On the Translation of Polysemy through the Analysis of the English Translation of Pay Regards.docx

On the Translation of Polysemy through the Analysis of the English Translation of Pay Regards.docx

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OntheTranslationofPolysemythroughtheAnalysisoftheEnglishTranslationofPayRegards

OntheTranslationofPolysemythroughtheAnalysisoftheEnglishTranslationof“PayRegards”

对于中英翻译中“一语多义”的研究

Abstract

Translationisashiftnotonlybetweentwolanguages,butalsotheonebetweencultures.Thediversityofculturebringsusaworldofcolor,butalsomakeitharderforpeopleofdifferentculturetounderstandeachother.Duringtranslation,itiscomplicatedbutalsovitaltosolvetheproblemsaboutcultures.

Thisthesisintendstodiscusstheroleofpolysemyduringtranslation,whichisthecapacityforasignorsignstohavemultiplerelatedmeanings.ChapterOneisanintroduction.ChapterTwoisaboutthesignificanceofthestudyofpolysemy.ChapterThreeisaboutfactorsthatcouldinfluencethetranslationofpolysemy.ChapterFourissomecasestudyandrelevantadvice.

Keywords:

polysemy;texture;casestudy;Chinglish;ChinaEnglish

对于中英翻译中“一语多义”的研究

摘要

翻译不仅仅是两种语言的转换，也是两种文化之间的交换。

文化之间的差异带给了我们一个多彩的世界，但是也使得不同文化的人们之间的交流变得困难了。

在翻译的过程中，怎样去解决这些关于文化的问题就变得至关重要了。

这篇论文试图探讨了多义词在翻译过程中的作用。

多义词指的是有两个或两个以上意义的词。

它一词多义，几个意义之间往往有联系。

第一章是一个简介。

第二章介绍了关于多义词学习的重要性。

第三章介绍了可能影响多义词翻译的因素。

第四章则是一些案例分析和相关的建议。

关键词：

一语多义；语境；案例分析；中式英语；中国特色英语

OntheTranslationofPolysemythroughtheAnalysisoftheEnglishTranslationof“PayRegards”

Contents

1.Introduction…………………………………………………………………...3

2.TheSignificanceoftheStudyofPolysemy…………………………………4

2.1DefinitionofPolysemy.…………………………………………………..5

2.2DifferencesbetweenHomonymsandPolysemes………………………..5

2.3ClarificationsofPolysemy.………………………………………………..6

3.OnthetranslationofpolysemythroughtheanalysisoftheEnglishTranslationof“PayRegards”…………………………………………………………….…..7

3.1WaysofThinking……………………………………………………….…7

3.1.1ConcretePerceptionvs.AbstractPerception.………………………..8

3.1.2MetaphorandImagesandAbstractWords………………………….8

3.2ProblemsOccurredduringTranslation……………………………8

3.2.1ChinglishandChinaEnglish…………………………………………8

3.2.2ProblemsofChinglish………………………………………………8

3.2.3SolutionstoChinglish………………………………………………8

3.3Context…………………………………………………..………..………..9

3.3.1TheIdentificationofContextinTranslation.………………………..9

3.3.2TheApplicationofContextinTranslation…………………………9

4.CaseStudyandAdvice……………………………………………………......10

4.1OmissionandAmplification.…………………………………..11

4.2FullandPartialEquivalence……………………………………11

5.Conclusion………………………………………………………………...….13

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………16

Acknowledgment……………………………………………………………..…...17

1.Introduction

Translationisashiftnotonlybetweentwolanguages,butalsotheonebetweencultures.Thediversityofculturebringsusaworldofcolor,butalsomakeitharderforpeopleofdifferentculturetounderstandeachother.Duringtranslation,itiscomplicatedbutalsovitaltosolvetheproblemsaboutcultures.

2.TheSignificanceoftheStudyofPolysemy

2.1DefinitionofPolysemy

Polysemyisthecapacityforasignorsignstohavemultiplerelatedmeaningsi.e.,alargesemanticfield.Itisusuallyregardedasdistinctfromhomonymy,inwhichthemultiplemeaningsofawordmaybeunconnectedorunrelated.Thephenomenonofithasalwaysattractedcountlesslinguists’attentions.

CharlesFillmoreandBerylAtkins’definitionstipulatesthreeelements:

（i）thevarioussensesofapolysemouswordhaveacentralorigin,（ii）thelinksbetweenthesesensesformanetwork,and（iii）understandingthe‘inner’onecontributestounderstandingofthe‘outer’one.

Itisapivotalconceptwithindisciplinessuchasmediastudiesandlinguistics.

Apolysemeisawordorphrasewithdifferent,butrelatedsenses.Sincethetestforpolysemyisthevagueconceptofrelatedness,judgmentsofpolysemycanbedifficulttomake.

Oneofthecategoriesofthestudyofpolysemyisaboutthelexicalitemofrhetorical,psychologicalaspectsetc.Anditincludestwoclassifications,thediachronicperspectiveandthesynchronicperspective.Thesearetwodifferentbutrelativedimensions.Thetendencyofsynchronicchangesleadstoadiachronicsituation.Becauseapplyingpre-existingwordstonewsituationsisanaturalprocessoflanguagechange,lookingatwords'etymologyishelpfulindeterminingpolysemybutnottheonlysolution;aswordsbecomelostinetymology,whatoncewasausefuldistinctionofmeaningmaynolongerbeso.Someapparentlyunrelatedwordsshareacommonhistoricalorigin,however,soetymologyisnotaninfallibletestforpolysemy,anddictionarywritersalsooftendefertospeakers'intuitionstojudgepolysemyincaseswhereitcontradictsetymology.

