The Possibility of Language
A discussion of the nature of language, with implications for human and machine translation
| Brigham Young University at Provo
| Brigham Young University at Provo
This book is about the limits of machine translation. It is widely recognized that machine translation systems do much better on domain-specific controlled-language texts (domain texts for short) than on dynamic general-language texts (general texts for short). The authors explore this general — domain distinction and come to some uncommon conclusions about the nature of language. Domain language is claimed to be made possible by general language, while general language is claimed to be made possible by the ethical dimensions of relationships. Domain language is unharmed by the constraints of objectivism, while general language is suffocated by those constraints. Along the way to these conclusions, visits are made to Descartes and Saussure, to Chomsky and Lakoff, to Wittgenstein and Levinas. From these conclusions, consequences are drawn for machine translation and translator tools, for linguistic theory and translation theory. The title of the book does not question whether language is possible; it asks, with wonder and awe, why communication through language is possible.
[Benjamins Translation Library, 14] 1995. xxvi, 276 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Abbreviations
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x
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Acknowledgments
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xi
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xiii
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|
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xvii
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Preface
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xxv
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1. Limits in search of a cause
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1
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2. Macine translation
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13
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3. The wall
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43
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4. Possibilities
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101
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5. Implications
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135
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Appendix
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193
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Endnotes
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217
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Bibliography
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229
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Glossary
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239
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Subject index
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251
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Author index
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271
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“No readers are going to be neutral or indifferent. [This book’s] arguments deserve the most careful consideration by all those concerned with the fundamental aims and future prospects of both human and machine translation.”
John Hutchins, University of East Anglia, from the Foreword
“For nearly half a century, linguistics and comparative literature have disputed the terrain of translation studies. ... For practicing translators, who have belittled this dispute from a distance, now is the time to start reading [this book].”
Marilyn Gaddis Rose, State University of New York, from the Foreword
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In Translation, Globalization and Translocation,
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Melby, Alan
1996. Machine Translation and other Translation Technologies.
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 16 ► pp. 86 ff.
Nurminen, Mary & Maarit Koponen
2020. Machine translation and fair access to information.
Translation Spaces 9:1 ► pp. 150 ff.
O’hagan, Minako
2004. Book Review: Douglas Robinson. Performative Linguistics: Speaking and Translating as Doing Things with Words. New York/London: Routledge, 2003. ix+260pp..
Machine Translation 18:4 ► pp. 337 ff.
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Across Languages and Cultures 3:1 ► pp. 21 ff.
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The Translator 3:2 ► pp. 193 ff.
Somers, Harold
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In Recent Advances in Example-Based Machine Translation [Text, Speech and Language Technology, 21],
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Trujillo, Arturo
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In Translation Engines: Techniques for Machine Translation [Applied Computing, ],
► pp. 267 ff.
Whyman, Edward K. & Harold L. Somers
1999. Evaluation metrics for a translation memory system.
Software: Practice and Experience 29:14 ► pp. 1265 ff.
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Subjects
Linguistics
Translation & Interpreting Studies
BIC Subject: CF – Linguistics
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General