从框架理论的角度分析英汉互译初稿

1、从框架理论的角度分析英汉互译摘 要：框架理论是认知语言学中的一个重要组成部分， 它从认知的角度合理地解释了 翻译现象。 翻译实践不仅涉及到不同的语言， 而且还涉及到不同的文化。 由于不同语言存在 框架系统和次框架的差异以及文化框架的差异 , 因此翻译的任务实际上就是需要找到能够 激活与原语相同或相似的认知框架的语言表达式。 本文从框架理论的定义及特点入手， 结合 实例探讨框架理论在英汉互译中的应用， 分析其在英汉互译应用过程中的优缺点， 从而使框 架理论在未来被应用到更广阔的领域中，更准确地指导人们的实践与认知。关键词： 框架理论 ;英汉互译 ;文化框架 ;应用An Analysis on t

2、he Sexism of English ProverbsAbstract: Language, as a mirror of the real world, can give us a vivid reflection of social customs and values. Proverb, the essence of language, is actually a pure concentration of the entire content of culture. With a long history and their ancient origins, English pro

3、verbs stem from the accumulation of experience, which have been passed on from generation to generation. Thus, it is more representative and persuasive to make a research on sexism from proverbs. The thesis aims at specializing in sexism reflected in the English proverbs, probing into the phenomenon

4、 through an inductive study of the proverbs applied in English from two major aspects and seven points in total. Besides, the thesis has also investigated into the causes of sexism from three aspects: historical influence, physical influence and psychological influence, revealing the sex bias agains

5、t women in vocabulary so as to enhance people aswareness about sexism and provide reference value in this field of study.Key Words: English; gender language; proverb; sexismI IntroductionThere are great differences among human languages, among which the differences in gender may have the oldest orig

6、in. Concentrated by humanists and linguists,“ such language differenceand discrimination in gender is sexism” (Bolinger, 1989:21). Sexism-miasdaenweowrldy, but ithas already deeply rooted on proverbs.However, it was not until the 20th century, did scholars begin to place their eyes on the problems b

7、etween language and gender. The first generation to do research on gender language from the point of linguistics are represented by O. Jesperson and E. Mauthner, but their study was only drawn from personal views or occasional communication, until the middle of this century, the study started to tak

8、e its full wings. After the 1970s, some famous linguistics, such as Lakoff, made a probe on the social causes of gender language. From the end of 1980s to 1990s, linguists focused on the further investigation and study of the different forms of man and woman. The similar research in our country bega

9、n to take shape from the end of 1970s, and most of the articles at that time were just the introduction of gender from the perspective of English culture origin. The contrastive analysis and research originated from the 1980s, the experts in this field were not many, such as Sun sGender and Language

10、 (1997) which made an elaborate study on the basis of psycholinguistics. Nowadays, more and more linguists put forward many systematic and comprehensive books and authoritative articles, such as Zhao s Lan0g0u3a)g. e and Gender (2Proverb, an indispensible part in the thesis, is actually a pure conce

11、ntration of the entirecontent of culture, and“the wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs.” (Thomas Paine, 1935:With a long history and their ancient origin, English proverbs stem from the accumulation of experience of daily life and the wisdom of the common people, which has been handed down from

12、generation to generation. Thus a proverb is a more representative and persuasive perspective to make a research on sexism. By means of an inductive study, the thesis has probed into the sexism phenomenon of the proverbs applied in English from three major aspects and seven points in total.Furthermor

13、e, the thesis has also investigated into the causes of sexism from three aspects: historical influence, physical influence and psychological influence, aiming at making a clear demonstration of sexism in language level and hoping to help people reduce the daily bias against women.II Proverbs and Sex

14、ismIn this part, some knowledge of proverb and sexism will be exposed, among which the origin and development of proverb will give us a little illustration about the existence of sexism in English.2.1 ProverbsProverb, as the special form of language, is one of the types of idioms1, which exists in a

15、ll languages. Although we are very familiar with proverbs, it is hard to make a correct definition for the term “ proverb ”. And many authoritative dictionaries provide various definitions. According to Oxford Advanced Learner Esnglish 一 Chinese Di ctionary, a proverb is “ ashort well -known saying

16、that states a general truth or gives advice” (2004:1384). And it is believed that a proverbtypically expresses a common thought in a succinct, often metaphorical way. Succinct and pithy saying is in general use and expresses common ideas and beliefs.Proverb is a part of every spoken language and fol

17、k literature, originating in oral tradition. Often a proverb is found with variations in many different parts of the world. Literate societies dating back to the ancient Egyptians have collected proverbs. It is believed that the word “ proverb fi”rst took its shape from the Greek word “ paroimia w”h

18、i,ch has the meaning of figuration, referring to such kinds of words difficult to be understood, or words to be understood after second thought. A majority of proverbs are from the myth of Greece and Rome, allegory, drama and many famous works, which are different from those forged from the daily li

