The Context-Dependent Translation In The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Context plays a vital and positive role in translation studies. This thesis discusses translation from the perspective of Relevance Theory. Based on the Relevance Theory, translation is an inferential cognitive process that is context-dependent. In the cognitive sense, context is a set of psychological constructs, a subset of the reader's assumptions of the world. Cognitive context is not given but chosen. The reader chooses those more manifest or accessible contexts in the course of inference. The degree of access or manifestness is determined by relevance. Under the guidance of Relevance Theory, translating is also a relevance-seeking, ostensive-inferential and dynamitically-adjusting process, which accords with the feature of dynamics of cognitive context.According to the Relevance Theory, human's communication crucially creates an expectation of optimal relevance, that is, an expectation on the part of message receiver that his attempt at interpretation will yield adequate contextual effects at minimal processing cost. This is also believed to be part of human psychology, and is expressed in Relevance Theory as the principle of relevance. Translation is interlingual communicative activity. The translator mobilizes his context resources available and develops his subjectivity to search for the optimal relevance in the source cognitive environment and to make linguistic choices in the target cognitive environment in an adjustable way. In summary, only the optimal relevance is found, a certain dynamic context will be confirmed; thereby can an agreeable foundation of a better translation be set up.The rationale of Relevance Theory are as follows: first, any communication is an ostensive-inferential process; second, the whole process is governed by the search for relevance for it is obvious that people will pay attention to a phenomenon only if it seems relevant to them. In particular, Sperber and Wilson's Relevance Theory mainly concerning communication and cognition views translation as an ostensive-inferential process, which, besides the codes transference, also contains the dynamic inference by the cognitive context. The range of the cognitive context is not smaller than the traditional context but the combination of traditional context with the psychological assumptions, which are projected and formed by the objective surroundings. In the operating state of communication, the cognitive context is characterized with its instantaneousness and selectiveness, instead of being a preceding, given and static concept. As far as translation is concerned, the translator is expected to have a clear knowledge of the TL context in which the counterpart version of the original text resides. Acquainting oneself with the TL context can lend a helping hand for the translator to produce a translation regarded as natural in target-language community. In the process of translating, the translator searches for relevance in the source cognitive environment and makes dynamic adjustment in the target cognitive environment. Only the translator translates the source text according to its dynamic context, will the translator successfully convey the source text writer's intended meaning to the target readers and present a good piece of translation. Meanwhile, as context is a dynamic standpoint, it can ensure its positive effects in the inferential, cognitive and dynamic process of translating.Based on the analysis above, we come to know that context is indispensable to the process of translating. Translation is a context-bounded process and primarily speaking, context plays an interpretative function in the comprehension stage and a restrictive function in the reproduction stage. Translator usually tries to offer the optimal contextual effects for the target readers. Therefore, the thesis comes to a conclusion: No context, no translation.