The Translator as Communicator

conversational maxims.
These are:
• quantity: give as much
information as is needed;
• quality: speak truthfully;
However, these maxims
may be 
broken
(inadvertently) or
apparently 
violated
(when the 
> deviation
from the norm
of
adhering to them is not
communicated
properly). In such cases,
there would be no
indirect meaning or
* The symbol > stands for ‘see the term indicated’. This is fully defined elsewhere in the
Glossary. 
180 GLOSSARY

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• relevance: say what is
relevant;
• manner: avoid
ambiguity.
implicature
to be
detected. Implicatures
only arise when the
maxims are 
flouted
(i.e.
not adhered to for a good
reason). Thus, to say ‘I
am voting for Reagan
because Carter is the evil
of two lessers’ could be
(a) a case of breaking
the maxim of
manner if uttered by
someone who gets
the idiomatic
saying mixed up; or
(b) a case of violation if
said to someone
who is not aware of
the original
idiomatic saying; or
(c) a case of flouting
giving rise to an
implicature which
might be something
like ‘it is all a
charade and not
worth talking
about’.
co-text:
the sounds, words or phrases
preceding and/or following a
particular linguistic item in
an utterance. This may be
compared with the 
>
context
enveloping that
particular utterance.
counter-argument:
see 
argumentation
criterion-referenced
assessment:
the kind of assessment which
measures a candidate’s
performance according to a
predetermined criterion or
standard. A 
norm-
referenced
test, on the other
hand, would measure how
GLOSSARY 181

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the performance of a
particular candidate
compares with that of (an)
other candidate(s) whose
score is taken as a norm.
cultural code:
a system of ideas which
conceptually enables 
>
denotative
meanings to take
on extra 
> connotative
meanings and thus become
key terms in the thinking of
a certain group of text users,
ultimately contributing to the
development of 
> discourse.
defamiliarization:
the use of some strategy to
make us pay attention to
some peculiar use of certain
modes of linguistic
expression.
denotation:
see 
connotation
deviation from the norm:
norms subsume what is
conventionally considered
appropriate in speech or
writing for a particular
situation or purpose. These
are sometimes deviated from
for a ‘good-reason’ mostly to
do with pursuing a particular
rhetorical aim. For example,
instead of an expected 
>
argument,
the text producer
may opt for an 
> expository
narrative. Such expectation-
defying choice is normally
more interesting and highly
> dynamic.
See 
> the
cooperative principle,
and
> informativity.
directive:
see 
illocutionary act
discourse:
modes of speaking and
writing which involve social
groups in adopting a
particular attitude towards
areas of sociocultural
182 GLOSSARY

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activity (e.g. racist
discourse, bureaucratese,
etc.).
distance:
see 
politeness
double-accentuation:
see 
dynamic, deviation
dynamic:
a use of language that
essentially involves a
motivated 
> deviation
from
some norm. An unexpected
form or textual convention is
hijacked
from its natural
habitat and used in some less
familiar textual
environment. The latter
would thus be 
double
accentuated
for rhetorical
effect. For example, the
satirical tone of Laurie
Taylor on the back page of
the 
THES
stems primarily
from borrowing the most
unlikely genres, discourses
and text formats for the
occasion being addressed.
eavesdropper:
see 
audience design
effectiveness:
alongside standards which
define and create textual
communication (e.g. 
>
cohesion,
coherence,
intertextuality,
etc.), a number of principles
which control textual
communication have been
identified. These include
efficiency
(communicating
with minimum expenditure
of effort by participants),
effectiveness
(creating
favourable conditions for the
attainment of goals) and
appropriateness
(the
compatibility of
communication with setting
and with the ways standards
GLOSSARY 183

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of textuality are generally
upheld).