王兰论文终稿范文.doc

王兰论文终稿范文 漳州师范学院毕业论文The Applicationof theNotion ofCom munication in the Relevance Theory on the ScientificEnglish Translation论关联理论交际观在科技英语翻译中的应用姓名王兰学号070xx14系别外语系专业英语师范年级xx级指导教师黄宁夏xx年12月10日Abstract EST（English for Science and Technology）is aspecific genreof Englishwidely used in scientific and technical fields.The rapid development of science and technology and the wideinternational municationresult in a greatdemand forknowledge of EST and its translation.Technical translationpractitioners have been lookingfor aspecific translation theory to aount for and guide their specificwork formany years.But to their regret,they failedto finda pletelysatisfactory one.Relevance theoryin pragmaticsis veryuseful in aounting forand guidingthe technical translation process.Relevance theory is notintended fortranslation studies.However,as ascience thatexplores generalprinciples concerninghuman municationand cognition,its applicationprovides translation studies with a newperspective.Within theframework of relevance theory,translation is a double ostensive-inferential municationprocess,which involvesthree parties:the sourcetext author,the translator,and the target textreader.Under theguidance of relevance theory,a translatorhas todraw inferencesfrom thestimulus toget theoptimal relevanceaording to the contextualinformation of the sourcetext.This paperis a pragmatic explorationof the translation processin technical translation from the perspective of relevance theory.It intends to explorehow relevance theory is applied totechnical translation and howuseful this theoryisfor technical translation.Key Words:relevance theory;technical translation;optimal relevanceI II摘要科技英语是广泛应用于科技领域的一种文体。 科技领域日益繁多的国际交流使得科技英语翻译成为研究重点。 关联理论是Sperber和Wilson提出的从认知角度研究交际的新的方法论。 在关联理论框架内，翻译是一种跨文化、跨语言的以译者为中心的动态的示意推理过程。 译者在关联理论的指导下，根据原文语境信息及关联原则推理原文作者的交际意图，结合读者的期待，决定译文内容和阐述方法，进行翻译。 本文尝试将语用学的关联理论交际观与科技英语翻译实践结合起来，通过实例综合阐述关联理论在科技英语翻译中的体现和指导作用。 (1)Numerical controlmachines are most usefulwhen quantitiesof productstobeproduced arelow ormedium;the tapecontaining the information required to producethe partcanbestored,reused ormodified whenrequired.This sentencemaybeverbose ifwe uselong sentencesand clausesinstead.Fifth,tendency to the use of nominalizationCompared withgeneralEnglish,nominalization iswidely usedinESTworks.This isbecause thatnominalization helpsto reducetheuseof sentencesand clausesand makesa scientifictext simple,clear,laconic,objective andinformative.Sixth,wide useof the post-position of the attributiveIt isvery moninESTto have thepost-position of the attributive.Here is an example:In radiation,thermal energyis transformedinto radiantenergy,similar innature tolight.2.2.3At discourselevel Atdiscourselevel,there isno doubtthat ESThas itsown unusualfeatures.Seeing fromthe socialfunction oflanguage,the aimsof usinglanguage areinformation municationand informationtransmission.Different styleshave their own patibledifferent informationstructures andmodes ofinformation.The styleofESTisgenerallyusedinscientifically describingthe process,the characteristicsand the principles ofdevelopmentofthings,andinrepresenting thenew fruitsof scientificresearches andnew findings.Nevertheless thediscourses ofEST arerequiredtobe formal,plain,precise,concise,clearandstrictly logic.It aimsat animpersonal andobjective wayof description.Whats more,as oype ofparticular genre,the ESTis substantiallydifferent fromother typesof texts.As Yujinxiapointedout that“In EST,there areonly afew quotationsfrom classicalliterary works,or figuresof speech,like simile,metaphors,hyperbole,humorous,personification andpun.”