（外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文）动态文化语境顺应下的典故翻译——《红楼梦》两英译本的对比研究.pdf

i 摘摘 要要 众所周知， 典故的精妙之处在于含蓄， 并且每个典故都有它的历史文化背景或来源， 而用典者的用意却是意在典故之外， 那么如何既能传达典故中源语语言的文化内涵及言 外之意又能尽量保持源语语言的风味是典故翻译的两个关键问题。 目前典故的包含范围 很广，有些界限也不明确，根据中国典故大辞典 （2005）的分类，将典故分类为事 典和语典，所谓“事典”是指诗文等作品中引用的古代神话传说故事，历史故事，寓言 故事，宗教故事等。 “事典”相对来说比较明确。诗文等作品中的某个词语或句子，只 要它包含了一个古代故事或故事某一方面的意义， 它就具备了典故的资格。 所谓 “语典” 是指诗文中引用的有来历出处的词语。 “语典”相对来说是比较复杂的。本文所探讨的 典故翻译主要是指“事典”的翻译。 关于典故的翻译，目前主要是从跨文化的角度来进行探讨的较多，却很少有从动态 语境适应的角度去研究。本文正是从文化语境动态适应的角度来探讨典故的翻译, 并且 以红楼梦中的典故的翻译为研究对象来进行研究。作者认为对于源语语言隐含意义 翻译的研究应该在文化语境的环境中进行， 因为同一个词语在不同的语境中的含义是不 相同的。本文将以维索尔伦的动态顺应论为理论支撑，在文化语境中来研究文化隐含意 义丰富的典故的翻译，希望以此能给争论已久的文化的翻译问题带来新的启示。作者认 为，文化语境的顺应是决定典故的隐含意义是否需要传达及怎样传达的关键，同时也决 定着典故的翻译策略和方法。 即为顺应不同的文化语境， 典故的翻译方法和策略会不同。 关键词：关键词：典故；文化语境；动态顺应；语用隐含意义 ii translating allusions from the perspective of dynamic adaptation to cultural context: a comparative study on two english versions of hong loumeng abstract it is well-known that allusions, as embedded in specific cultures, have rich cultural connotations, and each allusion has its historical and cultural backgrounds or sources. it is quite clear that the purpose of using allusions either in literary or nonliterary texts is to convey the connotative (or metaphorical ) meaning on the denotative (or surface) level of discourse. how to convey the implicity and implicature of the allusion in the source culture and how to preserve its cultural flavor as much as possible are two important issues in translating allusions. at present, the definition of allusion is not quite clear. based on great chinese allusion dictionary (2005), allusions are divided into two categories: one is story allusion, which originates from a story; the other is word allusion, which refers to the words that have provenance. comparatively to story allusions, the definition of word allusions is ambiguous. the allusions discussed in the thesis are mainly about story allusions. nowadays, the studies of translating allusions are mainly in the perspective of cross-cultural translation, but seldom are from the angle of dynamic adaptation to context. the thesis just aims to do the research of translating allusions in cultural context and illustrate prolific examples from the two versions of hong loumeng. because cultural context is one of the major factors affecting the meaning of words, a word may assume distinctive meaning in different cultural contexts. the theory of dynamic adaptation to context - a new pragmatic perspective, may support the author in finishing doing the research of translating allusions. we hope that it may make some contributions to the solution of conveying cultural implicature in translation studies. the conclusion of the thesis is that in the process of translating iii allusions, we should choose proper translation strategies and linguistic forms according to different cultural context. that is, dynamic adaptation to cultural context decides whether the cultural implicature of the st should be conveyed or not, and how to convey it. lu xia (foreign linguistics and applied linguistics) supervised by professor ge lingling key words: allusions; cultural context; dynamic adaptation; pragmatic implicature 原创性声明 本人声明， 所呈交的学位论文是本人在导师指导下进行的研究工 作及取得的研究成果。尽我所知，除了论文中特别加以标注和致谢的 地方外，论文中不包含其他人已经发表或撰写过的研究成果，也不包 含为获得南华大学或其他单位的学位或证书而使用过的材料。 与我共 同工作的同志对本研究所作的贡献均已在论文中作了明确的说明。 作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 关于学位论文使用授权说明 本人同意南华大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，即：学校有 权保留学位论文，允许学位论文被查阅和借阅；学校可以公布学位论 文的全部或部分内容， 可以采用复印、 缩印或其它手段保留学位论文； 学校可根据国家或湖南省有关部门规定送交学位论文。 作者签名： 导师签名： 日期： 1 chapter one introduction this chapter mainly introduces the previous studies of translating allusions, the theoretical framework, the thesis structure and the significance of the thesis. 1.1 the previous studies of translating allusions the translation of allusions has always been one of the key issues in translation studies. the brevity in form and profundity in connotation make them earn a beautiful name as the flower of wisdom or the diamond in word stock. as the deposits of national culture and crystallization of human civilization, allusions play inestimable roles in spreading the national culture and enhancing mutual understanding among different countries. since allusions contain rich cultural implicature, which has always been a hot issue in the field of translation, thus translating allusions has long been valued as an important research question too. there exist different views on conveying cultural implicature in translation, the obvious among which are qian guanlians implicature, which holds that “if the translator deliberately eliminates pragmatic implicature, then aesthetic beauty of the source text will be spoiled in the target text, which approximates the death of literature” (qian 1997), and he zirans explicature which protests that to lessen the difficulties of comprehension on the part of the target language readers, the translator may as well take the target culture orientation, either replacing the source culture image with a target culture image, or making the implicature of the source text explicit in the target text. corresponding to the two opposite views, there are two pairs of translation strategies: one pair is domestication and foreinization by laurence venuti (1992); the other pair is covert translation and overt translation proposed by juliane house (2006). both of them discuss the translation from the angle of different cultures. of course many scholars and translators have also made valuable exploration in translating allusions. for example, in the master thesis translation of pragmatic implicature in the c-e/e-c translation of allusions: a cultural perspective, huang 2 shenghua makes a contrastive study of english and chinese allusions and states the translation of allusions is largely a matter of cultural transmission and the conveyance of the implied meaning of a source-cultural allusion comprises the most important step in translating allusions. in the paper of the compensation for the loss of underloaded translation in allusion translation (2000), chu yayun conducts her research on ways of how to reduce or avoid the loss of underloaded translation in allusion translation, culture bumps: an empirical approach to the translation of allusions (1997) written by ritva leppihalme, provides us with some potential strategies on translating allusions. besides, other researchers such as gu zhengyang, li linbo, chen jingjian, etc. lay emphasis on inquiring into the methods of translating allusions in ancient chinese poems. but few has been done from the point view of the theory of dynamic adaptation to cultural context, and this paper attempts to conduct the research on this standpoint. 