Suprasentential Semantics and Translation

Abstract

Text linguistics can contribute to, or benefit from, translation studies in two main areas: text typology & source text analysis. Translation as a product is a textual phenomenon, suprasentential phenomena being relevant mainly in semantics. Translations as separate sorts of texts can be identified by a higher communication index. Text typologies of source texts are relevant in two fields: translation quality assessment & translation technique. A new typology of source texts is proposed: translation-oriented or communicative texts vs nontranslation-oriented or expressive texts. Source text analysis is the conscious effort to master the decoding phase of the translation process, where the intended message can often be derived from suprasentential units only. The investigation of a specific translational comprehension constitutes a still unexplored field of interdisciplinary research. AA