CI_07_84

18.02.2015 Views
(our~t- cir~cuit ----.....------------------~~~ 1 TheUpsand DourosofLanguage by Geoffrey Vitale 1have for some time now been mulling over what seem to me some curious terminological contradictions involving direction signais. For a number of good reasons, including a permanent Iy charged timetable, 1doubt 1shall have occasion to investigate the phenomenon more thoroughly, but 1 feel it would be churlish to hoard my accumulated gleanings. Hopefully, the very tentative hypotheses that follow will lead to an animated correspondence in the columns of Circuit and, who knows, some earnest young translator in search of geographical glory might make it the starting-off point for an MA report. The first point 1 should like to make touches on the East-West phenomenon. In London, Paris and Montreal, to take but three examples, the "east end" has invariably designated the poor area of town. There is Iittle mystery here. Medieval towns and, as is the case of Montreal and many North-American cities, towns fou nded in the medieval tradition were often built on the sea or at the mouth of a tidal river. These towns were very frequently destined to grow into large cities. Starting in the east, i.e. seaward, they gradually expanded westwards and the rich merchants and bankers living in St. Paul's St., St. John's, St. Matthew's and St. Luke's moved out to Primrose Gardens, King Edward's Drive, Blenheim Row or whatever, leaving their saints to drift through genteel shabbiness to outright decay. The phenomenon was of course reversed when one reached the west coast: the wealthy suburbs stretched to the east, away from the sea. Given the linear demography of Canada, it is not surprising that this East-West syndrome still prevails; though in inland cities, East-West river lines are more likely to generate a wealthy North-end or South Shore. However, ports and river mouths do not entirely explain attitudes to direction signais, particularly those associated with up and dawn. It may be logical for someone living as far west as Winnipeg, to say "down East", since Canadians tend to designate directions according to the flow of their rivers. But why should a resident of Vancouver use the same expression? ln 19 th century America the pioneers "out West" used "down East" almost with nostalgia to denote a society of wealth, luxury and culture. This gradually changed and, certainly in Canada, overtones of distrust rather than of envy crept into the term. Twenty years ago there were still suggestions of deep immorality when using "down East" to stigmatise the follies of Toronto and Montreal. The answer to the persistence of the epithet is certainly not river-associated. The fluvial influence is very strong in Québec. The Beauceron, whose river is La Chaudière, will "monter en Floride" and, thence, "descendre à Québec". However, points of the compass do supersede and he will "descendre dans le sud" and "monter au nord." Notice, though, that the francophone citizen of Maine "descend en (sic) Canada." Not only is the river important for the Quebecer, but changes of river influence his language. From Québec "on monte à Montréal" and "on descend à Chicoutimi." But from Chicoutimi the Saguenay river takes over and "on monte à Chibougamau." Using the same impeccable logic, the citizen of Chicoutimi "monte à Sherbrooke." The direction of the current does not affect the European in quite the same fashion - perhaps heavily industrialised countries are that much further from nature. In France, the provincial, whether he live on the Belgian frontier or at Carcassonne, "monte à Paris." The Parisian, for his part only leaves the capital to "descendre". In ail fairness - it is sa difficult to be objective about Parisians! - things are changing and one does hear about the occasional Parisian who "monte à Lille." ln Great Britain, the use of up is a trifle more complicated and, when not compass-associated, often carries a c1ear suggestion of travelling away from one's "locus in quo" towards uncivilised parts. Thus, though both Londoners and Scotsmen will travel "up North" and "down South", the former will travel "up to Edinborough" and the latter, when he cannot avoid doing so, will travel "up to London". Going to work, i.e. away from the hub of his personal universe, the suburban Londoner will go "up to town". However, if shopping locally he will go "down town" (and not "down to town"). "Down" is often associated with pleasure activities, for example going "down to the country" for the weekend. We may note, however that the expression "down home" is used much less frequently than in the U.S.A., and the term "up home' is rarely employed. ln Britain there are, as in Canada, other influences which complicate the use of up/down. Thus, ''l'm yoing up to see my brother" suggests a northern direction. Dawn, in this context, while not necessarily indicating the south, does normally preclude the north. In London one also finds a rather pretentious variant: "to go up to the West End" (for theatre, shopping, etc.) and to "go up to the City" (to work). This particular usage is definitely class-conscious and is used both by the upper middle c1ass and by those who wish to underline their white-collar status. These are but a few examples of what looks to be a rich lodestone of research, particularly in a country Iike Canada, where so many ethnie influences are at work. Just to get his hand in, our hypothetical MA student might wish to ask some of the following questions: Does everyone go "up the street" and "down the street" because of the house numbers, or because they live on a hill, or because "down the street" means in the direction of the shops? Are there communities where "up" and "down" have positive or negative moral connota tions? Why does "to go west" mean to show a pioneer spirit in the USA, and to be ready for the scrap heap in Great Britain? Il y a de quoi perdre le nord! ~ 32 • CIRCUIT - DÉCEMBRE 1984

