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Article published In: Text and Context Revisited Within a Multimodal Framework
Edited by Yves Gambier and Olli Philippe Lautenbacher
[Babel 70:1/2] 2024
► pp. 17–39

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Translation as de- and reconstructing synsemiotic relationships

Contextual dimensions of opera libretto translation

 | Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck
Published online: 12 December 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00371.agn
Abstract
In order to describe the nature of opera as a polysemiotic artifact and to address the challenges around its transfer, reference is often made to the concept of “context,” which, however, is usually used rather casually and intuitively and is rarely defined precisely. Building on the theory of synsemioticity, a somewhat tighter analytical grid will be presented that allows the extension of context to become clearer. This is achieved in two ways: first, the status of nonverbal in the polysemiotic artifact is addressed, which, referring to Catford, must be defined as co-text rather than as context. Second, it will be shown on which semiotic levels contextuality can be described. The examples given here are taken from the opera Orfeo ed Euridice (1762) by Christoph Willibald Gluck and from some of the translations in German and French based on this work.
Résumé
Pour décrire la nature de l’opéra comme objet poly-sémiotique et aussi saisir les défis posés par son transfert, on réfère souvent au concept de ‘contexte,’ qui est cependant souvent utilisé plutôt superficiellement, intuitivement et rarement défini avec précision. En s’appuyant sur la théorie de la synsémioticité, on va présenter une grille d’analyse en quelque sorte plus rigoureuse, permettant d’étendre la notion de contexte qui devient ainsi plus claire. On y parvient de deux façons : d’abord en soulevant le statut du non-verbal dans l’objet poly-sémiotique, défini, en renvoyant à Catford, comme cotexte plutôt que comme contexte. Puis, on démontrera à quels niveaux sémiotiques la contextualité peut être appréhendée. Les exemples utilisés sont pris de l’opéra Orfeo ed Euridice (1762) de Christoph Willibald Gluck et de quelques-unes de ses traductions en allemand et en français.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Context – co-text – text and polysemioticity
  • 3.Synsemioticity
    • 3.1Symphysis
    • 3.2Syntactics
    • 3.3Synsemanticity
    • 3.4Sympractice
    • 3.5Recontextualization
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
References (53)
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