In or Out of Tune? Nonlinguistic Presuppositions in the Translation of Musicology Texts

Abstract

Nonlinguistic presuppositions are undoubtedly a problematic factor in translation (Nord 2005, Fawcett 1997, 1998, Dimitriu 2005). In the case of musicology texts, they occur at both micro- and macro-levels (Dimitriu 2005), ranging from specialised lexis to quotations, allusions or references. The translator must be able to identify, decode and decide how (or whether) to relay these presuppositions to the target readers in agreement with the translation brief (Nord 2005, 2008, 2014) and the target text skopos (Reiss and Vermeer 2014, Vermeer 2000). The failure to do so will result in mistranslation, and may also generate unwarranted (or inappropriate) inferences.