Englishhasmanywordswhicharepolysemous.Forexampletheverb"toget"canmean"procure"（I'llgetthedrinks）,"become"（shegotscared）,"have"（I'vegotthreedollars）,"understand"（Igetit）etc.

2.2DifferencesbetweenHomonymsandPolysemes

　　Acloselyrelatedtermismetonym,inwhichawordwithoneoriginalmeaningisusedtorefertosomethingelseconnectedtoit.

　　Thereareseveraltestsforpolysemy,butoneofthemiszeugma:

ifonewordseemstoexhibitzeugmawhenappliedindifferentcontexts,itislikelythatthecontextsbringoutdifferentpolysemesofthesameword.Ifthetwosensesofthesameworddonotseemtofit,yetseemrelated,thenitislikelythattheyarepolysemous.Thefactthatthistestagaindependsonspeakers'judgmentsaboutrelatedness,however,meansthatthistestforpolysemyisnotinfallible,butisrathermerelyahelpfulconceptualaid.

　　Thedifferencebetweenhomonymsandpolysemesissubtle.Lexicographersdefinepolysemeswithinasingledictionarylemma,numberingdifferentmeanings,whilehomonymsaretreatedinseparatelemmata.Semanticshiftcanseparateapolysemouswordintoseparatehomonyms.Forexample,checkasin"bankcheck",checkinchess,andcheckmeaning"verification"areconsideredhomonyms,whiletheyoriginatedasasinglewordderivedfromchessinthe14thcentury.Psycholinguisticexperimentshaveshownthathomonymsandpolysemesarerepresenteddifferentlywithinpeople'smentallexicon:

whilethedifferentmeaningsofhomonyms（whicharesemanticallyunrelated）tendtointerfereorcompetewitheachotherduringcomprehension,thisdoesnotusuallyoccurforthepolysemesthathavesemanticallyrelatedmeanings.

ForDickHedgepigpolysemymeansthat,"eachtextisseentogenerateapotentiallyinfiniterangeofmeanings,"making,accordingtoRichardMiddleton,"anyhomology,outofthemostheterogeneousmaterials,possible.Theideaofsignifyingpractice—textsnotascommunicatingorexpressingapre-existingmeaningbutas'positioningsubjects'withinaprocessofsemiosis—changesthewholebasisofcreatingsocialmeaning".

Onegroupofpolysemesarethoseinwhichawordmeaninganactivity,perhapsderivedfromaverb,acquiresthemeaningsofthoseengagedintheactivity,orperhapstheresultsoftheactivity,orthetimeorplaceinwhichtheactivityoccursorhasoccurred.Sometimesonlyoneofthosemeaningsisintended,dependingoncontext,andsometimesmultiplemeaningsareintendedatthesametime.Othertypesarederivationsfromoneoftheothermeaningsthatleadstoaverboractivity.

2.3ClarificationsofPolysemy

AlexicalconceptionofpolysemywasdevelopedbyB.T.S.Atkins,intheformoflexicalimplicationrules.Thesearerulesthatdescribehowwords,inonelexicalcontext,canthenbeused,inadifferentform,inarelatedcontext.Acrudeexampleofsucharuleisthepastoralideaof"verbizingone'snouns":

thatcertainnouns,usedincertaincontexts,canbeconvertedintoaverb,conveyingarelatedmeaning.

Anotherclarificationofpolysemyistheideaofpredicatetransfer—thereassignmentofapropertytoanobjectwhichwouldnototherwiseinherentlyhavethatproperty.Thus,theexpression"Iamparkedoutback"conveysthemeaningof"parked"from"car"tothepropertyof"Ipossessacar".Thisavoidsincorrectpolysemousinterpretationsof"parked":

that"peoplecanbeparked",orthat"Iampretendingtobeacar",orthat"Iamsomethingwhichcanbeparked".Thisissupportedbythemorphology:

"Weareparkedoutback"doesnotmeanthattherearemultiplecars;rather,thattherearemultiplepassengers（havingthepropertyofbeinginpossessionofacar）.

3.OntheTranslationofPolysemyThroughtheAnalysisoftheEnglishTranslationof“PayRegards”3.1WaysofThinking

3.1.1ConcretePerceptionvs.AbstractPerception

Thewayofconcreteperceptionreforstothatmanunifiesimagessettledinone'smindandmouldsthenewimages,soitmeanstothinkonthebasisofrealimages.Thistypeofthinkingoriginatesfromman'sintuitionofrealityandgeneralizesfromperceptionoftheouterworld.

Itintendstomakeananaloorassociationfromthesimilar,withoutorlesslocialargumentation.Therefore,directness,concretenessnadvividnesshighlightChineseexpression.RudolfFleshstatesinTheArtofPlainTalk,"Ifyouthink,however,thatChinesehasnowayofexpressingabstractideas,youarewrong....Iftheyhadnoexactwordforanabstraction,theyusedtheconcretewordorwordsthatcamenearnesstotheidea"（连淑能，139）

Fromthelinguisticview,theoccidentalculturebehindEnglishischaracterizedbyabstractthought.Thisthoughtpatternsuggeststhatamentalactivityproceedsintheorderofconception,judgment,thenandinference.Thiskindofreasoningfollowslogicalrules,soitisalsocalledlocialthinking.Asaresult,theoccidentalvaluesscienceandrationalism.Withthistypeofthinking,theperceptualknowledgeinvolvingfeeling,sensingandpresentationoftheconcreteimageswillbetransformedintorationalknowledge-conception