Re-conceptualization and the emergence of discourse meaning as a theory of translation

The thesis put forward in this paper is that trans lation involves a number of cycles of re-conceptualization of an original SL me ssage, expressed eventually in the TL. Re-conceptualization is a matter of degree. Ori ginating with a SL author, the message is re-conceptualized by SL recipients, the translator and eventually, the TL audience. Any linguistic form with the TL morphology and syntax, which the translator considers a possible SL equivalent, brin gs about a new re-conceptualization cycle. Meaning, in all the cycles of translation, i s constructed and emerges with the flow of discourse, forming a blended entity combini ng elements of TL and SL as well as subjective properties of language users' mental models. As the linguistic message consists of both conceptu al-semantic content and the way this content is construed, important properties of construal such as granularity, focusing, prominence, and perspective, contribute to its overall meaning. Re- conceptualization of a message in translation is co nstrained by content, and in some cases, form similarity , or resemblance between the SL and TL message. The paper looks at a number of SL-TL translated pairs from au thentic corpus data to identify construal-types and propose a typology of re-concep tualization.