Résumés
Abstract
This article discusses how, in addition to providing a definition for translation, the concept of equivalence may explain why we can say that sentence S in language L is a translation of sentence S1 in language L1. It analyzes two main kinds of equivalence that are used in analytical philosophy to define translation: semantic equivalence and functional equivalence. This analysis shows that drawing a distinction between semantic and functional equivalence is a way to understand the distinction between different levels or aspects of meaning. Both semantic equivalence, introduced by Gottlob Frege, and functional equivalence, proposed by Wilfrid Sellars, were developed in Donald Davidson’s theory of meaning. After discussing the limits of Davidson’s definitions of equivalence, this article will argue that functional equivalence is a reason for comparing Davidson’s philosophy to positions such as those expressed by Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics.
Keywords:
- translation definition,
- equivalence,
- meaning,
- semantics/pragmatics distinction,
- analytical philosophy
Résumé
Cet article expose comment le concept d’équivalence a été utilisé pour définir la traduction, et comment ce même concept nous permet de dire pourquoi un énoncé dans une langue L est la traduction d’un énoncé dans une autre langue L1. Il analyse deux sens principaux utilisés dans la philosophie analytique pour définir la traduction : l’équivalence sémantique et l’équivalence fonctionnelle, afin de montrer que tracer la distinction entre ces deux sortes d’équivalence est une manière de comprendre la distinction entre différents niveaux ou aspects de la signification. Ces deux concepts, celui d’équivalence sémantique introduit par Gottlob Frege, et celui d’équivalence fonctionnelle proposé par Wilfrid Sellars, furent développés dans la théorie de la signification de Donald Davidson. Après avoir noté les limites des définitions d’équivalence chez Davidson, cet essai soutient que la notion d’équivalence fonctionnelle nous amène à comparer la philosophie de Davidson à des positions comme celles qui ont été exprimées par l’herméneutique de Hans-Georg Gadamer.
Mots-clés :
- définition de la traduction,
- équivalence,
- signification,
- distinction sémantique/pragmatique,
- philosophie analytique
Parties annexes
Bibliography
- BENJAMIN, Andrew (1989). Translation and the Nature of Philosophy: A New Theory of Words. London and New York, Routledge.
- CATFORD, John C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay on Applied Linguistics. London, Oxford University Press.
- CHESTERMAN, Andrew (1996). “On Similarity.” Target 8, 1, pp. 159-164.
- Davidson, Donald (1973a). “Radical Interpretation.” Dialectica, 27, pp. 313-328. Reprinted in Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. Oxford, Clarendon Press, pp. 125-139.
- Davidson, Donald (1973b). “Psychology as Philosophy.” In S. Brown, ed. Philosophy of Psychology. New York, Macmillan, pp. 41-52, 60-67. Reprinted in Essays on Actions and Event. Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 229-244.
- Davidson, Donald (1974). “On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme.” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 47, pp. 5-20.
- Davidson, Donald (1984). “Communication and Convention.” Synthese, 59, pp. 3-17. Reprinted in Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. Oxford, Clarendon Press, pp. 265-280.
- Davidson, Donald (1985). “Incoherence and Irrationality.” Dialectica, 39, pp. 345-354.
- Davidson, Donald (1986). “A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs.” In E. Lepore, ed. Truth and Interpretation. Perspectives on the Philosophy of Donald Davidson. Oxford, Blackwell, pp. 433-446.
- Davidson, Donald (1989). “James Joyce and Humpty Dumpty.” In Proceedings of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, pp. 54-66. Reprinted in p. French, T.E. Uehling, H. Wettstein, eds. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 16, 1991, pp. 1-12.
- Davidson, Donald (1992). “The Second Person.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 17, pp. 255-267. Reprinted in Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2001, pp. 107-121.
- Davidson, Donald (1997). “Gadamer and Plato’s Philebus.” In L. Hahn, ed. The Philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Chicago, Open Court Publishing Company, pp. 421-432.
- DRASKAU, Jennifer (1986). The Quest for Equivalence: On Translating Villon. Copenhagen, Athenium.
- Dreyfus, Hubert L. (1980). “Holism and Hermeneutics.” The Review of Metaphysics, 34, pp. 3-23.
- ERVAS, Francesca (2008). “Davidson’s Notions of Translation Equivalence.” Journal of Language and Translation, 9, 2, pp. 7-29.
- ERVAS, Francesca and Vera TRIPODI (2012). “New Perspectives on Quine’s ‘Word and Object’.” Disputatio. International Journal of Philosophy, 32, 4, pp. 317-322.
- Fawcett Peter, (1997). Translation and Language: Linguistic Theories Explained. Manchester, St. Jerome Publishing.