(余金霞，xx:163)This isbecause that the muchuseof them maydestroy theformality andstrictness ofscience.To sumup,all the above features ofESTbring manychallenges tothose translatorswho areengaged inEST translation.3.Relevance TheoryandRelevanceTheory toTranslation4In thischapter,a briefintroduction torelevancetheoryand relevancetheory totranslation willbe given.3.1The inferentialnature of munication It is traditionallybelieved that munication is of code model,which considersverbal munication tobeessentially amatter of the encoding,transmission,and decodingof messages.However,Sperber and Wilson find that codemodel isnot powerfulenough toaount forall aspectsof munication.In1986,Sperber andWilson presentedanewapproach to the studyof humanmunication in their book,Relevance:Communication andCognition.They arguedthat“Communication issuessful notwhen hearersrecognize thelinguistic meaning of the utterance,but whenthey inferthe speakers meaning.”They pointedoutthat“Verbal municationisaplex formof munication.Linguistic codingand decodingis involved,but thelinguistic meaningof anutterered sentencefalls shortof decodingwhat the speaker means:it merelyhelps the audience inferwhat thespeaker means.The outputof decodingis correctlytreated by the audience as apiece ofevidence about the municators intentions.In otherwords,a coding-decoding processis subservienttoaGricean inferential process.”(qtd.陈长颖，xx:37)This approachis groundedon thehuman cognition.It challengesthe traditionalcodemodelof munication.It stressmore on the inferentialmode ofmunication whichinvolves not only encodingand decodingmessages but also recoveringthe municators informativeintention.Aording toSperber andWilson,themostimportant mentalfactor thatenables humanbeings to municate withone anotheris theability todraw inferencesfrom peoples behavior.In otherwords,inference is the nature ofmunication.Aording to the basis of thisnew model,Sperber andWilson definedostensive-inferential municationas follows:the municatorproduces astimulus whichmakes itmutually manifestto municator and audiencethat the municator intends,by meansofthisstimulus,to makemanifest ormore manifestto theaudienceaset ofassumptions.(qtd.孙雄刚，xx:7)3.2Context andcontextual effects3.2.1Context Itis alreadyunderstood thatto infercorrectly theintended meaningofamunicator inone munication,the hearermust findouttheoptimal relevanceon thebasis ofpaying centralizedattention tothe context.The importanceof contextin understandingand smoothingone municationis emphasizedby almostall languageschools.A context,in relevancetheory,is“not referto somepart of the externalenvironment of the municationpartners;it ratherreferstopart oftheir assumptionsofthe world orcognitive environment.”(Gutt,1991:27)In short,it canbe understoodas thatit notonly relatestothesituation whenutterance ours,it alsoincludes allthings abouthuman thinking,including cultureof municators.5Therefore,the notion ofcognitive environment takesinto aountvarious factorsbut placesthe emphasison twoaspects:situational contextand themunicators mentalavailability forthe interpretationprocess.3.2.2Contextual effectsAs JiangHaiqing concluded:in munication,people tendto startout with the contextualassumptions that aremosteasily aessibleto them,trying tospend aslittle processing effort onsupplying contextualinformation as possible.(姜海清，xx:94)And in the process,people arealso naturallyinterestedinimproving theirunderstanding oftheworld,i.e.cognitive environment.Hence they expect that the effortspent inprehension willin someway modifythe contextualassumptions theybrought tothe municationact,in otherwords,theyexpectthattheeffort willbring somecontextual effects.Both effort andcontextual effects areinvolved inmunication.How torelate theminevitably entails the notion of relevance.3.3Relevance and the principleof relevanceSperber andWilson holdthatmunicationis anostensive-inferential process.(qtd.孙雄刚，xx:7)In this process,when speakeris givingan utterance,he has to considerthe hearers prehensivecapability inchoosing propermeans toexpress his intention.By“proper”here wemean theexpressions chosenare relatedtotheknowledgein the hearers mind.In thisway,the hearercan obtain thespeakers intentionwith thehelp ofits connectionwith hearers knowledge.This kind of connectionis calledrelevance.The speakers processof givingan utteranceis anostensive act,and thehearersprocessof understandingtheutteranceisaninferential act.This definitionshow thatrelevance depends on theinterplay ofcontextual effectsand processingeffort.Both ofthem arecontext-dependent.Thus thenotionof“relevance”itself isalso context-dependent.We canalso drawfromthedefinition thatrelevance isa parativeconcept.The degreeof relevanceisakind ofeffort/effects analysis.In LiLijuans words,the greaterthe contextualeffects,the greaterthe relevance;the greaterthe processingeffort,the lowerthe relevance.