隐喻与翻译.docx

隐喻与翻译-Metaphor and TranslationAbstract Translation, as a tool for the communication of cultures, transfers the cognition of the source language into the target language, and translation of metaphor has became a controversy receiving more and more attentions. This paper introduces the English and the Chinese metaphor in details. In the beginning, different definitions of English metaphor are quoted from authorities. Then the construction of English metaphor and three basic components, the tenor, the vehicle and the ground, are introduced, followed by the four basic structure patterns. Different classifications of metaphor are appreciated and studied at the different levels. From the angle of rhetoric effect, the live metaphor and the dead metaphor are classified in the first type, and from Newmarks view, four categories are classified, and finally four categories can be sorted out according to the emergence of metaphors three components. At the level of cognition three categories are introduced form Lakoffs classification. Then Chinese metaphor is analyzed in the same way, so the contrast and comparison are apparently made. Based on that, the obstacles which may exist in the translation of metaphor are probed into, that is, the study of the origin of the obstacles-culture clash, including the differences of the living environment and history, tradition and custom, classical tales and literary works, religion and so on. At last, the standard and the skills of the translation of metaphor are discussed.Key words: metaphor; translation; the source language; the target language; culture clash【摘要】：翻译是将一种文化中的语言所表现的认知方式用目的语传递到目的语的文化中去，而隐喻的翻译已经开始成为研究翻译方向里的重点和难点之一。本文详细介绍英语隐喻和汉语隐喻，首先在概念上引用权威的定义和诠释，接着从结构特征上下手分析英语隐喻的基本构成成分，即：本体、喻体、喻底。由此引出英语隐喻的三大基本句型。在分类上, 首先从修辞效果的角度进行论证，将其分成活隐喻和死隐喻两大类；引用Mark的观点分成四类进行分析特点；根据隐喻的三大成分之间的关系，隐喻又可分成四种情况。接着，从认知层面上，总结分析Lakoff的观点中有利于理解隐喻特点的结构隐喻，实体隐喻，方位隐喻。接着本文对汉语隐喻和英语隐喻形作一比较，指出在语言上的目标和功能作用成为英语隐喻和汉语隐喻最大的共同点。在此基础之上，分析了在隐喻翻译过程中会遇上的拦路虎，并深入到产生翻译障碍的根本原因-文化差异，包括地理和历史，传统习俗因，宗教信仰，经典传说和文学作品等其它因素。最后，探述了隐喻翻译的标准和基本原则，综合英、汉隐喻的特点和文化因素，讨论了几种隐喻翻译的技巧和方法。【关键词】隐喻；翻译；原语；目的语；文化冲突1. IntroductionMetaphor, mentioned by Lakoff G & Johnson in Metaphors We Live By, is pervasive in our daily life, happens not only in humans language but also in humans thinking and behavior.1P1 The utilization of metaphors is very frequent, and practically it is highly valuable to study linguistic metaphor. In resent years, metaphors in translation are studied mostly in the field of poetry, literature and rhetoric. For the differences between Chinese, which is regarded as a contextual language, and English that has its advantages, it is very important to find ways to achieve the equivalent effect of source language when they are translated into the target language. There are some examples. (1) Were I in her place, it seems to me I should wish the earth to open and swallow me up. ( Jane Eyre Chapter5 )我若是她，会恨不得立刻在地上挖个洞，钻进去(2) He did not win the first prize; he is just pulling your leg.他并没有获得第一名，只不过和你开个玩笑罢了.(3) 孩子是张大妈从小一把屎一把尿待弄出来的,像亲生儿子一样,孩子也把张大妈当作亲妈,冷丁一下子把娘俩拆开,孩子能受得了吗?She had nursed him ever since he was a small baby and loved him as her own; and the child, too, regarded her as his own mother. What would happen to him if he was taken away from her.2P19 (4) 每个人生活都有苦有甜. Every life has its roses and thorns.The above four examples show the metaphorical expressions in the two languages and the beauties in translation. Comparison between English metaphor and Chinese metaphor will help to strengthen our understanding of the essence of language, and the culture differences which could be traced back behind the phenomenon of language, both of which serve to probe into the art of translation; Therefore, in one sense, it is highly valuable to combine the study of comparison and contrast between English metaphor and Chinese metaphor, the culture differences and translation skills into a whole 2. English metaphorMetaphor is a figurative phenomenon, an important tool in language communication; whats more, it has a closed relationship with many subjects,3P1 such as Literature, Aesthetics, Sociology, Philosophy, Logic and so on, for metaphor can permeate into ones subjective thinking and concept of aesthetic. Ones personality, including philosophy, culture, standard of aesthetics and so on, will be reflected through the metaphor one uses. Therefore, metaphor should be studied from a more profound and higher level.2.1 Authoritative DefinitionVarious definition of metaphor have been proposed and some of them are quoted below.i ) metaphor: (example of the) use of a word or phrase to indicate something different from (thought related in some way to) the literal meaning, as in Ill make him eat his words or she has a heart of stone. ( Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Diction the fourth edition )ii) metaphor: a way of describing something by comparing it to something else that has similar qualities, without using the words like or as, the sunshine of her simile is a metaphor. ( Longman Dictionary of Contemporary 1995 )iii) metaphor:隐喻(一种修辞手段如 drowning in money, food for thought 之类). ( The English-Chinese Dictionary 1993 )iv) “By metaphor .I mean any figurative expression: the transferred sense of a physical word; the personification of an abstraction; the application of a word or collocation to what does not literally denote, i.e, to describe one thing in terms of another”. Peter New Mark 4P123v) metaphor: a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another. ( Webs Now World Dictionary )2.2 Structure in English metaphor Metaphor comes from the ancient Greece words meta and pherein meta means across, pherein means change; Therefore the basic function of metaphor is to transform something from one place to another.5P1 From semantic view, there are three basic factors composing a metaphors: the tenor, the vehicle, the ground, not all of which need to be presented in a metaphor, that is, some of them may be hidden. Therefore, it is very important to distinguish three factors from each other when facing a metaphor.