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Article published In: Literary Translation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Challenges and Its Future Prospects
Edited by Wang Ning and Wang Hongtao
[Babel 69:4] 2023
► pp. 447–464

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Automated translation and pragmatic force

A discussion from the perspective of intercultural pragmatics

 | South China Business College | University of Oviedo | University of the Free State
Published online: 24 July 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00328.val
Abstract
This article discusses the challenges that the rendering of the pragmatic implications of texts into a target language posed for human translators and, by extension, for automated translation. It starts by discussing the importance of pragmatics, focusing on two concepts that have received much attention on the part of pragmaticians as well as translation scholars, namely implicatures and politeness. It moves to on to present some of the most notable publications on the interface between pragmatics and machine translation. These illustrate that the interest in the pragmatic value of language has not succeeded in advancing the integration of pragmatics into automated translation. Drawing on Kesckes and House, the last section discusses two concepts to be considered regarding the role of pragmatics in intercultural mediation.
Résumé
Cet article examine les défis que la traduction des implications pragmatiques des textes dans une langue cible pose aux traducteurs humains et, par extension, à la traduction automatique. Il aborde d’abord l’importance de la pragmatique, en se concentrant sur deux concepts qui ont reçu beaucoup d’attention de la part des pragmaticiens et des spécialistes de la traduction, à savoir les implicatures et la politesse. Il présente ensuite quelques-unes des publications les plus remarquables sur la relation entre la pragmatique et la traduction automatique. Celles-ci montrent que l’intérêt pour la valeur pragmatique du langage n’a pas réussi à faire progresser l’intégration de la pragmatique dans la traduction automatique. S’appuyant sur Kesckes et House, la dernière section aborde deux concepts à prendre en compte concernant le rôle de la pragmatique dans la médiation interculturelle.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • The importance of context in the production/interpretation of meaning
  • The importance of pragmatics in translation
    • Implicatures
    • Politeness
  • Research into pragmatics and automated translation
  • Intercultural pragmatics, recontextualization and (automated) translation
  • Final remarks
  • Note
  • References
References (39)
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