Linguistic Motivations And Three Modes Of Term Translation

In this paper three modes of term translation (transliteration, meaning-extension, and coinage) and, based on Saussure's philosophy of linguistics, three types of linguistic motivations (phonological, morphological, and semantic) were identified and the interrelation between the three modes of translation and the three types of motivations is examined, inter- and intra-linguistically, with some illustrative data. At the end of the research, which is heuristic in nature, a tentative mathematical model is established to assess the aggregate of the various motivations and, based on the possible relation between linguistic motivation and desirability of translated terms as found in the heuristic analysis, a hypothesis is put forward as follows: the higher the aggregate motivation of a rendition the more it is desirable.Based on the heuristic analysis, the longstanding controversy over arbitrariness and motivation as regards the nature of language is also discussed. The conclusion is: language is arbitrary a priori and motivated a posteriori, which is a thesis first put forward by Levi-Strauss and the author believes very possibly also meant by Saussure.