The Babel Tower, Genesis, chapter 11
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the
language of finance: credit or debit? © Denise Milizia
Computers are often
likened to the telescope
or to the microscope
In this work computers are compared
to the kaleidoscope
Deutsch
Svenska
Norsk
Dansk
Suomi
Italiano
Castellano
Català
Francais
Dutch
English
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
THE FIRST TEN NOUNS OF BOTH CORPORA
English Wordlist
Italian Wordlist
credit
banks
card
debt
debit
year
money
interest
market
government
carta
credito
banca
euro
conto
pagamento
servizi
Italia
Bancomat
ATM
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
OCCURRENCES OF ATM
122 instances of ATM in the Italian comparable corpus
0.16%
1. mondialmente noti sotto l’acronimo di ATM . Se ne contano 34 mila nel nostro Pa
2.
prelevare contante alle postazioni ATM (quelle del Bancomat per intenderci)
3. ntanti dagli sportelli automatizzati (ATM). Tra i principali imputati del manca
4.
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 Maes
7.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 PagoBan
9.funzione di prelievo di contante dagli ATM (310 mila in Europa). Le carte Euro
10. lizzo per prelievi di contante dagli ATM – il changeover euro/lira ha senza d
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
OCCURRENCES OF ATM
70 instances of ATM in the English comparable corpus
0.04%
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 belt
3.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 MasterC
5. 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 …
58 instances with reference to the machine
12 instances with reference to the card
no occurrence of cashpoint card
1 occurrence of ATM cashpoint
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit? © Denise Milizia
HYPERNYM - HYPONYM
Instances
Card/s = 1,358
Carta/e = 856
%
0.86
1.08
HYPERNYM
payment card
credit card
bank card
debit card
pre-paid card
charge card
Pagobancomat
TopCash BNL
Moneta (Intesa)
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
Patterns of collocations which have a history of
recurrence in the language become part of our
linguistic repertoire and we do not stop
to think about them when we encounter them.
By contrast, collocations which have little or no history
of 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
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
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
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
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
DEBIT CARD
Debit card = carta di prelievo
Fernando Picchi’s Bilingual Economics and Business
Debit card = carta di addebito
Ragazzini 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
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
Carta di prelievo =
Bancomat
=
Carta di addebito = Pagobancomat =
1.
2.
3
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
been forced to reduce
through, the payment will be
accepting VISA and MasterCard
rd have been forced to reduce
would with a credit card. The
if your card handles both
the transaction will be done
ssuers give cards for ATM and
two types of debit cards:
on-line debit card
off-line debit card
off-line debit card interchange
off-line and you will be asked to sign the sales
off-line debit cards. Consumers have also been
off-line debit card interchange by more than 30%
on-line and off-line distinction may not matter to
on-line and off-line debits and the store accepts
on-line and you will be asked for your PIN
on-line transactions and another for off-line uses
on-line and off-line: these cards usually are enhan
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
288 instances of debit card in the English comparable corpus
1.
The chip cards now include a
2.
A thief may get your name and
3.introduced a bill that would cap
4.help stay on budget and to avoid
5.in two days. They point out that
6.
more convenient than cash,
7. despite Germans’ preference for
8.
college kids should get
9. cashless society, I can use the
10. place of a credit card. Plus:
11.
By far I support the use of
12.
many of us enjoy the use of
13. d cautions: I laud the use of
14. most banks have warmed to the
15. using a credit card. Besides,
16.
17.
debit card
debit-card
debit-card
debit card
function. Eventually a single card
number from a receipt and order good
transfer, direct debit or
fees and potential interest charges
debit-cards are a surprisingly secure form of
debit cards eliminate the common hassles asso
debit-cards. The two retail banks have also a
debit cards, not credit cards, say most con
debit card at the coffee shop and a lot of pe
debit-cards can save money: the ins and outs
debit cards because there is no interest accr
debit cards instead of writing out checks
debit-cards instead of a credit card on every
debit card because they are convinced that
debit cards are a safer alternative than carr
You may a financial fiasco if a debit card falls into the wrong hands
Most consumers initially shunned debit cards because they faced unlimited
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
85 occurrences of carta di debito in the Italian comparable corpus
1.
al fattore rischio che danno alla
2. una firma si riesce ad imitare, con la
3.
E-payment, preferita la banca. Le
4.
Europei, per incentivare l’uso delle
5. l’acceleratore sulla diffusione delle
6. onoscere soste. Alla fine del 2002 le
7. ormai la crescita inarrestabile delle
8.
in parte derivante dal possesso di
9.
