Approaches to Translation in the Context of Theory of Speech Activity

Keywords: translation, psycholinguistics, theory of speech activity

Abstract

Over the past decades there has been a significant increase in the studies exploring cognitive foundations of translation reflected in a considerable amount of literature published on the topic. However, it is important to bear in mind that many of the ideas in the cognitive literature are mainly rooted in the psycholinguistic approaches to translation. For instance, a lot of scholarly works on translation in the former Soviet Union published in 1960-1970s emphasise the role of translator’s thinking and speech processes. The emergence of ‘theory of speech activity’, Soviet version of Western psycholinguistics, stimulated interest of linguists and psychologists who considered translation and interpreting, their procedural aspects worthy of scholarly attention. A. Leontyev (1969), one of the founders of the above mentioned ‘theory’, paid special attention to translator’s mental operations and probabilistic programming of the target language utterance(s). Thus far, a number of recent cognitive translation studies have confirmed the effectiveness of previous psycholinguistic models of translation designed within the framework of theory of speech activity. The goal of the study is a theoretical review of psycholinguistic approaches to interpreting and translation discussed in the works of scholars who were part of the Soviet theory of speech activity. The main objective is to reveal the translator’s status, his/her thinking and speech operations as psycholinguistic units in the approaches under review. Together, the psycholinguistic studies reviewed in the paper support the notion that the translator relies both on his/her algorithmic actions and heuristic solutions with the latter based on his/her background guided by probability thinking mechanism. This integrated approach proves useful in expanding our better and deeper understanding of translator’s activity.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Artiomov, V. (1969). Konspekt Vvodnykh Lektsii po Kursu «Psikhologiya Pervoda» [Introductory Lectures on Psychology of Translation]. Moscow: Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages [in Russian].

Barkhudarov, L. (1975). Yazyk i Perevod. Voprosy Obshchei i Chastnoi Teorii Perevoda [Langauge and Translation. Issues of General and Private Theory of Translation]. Moscow: Mezdunarondyie Otnosheniya [in Russian].

Beliayev, B. (1965). Ocherki po Psikhologii Obucheniya Inostrannym Yazykam [Outlines on Psychology of Teaching Foreign Languages]. Moscow : Prosveshcheniye [in Russian].

Benediktov, B. (1974). Psikhologiya Ovladeniya Inostrannym Yazykom [Psychology of Foreign Language Acquisition]. Minsk: Vysheyshaya Shkola [in Russian].

Bernstein, N. (1966). Ocherki po Fiziologii Dvizheniy i Fiziologii Aktivnosti [Outlines on Physiology of Motion and Physiology of Activity]. Moscow: Meditsina [in Russian].

Chernov, G. (1984). Psikholinguisticheskiye Osnovy Sinkhronnogo Perevvoda [Psycholinguistic Bases of Simultaneous Interpreting]. Moscow: Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages [in Russian].

Fesenko, T. (2002). Spetsifi ka Natsionalnogo Kulturnogo Prostranstva v Zerkale Perevoda [National Cultural Space Specifi c in the Mirror of Translation]. Tambov: Tambov State University [in Russian].

Garbovsky, N. (2007). Teoriya Perevoda [Theory of Translation]. Moscow: Moscow University [in Russian].

Harley, T. (2008). The Psychology of Language. From Data to Theory. N.Y.: Psychology Press.

Hatzidaki, A. (2007). The process of comprehension from a psycholinguistic approach – implications for translation. Meta. 52(1), 13–21. doi.org/10.7202/014715ar

Kratkiy Slovar Kognitivnykh Terminov [A Short Dictionary of Cognitive Terms]. (1996). Ye. Kubryakova, Ed. Moscow: Moscow State University [in Russian].

Krupnov, V. (1976). V Tvorcheskoi Laboratorii Perevodchika [In the Translator’s Creative Laboratory]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnyie Otnosheniya [in Russian].

