關(guān)聯(lián)理論(Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson 1995)起源于認知科學(xué),它的初始目的不是為了研究翻譯,但對于“宇宙進化歷史上這一最為復(fù)雜的現(xiàn)象”(Richards 1953)具有極強的解釋力。格特(Ernst-August Gutt)根據(jù)這一理論對翻譯進行了研究,于1991年出版了他的博士論文《翻譯與關(guān)聯(lián):認知與語境》(Translation and Relevance:Cognition and Context)。書中,格特提出了令人耳目一新的關(guān)聯(lián)翻譯理論,為翻譯的本體論和方法論研究提供了一套有機連貫的理論框架,在翻譯界產(chǎn)生了一定的影響。格特于2000年再次出版了此書,并對某些問題作了進一步的闡述。遺憾的是,在我國關(guān)聯(lián)理論的翻譯研究卻廖若晨星。
Relevance Theory, as a communication theory proposed by Sperber and Wilson, is viewed as an ostensive-inferential process. According to Relevance Theory, the context of an utterance is “the set of premises in interpreting, a psychological construct, and a subset of the hearer's assumptions about the world”. During translation, adaptation is needed to be made when demanded to avoid the word for word translation, which is the main idea of Relevance–Adaptation Theory. Relevance Theory and Relevance-Adaptation Theory have great explanatory power over translation.