Approving Interpreting Validity With Reference To Relevance Theory

This thesis attempts to study interpreting criterion from the perspective ofRelevance Theory, a cognitive pragmatic theory guiding communication, which hasthe most explanatory power in explaining the phenomenon of interpretation.According to Relevance Theory, human communication is an ostensive-inferentialprocess, in which the speaker always provides evidences to make his intentionmanifest to the hearer, and the hearer seeks the optimal relevance by selecting theproper context and inferring from the utterance. Optimal relevance is achieved whenit enables the listener to find without unnecessary effort the meaning intended by thespeaker and when that intended meaning is worth the listener’s effort.Within the framework of Relevance Theory, interpretation entails twoostensive-inferential processes as the interpreter plays both the roles of hearer andspeaker: as a hearer, the interpreter needs to make full use of cognitive environment todraw inferences of the implication of speaker’s ostensive utterances; then as a speaker,the interpreter is responsible for producing the most relevant ostensive utterances tothe audience so as to modify their cognitive environment and successfully have thecommunicative intention communicated. When the principle of optimal relevance issuccessfully observed and the communicative intention is realized, the interpretingcommunication can be guaranteed.Also, in this thesis, the author focuses on two concepts that can judge theperformance of interpretation—validity and fidelity, and further illustrates therelationship between the two factors. Interpreting validity means the extent to whichthe target language listener identifies the original speaker’s communicative intention,while interpreting fidelity is mainly perceived in the degree to which the languagecode reproduces a variety of stylistic features and the artistic effects of the originallanguage. While ideal interpretation has a high degree of unity of validity and fidelity,but when we cannot have both simultaneously, the interpretation should first ensure the validity, seeking higher fidelity only when the pursuit of validity is realized. Inorder to achieve high interpreting validity, interpreters should infer the speaker’sintentions correctly, follow the rules of optimal relevance, and dynamically use thecorrect language code to express the speaker’s intentions. Therefore, in this thesis,some strategies have been recommended: making good preparations beforeinterpretation; developing inferential ability to find the communicator’s intentions;flexible application interpreting strategies such as indirect interpretation and directinterpretation.