（外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文）试论英汉比喻修辞手法中喻体的翻译.pdf

iv 摘 要 比喻是一种重要的修辞方法，它能有效地帮助使用者传情达意。然而，由于比 喻喻体的形式多样，并且往往涉及母语的文化概念，比喻的翻译历来是一个难点。 本文试从传载喻义的关键成分喻体出发来探讨比喻的翻译。 本文首先回顾了有关比喻和比较分析等理论的研究，总结出比较分析能有效帮 助人们认识中英文喻体的异同。按照比较分析的原则，本文从词、短语和从句等三 个方面比较分析了中英文喻体的异同，并考察了中英文喻体在喻义上存在的三种对 应关系：喻体相同喻义相似，喻体相同喻义不同和喻体不同喻义相似。理清这些关 系有助于译者把握中英文喻体的处理原则。本文以红楼梦的杨、霍两个英译本 为例讨论并总结了翻译喻体的七种方法， 并与 peter newmark 翻译暗喻的七个步骤做 了比较。文章讨论了这两个译本的喻体翻译策略，认为归化和异化在喻体翻译中各 有千秋，其具体的选择往往取决于译者的翻译目的。从翻译策略的角度看待，这七 种翻译方法可以看作是从归化向异化逐渐衍变的，而直译和意译正是这个衍变区间 的两极。此外，译者们也往往同时使用多种方法来翻译一个喻体。 关键词：喻体翻译，喻体，比喻，对比分析 ii abstract metaphor is a rhetoric device in which one object is compared to another with a view to conveying meaning or heightening effect. the translation of metaphor has never been easy, due to the manifold forms of vehicle and the highly involvement with culture. this study approaches the translation of metaphor from its key component - - vehicle, the part that carries the figurative meaning. the thesis starts from reviewing literature on metaphor and contrastive analysis, concluding that contrastive analysis is instrumental in understanding the differences between english and chinese metaphor. under the guidance of contrastive analysis, the thesis compares the forms of english and chinese vehicle on three different levels: word, phrase, and clause, finding some similarities as well as a number of differences. the thesis also examines the meaning relations that exist between english and chinese vehicle: same vehicle with similar figurative meanings, same vehicle with different figurative meanings, and different vehicles with similar figurative meanings. the identification of these relations might aid translators in understanding and rendering vehicle between english and chinese. based on two english versions of “ 红楼梦” - - one by xianyi yang and gladys yang, the other by david hawkes - - the thesis summarizes and discusses seven methods of translating vehicle, with a reference to peter newmark s seven procedures for translating metaphor. the thesis analyzes the strategies of translating vehicle in these two versions, concluding that both alienation and adaptation have their merit in translating vehicle and the strategy in use often depends on the translator s purpose for translating the work. in light of translation strategy, the seven methods of translating vehicle may be considered on a continuum from alienation to adaptation, with literal translation and free translation as the two extremes of the continuum. moreover, several methods can be used together to render a vehicle. iii keywords: the translation of vehicle, vehicle, metaphor, contrastive analysis 上海交通大学 学位论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文，是本人在导师的指导下，独立 进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不 包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成果。对本文的研究 做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意 识到本声明的法律结果由本人承担。 学位论文作者签名：李孜 日期：2009 年 1 月 8 日 上海交通大学 学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，同 意学校保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许 论文被查阅和借阅。本人授权上海交通大学可以将本学位论文的全部或 部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制 手段保存和汇编本学位论文。 保密，在 年解密后适用本授权书。 本学位论文属于 不保密。 （请在以上方框内打“”） 学位论文作者签名：李孜 指导教师签名：陈德民 日期： 2009 年 1 月 8 日 日期： 2009 年 1 月 8 日 i acknowledgements the writing of this thesis has required arduous effort. without the gracious help and encouragement from many people, the completion of this thesis would have been impossible. first, i am greatly indebted to my supervisor, professor chen demin, for his considerate encouragement, insightful suggestions and painstaking scrutiny of both the outline and the draft during the development of the present thesis, and for the meticulous guidance he has been generously offering me throughout the graduate studies. i am also grateful to all the teachers and professors in the school of foreign languages. it is their lectures, speeches, and generous help that have opened my eyes to the field of translation research and guided me through a journey of endless curiosity, questioning, and inquiry. in addition, i would like to extend my thankfulness to my roommates and friends, for their support and advice, for their patience and tolerance, and for all the inspiration they have given and all the happiness they have brought to me during those tedious days. last but not least, i would like to express my sincere appreciation to my family for their affection and confidence in me. with their unconditional support and love, i believe i can brave every challenge in my future life. 1 chapter one introduction language distinguishes humanity from the rest of creation. it is language that makes human culture sustainable. over the process of transmitting culture, language also takes on culture s characteristics, which is particularly true when we observe the phenomena of figures of speech. merriam- webster s collegiate dictionary defines the figure of speech as “ a form of expression (as a simile or metaphor) used to convey meaning or heighten effect often by comparing or identifying one thing with another that has a meaning or connotation familiar to the reader or listener.” because the reader or listener is relative, the thing familiar to one audience may be unheard of by another. consequently, the conveyed meaning may not be understood or may be misunderstood by another audience. based on this argument, a comparative study of the two audiences is necessary if any serious research into the translation of the figure of speech is attempted. this study approaches the translation of metaphor, a type of figure of speech, from this perspective. however, due to the limitations of time and space, it does not attempt to discuss metaphor as a whole; rather, it focuses on a key component in metaphor - - vehicle, the part that carries the figurative meaning. the body of the thesis