Inferring Conversational Implicature: Managing Implicit and Explicit Information in the Translation of English Children Literature

Abstract

Based on the cooperative principle brought up by American philosopher of language named Grice, with exemplification and explanation of the violation of four maxims, this paper also combines the cooperative principle with hedges, analyzing the translation of hedges so as to better manage implicit and explicit information in the translation. Meanwhile, analyzing how conversational maxims operate in a text can contribute to the characterization of style, “the perceived distinctive manner of expression in writing or speaking” (Wales, 2014, p. 397), helping the translator in maintaining a close stylistic link with the original text (Boase-Beier, 2014, p. 394). Analyzing how meaning is constructed or generated via maxims in a fictional text assists the translator in both hearing and recreating the literary style or narrative voice that guides the linguistic choices made by the author (Munday, 2008, p. 19). Take children literature translation as example, this paper not only offers a peek into the causes of explicitation and implicitation in children literature translation, but makes an explanatory study of it. Since the translation of children’s literature should comply with children’s cognition and characteristics so as to reconcile the relation between readability and educational functions, this paper will again analyze how meaning is constructed or generated via maxims in the text. Such analysis will help translators in maintaining the style of the original, which is conducive to managing implicit and explicit information in the translation.