The Babel Tower, Genesis, chapter 11. A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the © Denise Milizia language of finance: credit or debit? © Denise

The Babel Tower, Genesis, chapter 11

A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in thelanguage of finance: credit or debit? © Denise Milizia© Denise Milizia

Computers are often likened to the telescope

or to the microscope

In this work computers are compared to the kaleidoscope

DeutschSvenskaNorskDanskSuomiItalianoCastellanoCatalàFrancaisDutchEnglish

A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit? © Denise Milizia© Denise Milizia

English Wordlist Italian Wordlist

creditbankscarddebtdebityearmoney

interestmarket

government

cartacreditobancaeuroconto

pagamentoserviziItalia

BancomatATM


THE FIRST TEN NOUNS OF BOTH CORPORA

1. mondialmente noti sotto l’acronimo di ATM . Se ne contano 34 mila nel nostro Pa2. prelevare contante alle postazioni ATM (quelle del Bancomat per intenderci)3. ntanti dagli sportelli automatizzati (ATM). Tra i principali imputati del manca4. sportello bancario automatizzato (ATM), che dall’inizio del 2003 ha già 5. possibili tramite i canali diretti e ATM, azzerando le spese di tenuta conto …6.rispetto al settembre 2000, mentre gli ATM da cui è possibile prelevare con Maes7.giornaliere. Non ci sono costi per gli ATM dell’istituto, altre banche (Italia 8. … ci si rivolge agli esercenti o agli ATM bancari. Se, dunque, con il PagoBan9.funzione di prelievo di contante dagli ATM (310 mila in Europa). Le carte Euro10. lizzo per prelievi di contante dagli ATM – il changeover euro/lira ha senza d

122 instances of ATM in the Italian comparable corpus0.16%


OCCURRENCES OF ATM

70 instances of ATM in the English comparable corpus0.04%

58 instances with reference to the machine12 instances with reference to the card

no occurrence of cashpoint card1 occurrence of ATM cashpoint

1. standard ATM cards with upgraded ATM cards with a debit feature. You may …2. I could amble over to the ATM while my bags tumble off the conveyor belt3.for any company that wants to run ATMs. The new banks will also be plugged 4. can get cash using a PIN at an ATM machine that is part of the global MasterC5. cash, often without cost, at an ATM cashpoint in one euro country from …6. Finder to make sure there’s an ATM where you’re going (they’re numerous; I’7 and credit unions also have ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) or ABMs…8. rationale for banks introducing ATMs in the 1970s, telephone banking in the 9. me there’s always a functioning ATM in the airport. Why bring any cash at all?10.nearby automated teller machine (ATM) or you can even get cash back at …


OCCURRENCES OF ATM

Instances %Card/s = 1,358 0.86Carta/e = 856 1.08

HYPERNYMpayment card

credit card debit card pre-paid card

bank card charge card

Pagobancomat TopCash BNL Moneta (Intesa)


HYPERNYM - HYPONYM

Patterns of collocations which have a history of recurrence in the language become part of our

linguistic repertoire and we do not stopto think about them when we encounter them.

By contrast, collocations which have little or no historyof recurrence catch our attention and strike us an unusual.

Baker, 1996 A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit? © Denise Milizia© Denise Milizia

The Italian ‘carta di debito’ originates in a translation of the English phrase, and can consequently be defined

a calque borrowed from English.A “loan translation” is a diachronic term,

so meaning is secondary to origin.

Sinclair, 2004 personal communication


The couple debit/debito can be regarded as a pair of false friends:they superficially look alike, they resemble eachother in form but they are not a reliable translation of eachother and express different meanings.

Baker, 2004 personal communication


Debit card = carta di prelievoFernando Picchi’s Bilingual Economics and Business

Debit card = carta di addebitoRagazzini 2004

singleton:

nel 1950, negli Stati Uniti, Diners Club e American Express lanciarono le loro “charge cards” (carte di addebito/prelievo), il primo esempio di “plastic money”

Carta di debito, a semantic calque or semantic loan, is undergoing what Gottlieb (2004) calls the “replacement” of the carta di addebito


DEBIT CARD

1. been forced to reduce off-line debit card interchange2. through, the payment will be off-line and you will be asked to sign the sales 3 accepting VISA and MasterCard off-line debit cards. Consumers have also been4. rd have been forced to reduce off-line debit card interchange by more than 30%5. would with a credit card. The on-line and off-line distinction may not matter to6. if your card handles both on-line and off-line debits and the store accepts 7. the transaction will be done on-line and you will be asked for your PIN 8. ssuers give cards for ATM and on-line transactions and another for off-line uses9. two types of debit cards: on-line and off-line: these cards usually are enhan

