Hatim and Mason: Discourse and the Translator
Basil Hatim and Ian Mason brought discourse analysis squarely into translation studies. Their three dimensions sit on top of register theory and add the layers most needed for long-document work.
Three dimensions
- Communicative: Halliday's Field, Tenor, Mode.
- Pragmatic: speech acts, implicature, intentionality.
- Semiotic: signs as cultural objects, intertextuality.
What this adds to AI translation
Register analysis alone tells you the texture. Hatim and Mason's pragmatic and semiotic layers tell you the implicature (what is meant beyond what is said) and the intertextual debt (which prior texts the source quotes or alludes to). AI pipelines miss both unless the brief surfaces them; the framework choice can carry pragmatic intent, the glossary can carry intertextual references.
Further reading: register, Field, Tenor, Mode worked examples.