Representation and resemblance in translation

Relevance theory (RT) stipulates that translation is an act of interpretive language use, establishing interlingual interpretive resemblance between source and target language utterances, rather than describing, assessing, or transferring truth values of utterances. In an extension to the original RT framework, Gutt ( 2004 , 2005 ) distinguishes between two modes of translation – a stimulus-oriented mode (S-mode) and an interpretation-oriented mode (I-mode) – by which translators establish interpretive resemblances across languages. S-mode translation is tightly linked to linguistic forms, while I-mode translation appeals to the translator’s (self) awareness of the cognitive/cultural environment in which the translation unfolds. In this chapter, I argue that interlingual resemblance and contentful representation, as in descriptive language use, are two incompatible categories and that translation – defined as interlingual interpretive resemblance – can be seen as a form of non-representational language production. I suggest that translation as interpretive language use is heavily based on priming processes. While perceptual/semantic/affective priming mechanisms drive S-mode translation, affective priming and phenomenal consciousness of subjective experiences underly I-mode translation.