- Frege, Gottlob (1892). “Über Sinn und Bedeutung.” [“On Sense and Reference”] Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik [Journal of Philosophy and Philosophical Criticism], 100, pp. 25-50.
- Frege, Gottlob (1918) “The Thought: A Logical Inquiry.” Trans. M. Quinton. In P.F. Strawson, ed. Philosophical Logic. Oxford, Clarendon Press, pp. 17-38.
- Frege, Gottlob (1993). “On Sense and Reference.” Trans. M. Black. In A.W. Moore, ed. Meaning and Reference. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 23-42.
- Forster, Michael N. (1998). “On the Very Idea of Denying the Existence of Radically Different Conceptual Schemes.” Inquiry, 41, 2, pp. 133-185.
- Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1960). Wahrheit und Methode [Truth and Method]. Tübingen, Mohr.
- Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1997a). “Reply to Donald Davidson.” In L. Hahn, ed. The Philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Chicago, Open Court Publishing Company, pp. 433-435.
- Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1997b). “Reply to David Hoy.” In L. Hahn, ed. The Philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Chicago, Open Court Publishing Company, pp. 129-130.
- GRICE, Paul H. (1989). Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press.
- Halverson, Sandra (1997). “The Concept of Equivalence in Translation studies: Much Ado About Something.” Target, 9, 2, pp. 207-233.
- HEGEL, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1807). Phänomenologie des Geistes [Phenomenology of Spirit]. Bamberg und Würzburg, Joseph Anton Goebhardt.
- HOLMES, James S. (1988). Translated! Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies. Amsterdam, Rodopi.
- Hoy, David C. (1997). “Post-Cartesian Interpretation: Hans-Georg Gadamer and Donald Davidson.” In L. Hahn, ed. The Philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Chicago, Open Court Publishing Company, pp. 111-128.
- JAKOBSON, Roman (1959). “On Linguistic Aspects on Translation.” In R.A. Brower, ed. On Translation. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, pp. 232-239.
- Kenny, Dorothy (1998). “Equivalence.” In M. Baker, ed. Routledge Encyclopaedia ofTranslation Studies. London and New York, Routledge, pp. 77-80.
- Koller, Werner (1989). “Equivalence in Translation Theory.” In A. Chesterman, ed. Readings in Translation Theory. Helsinki, Finn Lectura, pp. 99-104.
- Koller, Werner (1995). “The Concept of Equivalence and the Object of Translation Studies.” Target, 7, 2, pp. 191-222.
- Malmkjaer, Kirsten (1993). “Underpinning Translation Theory.” Target 5, 2, pp. 133-148.
- Malmkjaer, Kirsten (2005). Linguistics and the Language of Translation. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.
- Malpas, Jeff E. (1992). Donald Davidson and the Mirror of Meaning. Holism, Truth, Interpretation. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Marconi, Diego (2007). “Translatable/Untranslatable.” Unpublished paper presented at the conference “Translation: Transfer, Text and Topic.” Italian Cultural Institute, London, 27 October.
- NIda, Eugène A. (1964). Towards a Science of Translating. Leiden, E.J. Brill.
- NIda, Eugène A. and Charles TABER (1969). The Theory and Practice of Translation. Leiden, E.J. Brill.
- NORD, Christiane (1997). Translating as a Purposeful Activity. Functionalist Approaches Explained. Manchester, St. Jerome Publishing.
- Pym, Anthony (1992). Translation and Text Transfer: An Essay on the Principles of Intercultural Communication. Frankfurt, Peter Lang.
- Reiss, Katharina (2000). “Type, Kind and Individuality of Text: Decision Making in Translation.” In L. Venuti, ed. The Translation Studies Reader. London, Routledge, pp. 160-172.
- Quine, Willard van Orman (1951). “Two Dogmas of Empiricism.” The Philosophical Review, 60, pp. 20-43.
- Quine, Willard van Orman (1960). Word and Object. Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press.
- Ramberg, Bjørn T. (1989). Donald Davidson’s Philosophy of Language. An Introduction. Oxford, Blackwell.
- Sellars, Wilfrid (1963). “Truth and Correspondence.” Science, Perception and Reality. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, pp. 197-224.
- STEINER, George (1975). After Babel. Aspects of Language and Translation. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
- Tarski, Alfred (1944). “The Semantic Conception of Truth.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 4, pp. 341-375.
- TOURY, Gideon (1980). In Search of a Theory of Translation. Tel Aviv, The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics.
- VINAY, Jean-Paul and Jean DARBELNET (1995). Comparative Stylistics of French and English: a Methodology for Translation. Amsterdam and Philadelphia, John Benjamins.
- WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig (1953). Philosophische Untersuchungen [Philosophical Investigation]. Oxford. Blackwell.