A Study Of Logical Form Illation In Translation

Since its establishment as an independent subject in the1990s, TranslationStudies, as a fledgling discipline, has moved from a purely empirical position to amore scientific and open discourse. Research of translation moves away from the ariddebate as to “liberal translation or literal translation” towards more meaty and diversetopics. The working mechanism behind translation, or the operating processesunderlying translation, is one of those topics. One of those underlying operatingprocesses in translation is the logical form illation process.This thesis is intended to probe into this area, which is scarcely covered inprevious translation researches both at home and abroad. Discussion in this thesisfocuses on translation of informative text types. It approaches logical form illation intranslation on an interdisciplinary level, incorporating both philosophical discussionand logical analysis into its discussion. Skipping over the introductory part, thefollowing is a sketch of how the argument develops in this thesis: The ontologicalanalysis about the nature of translation sets a framework for the rest of the argumentto unfold, disclosing both linguistic and extralinguistic dimensions involved intranslation. Then some typical logical form illation strategies employed in translationare set out, concluded from the application of logic rules and theorems in the contextof translation. Along the “hypothetic-deductive” line, the argument proceeds to thelast part of concrete exemplification. This part uses examples from W. P. Mei’stranslated version of Motze to prove the validity of the “hypotheses” previouslyconcluded, namely, the translation strategies established hereinbefore.This thesis is never meant to be prescriptive and all-covering, for language, as a system presenting multiple aspects, can only be articulated to some degree and someaspects defy formal descriptions. Thus, instead of “reflecting” translation, themeaning of this thesis lies in “refracting” the complex mode of this language act forma unique angle.A dynamic view is adopted in this thesis, which sees the logical form illationprocess in translation as dialectic between a logical operation and a language behavior.The study serves to reveal this complex process involved in translation and tease outdifferent logical illation options for the translator by setting out various logical formillation strategies.