Translation of Personal Names in English Literary Works 英语文学作品中的人名汉译.doc

届 别 2013 届 学 号 毕业设计（论文）英语文学作品中的人名汉译 translation of personal names in english literary works 姓 名 院系、 专 业 导 师 姓 名、职 称 完 成 时 间 2013年12月 translation of personal names in english literary works a thesissubmitted in partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the bachelors degree in english language and literatureby undergraduate programdepartment of foreign languagesxiangnan university academic title: associate professor signature_ approved march 2014 contents abstract in chinese.iabstract in english.iiintroduction.11. the definition and characteristics of personal name.21.1 the definition of personal name.21.2 the characteristics of personal name.21.2.1 symbolicness.21.2.2 definiteness.31.2.3 varistion.32. personal name and culture.52.1 relationship between personal names and culture.52.2 cultural information in literary works.52.3 personal names in literary works .63. naming methods of persons in english literature.7 3.1 implying the meaning in pronunciation.7 3.2 expressing the meaning by personal names.7 3.3 originating from the allusions.74. translation strategies.94.1two fundamental strategies: domestication and foreignization.94.2 translation strategies for personal names in literary works.9 4.2.1 foreignization.9 4.2.1.1 transliteration.94.2.2 domestication.10 4.2.2.1 culture compensation.104.2.2.2 giving up the name, only getting the meaning. .11conclusion.12bibliography.13acknowledgements.14摘 要 人名是一门艺术，也是人类社会中最普遍的语言现象，是人们利用语言符号区别他人的特定标志。人名同复杂的社会文化有着深刻的联系，因而有着深刻的文化内涵。本文选取了文学作品中的人名作为研究对象。文学作品中的人名，往往是作者根据其创作意图，为更深刻地揭示人物性格，预示人物命运，体现作品的背景和主题而精心设计的，具有深远的延伸寓意。然而某些寓意深刻的人名增添了文学作品的复杂性，从而使译者在翻译时难以把握。为了最大限度地传达原作的寓意，保持原作的风格，译者在翻译文学作品中的人名时，应从文化的角度入手，采取归化和异化的基本翻译策略，以音译、文化补偿和取意舍名等方式灵活处理。关键词：人名翻译；文学作品；文化内涵；翻译策略 abstract naming is an art. names, which are used by human beings, are the commonest language phenomenon in human society. they are the signs for people to distinguish one person from another. naming is a special and linguistic phenomenon which relates to cultures extensively and profoundly. the present paper will focus on the study of personal names in literary works. some of these names give vivid images of the characters, some of them show the temperaments of the characters, and some of them suggest the fate of the characters. such personal names in literary works are much more intentionally given than in daily life. they take the task to help with the development of the whole work, so the translation of them should also be taken into careful consideration. for the purpose of being faithful to the meaning and style of the source text, when translating the personal names in literary works, a translator should start from the perspective of culture, flexibly taking the two basic translating strategies: domestication and foreignization. key words: translation of personal name; literary works; cultural connotation; translation strategies. 14introduction each person in the society has his or her name which differs him or her from other members in the community. names are used by human beings and they are the signs for people to distinguish one person from another. naming is a special social and linguistic phenomenon which relates to cultures extensively and profoundly. the information of a nations history, language, psychology, religion, customs, concepts of moral and value are all implicated in personal names. therefore personal names are not only linguistic symbols but social symbols, which are windows for people to see through different cultures in different societies. they contain profound culture connotation, so the studying of names attracts a number of translators. for example, andre lefevere, a doctor of belgium, makes a discussion about “names” in his work translating literature: practice and theory in a comparative literature context. here “name” refers to those famous peoples names or characters in english literary works. personal names in literary works work quite differently from personal names in daily communication. they are not only simple signs for labeling some persons, but closely connected with these persons characteristics and even fates, both in reality and in fiction. so, in later use of these names, people familiar with the sources of these names can easily get the proper associations in their minds. thus, the popularity and frequent use of these names has become part of the culture, and by many means the usage of these names has been spread to some other cultures. in this paper, i will talk about translation of personal names in english literary works. 