The Turns of Translation Studies from a CDA Perspective: The Polysystem Theory as a Nodal Discourse in Translation Studies

Inspired by Thomas Kuhn’s theory of paradigm shift and guided by Fairclough’s model of critical discourse analysis (CDA), this paper is concerned with the turns of Translation Studies (TS) from a CDA perspective. It gives account of the way in which Polysystem theory as a nodal discourse redefined translation through the discursive processes of emergence and appropriation, contestation and hegemony, and recontextualization and colonization. This is done by conceptualizing the turns of TS as an order of discourse according to Fairclough’s model. The paper attempts to show that the Polysystem theory, having been appropriated into TS, displaced the existing discourses within TS and redefined the methodological and epistemological status of translation by raising a cluster of new conceptual issues, which greatly contributed to the cultural turn in the field. It is concluded that a turn in TS occurs when the three areas of methodology, epistemology and ontology are redefined by discursive processes.