Applications of Relevance Theory to Translation and Interpreting: Perspectives on Theory, Research and Practice

by Fabio Alves (Editor), Fabrizio Gallai (Editor)

Overview

This collection showcases applications of Relevance Theory (RT) to address key challenges in translation and interpreting studies. It presents empirical research on RT pragmatics, drawing from both real-world and experimental data across various translation and interpreting practices, such as literary translation, paradiplomatic translation, machine translation, and legal interpreting.

This book is divided into three parts: the first delves into theoretical innovations, while the second and third feature RT-based empirical analyses of translation and interpreting issues in diverse professional contexts.

With its focus on a wide variety of data types, contexts, and methodologies, this book will be of interest to students, scholars, and practitioners in translation and interpreting studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032875514
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/05/2025
Series:	Routledge Advances in Translation and Interpreting Studies
Pages:	398
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Fabio Alves is Professor of Translation Studies at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) and Senior Research Fellow of the National Research Council (CNPq), Brazil. He has published widely about empirical applications of RT to translation in journals such as Target, Meta, Across Languages, and Cultures, and in multiple book series.

Fabrizio Gallai is Research Fellow and Lecturer at Libera Universita di Lingue e Comunicazione (IULM) in Milan, Italy. He is the author of a number of articles in scientific journals – such as Journal of Pragmatics and Lingua – and the volume Relevance Theory in Translation and Interpreting (2022). He also has extensive experience as a freelance translator and interpreter.

Table of Contents

Introduction

FABIO ALVES AND FABRIZIO GALLAI

PART 1: Relevance theory–informed translation studies

1 An overarching account of relevance-theoretic applications to the study of translation and interpreting

FABRIZIO GALLAI AND FABIO ALVES

2 Representation and resemblance in translation: Scrutinising interpretive language use in relevance theory

MICHAEL CARL

3 Cognitive theories and translator’s competence: The mapping view vs the deflationary view in metaphor translation

AGNIESZKA PISKORSKA

4 From describing state of affairs to interpreting attributed thoughts: A relevant-theoretic interpretation of brainimaging data

KARINA SARTO SZPAK, FABIO ALVES, NATHALIA BIACHINI ESPER, AND AUGUSTO BUCHWEITZ

PART 2: From theory to practice: Translation and relevance theory

5 Implicit meaning in literary translation from a process-oriented perspective: Authorial intention and the relevance-theoretic comprehension heuristic under scrutiny

FABIO ALVES

6 Ostension and propaganda during the Cold War: A methodological junction between polysystem and relevance theory

CATALINA ILIESCU‑GHEORGHIU

7 A relevance-theoretic approach to the translation of culture-loaded expressions in Red Sorghum

LI XIN AND ZHANG CAIYAN

8 “I visited Rome and Paris, among others”: Ad-hoc categorisation in Relevance Theory and translation practice

DANIEL J. SAX

9 Translating the ineffable in art: The case of the Parthenon Sculptures

CHARA VLACHAKI

PART 3: From theory to practice: Interpreting and relevance theory

10 Optimising non-native-speaker source texts: A qualitative Relevance Theory-based account of interpreters’ renditions

MICHAELA ALBL‑MIKASA

11 Cognitive processes in dialogue interpreting: On the interpreter’s monitoring at the local and global levels of discourse

ANNE DELIZÉE

12 Assessing quality in asylum interpreting: A relevance-theoretic perspective

FABRIZIO GALLAI

13 Relevance and artificial communication: A relevance-theoretic perspective on machine interpreting

ROBIN SETTON

14 Relevance Theory and interactional pragmatics in virtual courts: A study of the English–Mandarin interpretation of the manner of speech by professional interpreters in remote settings

RAN YI