CultureSpecific TranslationMetaphor Prevails Where Relevance Theory Fails 硕士毕业论文.doc

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1、Culture-Specific Translation:Metaphor Prevails Where Relevance Theory FailsContentsAbstracti内容摘要ivChapter One Introduction1Chapter Two Review of the Related Literature42.1 A Review of Relevance Theory42.1.1 Relevance and Cognition52.1.2 Relevance and Communication72.1.3 Relevance and Comprehension92

2、.2 A Historical Account of Metaphor102.2.1 The Classic Views122.2.1.1 Aristotles View122.2.1.2 Platos View132.2.2 The 20th Century Views132.2.2.1 The Opposition Between Constructivism and Nonconstructivism132.2.2.2 Nonconstructivist Views142.2.2.3 Constructivist Views14Chapter Three Translation and

3、Relevance Theory163.1 Principles Governing Translation163.1.1 The Chief Principles of Equivalent-effect Translation163.1.2 The Limitation of Translatability183.1.3 The Relationship Between Flexibility and Accuracy203.2 Translation in the Perspective of Relevance Theory213.2.1. Basics of Relevance Th

4、eory213.2.1.1 The Inferential Nature of Communication213.2.1.2 Context223.2.1.3 Optimal Relevance233.2.1.4 Interpretive and Descriptive Use of Language263.2.1.5 Interpretive Resemblance and Faithfulness263.2.2 The Pragmatic Role of the Notion of “Translation”273.2.2.1 Translation as an Interpretive

5、Use of Language273.2.2.2 Text Typologies as Guides to Relevance283.2.2.3 The Notion of “Translation”293.2.3 Context-based Problems in Translation313.3 Impotence of Relevance Theory in Culture-Specific Translation343.3.1 Optimal Relevance and Situational Default343.3.2 Cultural Default and Culture-Sp

6、ecific Communication35Chapter Four Metaphor and Its Application to Culture-Specific Translation364.1 Defining Metaphor364.2 The Nature and Structure of Metaphor374.2 1 Metaphor as Figure of Speech384.2.2 Conventionalized Metaphors384.2.3 Metaphor as Cognitive Instruments394.2.4 Metaphor as a Way of

7、Thinking404.3 Conceptual Metaphor414.4 Application of Metaphor to Culture-specific Translation434.4 1 Difficulties in Culture-specific Translation434.4.2 Alternative Approaches to Culture-specific Translation454.4.3 Application of Metaphor as Another Choice474.4.3.1 Analysis of Examples474.4.3.2 Rea

8、son Behind the Examples48Chapter Five Conclusion49Bibliography51M. A. DISSERTATIONCulture-Specific Translation:Metaphor Prevails Where Relevance Theory FailsAbstractFive thousand years of Chinese history has cultivated a language which is characterized by its richness in culture and expressiveness i

9、n connotation. The Chinese language contains a large number of culture-specific or culturally fixed expressions generally covering idioms, proverbs, allusions collocations, etc. Those expressions are literarily beautiful, artistically impressive and culturally significant, carrying heavy historical

10、connotations. They have been handed down from generation to generation in oral or written forms, constituting a great portion of our vocabulary in communication. The task of translating those highly culture-specific expressions to the foreign audience falls on the shoulders of translators, who serve

11、 as bridge in the cross-culture communication.Accomplishing the task represents huge difficulties due to the complex and subtle relationship between cognition, language and culture and due to the fact that translation lies somewhere between science and art. Therefore, translators are always earnestl

12、y arguing over what the best ways of translation is, which is expected to cross the cultural boundary skillfully and achieve good cognitive effect on the foreign audience. Those arguments push forward the theoretical study and practice of translation. And out of the arguments come tremendous achieve

13、ments, which are not yet perfect. The idea of this thesis is just inspired by such arguments.The thesis centers on the incompetence of relevance theory in culture-specific translation and tries to make up for the incompetence by applying metaphor in the hope of achieving equivalent-effect translatio