will comprise three parts. first, a review will be conducted on the theoretical background of the study, including past and present research on metaphor, the relevance of contrastive analysis to translation study, and the theory of translation equivalence. second, different forms of english and chinese vehicle will be listed and exemplified, with a special emphasis on their differences. a comparison will be made regarding the figurative meanings of english and chinese vehicle, in the hope of finding some relations that may assist with translating vehicle between the two languages. third, 2 the methods and strategies of translating vehicle will be discussed based on two classic english versions of “ 红楼梦” - - a dream of red mansions, translated by xianyi yang and gladys yang, and the story of the stone, translated by david hawkes, in an effort to summarize and analyze the methods and strategies of translating vehicle in the two languages. 3 chapter two literature review 2.1 on metaphor before an in- depth analysis can be carried out regarding the form, figurative meaning, and translation of vehicle, a proper understanding of the current study on metaphor is necessary. therefore, this section will introduce different aspects of metaphor study as a start. 2.1.1 definition of metaphor metaphor has long been a subject of discussion. aristotle believed that one had to be a genius to have an eye for resemblances and to use a metaphor properly. one of his famous quotes about metaphor can be found in poetics: “ metaphor consists in giving the thing a name that belongs to something else; the transference being either from genus to species; or from species to genus, or from species to species, or on grounds of analogy.” in his view, metaphor is a phenomenon related with language only. (lan chun, 2003: 5) merriam- webster s collegiate dictionary defines metaphor as “ a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in drowning in money); broadly: figurative language.” according to a dictionary of literary terms and literary theory (john cudden and claire preston, 1998), metaphor is “ a figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another.” it is “ the basic figure in poetry. a comparison is usually implicit; whereas in simile it is explicit.” (1998: 507) traditionally, metaphor was only viewed as “ an ornament, as a figure of speech, or trope, as the process of implying a resemblance between one object and another, as a 4 poetic device.” (peter newmark, 1981) some linguists assumed that the purpose of metaphor was merely to animate other types of texts, to make them more colorful, dramatic and witty, while scientific or technological texts will contain mainly literal language, illustrated by an occasional simile (a more cautious form of metaphor). however, modern study shows that metaphor is used not only for the purpose of coloring language, but also for sharpening the language and describing the objects of the world more accurately. let us examine the following sentence: (1) some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested. (on study, by francis bacon) 一些书浅尝即可 ，另一些书却要囫囵吞下 ，只有少数的书才值得咀嚼 和消化 。 it is commonly known that only food can be tasted, swallowed, chewed, and digested, whereas the contents of books can be absorbed only by means of reading. however, the author grasps the similarity between eating food and reading books in that both processes represent a form in which human beings take in useful materials, one more perceptible, i.e. nutrition, the other less visible, i.e. knowledge. based on this observation, the author is able to make a comparison between eating food and reading books, which helps people to understand the good manner of reading books in terms of the natural habit of eating food. winfield goong, the author of rhetoric in practice, once stated that “ we should often be at a loss how to describe a notion, were we not at liberty to employ in a metaphorical sense the name of anything sufficiently resembling it.” (李鑫华, 2000: 30) since the emergence and prevalence of cognitive linguistics in recent years, metaphor study has increasingly attracted scholars interest. many cognitive linguists have discussed metaphor in their works, holding that metaphor is essentially a mapping across conceptual domains and that metaphorical thinking is part of the cognitive process through which humankind conceptualizes the world. (lakoff, 1980: 117) 5 as human tends to use the knowledge in one field to explain the phenomena in another field, numerous metaphors are created to facilitate understanding and expressing ideas. in other words, mankind establishes its conceptual system on the basis of experiences in the world, and metaphor allows us to understand one domain of experience in terms of another. thus, human understands certain objects in terms of the entire domains of experience rather than of isolated concepts. to sum up, metaphor is related with not only language; to a larger extent, it is associated with human s cognition. 