1.2 theoretical framework in this thesis, the author would proceed from the perspective of the theory of dynamic adaptation to the study of translating allusions. “theory of adaptation”, proposed by the belgian pragmaticist jef.verschueren (1999), and attempts to cast a new light on translation studies. verschueren points out that language phenomena should be studied from a general pragmatic view and modern linguistics can be divided into language resources and that of language use. the former one consists of the branches of modern linguistics, while the latter one refers to a general pragmatic view of language. verschueren holds that “using language must consist of the continuous making of linguistic choices, consciously or unconsciously” and “these choices can be situated at any level of linguistic form” (jef verschueren 1999:55-56), “language has three properties, they are variability, negotiability and adaptability” (ibid: 58). adaptability is the property of language which enables human beings to make negotiable linguistic choices from variable range of possibilities in such a way as to approach points of satisfaction for communicative needs (ibid: 61). using adaptability as the 3 starting point, he assumes possible to assign four tasks to the interpretation of using language, they are: contextual correlates of adaptability, structural objects of adaptability, dynamics of adaptability, and the salience of adaptation processes. in addition, these four tasks “can be seen as necessary ingredients of an adequate pragmatic perspective on any given linguistic phenomenon” (ibid: 67). contextual correlates of adaptability includes any ingredient of the communicative context with which linguistic choices are interadaptable (ibid: 66). that is to say, the generation of meaning is a dynamic mutual process between discourse and context, i.e. different contexts may influence linguistic choices and change the meaning of the words. cultural context, indicating the social-cultural background in which the interlocutor lives, posed by the polish anthropological linguist malinowski (1923), is one of the major factors affecting the meaning of words, for a word may assume distinctive meaning in different cultural context. in the light of adaptation to cultural context, the thesis probes into the translation strategies of translating allusions. hopefully, it will cast some new light on the long-time debate of cultural translation. 1.3 thesis structure the thesis consists of four chapters in addition to a conclusion. chapter one mainly introduces the previous study of translating allusions, the theoretical foundation, the thesis structure and the significance of the research. chapter two starts with different definitions of allusions, then concludes the sources and characteristics of allusions. chapter three elaborates on the theories of context, cultural context and the dynamic adaptation to context, arguing that undoubtedly context plays a key role in cultural translation. chapter four discusses the translation strategies of allusions through abundant illustrative examples from the two versions of hong loumeng. according to the broad definition of cultural context, the author classifies the cultural context into historic, conventional, religious cultural context and cultural context of literary works. in order 4 to adapt to different cultural context, different translation strategies of allusions are applied. based on the analysis and discussion above, in conclusion the thesis points out that the approach of dynamic adaptation to cultural context can provide not only solutions to translations of story allusion, but also a new trend of thought in cultural translation. 1.4 the significance of the research allusions are the essence of a language. the most important aspect for allusion translation is that the surface meaning of the original allusion should be conveyed in the target text without losing its cultural connotation. research has been done on allusion translation from different aspects, but none has been done from the perspective of dynamic adaptation to cultural context. the significance of the research is that: (1) it provides us with a new view point in translation research with the application of the theory of dynamic adaptation to the cultural context in translating allusions; (2) the paper mainly focuses on exploring the translation of story allusion, which is seldom studied as a separate category. (3) the analytic examples are mainly from the two versions of hong loumeng, which may give convincing evidence to the paper. 