Materiality in Translation Theory and Practice: A semiotic perspective on the materiality of texts in the translation process

This dissertation utilises the concept of materiality to construct a comprehensive theoretical framework for how translation functions as a process of textual communication. Materiality refers here to the notion that language, or any other kind of meaningful expression or sign-system, must always employ a material medium in communication. A material form enables signs to be sensorily perceived and therefore interpreted; further, the medium affects the form that the signs can be presented in, and the medium itself is potentially meaningful beyond the specific signs it is used to convey. The material nature of texts is therefore a relevant factor in textual communication, which itself can be defined as the material mediation of signs between communicators.

When this notion is combined with perspectives from Peircean semiotics as well as multi-ontological and multimodal textual theories, translation can be conceptualised as a process of meaning-construction taking place under co-textual and contextual constraints. Co-textual constraints refer here to the aspects of the textual medium which affect the form and content of the translated sign-complex, while contextual constraints refer to the aspects of the socio-cultural environment in which the text is received that likewise affect the translation’s form and content. Co-textual and contextual constraints are employed in the compilation, distribution and interpretation of signs in textual communication, guiding the construction of the desired kinds of meaning. A model of this material conceptualisation of the translation process is developed in the first of the four articles included in this dissertation. This article focuses on the theoretical aspects of materiality in translation research and the model developed in it provides the conceptual and methodological basis for the rest of the dissertation.

As the principles of materiality are argued to have such fundamental implications for how translation is conceptualised, the other three articles in this dissertation apply the material approach to a varied set of cases to test its scope of application in practice. The first of these articles concerns song translation, which involves the production of lyric texts under strict formal constraints and alongside the non-lingual but very meaningful textual mode of music. The functional requirement of singability is identified as a major co-textual constraint on the form of the translation, but it is also noted that minor changes to melody are possible when warranted by the lyrics, further illustrating the interactive and interdependent relationship between the signcomplex and its co-text. The second case analysis investigates the highly technologised translation processes at a workplace where translation tasks are intertwined with a number of other organisational processes. By applying the material model of the translation process to digital texts, it is discovered that different parts of the process promote partly contradictory views on how language and its contextual environment relate to each other: the translations’ production process tends to obscure this connection by relying on the modular nature of digital texts, but when the translations are distributed to their recipients via a textual medium, they are still required to adhere to their co-textual surroundings in form and content. Finally, the third case analysis conducted in the fourth and final article analyses the textual products of an AI language model. Working on the premise that machines can only analyse and manipulate linguistic form while humans and other semiotic actors use form for the purposes of constructing meaning, this study uses material translation theory to highlight some of the ways in which computational and semiotic text production processes converge and diverge.

Throughout these cases and the wide range of text types and translation phenomena involved, the basic principles of materiality prove applicable. Further, the specific model constructed in this dissertation is shown to provide added nuance and new perspectives to the study of each of these subjects. The results from these analyses also feed back to the development of the material approach’s theoretical framework and methodological dimension.

Based on these theoretical and practical explorations, it is argued that a material approach to translation research can introduce new ways of articulating the interplay between the material aspects of communication, the formal aspects of the signsystems utilised, and the meanings derived from that process. This framework can help translation studies as an academic field to incorporate new concerns under its scope of inquiry, but also allows a focus on concerns more traditional to the field when warranted. Furthermore, the principles of materiality are applicable to a host of phenomena outside translation. This means that a conceptualisation of translation based on materiality can open new possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration and potentially strengthen the influence of translation studies research in other academic and societal circles.