2.1.2 metaphor and simile in the previous section, simile was introduced as “ a more cautious form of metaphor.” (peter newmark, 1981) in traditional rhetoric study, metaphor and simile were treated as two kinds of figures of speech. however, with the development of modern metaphorology, metaphor has enlarged its scope as a cognitive phenomenon; for some scholars, simile is considered a special type of metaphor. this thesis adopts this view, so it does not make a distinction between metaphor and simile when citing examples of the figure of speech. by definition, simile is “ a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often introduced by like or as (as in cheeks like roses).” (merriam- webster s collegiate dictionary) according to a dictionary of literary terms and literary theory (john cuddon and claire preston, 1998), simile is “ a figure of speech in which one thing is likened to another, in such a way as to clarify and enhance an image. it is an explicit comparison (as opposed to the metaphor where the comparison is implicit) recognizable by the use of the words like or as. it is equally common in prose and verse and is a figurative device of great antiquity.” (1998: 830) as rhetorical devices, metaphor and simile have some similarities. first, both 6 metaphor and simile contain a comparison between two objects that fall into different categories. when someone is said to “ take after his or her parent,” this comparison is not considered a figure of speech, because the member being compared (someone) and the member being compared to (his or her parent) belong to the same category humans. second, the comparison is made from a single perspective. for example, in the metaphor “ life is (like) an isthmus between two eternities,” the comparison is made from the perspective that a narrow isthmus has two ends leading to two vast pieces of land, which are like the two eternities before and after a comparatively short life. however, life can also be seen from other perspectives. for instance, life can be compared to tide (assuming life is not smooth, and it always has twists and turns), to feather (referring to life s value, such as in the sentence “ some deaths are heavier than mount tai and some lighter than a feather” ), and many other objects, each from a single perspective. (李鑫华, 2000: 20) metaphor and simile also differ in certain respects. in terms of linguistic structure, their difference mainly lies in whether the figure of speech contains comparing word(s) (e.g. like and as). as a rule, if a figure of speech does not contain comparing word(s), it is a metaphor; if it contains comparing word(s), it is considered a simile. a typical pattern for metaphor is a is b, in which b is the vehicle, a the tenor, and is the connector between the vehicle and tenor, while the quintessential pattern for simile is a is like b, in which b is the vehicle, a the tenor, and like the comparing word. the second difference between metaphor and simile lies in their components: a metaphor may contain no tenor, as in “ the bulls are dejected. tokyo s stock market never did what they hope” (bulls refer to securities investors in this sentence), but tenor is often considered an indispensible component for simile. in terms of rhetorical effects, the relationship between the vehicle and tenor for a simile is not as close as that for a metaphor. the reason is because simile contains 7 comparing word(s) as the connector(s) between the vehicle and tenor, while such a connection is suggested and implied in a metaphor. for example, the metaphor “ marble brow” can be converted to a simile “ a brow as white as marble.” compared with “ a brow as white as marble,” where the figurative relationship between brow and marble is established by the comparing word as, the figurative meaning in “ marble brow” is suggested and implied. because metaphor lacks comparing word(s) which makes explicit the comparison between the vehicle and tenor, metaphor is also referred to as a compressed or condensed simile. for example, the metaphor “ time is money” can be considered as compressed or condensed from the simile “ time is something like money.” while “ time is something like money” involves an objective comparison between “ time” and “ money,” placing emphasis on the similarities between “ time” and “ money,” “ time is money” contains the defining word is, implying a judgment by the author. stylistically speaking, metaphor and simile are often used in different genres. while metaphor is mainly adopted in poems, poetic prose, and literature, due to its ability of displaying the author s sentiments and emotions, simile is often used in textbooks, political essays, and popular science works, on account of its structure of explaining one object in terms of another. in modern metaphorology, simile is sometimes categorized as a special kind of metaphor because simile and metaphor have no significant differences in their cognitive functions. aristotle also held that simile was a special kind of metaphor and believed that metaphor came before simile. gertrude buck (1974), in his the metaphor: a study in the psychology of rhetoric, conducted research into the development of metaphor, and drew the following conclusions: in the first stage, different objects were considered the same, hence the sentence “ teeth are pearls” . in the second stage, people felt the differences between the two objects and began to say “ pearly teeth” . in the third stage, people not 8 only felt the differences but also found the connections (similarities) between them. then they used figurative words like and as to describe the connections and began to say “ her teeth are like pearls.” (束定芳, 2003) to sum up, in modern study, metaphor is often considered as an all- inclusive concept that comprises simile as a special case. considering the present study mainly concerns vehicle, which is often contained in both metaphor and simile, and which is, to some extent, detached from the comparing word or connective word, this thesis does not make a distinction between metaphor and simile when citing examples of the figure of speech. 2.1.3 essence of metaphor metaphor widely exists in different languages. its study holds a considerable significance for the understanding of human language, communication, and the relationship between language and thought. metaphor study can be mainly conducted from three perspectives: (1) on rhetoric. from this perspective, metaphor is viewed as a rhetorical device, or a use of language that creates a literary effect (but often without regard for literal significance), which is often defined at the lexical level; (2) on semantics. from this perspective, metaphor is considered a semantic phenomenon th