5 chapter two an overview on english and chinese a allusions allusions have long been cherished as the national heritage and the crystallization of world cultures. being a gem in language use and national culture, allusions are used widely not only in literatures, but also in our daily life. 2.1the definition of an allusion what is an allusion? different descriptions have been given by different authors and different dictionaries in china and abroad. some definitions quoted from different books are listed below: according to ci hai，the explanation of allusion in chinese is “words or ancient stories that have their originates quoted in poems or literary works”(诗文中引用的古 代故事和有来历出处的词语), while according to websters new collegiate dictionary, the interpretation of allusion is “an indirect reference, esp. when used in literature”. oxford concise companion to the english language defines it as: an indirect reference. the term formerly included metaphor, parables, and puns, but now generally means implicit use of someone elses words, whereas quotations usually come with acknowledged sources. allusions are indirect, even cryptic, sometimes dropped in passing, with little thought, sometimes used with care, so that a speaker or writer can share an understanding with certain listeners or readers. another statement of allusions views: “allusions in writing are references to well-known persons, things, or events that writers assume are familiar to their readers. this assumption is based on the knowledge or belief that their readers share with them a common historical, cultural, and literary heritage, which enables the readers to identify the allusions and to understand their significance” (feng cuihua 1995: 226). zhang xiuguo says that allusion originates from late latin, meaning “playing with”. it is usually a casual, brief and implicit reference to a famous historical or 6 literary figure or a well-known historical event, which the writer assumes to be familiar to his readers. (english rhetoric 2005:202) zhao zhenghua says that allusion is the act of not speaking of something in an open manner of something spoken of without directness, especially when speaking of something else. it might include literary quotations, idioms, proverbs, maxims, colloquialisms, etc. when a writer uses it to explain, illustrate or reinforce his points, he just picks the key words or phrases without indicating their sources, not only the writers use allusions to save time, but they also give you the pleasure that comes from seeing similarities or hearing echoes of ideas. (english rhetoric) other descriptions about allusion abroad mainly in literary studies share the idea of “reference to something”: “allusion: latin alludere, to play with, to jest, to refer to. a reference to characters and events of mythology, legends, history.” (scott 1965). “allusion: tacit reference to another literary work, to another art, to history, to contemporary figures, or the like” (preminger 1965). “a reference, usually brief, often casual, occasionally indirect, to a person, event, or condition presumably familiar but sometimes obscure or unknown to the reader” (shaw 1976). “a reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place, or event, or to another literary work or passage” (abrams 1984). “an allusion is a figure of speech that compares aspects or qualities of counterparts in history, mythology, scripture, literature, popular or contemporary culture” (lass et al. 1987). from above, it can be seen that the definition of an allusion is obscure, but it has the following characteristics: a) implied or indirect reference, b) from historical events, folk tales, legends, classics, myth, etc. according to great chinese allusion dictionary (2005), allusions are divided into two categories, one is story allusion, which originates from a story, e.g. “守株待兔” (stand by a stump waiting for hares to come and dash themselves against it)”, which has a fable story like this: once there was a farmer, he worked in his fields every day. one day in late autumn, a miracle happened to him, when he was ploughing in the field, two groups of people were 7 hunting nearby. as shootings were rising one after another, scared hares were running desperately. suddenly, a blind hare dashed itself headlong against the stump of a dead tree in his field and died. that day, he ate his fill. from that day on, he no longer went in for farming again. from morning till night, he stayed by that miraculous stump, waiting for miracles to take place again. now “守株待兔” means “waiting for gains without pains”. “四面楚歌 (to besieged on all sides)” is a story allusion from a historical event story, “东施效颦” （aping a beauty from a folklore, “八仙过海, 各显神通” (eight fairies cross the sea each displaying his own talent ) from a chinese myth story, etc. the other is key word allusion, which refers to the words that have provenance. comparatively to story allusions, the definition of key word allusions is ambiguous. so the allusions discussed in the thesis are mainly about story allusions. 2.2 sources of allusions generally speaking, allusions are of the following origins according to the definition: historical events, mythology, literary works, popular legend or folklore, fables, customs and old sayings. as literary allusions are so common in european and american literature, several subdivisions are recognized: mythological, classical, biblical and shakespearean allusions. mythology of ancient greece and rome is the major reference for mythological allusions, though mythologies of other cultures may also fall into this category. classical allusions are quotations from the literature of ancient greece and rome. english and american literature contains more allusions to the bible than to any other single book and more allusions to shakespeare than to any other single author. generally speaking, greek and rome myth and the bible comprise the most important sources for english allusions. gordon made the following comments on the influence of the bible upon literature: “biblical phrases lie embedded in many pages of english prose from the seventeenth century to the present day. but they remain always a thing apart from the movement of the writers own prose. he knows, and his audience knows, that he is citing scripture. to both reader and writer the words are so