14、n. The thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter One serves as an introduction of the thesis, giving a general idea of the orientation, significance, feasibility and organization of the thesis.Chapter Two reviews the relevant literature. It examines the relationship between relevance and cognitio

15、n, relevance and comprehension, and relevance and communication. It goes on to examine the development of the view of metaphor from Aristotle to Plato to the contemporary scholars. In Chapter Three, following the discussion about translatability and relationship between flexibility and accuracy, the

16、 thesis places the emphasis on translation in perspective of relevance theory. In order for “faithfulness”, “expressiveness” and “elegance”, equivalent-effect translation insists on dynamic equivalence. According to relevance theory, people tend to avoid mentioning the knowledge that they share in o

17、rder to achieve maximum contextual effect with minimum efforts, seeking optimal relevance. Based on the principle of optimal relevance, situational default arises. One subcategory of situational default is termed cultural default, which means the absence of the cultural background of proverbs and id

18、ioms from the text. Within a culture, there will be no obstacle in communication between the author of the original and his intended audience, while there surely will be some problems between the author of the original and the non-intended audience. Thus, the effect of the original on the intended a

19、udience is not equivalent to the effect of the translation on the non-intended audience. This is where the incompetence of relevance theory in culture-specific translation lies. And this is why it is so hard to translate idioms and proverbs, which are highly culture-specific. Though, “hard to transl

20、ate” does not mean “impossible to translate”. Translators can turn to metaphor for help.Chapter Four discusses the application of metaphor to translation. Revolutionary breakthrough has been made in understanding metaphor, which used to be seen as merely a rhetorical device and now as a cognitive in

21、strument or even a way of thinking.If language is viewed as the surface structure of our mind, and mind is viewed as the deep structure of language, then the very fact that peoples worldwide with various languages have been co-existing harmoniously in the world ever since is revealing. It indicates

22、that behind the colorful and various languages spoken by peoples around the world are their ways of thinking, which tend to be similar. It is based on the similarities in the way of thinking that metaphor can be employed to convey the similar ideas expressed in different languages. Through the prope

23、r application of metaphor, the effect of the original on the intended audience and the effect of the translation will be equivalent.Chapter Five is the conclusion of the thesis. It addresses some questions in the practice of culture-specific translation and points out the limitations of the thesis i

24、n the hope that different ideas are inspired and thus researches in the area are pushed forward. The thesis ends with the belief that translators will come up with more and better approaches to culture-specific translation as long as they keep an open and sharp mind and combine theoretical study wit

25、h practice.硕士学位论文试论借助隐喻手段弥补关联理论在跨文化翻译中的局限性 内 容 摘 要五千年的历史积淀和中华儿女的勤劳智慧，使得中华民族的共同语言汉语成为一门极富表达力的语言，闪烁着悠久历史与灿烂文化的光辉。在汉语这一文化宝库中，有大量的带有鲜明文化特性的表达方式，如谚语，习语，和成语。这些独特的语言表达方式韵味隽永，寓意深刻，以其独特的魅力得以通过书面或口头的形式广为传诵，成为我们交际中亮丽的一部分，往往起到画龙点睛的效果。在跨文化交际的过程中如何向英文读者传递中文里那些带有鲜明文化特性的表达方式所蕴涵的含义和意味是翻译工作的任务。由于认知，语言与文化之间微妙和复杂的关系，翻译

26、这一既具科学性又有艺术性的学科在完成这一任务的时候面对较大的困难。对于如何跨越文化的障碍，在汉语和英语读者之间取得较好的认知效果，翻译工作者可谓仁者见仁，智者见智，争论和探讨从来没有停止。而正是他们思想的交锋推动着翻译理论和实践不断向前发展，并取得了丰硕的成果。尽管如此，各种观点都还存在着或多或少的缺陷和不足，为将来的翻译工作者留下了继续探索的广阔空间。本文的写作灵感即来源于这些观点的碰撞所产生的火花。本文探讨关联理论在跨文化翻译中的局限，试图借助隐喻的手段来弥补这种不足，从而实现等效翻译，即在原文和译文中达到动态的对等。全文一共分为五章：第一章是引言，简要介绍了论文写作的意义，可行性以及文章