(5) All the world is a stage, and all the men and women are merely players. (Shakespere)(6) I have seen the mermaids riding seawards on the wave. (T.S.Eliot)In example (1) stage is the vehicle, its literal meaning is the raised floor on which plays are performed in a theatre which exit in our real life, while world is the tenor, and the ground of this metaphor is that both are full of illusion and absurdity. In (6) riding is the vehicle, which literally means an action to travel long controlling and sitting on a horse, and the ground is the situation that the mermaids floating on the waves lightly. However, not all vehicles and tenors in metaphors refer to the reality in our life just as example (5) and (6) do, they may refer to the abstract concept implied in the context, and also they may refer to some kinds of quality or condition qualities. There are some examples.(7) The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. (Tomas Jefferson) (8) Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.(9) His reply was smooth.In (7) the vehicle, liberty, refers to an abstractive concept, which the tenor, tree is a material object, and the ground implies that liberty cannot be achieved or defeated without the shading of the blood of both the defenders and oppressors of the liberty in a violent struggle. On the other hand, blood (manure) nurtures liberty. Words in example (8) as tasted, swallowed, chewed, digested literally means different ways of eating foods, which are the vehicle, and the tenor is reading books, so obviously the ground is the condition that books could be read in various ways as foods could be eaten in different method. smooth in example (9) means have an even surface without points, lumps, pump; not rough; which is the vehicle, and the tenor is reply. So the ground is that her reply is tactful and shrewd just as the same satisfactory character or condition of smooth.From syntactic view, the application of metaphor is always flexible and multiple, for in the sentence structure, the vehicle may be implied in the subject, the predicate, the object, the predicative, the attribute or the adverbial modifier; Whats more, the vehicle can be a single word, a phrase, a sentence, or even a paragraph. However, three basic structure patterns are commonly used in English metaphor.Pattern I: the tenor and the vehicle are connected by the words such as: be, become, turn into, ect., and the vehicle mostly acts as the predicative.(10) Janes Uncle is an old fox, up to all kinds of evils.(11) Hollywood, California, was the film capital, a magnet for the talented, the greedy, the beautiful, the hopeful and the weird. (12) After that long talk, Jim became the sun in her heart. In example (10)(11)(12), the tenors are respectively Janes Uncle, Holly wood, Jim, the vehicle, an old fox, a magnet, the sun, which are the predicative in the sentences. This pattern is the most basic type.Pattern II: the preposition of is used to connect the tenor and the vehicle, indicating the appositive relationship, such as,(13) Mirage is the bloom or blight of all mens happiness.(14) But in a country where rice farmers have spent nearly 50 years in a comfortable cocoon of government protection.In the example (14)(15) the metaphor is in a phrase consisting of the tenors and the vehicle and the preposition of. On the other hand, the vehicle and the tenor are the appositive, that is, happiness is the bloom or blight; government protection is a comfortable cocoon. Patten III: verbs and adjectives are applied to transfer the metaphor, that is, words used to describe the special quality of one thing are adopted to describe the other thing to which the special quality are transferred. There are still many cases in this pattern.(15) From the burning look in his eye, I knew he was angry with me.(16) Tobys fears had evaporated. The word burning actually is used to describe the state of the fire, while in example (15) it is transfer to describe look. Reader could immediately experience such situation. evaporate is a Verb which expresses the particular quality of the gas, while it is used in the case (16), the abstractive concept fear are transferred to a concrete image likes the gas. This pattern is greatly used in the press and the literature as rhetoric devices to strengthen the authors opinion and to impress readers deeply.2.3 The categories of English metaphorSince the study on metaphor can be traced back to Aristotle, the first one who studied metaphors systematically. There has been a history of more than two thousand years study on metaphor, up till now numerous people make their great efforts to research on metaphor from various angles; therefore, metaphor can be classified in many ways according to the angles it was studied from.2.3.1 Classifications at the rhetoric levelI ) The dead metaphor and the live metaphorFrom its rhetoric effect, metaphor can be sorted into two categories: one is the genuine metaphor or the live metaphor, and the other is the trite metaphor or dead metaphor. As we know, the basic function of metaphor mentioned before is to transfer a special quality from one thing to the other to make much more concrete, impressive, profound images. However those which were used from time to time with its rhetoric effect declining gradually to zero would be regarded as the common expression, melting into the language, and then they would become out-of-date expressions, which is what we called the dead metaphor, such as the bonnet of a car, a coat of pain, the teeth of a saw, the apple of ones eyes, rain cats and dogs. On the other hand, the live metaphor refers to those with freshness and originality and effect. However, the disadvantage of this kind of classification is that it is too vague and difficult to define the boundary between the live metaphor and the dead metaphor. For example it is hard to decide to sort the heart of China, Beijing into the dead metaphor or the live metaphor.II) Peter Newmarks classificationFrom Peter Newmarks view A Textbook of Translation, I have suggested elsewhere that there are four types of metaphor: fossilized, stock, recently created and original. 