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Article published In:
Audiovisual Translation: Theoretical and methodological challenges
Edited by Yves Gambier and Sara Ramos Pinto
[Target 28:2] 2016
► pp. 302–313

The importance of being relevant?

A cognitive-pragmatic framework for conceptualising audiovisual translation

| University of Surrey

Inspired by the belief that cognitive and pragmatic models of communication and discourse processing offer great potential for the study of Audiovisual Translation (AVT), this paper will review such models and discuss their contribution to conceptualising the three inter-related sub-processes underlying all forms of AVT: the comprehension of the multimodal discourse by the translator; the translation of selected elements of this discourse; and the comprehension of the newly formed multimodal discourse by the target audience. The focus will be on two models, Relevance Theory, which presents the most comprehensive pragmatic model of communication, and Mental Model Theory, which underlies cognitive models of discourse processing. The two approaches will be used to discuss and question common perceptions of AVT as being ‘constrained’ and ‘partial’ translation.

Keywords: Relevance Theory, Mental Model Theory, multimodality, audiovisual translation, audio description
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Modelling discourse processing
    • 2.1Mental Model Theory and Relevance Theory
    • 2.2Multimodal discourse
  • 3.Modelling Audiovisual Translation
    • 3.1AVT as constrained translation?
    • 3.2AVT as partial translation?
  • 4.Evaluation and conclusion
  • References
Published online: 9 August 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.28.2.10bra
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