1. the definition and features of personal name1.1. the definition of personal name as we know, “name” is very important in our daily life, we have to use various “names” everyday, but what is “name”? can you give the definition to us? in oxford advanced learners english-chinese dictionary, “name” is defined as “a name or words that a particular person, animal, place or thing is known by”. the definition is very simple, and ernst pulgram in his “theory of names” offers a more detailed definition of a name as following:“a proper name is a noun used in a non-universal function, with or without recognizable current lexical value, of which the potential meaning coincides with and never exceeds its actual meaning, and which is attached as a label to one animate being or one inanimate object (or to more than one in the case of collective names) for the purpose of specific distinction from among a number of like or in some respects similar beings or objects that are either in no manner distinguished from one another or, for our interest, not sufficiently distinguished.” (dunkling, leslie alan ,1991)it is easy for us to know that “personal name” are peoples name-the name that a person inherits at birth and the other name that are given to him or her. in this article, we will focus on personal names in literary works.1.2. the characteristics of personal name from the definition, we can see a name is basically functioned as “a label”, with the purpose of “specific distinction”. as special signs indicating individuals in the society, personal names, have some particular characteristics that no other signs can replace.1.2.1. symbolicness personal names, as a branch of the system of names, are symbols which represent different figures of the human beings. the start of naming people is an important mark which distinguish men from animals.all human behavior originates in the use of symbols. it was the symbol which transformed our anthropoid ancestors into men and made them human. all civilizations have been generated, and are perpetuated, only by the use of symbols. it is the symbol which transforms an infant of homo sapiens into a human being; deaf mutes who grow up without the use of symbols are not human beings. all human behavior is symbolic behavior; symbolic behavior is human behavior. the symbol is the universe of humanity.the statement reveals that one basic characteristic of personal names is symbolic.once a man has got his name, the name works as a symbol to distinguish himself from the other people. 1.2.2. definitenessthe second feature of personal names is definiteness. each personal name relates to a concrete person. its a specified mark for each person. this is different from the other common names or collective nouns which refer to things of the same category. for instance，诸葛亮(zhuge liang) usually refers to the prime minister in shu in three states period in china. margaret thatcher refers to the woman prime minister in the uk. marie curie refers to the famous polish physicist and chemist who discovered two new elements (radium and polonium).1.2.3. variationit is necessary for us to know that personal names are not purely linguistic phenomenon. as a social phenomenon of human civilization, personal name can reach to every aspect of human beings, including culture, history, economy, and so on.the third characteristic of personal names is variation. the variation reflects mainly in two aspects-meaning and function. the variation of meaning is that people often break through the symbolicness of personal names when they are naming. they consciously make the personal names have certain meaning or deliberately pursue good names. in the naming systems of most peoples, there is a tendency that people choose the words which have good conceptual meanings and exclude those with bad connotations. in the naming system of chinese people, the purely symbolic family names, cooperating with given names, usually regain the original meaning and make the personal names express good connotation. as we know, the function of personal names is to distinguish. each personal name is attached to a concrete person and used to refer to the person. but in reality the personal names sometimes deviate from the feature of definiteness and thus produce the variability of function. for one thing, several persons may have the same personal names because of the influence of peoples common psychology in naming process, therefore the definiteness of personal names can not be assured. for another thing, personal names which are proper nouns are often transformed into common nouns. this is the generalization of personal names. they are not used to refer to the definite person, but used as a general reference. so there is the deviation from the definiteness.there are many examples in english. for instance, john hancock was a politician during the american civil war. now his name means “to sign the names” as in the sentence “put your john hancock on this paper.” in 1776, when the independence declaration was passed after hot discussion, john hancock signed his names first. his names were big and noticeable. when others asked him why he signed his names in that way, he explained, “so fat george in london can read it without his glasses”(张逵, 2000). because john hancock signed his names first and his signature was very noticeable, people often use john hancock to refer to ones own signature. sandwich is also a personal name used as a common noun. 2. personal name and culture culture refers to all the ways of life created in human history, including the explicit and the implicit, the reasonable and unreasonable, and everything far from being reasonable or unreasonable. naming relates to cultures extensively and profoundly.2.1. relationship between personal names and culture“i defined culture as the way of life and its manifestation that is peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression.”