--- - - - --- -_====_'7- IBM Canada Ltée BUREAU DE TRADUCTION F. GABER LTÉE (514) 485-9373 Arabe. français. anglais. Tous domaines. Aide à la rédaction. Traitement de texte. 860. bd Décarie. b. 301. Saint-Laurent (OC) H4L3M1 (514) 744-2087 558, Notre-Dame Saint-Lambert, Québec J4P 2K7 yves gosselin WILFRID BOUDREAU r,.~p~~ 744-0290 TRANSLATION SERVICE DE TRADUCTION 300 DÉCARIE, SUITE 8 MONTRÉAL, H4N 2M2 ~jOSie ouellet simard traduction spécial isée en administration (514) 663-8448 458, rue de JJlLyenne laval-des-rapicfes, qué. h7n 4a3 peut maintenant être typographiée en une seule opération facile si vous utilisez votre machine de'traitement de texte ou votre ordinateur personnel. Vous économiserez ainsi temps et argent. LAISSEZ-NOUS VOUS MONTRER COMMENT! Téléphonez au 337-3311 ~ IMPRIMERIE PLOW & WATTERS CANADA LIMITEE U'5400, CHEMIN ST-FRANÇOIS sr·LAURENT, QUE. H4S 1P6 Pierre Marchand Traducteur- rédacteur (514) 523-4895 1754, rue Wolfe Montréal (Québec) H2L 3J8

Page 2 and 3: '1 1 Multitone Electronics Lld., op

Page 4 and 5: .- ECll0$ Alternatives to white-out

Page 6 and 7: La terlDinologie cOIDptable sur le

Page 8 and 9: Le doublage, cet inconnu Le doublag

Page 10 and 11: « Comme la majorité des longs mé

Page 12 and 13: 2 L'industrie québécoise du doubl

Page 14 and 15: 3 BELGIQUE L'adaptation cinéDlato!

Page 16 and 17: par Solange Lapierre ~ CODlDlent pe

Page 18 and 19: Sll f~ Je IIif'..C_h.ro.n.i.q.u.e.d

Page 20 and 21: Luxembourg Les enjeux politiques de

Page 22 and 23: Venezuela La trad.uction au Venezue

Page 24 and 25: Sondagéclair Nouveautés Ouvrage:

Page 26 and 27: par Paul Horguelin avec la collabor

Page 28 and 29: 1 où l'on présente les affixes et

Page 30 and 31: 1 i reversai of payment, n. SYN aut

Page 32 and 33: etrait d'espèces, n.m. (caisse) Ca

Page 36: La langagerie Inc. est un cabinet d

carte

terminologie

traduction

langue

abrev

doublage

circuit

transaction

films

traducteurs

CI_07_84

CI_07_84 ... View more CI_07_84

Delete template?

Save as template ?

CI_07_84 CI_07_84