A Cognitive Study Of Source Texts In Translation On The Basis Of Relevance Theory

Relevance Theory, being a cognitive pragmatic theory, has a strong explanatory power as regards translation. Under the framework of Relevance Theory, translation can be defined as a dynamic process, including interpretation and expression. First, in translation, one has to search for relevance information through context during the course of receiving the source language information in order to comprehend the source language author's communicative intentions correctly. The process of searching for relevance is the process of cognition and inference. That is the focus of this thesis.This thesis, based on relevance theory, audaciously embarks on investigating the mental faculties of a translator when he/she interprets the source texts, and establishes an inferential model of interpretation. Besides introduction and conclusion, this thesis consists of four chapters:Chapter One is a brief historical retrospect of studies of source texts in translation. Driller & Kornelius, Nida, Kade, Stein and Bell are briefly introduced and commented on.Chapter Two reveals some crucial notions of relevance theory, including cognitive context, ostensive-inferential nature of communication, the principle of relevance, and implicature and explicature. Chapter Three discusses the nature of cognition of source texts under relevance theory. Interpretation of source texts is an ostensive-inferential process, in which translator searches for optimal relevance in order to get communicative intention.Chapter Four focuses on inference in relevance theory and forms inferential model of translator. First of all, inferential model in relevance theory is introduced. Then, diagram of the process of cognition of source texts is released. Next, seven assumed steps of interpretation process are described. And at last, there is the demonstration of the inferential model through two translation interpretation samples.