Pragmatics-based MT and the Translation of Puns

Pragmatics-based MT and the Translation of Puns David Farwell* and Stephen Helmreich° *Instituciò Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain ºComputing Research Laboratory, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA *farwell@lsi.upc.edu or ºshelmrei@crl.nmsu.edu Abstract. This paper describes an approach to translation which which recognizes a threefold distinction among the intentions of the author of a text: the locutionary intent (how something is said), the illocutionary intent (what is being said) and the perlocutionary intent (why something is being said) (cf. Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969). We claim that all three are taken into consideration in the translation process and that any of the three may be used to justify a translator’s choices. We present a case- study of the application of the framework to the translation of puns, in particular to one pun. We show that this approach can help to identify, quantify and qualify the choices of the translators. 1. Introduction In this paper, we describe an approach to translation which recognizes a threefold distinction among the intentions of the author of a text: the locutionary intent (how something is said), the illocutionary intent (what is being said) and the perlocutionary intent (why something is being said) (cf. Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969). We claim that all three are taken into consideration in the translation process and that any of the three may be used to justify a translator’s choices. We present a case-study of the application of the framework to the translation of puns, in particular to one pun. We show that this approach can help to identify, quantify and qualify the choices of the translators. The approach (developed as the basis for a computational model of translation, see Farwell & Helmreich, 2001, 1999; Helmreich & Farwell, 1998) assumes a knowledge base of beliefs (i.e., those of the translator), a method of beliefs ascription and a default inferencing procedure which allows the construction of viewpoints for the participants in the translation process. Against this context, novel linguistic input is processed, resulting in an extended context. Differences between this extended context and the initial context constitute the interpretation of that input. We apply this framework in analyzing the choices translators have made in the translation of: Latin America: ACCION speaks louder than words the title of an article from the UN monthly the UNESCO Courier, which is published in some 30 different languages. The article describes the dealings of ACCION International, a non-profit organization providing technical assistance for microfinancial institutions and microenterprises in underdeveloped areas of Latin America and the US. We show that a pragmatics-based interpretation of this title and the intentions of the author, and not simply the semantic content, serves as the basis for the translations. The choices made by each translator conform to such an interpretation and are concerned only secondarily with how the information is expressed. In particular, we claim that some of the translators view the entertainment aspect of the title (part of the perlocutionary intent) as important …

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