Application 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.

The 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:	360
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 a 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 book series by John Benjamins, Routledge and Springer.

Fabrizio Gallai is Research fellow and Lecturer at IULM in Milan, Italy. He is the author of a number of articles in scientific journals – such as Journal of Pragmatics and Lingua -, and a volume on Relevance Theory-oriented translation and interpreting studies (Routledge, 2022), and has extensive experience as a freelance translator and interpreter.

Table of Contents

Part 1. Relevance Theory-Informed Translation Studies 1. An overarching account of relevance-theoretic applications to the study of translation and interpreting (Alves, Fabio, Fabrizio Gallai) 2. S-mode and I-mode Translation in Interpretive Language Use: On the notions of resemblance and representation in Relevance Theory. (Carl, Michael) 3. Cognitive theories and translator’s competence: In favour of a deflationary view on metaphor translation. (Piskorska, Agnieszka) 4. From describing state of affairs to interpreting attributed thoughts: A relevant-theoretic interpretation of brain-imaging data. (Szpak, Karina, Fabio Alves, Nathalia B. Esper, 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. (Alves, Fabio) 6. Thème Translation During The Cold War. A Methodological Junction Between Polysystem And Relevance Theories. (Iliescu, Catalina) 7. “I visited Rome and Paris, among others” – ad-hoc categorization as a challenge in pragmatic theory and in translation practice. (Sax, Daniel) 8. Translating the ineffable in art: The case of the Parthenon Marbles. (Vlachaki, Chara) Part 3. From Theory to Practice: Interpreting and Relevance Theory 9. Optimizing ELF source texts: A qualitative relevance theory-based account of interpreters’ renditions. (Albl-Mikasa, Michaela) 10. Cognitive processes in dialogue interpreting: on the interpreter’s monitoring at the local and global levels of discourse. (Delizée, Anne) 11. Assessing quality in asylum interpreting: A relevance-theoretic perspective. (Gallai, Fabrizio) 12. A relevance-theoretic perspective on machine interpreting. (Setton, Robin) 13. Relevance theory and interactional pragmatics in virtual courts: A study of the English-Chinese interpretation of the manner of speech by professional interpreters in remote settings. (Yi, Ran)