Document Type
Journal Article
Department/Unit
Department of English Language and Literature
Title
Intertextuality, translation, and the semiotics of museum presentation: The case of bilingual texts in Chinese museums
Language
English
Abstract
This paper seeks to explore the various verbal (linguistic) interactions within the intersemiotic environment of the museum exhibition space. Drawing on notions of intertextuality in the social semiotic tradition such as those developed by Lemke, it begins with a theoretical account of intertextuality in the bilingual museum, before focusing more specifically on two case studies from museums in the PRC and Hong Kong in which Chinese language Source Texts are accompanied by corresponding English language Target Texts. In each case the paper considers the particular relations that obtain between these co-spatially situated Source Texts, the strategies through which such intertextual usage is mediated in translation, and how the intertextual relationships of the Source Text cluster are reconfigured in the correspondent Target Text cluster. A number of factors are identified in the translation process, including discoursal shifts, reprioritization and redistribution of Source Text material across different Target Texts, and the use of alternative types of lexicogrammatical repetition that seek to create a different form of recapitulation in translation, whether to correct perceived shortcomings in the original ST relationships, or for reasons of cultural or museological convention.
Keywords
Bilingual presentation, Chinese, Context, Intertextuality, Museum semiotics, Translation
Publication Date
2012
Source Publication Title
Semiotica
Volume
2012
Issue
192
Start Page
197
End Page
218
Publisher
De Gruyter
DOI
10.1515/sem-2012-0082
Link to Publisher's Edition
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/sem-2012-0082
ISSN (print)
00371998
ISSN (electronic)
16133692
APA Citation
Neather, R. (2012). Intertextuality, translation, and the semiotics of museum presentation: The case of bilingual texts in Chinese museums. Semiotica, 2012 (192), 197-218. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2012-0082