Gestalt In Semiotic Translation

By integrating some key concepts in semiotics and Gestalt psychology, thispaper focuses on conceptual research for the purpose of future empirical studies. Itadopts interdisciplinary and prescriptive-descriptive methods to explore the Gestaltphenomena in semiotic translation. The sociosemiotic approach to translation regardsthe linguistic system as one of the numerous semiotic systems that constitute thesocial culture, where it affects and is affected by other systems. On the other hand,Gestalt psychology holds that a person’s psychology tends to interpret thesurroundings as a dynamic whole rather than s mere sum of the parts. Proceeded fromthe perspective of translation, this paper integrates the above two theories andproposes a new theoretical model with necessary empirical examples. The conclusionis that one’s experience of the relevant semiotic systems may psychologicallyinterfere with his interpretation of the linguistic system in translation. In fact, theanalyses of the Gestalt phenomena in semiotic translation finally reveal themechanism of meaning shift in translation. More specifically, if the translator appliesthe free translation strategy, he will actualize meaning shift himself, while his choiceof the literal translation strategy may transfers the responsibility to the reader. In short,this paper mainly explores theoretically how the Gestalt psychological interference ofthe translator or reader results in meaning shift in semiotic translation.