19、fe. In English, the word proverb at first covers far more contents than now, which concludes idiom, metaphor as well as many regular pet words. It is said that 47% or so took its shape in the 17th century. In the 18th century, around 16% appeared, while 12% in the 19th century. So it is quite clear

20、that most proverbs came into existence before the 17th century. In North America, thebest-known collection is probably Poor Richards Almanac2. Proverbs are created by common people, transmitted through daily communication, which are the summary of general regulatory experience and the fruits of the

21、wisdom of the common. According to their contents, they can be divided into four major parts: meteorological proverbs, archaeological proverbs, living proverbs and social proverbs. The first one is from the course of knowing the nature andconcluding theexperience of daily life, the second one is bas

22、ed on the producing experience of farming by peasants, while the third one takes its origin from the summary of health protection and hygiene, the last kind is from the attention in socializing, dealing with things both home and broad.As is shown above, a proverb is a kind of saying which expresses

23、a truth based on common sense or the ageless human experience of the people in simple and concrete, though often metaphorical language. Being an essential part of language, it plays an important role in language, which is considered as living fossils by linguists because they contain a large quantit

24、y of ageless human experience. Without proverbs, a language would become colorless and boring for lacking of vitality and vividness. Therefore, it is necessary to undertake some research work on proverbs.2.2 SexismSexism, a word of prejudice or discrimination based on sex, especially discrimination

25、against women or behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex, first came known in 1968. Sexism is an analogy term of racism made by American feminists, which is distinguished itself on the basis of biological sex. Sexism, more often than not, has two defin

26、itions, one being the discrimination of men towards women, and vice versa. According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, sexism is defined as“ the belief that women areweaker, less intelligent, and less important than men” (2007:1807).toSop,oitnitsonuetcessarythat sexism we mention here i

27、s the discrimination of men towards women. The sexism reflected in language has formed the sexism of language. It is made up after the revelation of the asymmetry in language, which has a basis on the Sapir- Whorf Hypothesis. And the hypothesis points out that language has close relation with cultur

28、e, for language itself is a part of culture whose reflection is in fact a kind of cultural phenomena. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis puts much attention on the relation between language and culture, which gives a theory basis to sexism. For this reason, this hypothesis has alternatively been referred to as

29、Linguistic Determinism and Linguistic Relativity3- a view which was first expounded by the German ethnologist. Linguistics maintain the language under the chains of religious laws and the social statues can reflect the natural content of society s schemmenattaakethe major roles in the world while th

30、e images of womenare broken.In order to acknowledge the term sexism better, first of all, we must make a distinctionbetween sex and gender. From the very beginning,“ gender ” was just a grammatical lexicon whichreferred to the feminine or masculine of a word. Later on, Western feminists adopted and

31、made it the key concept of feminism. Originated from Western feminism movements, feminism is the belief that women should have equal rights to men in every aspect. It involves various movements, theories and philosophies, which are all concerned with the issues of gender differences. Feminism advoca

32、tes equality for women and also campaigns for women srights and interests.(19With the extensive spreading of feminisms movements, the concept of gender develops and then forms into a systematical theory. Before gender theory is discussed, a brief review of those feminism schools is necessary as they

33、 have contributed a lot to it. Simone de Beauvoir, the author of The Second Sex, once said“sex is biological, while gender is social and cultural”In her book, she argued that women throug hout history have been defined as the“ other ” sex, adeviation from the normal male. While the British sociologi

34、st Anthony Giddens defines“ biological or anatomic differences between men and women, ”whereas “ gender c”oncerns the psychological, social and cultural differences between males and females. Therefore, gender is acquired and shaped according to the different requirements our society and culture hav

35、e made for different sexes. And traditional cultural ideologies establish different criteria for men and women to follow. For example, in almost all the cultures in the world, there exists a fixed notion which regards women as weak while men as strong and powerful. Those criteria have infiltrated in

36、to people s minds which then become the stanrdsa to evaluate men and women in labor division and social roles, thus resulting in the sex differentiation and also the inequality of men and women in every aspect of social life.III The Embodiment of Sexism in English ProverbsLanguage, as the carrier of

37、 culture, mirrors all sorts of social customs and personal views. Proverb, the vivid fossils of language, records the fruits of wisdom of the common. Besides, various phenomena are also reflected in it, among which sexism is one part. In this chapter, the embodiment of sexism in English proverbs fro

38、m three main aspects and seven points will be discussed.3.1 Women s Low Social RolesIn most male-dominated society, woman is taken as the subordination and commodity of man, woman can be bought or set aside as man like. In the New Testament, there is such sentence: “ Wives, submit yourselves unto yo

39、ur husbands, as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husband in everything.” (Hol-y10B)ibTlhei,s2s0e0n7t,e1n1c:e3tells us the lower rank of woman in the whole

40、 family. From the address of woman as wife in general, woman are regarded as the man of husband, their values are limited, such as teaching children and helping husbands, their ranks are no higher than slaves. Deprived of the rights of serving the countries and the public, they are only confined in

