The implicit conceived by pragmatics and interpretative theory: comparative study

Abstract

The implicit is the sum of ideas not expressed directly by the speaker/writer
during the communication’s act. It is a subject of many researches in pragmatics. For an optimal understanding of any discourse, we need to figure out the
explicit form of the meaning but also its implicit one. The implicit is not merely
important. In some circumstances, it is much more important than the meaning
expressed in an explicit way (think about literary text for example).
Translation Studies, for its part, pay a great attention to the implicit at several levels. In fact, translation cannot neglect and do without the implicit. To
achieve a successful translation, the translator should surround the meaning with
its two dimensions, explicit and implicit ones. Otherwise, the produced translation would not be faithful.
We’ve noticed, throughout our reading, a similarity between translation studies (with the interpretative approach of translation) and pragmatics, when it
comes to talk about the implicit. But such a similarity is not perfect. The following paper aims at showing this.