Carta di prelievo = Bancomat = on-line debit cardCarta di addebito = Pagobancomat = off-line debit card


5.in two days. They point out that debit-cards are a surprisingly secure form of 6. more convenient than cash, debit cards eliminate the common hassles asso7. despite Germans’ preference for debit-cards. The two retail banks have also a8. college kids should get debit cards, not credit cards, say most con 9. cashless society, I can use the debit card at the coffee shop and a lot of pe10. place of a credit card. Plus: debit-cards can save money: the ins and outs 11. By far I support the use of debit cards because there is no interest accr12. many of us enjoy the use of debit cards instead of writing out checks 13. d cautions: I laud the use of debit-cards instead of a credit card on every 14. most banks have warmed to the debit card because they are convinced that15. using a credit card. Besides, debit cards are a safer alternative than carr

16. You may a financial fiasco if a debit card falls into the wrong hands 17. Most consumers initially shunned debit cards because they faced unlimited

288 instances of debit card in the English comparable corpus

1. The chip cards now include a debit card function. Eventually a single card2. A thief may get your name and debit-card number from a receipt and order good3.introduced a bill that would cap debit-card transfer, direct debit or 4.help stay on budget and to avoid debit card fees and potential interest charges


1. al fattore rischio che danno alla carta di debito più dignità rispetto alla 2. una firma si riesce ad imitare, con la carta di debito indovinare un PIN a cinque3. E-payment, preferita la banca. Le carte di debito sono lo strumento ritenuto4. Europei, per incentivare l’uso delle carte di debito su Internet sono già stipu5. l’acceleratore sulla diffusione delle carte di debito come strumento di pagament6. onoscere soste. Alla fine del 2002 le carte di debito in Italia sfioravano i 257. ormai la crescita inarrestabile delle carte di debito e credito sembra proprio n8. in parte derivante dal possesso di carte di debito, che vengono percepite 9. è diventato il maggiore emittente di carte di debito nel nostro paese. E ora co10. i numeri che caratterizzano le cugine carte di debito e credito, ma si calcola

85 occurrences of carta di debito in the Italian comparable corpus

11. che gli addetti ai lavori chiamano carte di debito, vale a dire quelle 12. mediato dal conto corrente, quelle carte di debito, che, per i comuni mortali,13. te di plastica più comuni sono: la carta di debito, più comunemente conosciuta

come Bancomat


debit card = carta di debito

This case can be defined a fairly felicitous case of equivalence,

in form and in meaning

1. celto quella determinata carta di credito, per esempio un’assicurazione sug2. privilegiano l’uso della carta di credito rappresentano solo una percentuale3. menti di pagamento. La carta di credito, comoda pure per prenotare permet4. il telefono dà sprint alla carta di credito. MasterCard lancia in Italia il primo5. il valore aggiunto della carta di credito è proprio quello del finanziamento 6. zare frequentemente la carta di credito. Vantaggi per il cliente. Il cliente 7. propenso ad utilizzare la carta di credito, solo il 4% quella di debito. Il 8. spiegato i vantaggi della carta di credito (intesa in senso lato) quale mezzo 9. centivare l’utilizzo della carta di credito. C’è la possibilità di inviare dietro10. te, maggiormente della carta di credito, più frequente in casi speciali –11. finanziarie quello delle carte di credito è il business del futuro. Un futuro

All the citations above are coloured by a general pleasantness

257 occurrences in the Italian comparable corpus

Most of the words which “keep company” to the query phrase are coloured by a general pleasantness,

suggesting the way in which Italiansdeal with this plastic card and the way they feel

when using it: it is a convenient way of payment.

We can safely say that the semantic prosody of carta di credito is positive.

1. the convenience of a credit card, we will continue the strangle hold of our cred 2. is pure hypocrisy for credit-card firms to complain that personal bankruptcy 3. volving credit. Most credit-card consumers keep on acquiring debt even as 4. vels, and defaults on credit-card and mortgage loans have been high. This 5. heir debts. When the credit-card craze finally began to abate, consumer spe 6. do not pay off your credit card each month you suffer punitive rates. That 7. ple get caught up in credit card offers that are too “good to pass up”. The 8. is sure to point at the credit card- industry. The constant stream of junk mail 9. are just like drugs, credit cards offer short term pleasure and long term pain10. and the truth is that credit cards can be a useful financial tool or a nightmare11. credit card companies entice you to get into debt

Most of these words are not conventionally desirable or attractive.