è diventato il maggiore emittente di
10. i numeri che caratterizzano le cugine
11.
12.
13.
carta
carta
carte
carte
carte
carte
carte
carte
carte
carte
di
di
di
di
di
di
di
di
di
di
debito più dignità rispetto alla
debito indovinare un PIN a cinque
debito sono lo strumento ritenuto
debito su Internet sono già stipu
debito come strumento di pagament
debito in Italia sfioravano i 25
debito e credito sembra proprio n
debito, che vengono percepite
debito nel nostro paese. E ora co
debito e credito, ma si calcola
che gli addetti ai lavori chiamano carte di debito, vale a dire quelle
mediato dal conto corrente, quelle carte di debito, che, per i comuni mortali,
te di plastica più comuni sono: la carta di debito, più comunemente conosciuta
come Bancomat
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
debit card = carta di debito
This case can be defined
a fairly felicitous case of equivalence,
in form and in meaning
257 occurrences in the Italian comparable corpus
1. celto quella determinata carta di credito, per esempio un’assicurazione sug
2. privilegiano l’uso della carta di credito rappresentano solo una percentuale
3. menti di pagamento. La carta di credito, comoda pure per prenotare permet
4. il telefono dà sprint alla carta di credito. MasterCard lancia in Italia il primo
5. 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 dietro
10. 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
Most of the words which “keep company” to
the query phrase are coloured by a general pleasantness,
suggesting the way in which Italians
deal 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 pain
10. and the truth is that credit cards can be a useful financial tool or a nightmare
11.
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 undesirable
events, emphasizing the preference for the negative:
debt
drugs
pain
junk mail
nightmare
hypocrisy
strangle hold
punitive rates
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.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
contradiction with Providian. For, how can a credit card debt be discharged in a bankruptcy
average family in the United States carries credit card debt burden of $4,000. That is just
T 35% say it helps them avoid accumulating credit card debt. More than one third said it
as on their poorer constituents swamped by credit-card debt. Appeals to crude politics and
that banks must follow on delinquent credit card debts. From July 1st issuers will al
to $1.3 trillion now, of which over 40% is credit card debt. Americans now have on average
a credit card debt of $4,000,that is just credit card debt; it does not include mortgages
total income going to pay off debt. Still, credit card debt is often the most vicious sort
it is inconceivably hard to “get ahead” of credit card debt. It is incredibly easy to fall
56 instances of
revolving in the Italian comparable corpus
32 instances of carta revolving in the Italian comparable corpus
1.
sta nel fatto che con la carta
2.
un finanziamento come la carta
3.
Vista la caratteristica della carta
4.
sono pronti a giurare che le carte
5. solo un paio d’anni fa erano le carte
6.
parte sono poi i costi delle carte
7. rgency ItalCard VISA Carta di credito
8. luppo sostenibile. La carta è di tipo
9. sconti Alpitour; la carta può essere
10.
del fido, per le carte
revolving ti viene concesso in prestito un importo che
revolving, dove sta la funzione creditizia? In effetti
revolving di essere uno strumento di credito, è opportun
revolving rappresentano il futuro. Quanto, più in genera
revolving, anche dette a rimborso rateale, a rappresenta
revolving, che consentono il rimborso a rate delle spese
revolving con vantaggi esclusivi per gli associati
revolving, prevede quindi un pagamento rateale e il 2%
revolving, emessa da Fiditalia, gratuita il primo
revolving, viene concesso in base al profilo di rischio
A corpus-driven study of non-equivalence in the language of finance: credit or debit?
© Denise Milizia
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 know
3. 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 a
4. late-night TV. <p> (Excerpt from a secured credit card commercial) <p> Korry
5. 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 bar
of 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 rates
and that nagging feeling that maybe you didn’t need
those new shoes, after all.
The Guardian
October 30, 2004
The difference between a debit card and a credit card
is 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 tool
Credit card = buy now pay later tool, but pay more
These patterns are not recorded in traditional reference
works such as dictionaries and grammars
Conclusion
Debit card
Equivalent in form and meaning
Carta di debito
Credit card
Hardly any common environment
Carta di credito
Financially, Italian credit cards are debit cards
buy now pay now
buy now pay later
Credit card
Hardly any common environment
Carta di credito
Financially, Italian credit cards are debit cards
This research corroborates the idea that when a word
enters a language we cannot predict or control the path
this word will take, and the additional meaning that
it 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 mirror
two different worlds and two different
ways of dealing with debt.
Thank you for your
attention