ABSTRACT

The recognition that the untranslatable occupies far greater ground than was formerly thought has led to a groundswell of works exploring the implications for translation studies and culture in general. The hospitality concept contains within it an inherent contradiction that threatens to scupper any idealistic application of it. Snell-Hornby created a quite separate third category for the new ‘in between’ language forged by the literary hybrid forms of postcolonial literature, perhaps assuming, like Bakhtin, that the ‘intentional’ hybridity of artistic works is entirely unrelated to the ‘organic’ hybridisation inherent in language change. A catalyst in the process has of course been the infamous Brexit referendum of 2016, which may prove to have major significance for the future development of the English language. As for the matter of semantic transparency, this will be another casualty of the new paradigm given the sheer diversity of codes playing their part in any linguistic transaction.