Radical translation and Indeterminacy of translation
Transcript
Radical translation and Indeterminacy of translation
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’ is true at the same condition(s) as (3) ‘Sniegs ir balts’ Which is 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’: The cat is on the table P: The cat is over the table The cat lies on the table The kitty is on the board Kaķis ir uz galda Il gatto è sul tavolo… Non synonyms { Synonyms The cat is under the table The dog is on the table The cat is on the chair Rēzekne is in Latvia La dolce vita… 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 Lamb of God Dieva Jērs Seal of God Give us this day our daily bread/fish/rice/…pizza! Translation and Linguistics Formaggio Siers Panīr Shopping List Translation and Linguistics 狗 क"क"र Txakur Hund Cane Chien Собака !!!!! Suns Pes Perro Köpek !ི། Dog Hound 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 is he saying?’) evet [yes] yok [no] What is a ‘gavagai’? gavagai! ‘gavagai’ as a sentence ‘gavagai’ as a stimulus meaning What 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 sides What is a ‘gavagai’? gavagai! ? caipirinha What is a ‘brekekek’? Brekekek! stimulus meaning Bald? Old? Nice? With a hat? stimulus meaning Bachelor What is a ‘brekekek’? Direct stimulus meaning Interpreted stimulus meaning Red Rabbit E=mc² Bachelor No stimulus meaning Compositionality Go get the donkey Go get the horse But… Indeterminacy of translation Indeterminacy Rabbit Coniglio Trusis Count noun Rabbits Conigli Truši Water Acqua Ūdens Mass noun Waters? (kinds of-) Acque? Ūdeņi? Gavagai? Count noun? Mass noun? An example of ‘rabbitness’? Strange questions ‘Is this ( ) the same thing if ‘yes’ than that ( )?’ ‘How many gavagaii ( if ‘absurd’ Mass noun ) are there here?’ Mass noun Linguistic competence Strange questions Gavagai Rabbit Coniglio Trusis stimulus meaning … This Questo Šīs linguistic/logic operator … How many Quanti Cik linguistic/logic operator Linguistic systems gavagai san evet! ‘A single, individual gavagai’ ‘An example of gavagainess’ Terrific coherence of linguistic systems Linguistic 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!’ ‘Look at the gavagai!’ ‘Here comes a gavagai!’ ‘Mh! a gavagai...’ evet! yok! ??? …gavagai… gavagai what?! Words and sentences Prà da bušk Prato Lawn Wood ? Syntax Lawn! Trees Bosco Wood ‘With (fir)trees’ ‘It can be mowed’ Grass ??? prà da bušk ‘lawn [belonging to] wood’ mainly ‘[a kind of] lawn’ Cultural translation continuum Italian Latvian Hungarian Russian Spanish Greek … English Frison Dutch German Swedish … Chinese Japanese Quechua Malayan Yakut … ‘Gavagai’ Cultural translation Robert Allen Zimmerman 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? 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' vējā