Article published In:
TargetVol. 5:2 (1993) ► pp.133–148
Underpinning Translation Theory
This article suggests that the discomfort with translation theory felt by some translation scholars arises from the fact that translation theory has tended to undermine itself, and hence translation studies as such, by questioning the existence of its own subject matter. An attempt is made to ease the discomfort by defending Davidson's (1973; 1974) reply to the indeterminacy thesis proposed by Quine (1960). Finally, the article draws on Davidson's later theory of linguistic interaction (1986) in presenting a model of translation which highlights features which translation does not share with other types of linguistic interaction, and which may, consequently, merit particular attention in translation theory.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Quine's Thesis
- 3.The Antithesis: Donald Davidson
- 4.A Model of Linguistic Interaction
- 5.A Model of Translation
- Acknowledgement
- Notes
-
References
References (19)
Arrowsmith, W. and R. Shattuck, eds. 1961. The Craft and Context of Translation. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Benjamin, Andrew. 1989. Translation and the Nature of Philosophy: A New Theory of Words. London-New York: Routledge.
Broeck, Raymond van den. 1992. “Translation Theory Revisited”. Target 4:1. 111–120. 
Brown, Gillian and George Yule. 1983. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Davidson, Donald. 1973. “Radical Interpretation”. Dialectica 271. 313–328. [Rep. in Davidson 1984: 125–139.]
. 1974. “On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme”. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association 47. 5–20. [Rep. in Davidson 1984: 183–198.]
. 1984. Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
. 1986. “A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs”. Ernest LePore, ed. Truth and Interpretation: Perspectives on the Philosophy of Donald Davidson. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986. 433-446
Halliday, Michael Alexander Kirk wood. 1978. Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. London: Edward Arnold.
Hjort, Anne Mette. 1990. “Translation and the Consequences of Scepticism”. Susan Bassnett and André Lefevere, eds. Translation, History and Culture. London-New York: Pinter, 1990. 38–45.
Holmes, James, s.. 1988. “The Name and Nature of Translation Studies”. Translated! Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1988. 66–80. [11972]
Hymes, Dell. 1964. “Towards Ethnographies of Communicative Events”. Pier Paolo Giglioli, ed. Language and Social Context: Selected Readings. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, (1972). 21–44.
Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago-London: The University of Chicago Press.
Lewis, David. 1970. “General Semantics”. Synthese 221. 18–67.
Nord, Christiane. 1992. “Text Analysis in Translator Training”. Cay Dollerup and Anne Loddegaard, eds. Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Training, Talent and Experience. Papers from the First Language International Conference, Elsinore, Denmark, 31 May—2 June 1991. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1992. 39–48.
Quine, Willard van Orman. 1960. Word and Object. Cambridge, Mass.: The M.I.T. Press.
Sperber, Dan and Deirdre Wilson. 1986. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Toury, Gideon. 1980. “Translated Literature: System, Norm, Performance. Toward a TT-oriented Approach to Literary Translation”. In Search of a Theory of Translation. Tel Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, Tel Aviv University, 1980. 35–50.
Vienne, Jean. 1993. “Toward a Pedagogy of Translation in Situation”. Paper Presented at the Second Language International Conference, Elsinore, Denmark, 4-6 June 1993.
Cited by (14)
Cited by 14 other publications
House, Juliane & Jens Loenhoff
2016. Communication studies and translation studies. In Border Crossings [Benjamins Translation Library, 126], ► pp. 97 ff. 
Chesterman, Andrew
2015. Inghilleri, Moira. 2012. Interpreting Justice. Ethics, Politics and Language. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 27:2 ► pp. 313 ff.
Malmkjaer, Kirsten
2012. Language philosophy and translation. In Handbook of Translation Studies [Handbook of Translation Studies, 3], ► pp. 89 ff.
Malmkjær, Kirsten
2000. Relative Stability and Stable Relativity. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 12:2 ► pp. 341 ff.
Malmkjær, Kirsten
2005. TRANSLATION AND LINGUISTICS. Perspectives 13:1 ► pp. 5 ff.
Ervas, Francesca
2008. Davidson’s Notions of Translation Equivalence. Journal of Universal Language 9:2 ► pp. 7 ff.
Ervas, Francesca
2013. The Definition of Translation in Davidson’s Philosophy: Semantic Equivalence versus Functional Equivalence. TTR 25:1 ► pp. 243 ff.
Ervas, Francesca
2024. Translation in Analytic Philosophy,
Heltai, Pál
2003. Message Adjustment in Translation. Across Languages and Cultures 4:2 ► pp. 145 ff.
Tack, Lieven
2002. Translation and the Dialectics of Difference and Equivalence: Some Theoretical Propositions for a Redefinition of the Source-Target Text Relation. Meta 45:2 ► pp. 210 ff.
ARROJO, Rosemary
1998. Os ‘estudos da tradução’ como área de pesquisa independente: dilemas e ilusões de uma disciplina em (des)construção. DELTA: Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e Aplicada 14:2 ► pp. 423 ff.
Ruuskanen, Deborah D.K.
1996. The effect of pragmatic factors on the definition of equivalence in translation. Language Sciences 18:3-4 ► pp. 883 ff.
[no author supplied]
[no author supplied]
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 10 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.