Semiotic and Translation Studies: An Epistemological Interplay

The study probes into the epistemological confluence of semiotics and translation studies through the adoption of common conceptual tools. It begins with a reflection on the scientific character of the two research areas, semiotics, and translation, through the positions of both semioticians and translation scholars. In this context, it presents the positions of semioticians on translation and the positions of translation scholars on the usefulness of semiotics in the study of translation phenomena, as well as the research field of translation semiotics. The study argues that translation studies seek semiotic conceptual tools, different methods of analysis, and an appropriate theoretical framework since both disciplines study translation as a cultural phenomenon. The study records three major findings: first, the influence of semiotic theory is most evident in disciplines of translation studies where verbal and nonverbal semiotic systems cooperate and interact together, especially in audiovisual translation. Second, that the breadth of the field of semiotics seems to be viewed with caution by translation scholars, and third, that the subfield of translation semiotics seems to reflect more the views of semioticians into translation and less of translation scholars into semiotics.