6P46From the beginning, the fossilized, the name itself is a metaphor. It literally means to become a fossil; actually it means the trite, our-of-date, merely used. In a sense, it is just the same as the dead metaphor in the first classification. Take rain casts and dogs as an example. Nowadays those who used this metaphor are regarded as the people who live in the generation before the grandfather. The stock refers to the metaphors that have been taken in the dictionaries for the usage of metaphorical meanings and are still frequently used in daily life. Here are some examples of the stock about the metaphorical usage of the word flood.(17) She was in a flood of tears.(18) The corridors were flooded with girls.(19) Strawberries flooded the market and prices dropped down(20) Beer flooded from the glassThere are the recently created metaphors which have not yet been adopted in the dictionary but can be accepted the common people with a feeling of refreshness. In Hamitons Rescue of A Newborn there are sentences 7P47 as follows.(21) I focused on a small blob in the mud amid the columns of legs and trunks.(22) I suddenly came upon a wall of feeling elephants.(23)grabbed their lost baby and tugged her gently into a stockade of legsIn the above three sentences, columns and wall, stockade, have double functions. They function as the measure words with the metaphorical meanings, which has not yet been adopted in any dictionary. However, three metaphors have a common characteristic - they belong to the structure Pattern II (the preposition of links between the tenor and the vehicle which has been recorded in the dictionary, such as a hand of bananas).The last one, the original are regarded as the product from the inspired thought of the men full of wits and knowledge, and can hardly be seen before, let along have been recorded in dictionary. A Promise of Spring by American modern writer Jeff. Rennike begins in this way:(24) Nothing, no tracks but my own are stitched into the dusting of fresh snow, white as birch bark, that fell during the night, no flittering shadows in the trees, not a silver of bird song in the air. 8P47The word stitch belongs to those that are rarely used in English, and its most impressive usage is in the idiom A stitch in time save night. While floated out of the pen of Jeff Rennike, it was shining with the beauty of the original metaphor.In some senses, Peter Newmarks classification, the fossilized, the stock, the recently created, the original can be seen to be the small branches deriving from the categories of the dead metaphor and the live metaphor.III) Classification according to the emergence of the tenor, the vehicle, and the groundAccording to the three basic components in metaphor structure, four categories could be sorted out.The first type is both the tenor and the vehicle emerge in the metaphor, such as,(25) If the father lard is sound, my personal troubles are only a flea bite.This type is the most common one, for the ground of metaphor is easy to understand. Factually Patten I mentioned above belongs to this type.Second type is the metaphor in which the tenor is implied, such as,(26) Investments in restructuring companies involve substantial risks, and deciphering the details of a companys finances and plans for re-emergence is akin to penetrating a legal jungle.The third type is the metaphors in which the vehicle is implied, and sometimes the ground is also implied, leaving the tenor alone. This category together with the second type construct the Patten in metaphor structure. There are lots of typical examples such as,(27) She wished she could stop time and freeze this day so that it would never end.Moreover, example (8)and (9) belong to this categories. The last type is that the tenor, the vehicle and the ground all emerge in the metaphor, which are common to see. There is a typical example.(28) My life is one long curve, full of turning points.Obviously my life is the tenor, curve is the vehicle, and the shared common is full of turning points, which is the ground. 2.3.2 Classification at the cognitive level From Lakoffs view in Metaphors We Live By, metaphors are classified according to different concepts about metaphors. Only three of them will be mentioned for they helps the cognition of metaphor: structural metaphor, ontological metaphor and orientational metaphor.9P96The structural metaphor refers to metaphors in which one concept was adopted to illustrate or compose the other concept. Whats more, there are two components and two conditions that are essential to compose a structure metaphor. The tenor and the vehicle are the two components that must be two different concepts, which satisfies the first condition. The second condition requires that the two unlike concepts should have something in common which the structural metaphor adopts from the vehicle to illustrate and comprehend the concept of the tenor. For example,(29) Anger is heata) Try to simmer downb) She is stewingc) Tom was reading the boiling point(30) Anger is freea) She was burning with wrathb) That caused me to breathe fireActually, in example (29) a) b) c) are basing on Anger is heat and in e