This aspect falls in the domain of Skopos Theory. Skopos theory focuses on the translation's goal, which governs the translation techniques and tactics to be applied in order to obtain a functionally adequate conclusion. This is the TT, often known as The Translatum by Vermeer. As a result, according to Skopos theory, the translator must comprehend why a ST is being translated and what the TT's role would be. Aside from that, I have to use Reiss' text equivalence rules, which has its own appeal. I also had to take my receiving culture into consideration. I had to repeat the same foregoing process of posing myself the Wh-Questions. What I was translating, Who I was translating to, why I had to translate, where I was going to undertake the task of translation and when I was translating. So, the bottom line is I had to know the writer of the original text not only by reading the essay The Damned Human Race but also some of his other works to get to know something about what he generally writes and what he writes about in addition to his age and his style of writing. The story does not end here. I had to cater to the needs and taste of my readers as well. Lawrence Venuti while discussing Derrida once said that the problem of the translator gets more complicated when he has to translate for the audience that already knows about the original. In my case the target readers are postgraduate level Scholars who had prior and better knowledge of Mark Twain. While reading the essay, I immediately realized that Mark Twain was a satiric and humorous writer. He developed his words, sentences and paragraphs like a carpenter who builds up a tower meticulously brick by brick and once he is about to place the last brick on the top of tower something goes wrong and the whole tower comes down. He does not let the reader go astray but holds him tight to catch the last thread of his idea. He had an interest in science. It looks like he was suffering at the hands of his fellow human beings which I suddenly came to know when I read that Mark Twain had always been under heavy debt. He had lived in the United States in the last half of the 19 th century when it had witnessed the destruction and killings of the Civil War in which he himself participated on the side of the Confederate South where livelihood depended upon the maintenance of slavery rather than abolition. My task was much more demanding than what could be expected. I had to retain the style of Mark Twain because without doing that I could never translate with exactitude. I had to write short sentence where he used short one and longer sentence where he wrote the longer one. The irony, the humor and the satire had to be transferred the way Mark Twain did. It was not all Mark Twain delivered most of his essays before his audience that is why his style carries a peculiar immediacy which is usually missing from the writings of many writers. Apparently, it looks like I made my preface a hotchpotch of all the models, however, I will set aside any such censure since there is a deep association between Nida's formal and dynamic equivalence with Jerome's or Cicero's word-to-word and sense-for-sense, Drydon's metaphrase and paraphrase, Newmark's communicative and semantic, and Venuti's domestication and foreignization. My aim was to let the reader remains at peace and not disturb him because that would make him angry and uncomfortable. His peace of mind would be broken if I break his suspension of disbelief like the absurdist. I did not want him to ever ask what it meant or what that stood for. If any such situation comes up, I wil put him at ease by giving explanations in parenthesis because this does not break the flow or the attention of the reader whereas the case is quite different with footnotes and cross references since the reader has to lift his focus from the word to the footnote or the cross reference. I, therefore, reject any other method of clarifying culture specific items except the parenthesis or omission where necessary. I believe in holding the writer by the neck and bringing him closer to the reader, shaking him the way an upturned purse is shaken up by someone in search of some treasure inside it. Now I would come towards Reiss' principles of text topology. As far as the case of literary translation which involves the transfer of aesthetics and that too from one language into which has its own distinct syntax, lexicon and culture as in this case it becomes fully redundant to translate formally. I decided to try my hand and my imagination by translating following the principle of text equivalence. Moreover, if anyone tried to find out any lacuna, I can convince him that it is the text equivalence which believes in producing the equivalent effect where I took care of the relation between the receptor and the message as it was between the Americans of the time of Mark Twain and his message. I translated The Damned Human Race as naturally as possible by keeping in view the linguistic and the cultural needs of my receptors in this case postgraduate level scholars . I had to tailor the messagein TEXT TOPOLOGY the message stands for the themeas was required by the grammar, the lexicon and the cultural references of the target audience. As Nida indicated, my translation sought to make sense while conveying the spirit and manner of the original, which has a natural and simple method of communication through eliciting a comparable reaction. This would provide comprehension to the translated content while preserving the original structure. If a literal translation fails, may we accept a "thought-for-thought" translation that promotes text equivalency above literal meaning? I had to take care of all these factors before translating this essay. The toughest of the problem was to translate the title because this is what could attract the attention of my readers. While translating the essay, I realized that there were many cultural references which my readers would have found hard to digest like anaconda swallowing a calve because we don't have anacondas in Pakistan. Therefore, we can't visualize a huge may it be of any size gulping calve. Another cultural reference was that of buffalo hunt since we have buffalos stolen but not hunted; not even in the distant history. An English Earl can be understood in our context but to make things further clarified for the audience the Earl was translated as Arab Prince because we have a lot of them coming here for hunting all those animals that have been denied by law to hunt down. Then there is the Australian bird and the jackass. Saving grace is a completely Christian concept associated with Christ and his crucifixion. I used for the translation of these terms dynamic equivalence and to be more precise I completely domesticated these words. I could not find an exact cultural reference for the Australian bird therefore I left it untouched and intact. One word drawing room has not been translated because it has become a word of common usage in our culture. The syntactic structure of the original sentences has been not meddled with a lot. However, where necessary some words have been omitted and some added to enhance the effect upon the audience. Many allusions to religion had to be toned down since they will hurt the attachment of our readers with religion, therefore, instead of being direct I used euphemism like I intentionally omitted the words like religious animal, or the animal which believes in religion and used instead translation of man in the target language. The writer has repeated many sentences especially at the start and towards the end of the paragraphs which for the sake of flow and linguistic requirement and avoiding charge of repetition connected with but, however etc. For the sake of fluency and linguistic requirements the tense has been changed at many a place like past into present and present into future without making any compromise on the message. Sometimes I came across the issue of gender specificity like at one place the writer refers to man/men as representative of general humanity and sometimes as grammatical gender, examples of rooster and cat because cat is gender neutral in English but gender sensitive in target language. Here it depends on the ingenuity whether the writer means it in the sense of gender or as representative of general humanity or otherwise. Mark Twain uses short sentences for emphasis and reiteration of his argument, I have also used short sentence in the target language.
Text typology suggests that Mark Twain's The Damned Human Race falls in between the operational and expressive types. On the one hand, the essay's audience consists of other individuals, implying that there is interaction between the writer and the general public. In this regard, the essay has the potential to infect the audience and persuade them to believe and support the writer. As a result, it might be classified as an operational text type. A speech, on the other hand, as a literary genre, has its own creative and aesthetic elements, allowing the author or speaker to convey his or her intent via the use of language's aesthetic dimension. In this scenario, Mark Twain could express his goal, point of view about humans, and criticism of greed. As a result, Twain's essay is a "hybrid text," as Reiss refers to it, with both operative and expressive purposes. However, Reiss (1989) asserts that, while various purposes may exist concurrently in one text or at different phases of the text, one function always predominates. Similarly, the author feels that the expressive function dominates the essay.