A Radicant Approach to The Polysystem Theory in Translation

The radicant is a frequently used concept in recent years, especially in contemporary arts and sociology. Radicant, which is defined as “taking root” (radication), also includes change, development and progress. Roots in the radicant are formed afterwards, not at the beginning because the radicant is something that progresses, develops and takes root by making a transposition between different situations and even between different languages, thoughts and cultures. In the nature of radicant, there is always progress, development and radication. The radicant also shows itself in interlingual translation, which is itself characterized by progression, transposition and development. Taking into consideration the radicant character of interlingual translation, we can say that translation theory can also show a radicant quality if we look at it from the perspective of translation studies. The Polysystem Theory, one of the most important theories in translation studies, is a theory that focuses on literary translation. The transmission of an original text written in a source language for a specific culture to the target culture through a target language also determines its position in the target culture because the translated text can occupy a central position in the target culture and become more popular and contribute to its literature. It can even shape the literature of the target culture by influencing it. Thus, it can provide the emergence of new literary genres in the target culture or make them more popular. In other words, the source text, turning into a target text, takes root in another language and culture and continues its development. The objective of this theoretical study is to show that the Polysystem Theory is a radicant translation theory by approaching the theory from the perspective of the concept of radicant in a different way.