27、的大致结构。第二章是对相关理论的回顾。在回顾关联理论的时候考察了关联与认知，关联与交际，关联与理解之间的关系。关于如何看待隐喻的问题，从古代的先哲到当代的学者的观点经历了质的飞跃。本章分别介绍了亚里士多德，柏拉图的古典派隐喻观，以及20世纪的当代隐喻观，引述了构建主义和非构建注意的主要看法，分析了他们之间的对立。第三章在探讨了可译性并论述了翻译中的灵活性和准确性之间的关系后，着重探讨了翻译与关联理论之间的关系。为了实现“信”，“达”，“雅”的有机结合，等效翻译观提出了动态对等的原则，即同样的信息用两套不同的语言在原文与原文接受者以及在译文与译文接受者产生相同的效果。从关联理论的角度上看，为了达

28、到最佳关联，即以最小的认知努力获得最大的语境效果，人们在拥有共同背景知识的前提下进行交际的时候，都会省略那些对交际双方不言而喻或不言自明的信息，从而使认知努力最小化，提高交际效率。在此基础之上，就出现了交际中的“情景缺省”。这其中就包括了谚语，习语和成语的背景信息。对同一文化中的交际双方（比如原文作者与原文意向读者）而言，基于关联理论的要求而产生的情景缺省不仅不会造成相互理解上的障碍，反而有助于交流的高效。而对于不同文化的交际双方（比如原文读者和原文非意向读者，尤其是外语读者）来说，文化背景的缺省则会构成理解的障碍。因此，在翻译有文化背景缺省的信息时，在原文与原文接受者以及译文与译文接受者之间

29、所产生的效果显然是不一样的。等效翻译不能实现，这就是关联理论对具有鲜明文化特性的信息翻译的局限性所在。所以，翻译具有鲜明文化特性的谚语，成语，俗语和习语就非常困难。语际转换有时确实存在难以逾越的障碍。但难以逾越并不等于不能逾越。前者为翻译理论（特别是方法论）研究留下了很大的开拓领域，后者则涉及到更多因素，往往是语言学本身不能单独解决的问题。第四章即是进行方法论上的探索。人类对了隐喻的认识取得了革命性的突破（Lakeoff，1992）。以前隐喻仅仅是被简单地看作是一种修辞手段而已，如今它被证明是人类的认知工具甚至反映了我们的思维方式。世界上各国各民族的语言千差万别，但全世界的人民千百年来依然能够

30、世代相处，和睦共存。如果把人们的语言看成是思维的表层结构，思维是语言的深层结构的话，上述事实至少在某种程度上说明在多姿多彩的语言现象的背后是人类思维方式的相似性。那么我们不正可以借助隐喻来传达不同语言表层结构所体现的深层结构上相似的思维方式吗？由此，等效翻译观所倡导的在原文和原文接受者之间以及译文和译文接受者之间的相同的效果就可以借助隐喻的手段来实现。本章简述了翻译具有鲜明文化特性信息的一些困难，并列举了翻译工作者解决这些困难的常见策略。本文是将隐喻手段作为一种选择和可能性提出来解决问题的。必须指出，并不是在所有具有鲜明文化特性的情况下都应该借助隐喻，也不是在任何具有鲜明文化特性的情况下都能找

31、到相应的隐喻。所以，隐喻手段只是众多选择中的一个。第五章是论文的结束语，是对全文的一个总结，提出了在进行具有鲜明文化特性的翻译实践中需要注意的问题，同时也指出了本文的一些局限，并希望本文能激起更多不同的声音，从而激发对此问题更深入的研究和探索。文章最后指出只有翻译工作者知行结合，勇于创新不断挑战自我才能找到更多更好翻译文化特性鲜明的信息的方法。IntroductionRobinson (1997: 27) acknowledges culture is untranslatable because it is always mixed with other cultures. Borders

