Translating the Implicit vs. the Explicit in Diplomatic Texts
سالمي وعيد
(الجزائر العاصمة)
Abstract
Diplomatic translation is a means of international communication that concerns the conduct of foreign relations between sovereign states for the sake of promoting international relations among nations. It might involve interplay between explicit information (linguistically encoded) and implicit information (not directly expressed by the speaker/author). The former refers to the overt encoding of information, i.e. the carrier part of grammatical and lexical means of a language; the latter requires more in-depth deep interpretation and contains intended meanings that are assumed by the writer. This division between explicit and implicit meanings has been addressed in various theoretical approaches.
In diplomatic texts, context has explicit part, which is the carrier of grammatical and lexical means of a language. The other part is what is suggested or supposed by the author. The process of drawing a clear line between explicit meaning and implicit meaning within these texts is important in order to understand how the implicit meanings are generated. In some cases, the implicit meaning in SL is changed to explicit meaning in TL, rather than the other way round.
Our article aims to explore the different meaning, which are often part of the original author’s intended sense. How does presupposition contribute to encoding and decoding the information to be expressed in the target text as a whole? What are the implicit means of structuring information in text? What are the limits of the implicit and explicit communication? What are the indicators of implication within diplomatic texts? To what extent and in what ways do information structuring allows an implicit argument?