Biosemiotics and translation studies

In this chapter, we explore the mutual fecundation to which an interdisciplinary perspective between biosemiotics and translation studies may lead. In particular, we explore the expansion of the notion of translation itself brought about by thinking from the realm of biosemiotics. We also explore the enrichment of the notions of semiosis and meaning-making in biological sciences that may result from an interdisciplinary debate with translation studies. In the process, we illustrate by means of the article a possible process and outcomes of such interdisciplinary work, choosing not to reflect on interdisciplinarity but to show it in action. The chapter brings into dialogue Peircean semiotics and the most recent literature in biosemiotics in a demonstration of how interdisciplinary communication can enrich both fields of study under the rubric of intersemiotic translation.