Abstract
Bible translation commenced with the oral interpretations and translations of the fifth century B C (Neh. 8-5.9) and is still In progress. Over the centuries various translation techniques were employed (see, for instance, De Waard 1990),' but sincc about 1960 Bible translations done by the Uniied Bible Societies and its affiliates have been based on the code model of communication (see Nlda 1964; Schneider 1990:2-8). Wilss's text book (Wilss 1982) suggests that the situation in general translation theory is not very different.
Highlights
Bible translation commenced with the oral interpretations and translations of the fifth century B C (Neh. 8-5.9) and is still In progress
It was precisely this model of communication theory that was challenged by Sperber and Wilson's relevance theory (Sperber & Wilson 1986; see Wilson & Sperber 1987)
Set within this context this paper seeks to achieve two goals: (a) to illustrate the contribution the pragmatic approach of relevance theory can make towards Bible translation, and (b) to indicate a few shortcomings which relevance theory reveals when applied to the interpretalion of an ancient religious text, namely the Old Testament.'
Summary
Recovering the specific intended meaning of an utterance first of all requires the retrieval of its explicit content, which involves (a) disambiguation of ambiguous constituents, assigning referents to terms and (c) the enrichment of vague forms or terms (Sperber & Wilson 1986:72). In each of these instances one has to determine the most readily accessible content that a rational speaker would have deemed relevant enough to have ^ect on the cognitive world of the hearer(s) in that particular situation
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
