Across Languages and Cultures
Volume/Issue:
Volume 25: Issue 1
Explicitation & implicitation revisited: Towards a more defined cognitive relevance-theoretic model
Author:
Radwa Mohammad Mohammad Kotait English Department, Faculty of Al-Alsun, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4355-6300
Pages:
130–148
Online Publication Date:
10 Jun 2024
Publication Date:
10 Jun 2024
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/084.2023.00620
Keywords:
explicitation; implicitation; scientific and technical discourse; relevance theory; Nature magazine; optimal relevance; risk management
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Abstract

Explicitation might be the most discussed phenomenon in Translation Studies history, and yet the most elusive of them all. This study aims to contribute to the literature on the cognitive relevance-theoretic approach to explicitation and implicitation, adopting the view that translation is a type of pragmatically communicative and interpretive act. First, the study presents a brief critical overview of selected existing accounts of explicitation and implicitation to show how the definitions are riddled with circularity and the classifications with lack of conformity. Second, it addresses the existing relevance-theoretic models in an attempt to reconcile their classifications in a unified, applicable relevance-theoretic model of analysis. It puts to good use the fuller account of the range of pragmatic processes widely discussed in Relevance Theory; namely, disambiguation, reference assignment, free enrichment, higher-level explicature and ad hoc concept. The corpus of the study is selected articles from Nature, as representative of scientific and technical discourse, in English and their translations into Arabic as published in the Arabic edition of Nature. The study leans upon Gutt's Optimal Relevance theory and Pym's Risk Management hypothesis to explain the outcomes of the analysis.

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Cover Across Languages and Cultures
Across Languages and Cultures
Print ISSN:
1585-1923
Online ISSN:
1588-2519

Editor-in-Chief: Krisztina KÁROLY (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)

Consulting Editor: Dániel MÁNY  (Semmelweis University, Hungary)

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Founding Editor-in-Chief: Kinga KLAUDY (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)

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  • Andrew CHESTERMAN (University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • Kirsten MALMKJÆR (University of Leicester, UK)
  • Christiane NORD (University of Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa)
  • Anthony PYM (Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain, University of Melbourne, Australia)
  • Mary SNELL-HORNBY (University of Vienna, Austria)
  • Sonja TIRKKONEN-CONDIT (University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland)

ADVISORY BOARD

  • Mona BAKER (Shanghai International Studies University, China, University of Oslo, Norway)
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  • Rodica DIMITRIU (Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Iasi, Romania)
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  • Alessandra RICCARDI (University of Trieste, Italy)
  • Edina ROBIN (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)
  • Myriam SALAMA-CARR (University of Manchester, UK)
  • Mohammad Saleh SANATIFAR (independent researcher, Iran)
  • Sanjun SUN (Beijing Foreign Studies University, China)
  • Anikó SOHÁR (Pázmány Péter Catholic University,  Hungary)
  • Sonia VANDEPITTE (University of Gent, Belgium)
  • Albert VERMES (Eszterházy Károly University, Hungary)
  • Yifan ZHU (Shanghai Jiao Tong Univeristy, China)

Prof. Dr. Krisztina KÁROLY 
School of English and American Studies, Eötvös Loránd University
H-1088 Budapest, Rákóczi út 5., Hungary 
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