%Nr: MoL-2000-05
%Author: Patrick Yancey
%Title: Indeterminacy and Translatability

Abstract:
The Indeterminacy of Translation is the thesis, originally formulated
by Willard V.O. Quine (1953, 1960), that translation lacks empirical
controls. This means that, after considering all evidence and criteria
of translation, there still exists numerous and incompatible
translation functions between any given pair of languages. We will see
by the end of this section that the Indeterminacy of Radical
Translation produces a kind of ripple effect which extends across the
theoretical space of communication in general, thus having
repercussions into interpretation within a single language and even
within a single idiolect. Thus the philosophical stakes of the
Indeterminacy of Translation are rather high. If one can refute it,
then one has nullified the ripple effect1.

This paper will be concerned with the following questions. Is
Translation Indeterminate? If so, in what sense? And what does this
tell us about the Translatability of languages?

The paper will take the following form. First I will briefly introduce
the notion of Indeterminacy much in the same formulation as it was
given by Quine. I will then examine 2 recent arguments against
Indeterminacy: the first from Jerrold Katz, the second from Dorit
Bar-On. Their arguments will lead us to an examination of the current
status of translation as it is practiced by actual translators. We
will then review and critique the proposed criteria for the
determinacy of translation. I will conclude by incorporating the
findings of the above mentioned into a broader model of the
Translatability of Languages.