Most of the words in the vicinity of the node are not desirable or attractive

In both left and right cotext there is a set of undesirableevents, emphasizing the preference for the negative:

debtdrugs pain

junk mailnightmarehypocrisy

strangle holdpunitive rates

1. contradiction with Providian. For, how can a credit card debt be discharged in a bankruptcy2. average family in the United States carries credit card debt burden of $4,000. That is just3. T 35% say it helps them avoid accumulating credit card debt. More than one third said it4. as on their poorer constituents swamped by credit-card debt. Appeals to crude politics and5. that banks must follow on delinquent credit card debts. From July 1st issuers will al6. to $1.3 trillion now, of which over 40% is credit card debt. Americans now have on average7. a credit card debt of $4,000,that is just credit card debt; it does not include mortgages 8. total income going to pay off debt. Still, credit card debt is often the most vicious sort 9. it is inconceivably hard to “get ahead” of credit card debt. It is incredibly easy to fall

Words with a negative semantic prosody such as debt were unexpected in the environment of credit card;

as a matter of fact, we do not have any in the Italian corpus.

1. sta nel fatto che con la carta revolving ti viene concesso in prestito un importo che 2. un finanziamento come la carta revolving, dove sta la funzione creditizia? In effetti 3. Vista la caratteristica della carta revolving di essere uno strumento di credito, è opportun4. sono pronti a giurare che le carte revolving rappresentano il futuro. Quanto, più in genera5. solo un paio d’anni fa erano le carte revolving, anche dette a rimborso rateale, a rappresenta6. parte sono poi i costi delle carte revolving, che consentono il rimborso a rate delle spese7. rgency ItalCard VISA Carta di credito revolving con vantaggi esclusivi per gli associati8. luppo sostenibile. La carta è di tipo revolving, prevede quindi un pagamento rateale e il 2%9. sconti Alpitour; la carta può essere revolving, emessa da Fiditalia, gratuita il primo 10. del fido, per le carte revolving, viene concesso in base al profilo di rischio

56 instances of revolving in the Italian comparable corpus 32 instances of carta revolving in the Italian comparable corpus


5 instances of revolving in the English comparable corpus

1. compound interest calculations and revolving credit. Most credit card consumers keep 2. installments. Because there is little revolving credit in Japan, card issuers want to know3. manage to introduce the concept of revolving payments. Japan’s consumers finance 4. on Deutsche Securities. Few offer revolving-payment schemes, which enable customers 5. Indeed in China credit-card-style-revolving consumer lending is illegal), is MasterCard

The collocation revolving card is completely missing in English

1. monthly balance immediately. A secured credit card offers a low credit limit 2. a no-fee credit card, search for a secured credit card, search for a point-earni 3. option was to get what's called a secured credit card. The customer opens a4. late-night TV. <p> (Excerpt from a secured credit card commercial) <p> Korry5. ut your hard-earned money into a secured credit card, you're making an

MUCH CAN BE INFERRED FROM WHAT IS ABSENT

In Collins Cobuild Dictionary (2001) revolving collocates only with door

Using a credit card can be like eating a family-size barof chocolate all by yourself – exhilarating while it lasts,

depressing when it’s finished and the guilt sets in.

All those bills to pay, or else the pain of outrageous interest ratesand that nagging feeling that maybe you didn’t need

those new shoes, after all.

The GuardianOctober 30, 2004

The difference between a debit card and a credit cardis that a debit card spends money you haven’t got now

and a credit card spends money you haven’t got later.

The Guardian,Saturday, October 30, 2004

Debit card = buy now pay now toolCredit card = buy now pay later tool, but pay more

These patterns are not recorded in traditional reference works such as dictionaries and grammars

Conclusion

Credit card

Carta di credito

Hardly any common environment

Debit card

Carta di debito

Equivalent in form and meaning

Financially, Italian credit cards are debit cards

Credit card

Carta di credito

Hardly any common environment

Financially, Italian credit cards are debit cards

buy now pay now buy now pay later

This research corroborates the idea that when a wordenters a language we cannot predict or control the path

this word will take, and the additional meaning thatit might or might not take on.

It is also evidence of the vitality of natural languages,that, over time, adapt to suit different environments,different societies and, therefore, distinct cultures.

Consequently, the same word might have different meaning and different function in

distinct societies, as in our examples:in Italy and in the USA

the carta di credito and the credit card mirrortwo different worlds and two different

ways of dealing with debt.

Thank you for your attention

Documents

The Babel Tower, Genesis, chapter 11. A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the © Denise Milizia language of finance: credit or debit? © Denise