(newmark, 2001: 24). personal names are the products of the historical development of human society. they reflect the ancient civilization and splendid cultures from different perspectives. the choice of names tells us about human thought processes at that time and reflects the social reality. therefore the development of personal names cannot be divorced from the social culture background. names are an inseparable part of culture and the inevitable outcome of the cultural evolution. personal names have evolved with the development of human society, so just like other linguistic phenomena they play the role of carrier and propagator of cultures. culture infiltrates into every aspect of human social lives and exerts an imperceptible influence on peoples behavior. personal names are the outcome of human social behavior, so the influence of culture can be seen from the changing of names. for example, chinese people are greatly influenced by confucianism, so obvious propriety color can be seen in chinese people names; english people believe christianity and religious color can be found in their names. whats more, personal names exert its influence and action on society and culture. for example, the taboo on using the personal names of emperors was formed under the influence of feudal hierarchy culture. in a word, personal names and culture influence each other, restrict each other and act on each other. from personal names, people can see the cultural similarity and difference in different societies. 2.2. cultural information in literary worksliterary work is the most important carrier of culture. as mentioned in chapter one, we will focus on the personal names in literary works, for literary works often embody much cultural information. culture is the sum of a nations knowledge, experiences, beliefs, sense of values, division of classes, and the attitude toward time and space. cultural information in literary works means the elements reflecting the culture of a nation or nations in literary works. it is rather simple at first sight; however, without being paid attention, a great deal of cultural information will escape the readers or the translators. for example, the chinese writing styles are very different from that in english. the chinese writers tend to develop the paragraphs in a circular way whereas the english like to follow a straight line. the chinese way of developing paragraphs, in fact, are influenced by their philosophical concept of “mans unity with heaven”, and common readers cannot realize this in the process of reading.2.3. personal names in literary works“literary work has been taking humanity as its focus since its beginning. characters are always the focus of literary works. the background they are in, the experience they take, and the personality they have, are combined to form the whole story.”(吴芳，2002: 3) authors create in the novels the personalities of their characters and even indicate the fates and destinations of their heroes by all kinds of methods like depicting the history and culture background, expressing the internal thoughts of the characters or endowing with them some particular names with special meanings. among these methods, giving names with connotations to the heroes in the novel is one of the most direct and effective ways to approach the essential themes. some of these names give vivid images of the characters, some of them show the temperaments of the characters, and some of them suggest the fate of the characters. most of the authors will imply their standpoints, hopes, likes and dislikes in those names of their heroes or heroines to indicate the development of their stories. thus, the author have formed a lot puns in the names of fictional figures, some in pronunciation, while some others in meaning. take english for examples:in john bunyans the pilgrims progress, english readers can easily get the first impression from such names as mr. worldly wiseman, faithful, hopeful, giant despair, and mr. nogood. these names of fictional figures, intentionally given by the authors, can help readers get a better understanding of the whole work, and as the literary work has been accepted by the readers, some of the personal names will be also kept in the readers minds and be widely used hereafter in the daily life in a rhetoric way like “hamlet” in english culture.3. naming methods of persons in english literaturewriters sometimes use names not just to name characters in a poem, story, novel, or play, but also to describe those characters. when naming a character, especially naming a hero, authors are always trying their best to choose a perfect name according to the intentions of their work. three methods in this thesis.3.1. implying the meaning in pronunciation the first naming method is to form a name with implied meaning in pronunciation. for example: gatsby: the name of the character in f. scott fitzgeralds the great gatsby, is “the great gets by”, i.s “the great american dream passes by”.(黄向前，2005: 138)willy loman: the name of the character in arthur millers the death of a salesman, is “willies+lonely man”, i.e “a lonely man whose heart is full willies”.all these names ar