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While one of the pivotal achievements of the poststructuralist approaches is dethroning the author and his/her authorial intention by emphasizing the role of the translator as an autonomous reader of the source text, functionalist approaches try to dethrone the source text itself by emphasizing the role of the translator as a creator of the target text and giving priority to purpose (skopos) of producing target text.

According to Schдffner (1996), 'Functionalist approach is a kind of cover term for the research of scholars who argue that the purpose of the TT is the most important criterion in any translation' (p. 2). Functionalism is a major shift from 'linguistic equivalence' to 'functional appropriateness'. From the perspective of functional approaches to translation (particularly, under the influence of Holz-Mдnttдri's theory of 'translational action'), translation is viewed as a communicative act. In this view, translation is conceived primarily 'as a process of intercultural communication, whose end product is a text which is capable of functioning appropriately in specific situations and context of use' (Schдffner, 1998a: 3).

The principles of translational (translatorial) action theory then founded the basis of Vermeer's Skopos theory. 'Skopos is a technical term for the aim or purpose of a translation' (Vermeer, 2000: 221). Skopostheorists assert that any action has an aim, a purpose. From their standpoint, translation is considered not as a process of transcoding (the position usually adopted by earlier non-functionalist approaches), but as a form of human action which has its own purpose basically decided on by the translator (Schдffner, 1998b: 235; Hцnig, 1998: 9). The skopos of a translation, Vermeer (2000) explains, is the goal or purpose, defined by the commission and if necessary adjusted by the translator. He defines commission as 'the instruction, given by oneself or by someone else, to carry out a given action [which could be translation]' (p. 229).

A text in skopostheorist approach is regarded as an offer of information from its producer to a recipient. Translation is then a secondary offer of information about information originally offered in another language within another culture (Schдffner, 1998b: 236). The translator, as an expert in translational action, must interpret ST information 'by selecting those features which most closely correspond to the requirements of the target situation (Shuttleworth & Cowie, 1997: 156). From this point of view, the translation process is not (necessarily) determined retrospectively by the source text, its effects on its addressees, or the intention of its author, but prospectively by the skopos of the target text as determined by the target recipient's requirements (which are, however, discerned and decided on by the translator himself/ herself). The translation then is 'the production of a functionally appropriate target text based on an existing source text [or what Neubert calls 'source-text induced target-text production'], and the relationship between the two texts is specified according to the skopos of the translation' (Schдffner, 1998b: 236).

Focusing on the purpose of translation as the most decisive factor in translation action, skopos theory emphasizes the role of the translator as an expert in translational action and regards the source text no longer as the 'sacred original' from which the skopos (purpose) of the translation is deduced, but as a mere offer of information whose role in the action is to be decided by the translator, depending on the expectations and needs of the target readers (Hцnig, 1998: 9). Schдffner (1998b) explains 'The translator offers information about certain aspects of the source-text-in-situation, according to the target text skopos specified by the initiator' (p. 236). Skopos theory and functionalism focus on the translator, giving him/her more freedom and at the same time more responsibility, as Hцnig (1998) asserts:

• [The translator] may be held responsible for the result of his/her translational acts by recipients and clients. In order to act responsibly, however, translators must be allowed the freedom to decide in co-operation with their clients what is in their best interests.(p. 10)

An awareness of the requirements of the skopos, Vermeer maintains, 'expands the possibilities of translation, increases the range of possible translation strategies, and releases the translator from the corset of an enforced - and hence often meaningless - literalness' (qtd. in Shuttleworth & Cowie, 1997: 156). The translator thus becomes a target-text author freed from the 'limitations and restrictions imposed by a narrowly defined concept of loyalty to the source text alone' (Schдffner, 1998b: 238). Hцnig (1998: 14) usefully contrasts the characteristics of functional approaches vs. non-functional approaches as follows:

Functionalist Non-Functionalist

Translator

Is loyal to his client must be visible Faithful to the author should be invisible

Translation processes should be

Target text oriented Source text oriented

Aim of translation is

Communicative acceptability Linguistic equivalence

Translation tools taken from

Psycho-, sociolinguistics, text linguistics (supporting decisions) Contrastive linguistics lexical semantics(applying rules)

Analogy

Building bridge Crossing river

Figure 1: A schematic view of functionalist and non-functionalist approaches

As it is evident in Hцnig's schematic view, 'visibility' of the translator is a key concept in functional approaches. According to Hцnig (1998: 12-13), in functionalism the translator inevitably has to be visible, since functional approaches do not establish rules but support decision-making strategies and the translator has to make critical decisions as to how define the translation skopos and which strategies can best meet the target recipient's requirements; s/he should be visible, making his/her decisions transparent to his/her client and accepting the responsibility of his/her choices. A visible translator has to accept the consequences of his/her translational decisions, as Toury (1999) declares, 'it is always the translator herself or himself, as an autonomous individual, who decides how to behave, be that decision fully conscious or not. Whatever the degree of awareness, it is s/he who will also have to bear the consequences' (p. 19).

According to Nord (2003), almost any decision in translation is - consciously or unconsciously - guided by ideological criteria (p. 111). Ideological factors are very decisive in defining the translation skopos (target-text intended purpose) and selecting the functionally appropriate strategies by the translator, based on the expectations of the translation clients. These factors which affect and regulate the translator's behavior are further investigated in the following section under the title of 'norms'.