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Article published In: Target
Vol. 20:1 (2008) ► pp.1–28

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Skopos and beyond

A critical study of functionalism

 | PETRA Research Group, Universidad de Las Palmas, Spain
Published online: 26 May 2008
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https://doi.org/10.1075/target.20.1.02mar
This paper deals with the main results of a systematic investigation (Martín 2005), supported by concordance analysis, of the metaphorical expressions found in Reiß-Vermeer (1984) and Holz-Mänttäri, Justa. 1984. Translatorisches Handeln: Theorie und Methode. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. [Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae B 226.]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, two works that in the 1980s established the theoretical foundations of German functionalism. Based on the cognitive theory of metaphor (Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Johnson, Mark. 1987. The body in the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; . 1993. “The contemporary theory of metaphor”. Ortony [1979] 1993 . 202–251. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), the analysis led to the identification of two conceptual metaphors that played a crucial role in the articulation of German functionalism: the TRANSFER metaphor and the TARGET metaphor. The paper focuses on the main implications of the use of these metaphors and on the contradictions they create. A broadening of the functionalist theoretical framework is then proposed with the goal of overcoming these contradictions.
Résumé
Cet article examine les principaux résultats d’une étude systématique, appuyée par une analyse des concordances (Martín 2005), des expressions métaphoriques utilisées par Reiß & Vermeer (1984) et Holz-Mänttäri, Justa. 1984. Translatorisches Handeln: Theorie und Methode. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. [Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae B 226.]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. Ces deux œuvres sont à la base du fonctionnalisme allemand des années 1980. Fondée sur la théorie cognitive de la métaphore (Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar ; Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar ; Johnson, Mark. 1987. The body in the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar ; . 1993. “The contemporary theory of metaphor”. Ortony [1979] 1993 . 202–251. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), l’analyse a permis d’identifier deux métaphores conceptuelles qui ont joué un rôle crucial dans l’élaboration de la théorie fonctionnelle : la métaphore du transfert et la métaphore de la cible. L’article est centré sur les implications majeures de l’usage des métaphores en question et sur les contradictions qu’elles suscitent. Afin de résoudre celles-ci, il propose un élargissement du cadre théorique du fonctionnalisme.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Conceptual metaphors in scientific discourse
  • 3.Metaphors in Translation Studies
  • 4.Shifts and containers in functionalism: Remnants of earlier models?
  • 5.The metaphor of functionalism: Every action is directed towards a target
    • 5.1Does every action have an objective?
    • 5.2Assigning a single objective to each translational action
    • 5.3The end justifies the means
    • 5.4The reconstruction of the TRANSFER model
  • 6.Broadening of the theoretical framework of functionalism
    • 6.1A model of communication as construction
    • 6.2Cultural models instead of cultures
    • 6.3Situated and emerging translational action
    • 6.4Ethics and Translation Studies
    • 6.5Experientialism as a means of overcoming the subject/object opposition
  • Notes
  • References
References (87)
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