32、separating nations can not confine the cultural exchange as nations in our global village are integrating with each other through the cultural intercourses. In other words, translators are the bridges between cultures, endeavoring to cultivate the mutual understanding.One of the questions that trans

33、lators are faced with is how to translate the culture-specific information or culturally fixed expressions. Many respected scholars have made great contributions to answering the question, and their efforts are of great value and inspiration. Still, more and better answers are expected.According to

34、relevance theory, human communication always seeks to achieve maximum contextual effect with minimum effort in order for greater communicational efficiency. In other words, the two parties of communication omit whatever is self-evident to both of them. In the cases of communication within one cultur

35、e, the two parties share the same cultural background and thus have the same cognitive schema. So they usually will not vocally mention the elements that both of them know. The omission of these elements falls into three categories: 1) situational default, which means the omission of the shared situ

36、ational background knowledge; 2) contextual default, referring to the absence of information provided in the previous context; and 3) cultural default, meaning the removal of cultural background information from the context.In translation practice, the situational default and cultural default can be

37、 retrieved by the readers of the translated work while the cultural default cannot, because the original work is written for those sharing the same cultural background and the same cognitive schema with the author. With cultural default, the communication between the author and the foreign readers t

38、hrough translator appears to be dubious and problematical. So far, it is obvious that relevance theory makes translation practice in cross-culture communication ineffective. Then the next question to ask: Is the culturally defaulted work still translatable?Relevance theory regards translation practi

39、ce as an ostensive-inferential communication model. The author and the translator constitute the two parties of communication. The successful communication can be achieved by the means of building proper cognitive schema based on relevant inference. Meanwhile, the translator and the reader of transl

40、ated work also constitute the two parties of communication. Then, it is safe to say that translation practice can be successful as long as the information in the schema built between the author and the translator can be properly delivered to the reader. In this sense, therefore, the answer to the qu

41、estion of translatability is positive.People of different cultures have much more in common than they have differences in the use of language and the way of thinking. So, only if proper approaches can be found, these differences can be bridged and translation practice can succeed because dynamic equ

42、ivalence (the equivalence in terms of meaning and information) rather than static equivalence (the equivalence in terms of text) can be delivered. Based on this opinion, the next question that remains unanswered is: what approach to take?Among various approaches to cross-culture translation, metapho

43、rical approach stands out. Nowadays, metaphor is no longer viewed as just a rhetorical device, a figure of speech or a pure linguistic phenomenon. It is viewed as a cognitive phenomenon, a way of living, thinking and looking at the world around us. Since people of different cultures have much more i

44、n common than do they have differences and share the fundamentally similar image schema as well as cognitive model, there must be something similar in the “deep structures” of different languages of different cultures no matter how diverse the “surface structures” of these languages are. Part of the

45、 similarity lies in the implication that different languages contain and convey. So in translation practice when it is difficult or undesirable to translate the culture-specific information, it is advisable to take advantage of metaphor to convey the implication that otherwise might not be able to b

46、e conveyed. Therefore, metaphor is a feasible approach to translation.This paper is composed of five chapters. Chapter one serves as an introduction of the thesis, giving a general idea of the orientation, significance, feasibility and organization of the thesis. The next chapter presents a detailed

47、 literature review in which the relevant theories are given. Chapter three discusses the incompetence of relevance theory in culture-specific translation practice, providing an answer to the question of whether translation is possible in the culture-specific context, stressing dynamic equivalence in

48、 translation and the equivalence in meaning. Chapter four turns to metaphor as an alternative to reconstruct relevance and achieve the dynamic equivalence in culture-specific translation. And Chapter five comes to a natural conclusion.Chapter TwoReview of the Related Literature2.1 A Review of Releva

49、nce TheoryRelevance theory may be seen as an attempt to work out in detail one of Grices central claims that an essential feature of most human communication, both verbal and non-verbal, is the expression and recognition of intentions (Grice, 1969). In developing this claim, Grice laid the foundations for an inferentia