《A Cognitive-Pragmatic Model for Translation Studies Based on Relevance and Adaptation.》.pdf

Canadian Social Science Vol.5 No.1 February 2009 A Cognitive-Pragmatic Model for Translation Studies Based on Relevance and Adaptation UN MODELE COGNITIF ET PRAGMATIQUE POUR LES ETUDES EN TRADUCTION BASE SUR LA PERTINENCE ET L’ADAPTATION 1 Chang Zixia Abstract: The current study makes an attempt to explore how Relevance affects the translator’s comprehension of the source text (ST) and how Adaptation bears on the choice-making in the reproduction of the source message in the target text (TT) from a cognitive pragmatic perspective. The primary objective is to construct a cognitive pragmatic-oriented model based on Verschueren’s Adaptation (2000:66 ) and Relevance Theory advanced by Sperber and Wilson (2000: 12) for the enhancement of harmony in translation, thus offering effective guidance for translation practice and a unified theoretical framework for a better understanding of pragmatics of human language in its socio-cultural contexts. The major hypothesis is that translation as a communicative activity consists of two dynamic processesthe decoding-inferential process and the encoding-choice-making process in which three parties (writer, translator and target reader) are involved and the work translated is the product of the interaction of the three parties’ cognitive environments. Taking into consideration all the three parties (writer, translator, target reader) involved in the communicative event of translation, the thesis holds the view that the translator’s cognitive environment plays a key role in successful communication between the write