Interpretive use: translating intensification

Abstract

My aim here is to discuss first the fitness of a cognitive theory like RT when approaching the interpretive operations taking place in the translating activity. The basic notion of interpretive resemblance is put forward instead of the traditional one of equivalence. Secondly, the application of this cognitive framework is here discussed so as to tackle the case of intensifiers as a vague, "connotative" field of interpretation that puts to test the inferential work of translators. I then focus on a few varied examples of actual translations which illustrate some of the contextual effects conveyed by intensifiers of various kinds.