Reduced abstractness in Spanish-English translation: the case of property-denoting nouns

This study proposes an empirical methodology to test the hypothesis thattranslation from Spanish into English results in reduced abstractness. The semantic areafocused upon is the attribution of properties to specific entities by means of abstractnouns. Two levels of abstractness, conceptual and grammatical, are considered. Conceptualabstractness is linked to the referential content of the nouns, while grammaticalabstractness involves the reified expression of properties as nouns, as opposed to otherword classes. The study classifies the translation correspondences for nouns ending in thesuffix -idad in the Spanish novels by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (1939-2003) Losmares del Sur and Tatuaje . Such property-denoting nouns contribute to theconstrual of point of view. The methodology combines a quantitative approach with aqualitative, text-analytic selection of relevant items. Results indicate that abstractnessis mainly reduced on the grammatical level although instances of diminished conceptualabstractness can also be observed. Compliance with language preferences may be aligning withreadability norms affecting the target product, crime fiction, to undo reification ofproperties (namely explicitation and simplification). The results underscore the need toinclude semantic parameters in studies of translation tendencies.