Stecconi, U; (2006) The foundation of a theory of translation built on the semiotics of C.S. Peirce. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Translation studies is a young discipline in search of a sound theoretical basis. In the past half century, translation scholars have turned to linguistics (general linguistics, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics), game theory, comparative literature, cultural studies, cognitive sciences, and memetics just to cite the main approaches. As a result, translation studies is clearly emerging as an interdiscipline, yet there seems to be no consensus on the core question: "what do we talk about when we talk about translation" The present study puts forward Peirce's semiotics as a theory around which such consensus may be found. My starting hypothesis is that all translation is semiosis but not all semiosis is translation ie, translating is a special case of sign-action which occurs under conditions of its own. I will test this hypothesis using insights from Peirce's semiotic writings. My main conclusion is a two-layered model: the outer layer brings together what I call the Foundation of translation, translation events, and translation norms. Following Peirce's metaphysics, these elements correspond to the firstness, secondness and thirdness of translation semiosis. The inner layer zooms in on the Foundation. There, another triad can be found: similarity, difference, and mediation. These characters are the logico-semiotic conditions that would allow one to trace an edge for translating among other forms of sign-action. The latter part of this work explores the phenomenology of translation. Key notions from Relevance theory are used to sketch a general theory of translators' intentions. Upon interpreting translated signs, one may attribute three classes of intentions to a translator: a desire to play interpres, motives for the translation project, and a translation strategy. This leads to a discussion of translation agency. The proposal to replace 'wave' to 'transfer' as the core trope for translation rounds up the present work.

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