Leontyev, A. (1969a). Psikholinguisticheskiye Yedinitsy Porozhdeniya Rechevogo Vyskazyvaniya [Psycholinguistic Units of Speech Untterance Production]. Moscow: Nauka [in Russian].

Leontyev, A. (1969b). Smysl kak Psikhologicheskoye Poniatiye [Sense as a Psychological Concept]. Psikhologicheskiye i Psikholinguisticheskiye Problemy Vladeniya i Ovladeniya Yazykom. (pp. 56–61). Moscow: Moscow State University [in Russian].

Leontyev, A. (1976). Psikholinguisticheskiy aspekt yazykovogo znacheniya [Psycholinguistic aspect of language meaning]. Principles and Methods of Semantic Studies. (pp. 46–73). Moscow [in Russian].

Rebrii, O., & Rebrii, I. (2018). Systemic and creative aspects of translation: Psycholinguistic approach. Psiholingvistika – Psycholinguistics, 23(2), 180–191 [in Ukrainian]. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1199186

Shevchenko, I. (2003). Germenevticheskiy aspekt perevoda kak vtorichnoy metakommunikatsii [Hermeneutic aspect of translation as a secondary metacommunication]. Visnyk XNU im. V.N. Karazina – Visnyk of Vasyl Karazin National University of Kharkiv, 609, 7–11 [in Ukrainian].

Shveitser, A. (1973). Perevod i Linguistika [Translation and Linguistics]. Moscow: Voenizdat [in Russian].

Shveitser, A. (2012). Teoriya Perevoda [Theory of Translation] (3nd ed.). Moscow: Librokom [in Russian].

Shyriayev, A. (1979). Sinkhronnyi Perevod [Simultaneous Interpreting]. Moscow: Voenizdat [in Russian].

Vygotsky, L. (2001). Myshleniye i Rech [Thinking and Speech]. Moscow: Labirint [in Russian].

Vaard, Ya. de, & Nayda Yu. (1998). Na novykh yazykakh zagovoryat (Funktsionalnaya ekvivalentnost v bibleyskikh perevodakh) [From one Language to Another. Functional Equivalence in Bible Translating]. A. Alexeyev (Ed.). S.-Petrsburg: Russian Bible Society [in Russian].

Zasiekin, S. (2010). Translation as a psycholinguistic phenomenon. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 39(3), 225–234. doi.org/10.1007/s10936-009-9134-2

Zasiekin, S. (2012). Psykholinguistychni Universalii Perekladu Khudozhnioho Tekstu [Psycholinguistic Universals in the Translation of Literary Texts]. Lutsk: Lesya Ukrainka Volyn State University [in Ukrainian].

Zasiekin, S. (2016) Understanding translation universals. Babel: International Journal of Translation, 62(1), 122–134. doi.org/10.1075/babel.62.1.07zas

Zasiekin, S., & Rosenhart, Yu. (2018). Psyxolingvistychni kompyuterni instrumenty lingvisty`chnogo ta perekladoznavchogo analizu dyskursu [Psycholinguistic Computerized Tools of Linguistic and Translation Studies Discourse Analysis]. Psyxolingvistyka – Psycholinguistics, 23(2), 94–106 [in Ukrainian]. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1204994

Zhinkin, N. (1998). Yazyk. Rech, Tvorchestvo: Issledovaniya po Semiotike, Psikholinguistike, Poetike [Language. Speech. Creativity: The Studies on Semiotics, Psycholinguistics, Poetics]. Moscow: Labirint [in Russian].

Zlobin, A. (2002). Kognitive Modellierung der Ubersetzung. TRANS. Internet-Zeitschrift fur Kulturwissenschaften, 14. Retrieved from: http://www.inst.at/trans/14Nr/zlobin14.htm


Abstract views: 913
PDF Downloads: 755
Published
2018-10-03
How to Cite
Zasiekin, S. (2018). Approaches to Translation in the Context of Theory of Speech Activity. PSYCHOLINGUISTICS, 24(2), 63-77. https://doi.org/10.31470/2309-1797-2018-24-2-63-77