Revisiting the Retranslation Hypothesis Supported by Insights in Cognitive Linguistics and Language Complexity

Abstract

This study delves into the analysis of the common practice of literary retranslation, which can be defined as a translation of a previously translated text into the same target language (Berman 1990: 1). Despite being such a quotidian issue, retranslation still remains fuzzy as a concept and as a theory. Similarly, there is no solid or unified methodology that can help scholars understand the complex phenomenon of literary retranslation or how to fully apprehend its infamous Retranslation Hypothesis. Therefore, this investigation examines how Retranslation studies can benefit from using Cognitive Linguistics theoretical conceptualizations in order to establish a robust reconceptualization of the field and stronger methodological underpinnings.