(李利娟，xx:78)RelevanceTheoryis basedon notonly adefinition ofrelevance,butalsotwo generalprinciples:the cognitiveprinciple thathuman cognitiontendstobe gearedtothemaximization ofrelevance;and the municative principle that everyact ofostensive municationmunicates apresumption ofoptimal relevance.(qtd.贾立平，宋力源，xx:55)SperberandWilson holdthe opinionthat anassumption maybe relevant to somedegree toan individualinacontext.But it isofhuman psychologyto achievemaximal contextualeffects involvedin interpretingutterances atminimal processingeffort.Thus thehearer inmunication mayhave anexpectation ofoptimal relevance.(qtd.贾立平，宋力源，xx:55)They alsoclaimthatthe centralfactor tosuessful municationisthepursuit ofoptimal relevanceonthepart ofboth the6municatorandthe addressee.(qtd.贾立平，宋力源，xx:55)An utteranceisofoptimal relevancewhen itenables theaudience tofind themeaning intendedby themunicator withoutspending unnecessaryeffortandwhen thatintended meaningis worththe addressees effort,inotherwords,when itprovides adequatecontextual effortstotheaddressee.3.4Relevance theorytotranslationRelevance theoryregards translation as amunicativeact.Therefore,translation sharesthe natureofmunication-inferential.However,itisone plicatedkindofmunication.Itisplicated becauseit consistsofadoubleostensive-inferentialprocessand threeparties:the sourcetext author,the translator,andthe target textreader.The intentionoftheauthorwillbe matchedwiththe readers expectationthrough thededucing processesamong theseparts,that is,fromtheauthor tothe translatorand thenfromthe translator tothe reader.In theframework ofrelevancetheory,the ostensive-inferential municationreferstothe ostensivenatureofmunicators behaviorandtheinferentialnatureof prehension.The municatorprovides evidenceof his/her intentionto conveyacertainmeaning,which isinferred bytheaudienceonthebasisofthe evidenceprovided.Just asabove mentioned,in SperberandWilsons view,foranact ofmunicationtobe suessful,itmeansto havethemunicators informativeintention recognizedbytheaudience.(qtd.陈长颖，xx:37)Applied totranslationas an instanceof interlingualuseoflanguage,this meansthata translation municatessuessfully whenthe targetaudience recognizeswhat the translator intendsto municate.Whether ornot atranslation municatessuessfully largelydependsonthe translator,as he/she isinvolvedinthe two-stage munication.On theone hand,he/she isan interpretertomakeinference ofthe source language municatorsintention;ontheother hand,as municatorofthe target text,his/her taskis to ensure thatthe targettext isthemostrelevant themunicator couldhave usedto municate.4.The Applicationof RelevanceTheory toEST Translation4.1Criteria orprinciples ofEST translationontheperspectiveofrelevancetheoryCriteria andprinciples arethe twosides ofthe samething in translation.The formerlays emphasisonthereader orcritic,who mayusethecriteria toevaluate translation works;while thelatter onthe translator,who shouldfollow theseprinciples intheprocessof translation.There arequite manycriteria oftranslationinChina,which areof significance.Yan Fus“three-character guide”,namely,the principleof“faithfulness,expressiveness andelegance”,has beengenerally regardedasaplumb linefor measuringthe professionallevel oftranslation anda goalfor translatorsto striveafter.Fu Leiputforward“spiritual conformity”,emphasizing thereproduction ofthe spiritandtheflavor ofthe original.Qian Zhongshuadvocated“sublimed adaptation”,focusing onthe translators smoothand idiomaticversion forthe sakeofthe target reader.Of course,there aresome othercriteria inChina.(连淑能，xx:3)7On theother hand,at abroad,many translationtheorists proposedtheirownprinciples andcriteria.Alexander FraserTytler putforward theclassical criteriain hisEssay onthe Principlesof Translation:First,the translation should givea pletetranscript ofthe ideasofthe original work;secondly,the styleand mannerof writinginthe translationshouldbe ofthe samecharacter withthat ofthe original;thirdly,thetranslationshould have all theease ofthe originalposition.