PRAGMATICS OF TRANSLATION

Tamara I.Leontieva
Lectures on Translation Theory
Department of Cross-cultural
Communication and Translation
Study
Foreign Languages Center
Vladivostok State University of
Economics
2008
PRAGMATICS OF
TRANSLATION
General notion and linguistic
pragmatics
What is pragmatics?
Pragmatics, n (used with a singular verb)
The noun “pragmatics” is regarded from
different sides, the simplest of which is
“practical considerations” [1935-40] Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged
Dictionary of the English Language,
1996. - P.1518.
PRAGMATICS
Logic, Philos. The branch of
semiotics dealing with causal
and other relations between
words, expressions, or symbols
and their users.
PRAGMATICS
Ling. The analysis of language in
terms of (a) situational context
within which utterances are made,
including (b) the knowledge and
beliefs of the speaker and the
(c) attitude between speaker and
listener.
Linguistic Pragmatics
SEMIOTICS
semantics
pragmatics
syntax
Authors of Linguistic
Pragmatics
• Charles Morris (US) - introduced
pragmatics as part of semiotics
• Charles Peirce (US) formulated
linguistic pragmatics under the influence
of  John Austin’s (Great Britain)
theory of speech acts (in the 60-ies and
70-ies of the XX century)
The Phenomenon of
Linguistic Pragmatics
Speaker
Addressee
Linguistic Pragmatics
Situation
Interaction
Linguistic Pragmatics
Terminology
• Illocution (the speaker’s communicative
intention: question, order, information, etc.)
• Presupposition (the speaker’s
background knowledge of the addressee’s
interests, opinions, scope of information)
• Locution - the utterance sense (request,
promise, information, order, etc.)
• Perlocution - the communicative effect of
the utterance on the addressee
Pragmatics studies co-operative
principle of communication
Four maxims of successful
communication:
•
•
•
•
quality (Do not make false statements);
quantity (Do not say more than required);
relevance (Speak to the point);
manner (Avoid ambiguity).
Speech acts vs speech events
• Speech acts are actions performed via
utterances (apology, complaint, request,
compliment, order, promise, etc.).
• A speech event is an activity in which
the participants interact in order to
arrive at some desired outcome.Usually
a speech event consists of a number of
utterances moving towards the goal.
Classification of speech acts
• Declarations: I pronounce you
husband and wife.
• Representatives: The sky was dark.
• Expressives: Fine! Thanks!
• Directives: Do it immediately!
• Commissives: See you tomorrow.
Communicative vs semantic
translation
Beware of the dog!
Осторожно, злая
собака!
Опасайтесь
собаки!
Communicative or semantic?
Она впервые назвала его на ты.
It was for the first
time she addressed
him in the second
person singular.
It was for the first
time she called him
by his Christian name.
Conclusions for the Translator
• In an adequate translation the communicative effect is close to that of the source text.
• At best the text’s communicative effect
coincides with the author’s communicative
intention.
• Two types of translation are caused by the
above principle: communicative translation
and semantic translation.
Even for a Tory polititian he set up a
new record for the gap between promise
and performance.
Даже для деятеля
партии Тори это
было неслыханное
несоответствие
(противоречие)
между обещаниями
и их выполнением.
Даже для деятеля
партии Тори это
было неслыханное
несоответствие
между словами и
делами.
В белом плаще с кровавым подбоем, шаркающей
кавалерийской походкой, ранним утром четырнадцатого
числа весеннего месяца нисана в крытую колоннаду между
двумя крыльями дворца Ирода Великого вышел прокуратор
Иудеи Понтий Пилат (М.А.Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита).
Early in the morning on the
fourteenth of the spring
month of Nisan the
procurator of Judea, Pontius
Pilate, in a white cloak lined
with blood-red, emerged with
his shuffling cavalryman’s
walk into the arcade
connecting the two wings of
the palace of Herod the
Great (Michael Glenny).
Early in the morning on the
fourteenth day of the spring
month of Nisan, wearing a
white cloak with a blood-red
lining and shuffling with his
cavalry’s man gait into the
roofed colonnade that
connected the two wings of
the palace of Herod the
Great, walked the procurator
of Judea, PontiusPilate
(Diana Burgin).
LITERATURE
1. Прошина З.Г. Теория перевода с
английского на русский и с русского на
английский. - Владивосток: Изд-во
ДВГУ, 2002. - С.160-169.
2. Лингвистический энциклопедический
словарь / Под ред. В.Н.Ярцевой. - М.:
Сов. энц., 1990. - С.389-390.
3. Мильруд Р.П. Введение в лингвистику. М.: ДРОФА, 2005. - С.24-28.