Radical translation and Indeterminacy of translation - Gabriele Iannàccaro University of Milano-Bicocca
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Gabriele Iannàccaro
University of Milano-Bicocca
Radical translation and
Indeterminacy of translation
Tarski: Convention T ✤ (1) ‘P’ is true if, and only if, P. ✤ (2) ‘Snow is white’ is true if and only if snow is white ✤ (3) ‘Sniegs ir balts’ is true if and only if snow is white ✤ (4) ‘La neve è bianca’ is true if and only if snow is white
Tarski: Convention T
(4) ‘La neve è bianca’
Which is
is true at the same condition(s) as
(3) ‘Sniegs ir balts’
So: is (4) a good translation of (3)?
Or: does (4) mean the same thing as (3)?
And: can we demonstrate that (4) has the same meaning as (3)?
Therefore: are (4) and (3) synonyms?
buy :: purchase
Meaning, Synonymy, Translation
Meaning is what ‘P’ has in common with its translation
The meaning of ‘la neve è bianca’ is what it has in common with
‘sniegs ir balts’ (= )
I can understand the meaning of a sentence if I can pick up the
synonyms of that sentence - in any given occasion.
Let’s try:
Meaning, Synonymy, Translation
P: – ‘P’: The cat is on the table
The cat is over the table The cat is under the table
The cat lies on the table The dog is on the table
The kitty is on the board The cat is on the chair
Kaķis ir uz galda Rēzekne is in Latvia
Il gatto è sul tavolo… La dolce vita…
{ Synonyms Non synonyms
Meaning of ‘P’
Translation and Linguistics
Translation?
Passage of meaning from a language to another?
Verification of its appropriateness?
not
Eugene Nida,
Towards a theory of translation
Agnus dei Seal of God
Lamb of God
Dieva Jērs
Give us this day our daily bread/fish/rice/…pizza!
Translation and Linguistics
Formaggio Siers
Shopping
Panīr List
Translation and Linguistics
क"क"र
Hund
Txakur
Cane
Chien Dog
Собака Hound
!!!!! Suns Pes
Köpek Perro
!ི།
Radical Translation Quine, Willard van Orman (1960) Word and Object, Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press
Ethnolinguist and natives
?
salp!
[book?]
[red?]
Willard
Native
kangaroo
(Dyirbal: ‘what the hell evet [yes]
is he saying?’)
yok [no]What is a ‘gavagai’?
gavagai!
‘gavagai’ as a sentence
‘gavagai’ as a stimulus meaningWhat is a ‘gavagai’?
‘gavagai’ as a sentence
‘There! a rabbit!’
‘Look at the rabbit!’
‘Here comes a rabbit!’
‘Mh! a rabbit...’
‘gavagai’ as a stimulus meaning
There! a rabbit
The triangle has three sidesWhat is a ‘gavagai’?
gavagai!
?
caipirinhaWhat is a ‘brekekek’?
Brekekek!
stimulus meaning stimulus meaning
Bald?
Old?
Nice?
With a hat? BachelorWhat is a ‘brekekek’?
Direct stimulus meaning
Interpreted stimulus meaning
Red Rabbit Bachelor
E=mc² No stimulus meaningCompositionality
Go get the donkey
Go get the horse
But…
Indeterminacy of translationIndeterminacy
Rabbit Rabbits
Coniglio Count noun Conigli
Trusis Truši
Water Waters? (kinds of-)
Acqua Mass noun Acque?
Ūdens Ūdeņi?
Gavagai? Count noun? An example of
Mass noun? ‘rabbitness’?Strange questions
‘Is this ( ) the same thing
if ‘yes’ Mass noun
than that ( )?’
‘How many gavagaii ( ) are there here?’
if ‘absurd’ Mass noun
Linguistic competenceStrange questions
Gavagai
Rabbit
Coniglio stimulus meaning
Trusis
…
This
Questo linguistic/logic operator
Šīs
…
How many
Quanti linguistic/logic operator
CikLinguistic systems
gavagai san
evet!
‘A single, individual gavagai’
‘An example of gavagainess’
Terrific coherence of linguistic systemsLinguistic systems The linguistic system of the native could be so deeply different from that of the ethnolinguist and – at the same time – the reconstruction of the ethnolinguist so consistent that the two interpretations may both correspond to the sensorial data without overlapping and in a way that it never comes out that one can pronounce whichever sentence and the other might say ‘no’ Every language categorises and segments world in a different way (B. L. Whorf) To understand a sentence means to understand a language (L. Wittgenstein)
Words and sentences
‘There! a gavagai!’ evet!
‘Look at the gavagai!’
‘Here comes a gavagai!’
‘Mh! a gavagai...’ yok!
???
…gavagai…
gavagai what?!Words and sentences
Prà da bušk
Prato Bosco
Lawn Wood
‘With (fir)trees’
‘It can be mowed’
Wood ? Lawn! Trees Grass ???
Syntax prà da bušk ‘lawn [belonging to] wood’
mainly ‘[a kind of] lawn’Cultural translation continuum
‘Gavagai’
Chinese
Japanese
Quechua
Malayan
Italian Yakut
Latvian …
Hungarian
Russian
Spanish
Greek
…
English
Frison
Dutch
German
Swedish
…Cultural translation
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Robert Allen Zimmerman Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Quante strade deve percorrere un uomo
Prima che lo si possa chiamare uomo?
Sì, e quanti mari deve sorvolare una bianca colomba
Prima che possa riposare nella sabbia?
Sì, e quante volte le palle di cannone dovranno volare
Prima che siano per sempre bandite?
La risposta, amico, sta soffiando nel vento
La risposta sta soffiando nel vento
Cik ceļi ir cilvēks staigāt uz leju,
pirms jūs zvanāt viņam cilvēks?
Cik jūra ir balts balodis bura
pirms viņa guļ smiltīs?
Jā, un cik reizes ir krāsainās lidot,
pirms viņi uz visiem laikiem aizliegts?
Atbilde, mans draugs, ir Blowin 'vējā,
atbilde ir Blowin' vējāYou can also read