(Alexander FraserTytler,xx:9)Newmark believesin hisequivalent responseprinciplethatthe overridingpurpose ofany translationshouldbeto achieveequivalent effect,i.e.,to producethe sameeffect(or oneas closeas possible)ontherelationship ofthetranslationas wasobtained onthe readershipoftheoriginal.(Newmark,xx:132)Nida declares,“translating meansmunicating”,and hashis theoryof dynamicequivalence-“the degreeto whichthe receptorsofthemessage inthe receptorlanguage respondto itin substantiallythe samemanner as the receptorsinthe sourcelanguage.”This theoryisthemost famousas wellasthemost influentialone onequivalence.(Nida,1998:39)Although theseprinciples aredifferent,they arein essencethesame,all highlightingthemunicativenatureoftranslation.To putin anotherway,the linkbetween differenttranslationanddifferent readershiplies inthe principleofrelevance.To makeatranslationfaithful andequivalent tothesourcetext,it inevitablyentailsthe search for optimal relevance intheprocessoftranslation.In aword,by optimal relevancethe translator cansueed inpresenting equivalentlythe contentand formas auratelyaspossibleand helpthereaderunderstand aseasily aspossible.As statedearlier,EST textsare informativetexts andthey shouldfocus onmunicating the“truth”,“reality”or“informative”aurately andeffectively;besides,relevancetheoryalready eswithanotionoffaithfulness asa naturaland centralpartofits theoreticalframework.So,EST translationfollows the principleofrelevance.The actualEST translationprinciple istodowhatisconsistent withthesearchforoptimal relevancein termsoftruth,reality andinformation.In otherwords,consistency withtheprincipleofrelevanceisthecriterion.Thus,the suessofEST translation canbe ensuredby thiscriterion.4.2Relevance theoryapproach toESTtranslationFrom aboveanalyses,we can get thepint thatgood scientificandtechnicaltranslationworksundoubtedly followtheprincipleofrelevance.This chapteris intendedasanelaboration onthe applicationofrelevancetheorytothetranslationof Englishfor scienceandtechnologyat threelevelsoflexicon,syntax,anddiscourse.4.2.1Lexicon Asdiscussedinthe precedingchapter,technical terms,semi-technical termsand nontechnical termsconstitute ESTlexicon.While translatingthese words,the translatormust try to understandthem auratelyfirst,then predictthetarget readerscognitiveenvironment,and manageto translatethem appropriatelywith suitabletechniques forthepurposeof achievingoptimal relevance.（i）Technical termtranslation8Technical termsare ratherdifficult to translate forthey areseldom usedin ourdaily lifeand fewpeoplearefamiliar withthem.But thinkingfrom anotherperspective,we canfindthatthey areparatively easiertotranslateas they are uniquelyusedinone particularfield andtheyarerelatively context-free.A translatormay easilyfind theequivalence inthetarget language aslong ashe/she hasa good knowledge ofthe relevantdiscipline.Here isan example: (2)Chlorophyll:叶绿素The word“Chlorophyll”is uniquelyusedinbotany.With agoodknowledgeof botany,the translatoris undoubtedlyable toselect theactual assumptionsfrom his/her cognitiveenvironment,i.e.,the contextintermsoftheknowledge aboutbotany-chlorophyll isa greensubstance inplants whichenables themto usethe energyfrom sunlightin orderto grow,and thenhe/she canfind theoptimalrelevancebetween“chlorophyll”and thiscontext toget theoriginal intention-tomunicatetheinformationbytheterm“chlorophyll”.Then byinferring thereaders cognitiveenvironment choosethe onlyoptimally relevantChinese version“叶绿素”.However,not alltechnicaltermshavethedirect pragmaticequivalence inthetargetlanguage.So inmost cases,the translatorhastoresort toanother approachoftranslationproper-indirect translation.For example: (3)ST:All thematerials usedinthe gangway shallmeet thefire preventionstandard DIN5510and followthe anti-corrosion requirements.The gangwayshall becapable ofsuessfully negotiatingthemostrestrictive binationof conditions,and shallcope withall movementsunder alloperation conditions.TT:车辆通道选用的材料应符合DIN5510防火安全标准以及达到防锈蚀的要求。 通道的位移量可与车辆在各种运行条件下通过曲线的位移量相适应，能顺