Axiology of Translational Discourse: Criteria System of Translation Quality Assessment

The paper explores the epistemological aspects of text/discourse generation, focusing on ontological, methodological, and axiological dimensions. Translation discourse is examined from the perspective of the translation episteme and the translation environment. The translation episteme is represented by cognition (ontology), synergy (methodology), and harmony (axiology). The axiological component of translation discourse has a systemic nature, which requires a wider range of quality assessment criteria. The theoretical framework is illustrated by excerpts from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and their Russian and French translations produced in different historical periods, from Carroll’s contemporaries to the modern day. To estimate translation quality, the authors employ both traditional axiological criteria, such as adequacy and equivalence, and their own proposed criteria, such as harmony/disharmony and ecological / unecological. They represent a translation quality assessment framework centered on communication participants. The harmony / disharmony criterion evaluates the translation from the perspective of the translator, while the ecological / unecological criterion assesses it from the standpoint of the recipient belonging to a foreign language and culture. Each translation version satisfies specific criteria, which signifies the importance of their differentiation and systematization in expanding the research field of translation axiology.

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