| CODE | TIS5039 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Translating Meaning: Semiotics, Semantics and Pragmatics | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Translation, Terminology and Interpreting Studies | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The course will focus on the search for meaning in language keeping in mind that what a translator translates is not only the words on the page but the context, the gaps in the texts, the shared cultural and social understanding, among other considerations which discussion on Semantics, Pragmatics and Cognitive Semiotics will highlight The following areas will be treated drawing on the work of various theorists and linguists. The distinctions between semantics, pragmatics and semiotics; sense, denotation, connotation and reference; 鈥榗ulture鈥�; ,C.S, Pierce鈥檚 semiotic theory, and Umberto Eco鈥檚 encyclopaedic model of interpretation; figurative language and metaphor; cognitive semantics and semiotics; referential and non-referential aspects of meaning; sense relations; cohesion and logical relations; implicature and presupposition; deixis; Gricean Maxims; Speech Act Theory; Relevance Theory. Study-Unit Aims: - This study-unit is intended to provide students with an understanding of foundational concepts in cognitive analysis and description of language and meaning, and to exercise this skill in methods of language analysis; - The issue of 鈥榤eaning鈥� in language will be discussed by way of semantics, pragmatics, semiotics and discourse analysis. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - understand theories about how meaning is created and communicated in language; - understand the role of cohesion in writing and speech; - gain an insight into the roles of cooperation which are implied in all communicative situations. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - recognize the importance of meaning which is implied and not written (or spoken) in discourse; - realize the relevance of in-depth analysis of meaning in language and culture as a necessary skill for a translator; - learn to recognize more clearly the role that cultural difference plays in the pragmatics and semiotics of linguistic transference of meaning. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Eco, Umberto (2008), Experinces in Translation, Toronto, University of Toronto Press. - Eco, Umberto (2000) Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition. London: Vintage. - Hickey, Leo., Ed (1998) The Pragmatics of Translation, Multilingual Matters, Cleavdon. - Huang, Yan, (2007) Pragmatics, University of Oxford Press, Oxford.* - Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson (1980/2003) Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: Chicago U P. - O'Grady, W., Dobrovolsky, M., and Katamba (1996) Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd ed. London: Longman. (Chapter on Semantics and Pragmatics)* - The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Cognition, (2021) eds., Fabio Alves and Lykke Jakobsen, Lodong and New York, Routledge. - Yule, George (2008) Pragmatics, Oxford: OUP. - Yule George, (2014) The Study of Language, 5th edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Texts marked with an * are essential reading for the study-unit. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Clare Vassallo |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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