Dear all,
A new volume of Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses (vol. 14, 2001) has just been published. It's a special issue devoted to pragmatics and translation (editors: Jose Mateo and Francisco Yus), and some of the articles included in the volume deal (to a greater or lesser extent) with RT:
Dwelling in Marble Halls: A Relevance-Theoretic Approach to Intertextuality in Translation (p. 7-19)
Eva M. Almazán García, University of Vigo, eag@uvigo.es
ABSTRACT
In this article we explore the possibility of using a relevance-theoretic approach for translating intertextual references in a literary context. On the basis of an example taken from L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, we propose an interpretation of the original text based on concepts taken from Relevance Theory (henceforth RT) as designed by Sperber and Wilson (1986) and developed by Blakemore (1992). Gutt's contribution (1991), viewed as an insightful but still preliminary step towards an application of RT to the theory and practice of translation, is then made to crystalize in valid criteria which may orient the translator in the decision-making process.
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Making the Implicit Explicit for Successful Communication: Pragmatic Differences between English and Spanish Observable in the Translation of Verbs of Movement (p. 21-35)
Marion Edwards, University of Málaga, EDWARDS@uma.es
ABSTRACT
This article considers the translation of verbs of movement within texts between English and Spanish in general and includes a closer study of the English motion and manner verbs in The Fencing Master, the English translation of Arturo Pérez-Reverte's novel El maestro de esgrima. This study was originally sparked off by the following observation: "Spanish translators omit manner information about half of the time, whereas English translators actually add manner to the Spanish original in almost a quarter of their translations". (Slobin, 1996/99: 212).
After considering relevant theoretical issues related to observations in early Translation Studies, studies within Pragmatics and finally within Cognitive Linguistics, I turn to the novel itself and focus on the differing methods employed for dealing with the verbs of movement in the translation of this novel and classify them. This article argues that Slobin's observation above can be modified as we conclude that it is for pragmatic reasons that the English translation explicitly states what is in fact implicit in the Spanish original.
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Interpretive Use: Translating Intensification (p. 123-135)
Vicente López Folgado, University of Córdoba, ff1lofov@uco.es
ABSTRACT
My aim here is to discuss first the fitness of a cognitive theory like RT when approaching the interpretive operations taking place in the translating activity. The basic notion of interpretive resemblance is put forward instead of the traditional one of equivalence. Secondly, the application of this cognitive framework is here discussed so as to tackle the case of intensifiers as a vague, "connotative" field of interpretation that puts to test the inferential work of translators. I then focus on a few varied examples of actual translations which illustrate some of the contextual effects conveyed by intensifiers of various kinds.
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Transferring Communicative Clues in Translation (p. 137-149)
Mª Pilar Navarro Errasti, University of Zaragoza, pnavarro@unizar.es
ABSTRACT
In this essay I make use of the category communicative clue, as defined by Gutt (1991/2000), to explain certain differences between an original work and its various translations. Communicative clues are very useful analytical devices that show nuances of meaning and style. In the source texts, they sometimes go unnoticed. But when a translation is done the translator may come across these features and must desirably transfer them. Very frequently, however, they are ignored. Here a particular experience with translators shows how often these clues are overlooked.
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Types and Degrees of Interpretive Resemblance in Translation (p. 197-211).
Xosé Rosales Sequeiros, University of Greenwich, xose.rosales@gre.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
This articles explores one of the types of interpretive resemblance found in translation, namely, resemblance between concepts. These are cases where the concept encoded involves a resemblance relation between its literal import and the meaning it communicates, i.e. cases in which words do not literally communicate the concepts they encode. It is argued that translations are often carried out not on the basis of the concept encoded in the original text but on the basis of the actual concept communicated. This constitutes one of the sources of discrepancy found between original and target texts. In these cases, the translation encodes not what was encoded originally but (the translator's interpretation of what) the source concept was intended to communicate. There are three ways in which what is communicated by a concept may depart from what it encodes: concept narrowing, concept loosening, and echoic uses of concepts. In addition to discussing these processes in relation to translation, arguments are put forward for the existence of a further resemblance possibility: concept widening.
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Searching for Some Relevance Answers to the Problems Raised by the Translation of Irony (p. 213-247).
Mª Ángeles Ruiz Moneva, University of Zaragoza, mruiz@posta.unizar.es
ABSTRACT
Even though the approaches and definitions of irony have not been historically homogeneous, it has generally been argued that it implies a certain discrepancy in meaning, be it between what is said and what is meant, or between attitudes such as blame and praise, to refer only to some of the most recurrent tendencies. Moreover, recent literary and pragmatic views on the interpretation of irony seem to have agreed upon the role played by inference, thus stressing the fact that traditional models of communication fall short to account for the dexterity of possible meanings that may be conveyed by such a proteic resource. It may be said that the inferentially based relevance approach to communication has been offering fruitful insights into the understanding of irony. Thus, the relevance studies on irony go back in time more than twenty years so far, and new proposals keep on being put forward (1978-). However, perhaps not so many suggestions have been made on the problems and possible recurrent traits in the translation of irony.
The present paper sets out to explore some of the problems that have been traced in the translation of irony. The relevance analyses of irony and of translation will then be sketched, with a view to testing whether the relevance proposals on communication and translation can shed some light upon these issues.
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Genre and Translation (p. 297-321)
Christoph Unger, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Germany, christoph-kuelvi_unger@sil.org
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses a variety of translation problems which are often attributed to genre effects. These effects are analyzed and shown to reveal that genre is a diverse notion which can function in various ways in comprehension processes. To explain these, an account of genre based on relevance theory is proposed. The central claim of this account is that genre information can crucially contribute to the fine-tuning of relevance expectations in complex stimuli. On the theoretical side, this account refines our view of the management of expectations of relevance. On the practical side, it is shown that this account of genre is powerful enough to identify the sources of translation problems attributed to genre effects, and, together with Gutt's (1991; 2000a) explanatory account of translation, guide the translator in a principled way to adequate solutions in given situations.
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Anticipation in Conference Interpreting: A Cognitive Process (p. 323-335).
Sonia Vandepitte, Ghent Translation and Interpreting College, soniavandepitte@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
In conference interpretation research, anticipation is usually seen as the oral production of a particular part of a message in special circumstances. In psychophysiological research, however, anticipation is a mental process. The article presents a revised definition of anticipation that takes account of both approaches. It does so in terms of deliberate enrichment, a conceptual tool from relevance theory. Anticipation in conference interpreting is found to yield a high number of strengthenings rather than deletions, additions or contextual implications. This is a cognitive aspect which is typical of interpreting and distinguishes it from other communication events.
I am sure these authors will be willing to send you offprints of their articles (which are now being sent to them). Their e-mail addresses are provided in this e-mail.
Cordially,
Dr. Francisco Yus
University of Alicante
Department of English Studies
http://www.ua.es/dfing/personal/profs/yus.htm
http://cibersociedad.rediris.es/yus/
Apartado 99
E-03080 Alicante (Spain)
e-mail (university) francisco.yus@ua.es
e-mail (home) f.yus@mail.ono.es
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