Abstract
Frequently, a narrative leaves room for different interpretations. Perspectival ambiguities, in
particular, may lead to different interpretations of narrative discourse. In this paper, it is argued
that the analysis of perspectival ambiguities can be grounded in a cognitive-linguistic approach to
mental space representations or embedded domains. In such cases, readers may arrive at different
possible domain structures as a representation of the narrative. This model is exemplified by the
study of the biblical story Solomon's Judgment. The domain structure analysis offers explanations
for different ways in which translators and readers represent ambiguities in this story. Eleven
translations were compared. In a pilot experiment, students of Tilburg University were randomly
assigned to an idiolect translation group (N= 20), or a dynamic-equivalent translation group
(N = 20). Differences in the students' representation of the story were found. The implications of
these findings are discussed and re-examined by means of a second experiment.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 57-80 |
| Journal | Poetics : international review for the theory of literature |
| Volume | 24 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1996 |