41、the little space of home and have to keep their hands busy everyday. Woman is no more than the private possession and the tool of breeding in man s eyes. The following parts will mainly elaborate how womens low social roleare reflected in proverbs from two aspects.3.1.1 SubordinationWomen srole of s

42、ubordination also exemplifies itself when man can possess and intrude woman casually. Moreover, he can abandon woman when confronted with danger or difficulties in order to save himself, turning woman into the one to sacrifice and bear all blame. Women become husband savsel s, a simple tool to bear

43、children. The following proverbs fall into this category.1. If the husband be not at home, there is nobody.2. Wife is the key of the house.3. A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat them, the better theyll be.4. It is a sad house when the hen crows for louder than the cock5. A man of str

44、aw is worth of a woman of gold.6. A man is a man though he have/has but a hose on head.7. Man, woman and devil are the three degrees of comparison.8. Married man turns his staff into a stake.9. Wife and children are bills of charges.The proverbs mentioned above show that women are oppressed and bull

45、ied in the man-dominated world. They are regarded as the disposable clothes, or the domestic animal that can be beaten casually. And“a man is successful, a woman is sexy ” (Nilsen, 1977:234). As a wifewoman is thought to be the“old men s nurses ” (Francis Bacon, 2010:o1n1a)l. sInoctrieatdyi,tiwomen

46、are confronted with the men snegligence and casual comment, playing a role as the subordination to men.3.1.2 CommodityIt is common to compare woman to commodity in theworld. Linguist Nilsen once cited afact to explain what the image woman has in society and what the role woman plays in society, one

47、of the picnic notices of English Department of American Indian College says:“Good fooDelicious women!” Besides, the case also reveals the low social rank of woman in English-speakin g society obviously. Just like the Chinese idiom秀色可餐”, it“is imagined thatthere are no other things more passive than

48、the dining food. There are many countries, apart fromEnglish-speaking countries, treating woman as goods rather than an equal person. In the man-dominated world, women are not only taken as the subordination, but also commodity that can be bought or sold at their husbands or parents will. There are

49、many proverbs in English aboutwomen being taken as a commodity in marriage. The price of a woman in marriage more often than not depends on her youth and appearance. It is well acknowledged that the younger a woman is when she marries, the higher price she has. And the pleasure of their marriages de

50、pends on their appearance to a large extent. Proverbs of this kind can be found in the following examples.1. The love of a woman and a bottle of wine, are sweet for a season, but last for a time.2. Some good things I don t have: a good long smile, a good small beer and a good oldwoman.3. A horse, a

51、wife and a sword may be showed but not lent.4. She simpers like a mare when she eats thistles.5. Hold up her head like a hen drinking.6. No fish without bone; no woman without a temper.7. A woman is like a lemon; you squeeze her and throw her away.8. All meat to be eaten, and all maids to be wed.9.

52、Daughters and dead fish are not keeping wares.10. Marry your son when you will, your daughter when you can.12. A fair face is half a portion.13. A woman of no birth may marry into the purple.14. Marry a wife of thine own degree.15. Marry your daughter and eat fresh fish be times.16. He marries a wid

53、ow and two daughters marry three thieves.17. A fair woman without virtue is like palled wine.Many proverbs are made it very clear that woman are no more than any piece of goods, be it her own home or her husband hsome. Just like the proverbs mentioned below, women are not treated equally as men who

54、have all kinds of rights.3.2 Pejorative Comments on Women s CharactersIn English society, women are generally taken as weaker than and inferior to men for men judging women by the success of their efforts. Women often have imperfect or broken characteristics, which is also another embodiment of mens

55、 prejudice against women. The following parts will illustrate this aspect one by one.3.2.1 GarrulousnessIt is not uncommon to talk about the verbal communication, but once it comes to women, weoften associate them to those words, such as gossip, chatter, prattle, babble, nag and so on. In English, i

56、t is not hard to find many harsh descriptions about women sgarrulousness. The following proverbs are all such a kind.1. Three women make a mark.2. Many women, many words; many geese, many turds.3. Three women and a goose make a market.4. Women will say anything.5. Arthur could not tame womens tongue

57、.6. A woman s tongue is the last thing about her that dies.7. A woman s tongue wags like a lambs tail.8. One tongue s enfoourgahwoman.9. Words are women, deeds are men.10. Husbands are in heaven whose wives scold not.11. A sieve will hold water better than a womans mouth a secret.In English proverbs

58、, there are many proverbs that describe womenWomsegnarrulousness.are often compared to geese, which often wrangle, implying womens gossip and chatter. And it is“ shameful for women to speak in the meeting” (Holy Bible,-3250)0.7U, s1u4a:3lly4, women arerelated to words rather than action, which shows the common thoughts that women can only speak and gossip while man can fight and support the family. Women can only be confined to her little house and the surroundings without much contribution to her nation as a whole.3.2.2 FrailtyIn Shakespeare Hasmlet, a famous sentence is “ Frailty,thy name