constructing pathways to translation - Higher Education Commission

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they relate to semantics. It is also a discursive operation on the act of communication
among various participants. Translation involves rendering the meaning of a text, which
one cannot do successfully, if one does not understand the text, or does not have a
meaningful and coherent conceptual construction of the text in mind. In the standard
position in linguistics, it is said that comprehension is the result of confrontation and
synthesis of both literal and contextual meaning. In this view, literal meaning rests on
linguistic items, while contextual meaning is carried by the act of communication. In
discourse structures, meaning integrates literal and contextual meaning. It is arrived at
through at least two types of operations, interpretation of textual units based on linguistic
knowledge, and inferences and deduction based on extra linguistic and encyclopedic
knowledge (Dunks, Shreve, Fountain and Macbeth, 1997).
Major empirical studies on Psycholinguistic Processes of Translation have focused on
Translation Production Plans that correspond to the Communication Strategies which can
be classified into three groups according to Kiraly(1995):
� Formal Reduction Strategies: reduce the linguistic system in an attempt to
fulfill the established goal.
� Functional Reduction Strategies: reducing a communicative goal to avoid a
problem.
� Achievement strategies: attempt to solve a problem by expanding ones
communicative resources.
3.5.4 CHANGE MECHANISM IN TRANSLATION
What is the mechanism that drives change in translation? Some change sources are:
i. Change in the range of communicative situations in which translation occurs.
ii. Presence/ absence/appearance and influence of a monitoring agent.
iii. Change in the nature of the task.
iv. The appearance of incentives (motivations) to focus on particular aspects of
the task cycle, and others.
v. Changes in the nature and amount of feedback.
vi. Change in the goals and expectations of the translator.