Chomsky’s D-Structure, Translation, and Various Aspects of Meaning

Abstract

Translation is defined as the transfer of meaning from a language system into another without any change or reduction in meaning. Chomsky’s model, as a framework for translation, would render meaning from SL D-structure into TL D-structure, but Chomsky’s methodology in distinguishing competence from performance poses certain serious implications for transfer of meaning. D-structure is a level of conceptual meaning, containing simply those aspects of meaning which are lexicalized and which are incorporated in the D-structure through lexical registration rules. However, contextual meanings which are treated under pragmatics will be capable of transfer, unless they either are lexicalized both in SL and TL, or are arbitrarily represented in a word or lexical item in SL and TL.