A Descriptive Model For Translation Criticism For Cultural Back-translation From The Three-element Perspective Of Presupposition

Presupposition derives from philosophical discussions over logical deduction,upholding that the condition for an assertion to be meaningful is presupposed by the render of that assertion.Presupposition in pragmatics refers to the shared knowledge among participants of the communicative behavior and proposes its applicability to such academic fields as linguistics,aesthetics and translation.This thesis presents a Presupposition approach to Cultural Back-Translation that refers to translating literary works written in the language of Country A into that of Country B whose culture is what the subject matter of the literary works relates or is related to.Detailed analysis falls upon River Town with two translated versions for comparative study.The methodology adopted relies on the three-element approach of Pragmatic Presupposition,with modifications tailored for Cultural Back-Translation.Inspirations drawn from the perspective would favor in the proposing of a modified model for criticism on the reproduction of Pragmatic Presuppositions in the novel.That model consists of three dimensions--Presentation,Reception and Interaction--of studying Semantic,Cognitive and Cultural Presuppositions.It first proposes the overarching feature of the three types of Pragmatic Presuppositions and then describes the dynamic process of Cultural Back-Translation with emphasis on the Interaction dimension.Under the proposed model,the principal ingredients of the thesis would be:the analysis on the Pragmatic Presuppositions of the source text;the mental and verbal actualization of Semantic,Cognitive and Cultural Presuppositions expressed in the target texts and the presentation and perspectives of the author,translators,readers as well as critics in aesthetic progression.The extensive employment of textual analysis method,comparative analytic method and inductive-deductive method,subordinate to Descriptive Translation Criticism in contrast to the right-or-wrong Prescriptive Criticism,would juxtapose River Town with two target texts,and then judge existing criticisms so as to validate the findings.On the basis of that,the postulate that Presupposition approach provides applicable visions for the rendering of international literature will be justified and recommendations will also be given for the formulation of principles or criticisms guiding the translation of this category.Research depth resides both in the attempt to taking Cultural Back-Translation as an independent subject for study and in the juxtaposition of the two Chinese versions,the original one,and the revised translation by this thesis would be proposed.Research creativity on the other hand is found first in the integrity of Pragmatic Presupposition including cultural ones and Cultural Back-Translation,conforming to current trend of translation criticism and related studies on dynamic state in integrated approaches.It is presented then by the attempt to involving the author of the original text,translators,readers and even existing critics preceding and including this study as operators of Descriptive Translation Criticism.