Chapter 2

Review of studies on explicitation

Although features of explicitation in interpreting have rarely been investigated, this phenomenon, being regarded widely as one of the Translation Universals, has been frequently explored in studies on written translation. Since translation and interpreting are means of language-mediated communication, treading the terrain of explicitations in written translation may also shed light on the features of explicitation in interpreting. Hence, in this chapter, previous studies that have dealt with explicitations in both translation and interpreting are discussed. To be specific, the discussion focuses on the definition (Section 2.1), typology (Section 2.2) and motivations (Section 2.3) of explicitation; the effects of professional experience on explicitation (Section 2.4); previous hypotheses on explicitation (Section 2.5) and the effects of directionality on explicitation (Section 2.6).