Iv - University of Salford Institutional Repository

69), Neubert introduces the notion of 'prototypical textuality' to
resolve the issue of equivalence. He maintains that:
"Translating an exemplar of L1 text type into target language
L2 presupposes a prototypical text in L2. It is, in all
probability, different in its lexical, grammatical, and
stylistic makeup from its corresponding prototypical opposite
number in Ll. The key operations involved in this process - in
familiar words: the creation of an equivalent L2 text-
approximate the L2 prototype without having to attain it
fully".
Neubert's prototypical approach to equivalence, in this perspective,
promotes the prospective translator's and interpreter's competence in
relating instances of L1 texts and L2 texts respectively to
prototypical L1 and L2 texts. In this way, grammatical and lexical
structures will not be interpreted as correspondences on the sentential
level but as' 'vectorial components' leading to prototypical equivalence
on the textual level. But does such a Utopian prototypical layout
exist in L1 and L2 texts? There may be a prototype business letter, a
prototype cooking recipe, a prototype instructions manual, and a
prototype legal contract. But could there be a prototypical poem,
novel or dramatic text? Translation transcends the formal confines of
a message. It is not an approximation of an unpredictable prototypical
instance in Ll.
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