Translational Activity in the Focus of Presentational Discourse

Abstract

The actualization of a translator’s presentational potential and competence within the framework of discourse linguistics contributes to the expansion of the contemporary paradigm of translation studies and motivates the study of language features of web discourse and its genre forms in the synergy of professional (institutional) and personally oriented communication. The aim of this article is to study the genre features of a professional translator’s presentational discourse focusing on their web-based interaction. The methods used in the paper, i.e. contextual, comparative and distributive analysis, allowed us to identify the features of self-presentation and self-expression of the translator, promoting text and presentational discourse within the framework of web interaction, and thus to justify the hypothesis about the tendency of professional translators to actively express themselves in Internet not only for professional but also personal purposes. Considering the multi-layered nature of web-based communication and the multi-genre palette of web discourse, the authors of the paper analyze the presentation forms of a translator on the material of various online genres: personal website, blog, webinar, and YouTube channel. The novelty of the research lies in the analysis of presentation forms of professional translation discourse focusing on web discourse. The positioning of translator’s professional personality on the Internet is studied from the perspective of their individuality, the synergy of personal and professional communication. It is concluded that all possible genre forms of self-presentation are realized in the presentation discourse of translators in the web-based communicative space: demonstratives; reportatives; sociatives; creatives; agitatives; instructives; prescriptives; attractives. The conclusion is drawn that among the many forms of translator’s self-expression, the most effective in terms of web-based presentation discourse is the translator’s personal blog, which requires further detailed and in-depth analysis. Based on a comprehensive analysis of empirical material, the authors have been able to outline a new direction for research of the professional personality of translators, to define accents, trends, and specific features of self-presentation and self-expression of translators in the modern world. In the future, it is planned to examine the socio- and lingua-cultural features of the translator’s professional personality on the material of various blogs in different linguo-pragmatic conditions.

Keywords

• professional discourse of the translator
• presentational discourse
• online discourse
• self-expression
• genres of self-presentation