翻译中语境与词义的选择文档格式.docx

翻译中语境与词义的选择文档格式.docx

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Accordingtotheprinciplesofcommunication,languagecommunicationmustfitinwiththelanguagesituations.Contextsemanticallyandpragmaticallyrestrictsandcomplementstheexpressionandcomprehensionofalanguage,whichislikeasemanticcoordinateaxis,theuseofwhichcanaccuratelyhelptobringoutthesemanticmeaning.Therefore,duringthewholecourseoftranslation,masteringthecontext,onlyinwhichtheparticularoriginaltextcanexist,playsanextremelyimportantroleincomprehendingthemeaningandfunctionoftheoriginalversion.（Wang,1989）

Thecontextmeaningsofawordrefertothebasicmeaning,groupmeaning,rhetoricalmeaning,logicalmeaning,culturalmeaning,spacemeaning,thememeaningetc.DuringtheEnglish-Chinesetranslation,ifthetranslatorhasnosensiblesenseoflanguagecontext,hemayprobablyhavedifficultyindealingwiththeever-changingcontextinthechangeablelanguage.

2.2TypesofContext

Contextisanotionusedinthelanguagesciences（linguistics,sociolinguistics,discourseanalysis,pragmatics,semiotics,etc.）infourdifferentways,namelyas:

∙verbalcontext

∙timecontext

∙placecontext

∙originatorcontext

2.2.1VerbalContext

Verbalcontext,classifiedasbroadandnarrowverbalcontext,referstotherelationshipamongwords,phrases,sentencesorsectionsandchapters.Ittakesgreateffortstounderstandthespecificmeaningsoflanguageelementssuchaswordsandphrases.Narrowverbalcontextmeanstherelationofspecificlanguageelementsthroughthewholetext.

SincepolysemyiscommoninEnglishincludingmanyphenomenathatthesamewordsorphrasesmayhaveoppositemeaningsindifferentcontexts,knowingwellofnarrowverbalcontextwillhelptranslatorstogetridofambiguity.Let'

sseetheexamples:

Example

（1）:

Ineverhadmuchinseeingyou.Therewasnolovelostbetweenusatanytime,Ithink.（C.Dickens:

MartinChuzzlewit,2000）

Example

（2）:

…wegrumblealittlenowandthen,tobesure.Butthere'

snolovelostbetweenus.（O.Goldsmith:

SheStoopstoConquer,1773）

Fromtheaboveexamples,wecanseebothofthetwoexampleshavethesamesentence“there’snolovelostbetweenus.”Isolatedfromthespecificverbalcontext,thissentencehastwocompletelydifferentinterpretationsbecauseofthespecialmeaningsoftheword“lost”,namely“我们之间毫无感情“或”我们之间依然相亲相爱”.However,thissentenceappearsinthespecificverbalcontext,themeaningsofthesamesentenceareobviouslyoppositebecauseoftherestrictionoftheverbalcontext.

Trytocomparethenexttwointerpretations.

Translationofexample

（1）：

我向来不大想看到你，咱们俩人之间大概什么时候都不曾有过好感。

（《综合英语成语词典》）

Translationofexample

（2）：

…当然唠，我们有时也免不了争论几句，但是我们还是相亲相爱的。

（Fan,1994）

Broadverbalcontextreferstothesemanticrelationshipsofthewholeparagraph,chapterandeventhewholebookwiththesemanticrelationofcertainlanguageelements.Becausethiskindofrelationshipcoversrelativelywidespaceandtime,itisoftenignoredbytranslators.Forexample,theninthchapterofSisterCarriealsohasthesentence“there'

snolovelostbetweenus”,andonekindoftranslatedversion“他们还可以说是恩爱夫妻”doesn'

tobviouslytallywiththecontext.Intheoriginaltext,thissentenceisusedtodescribetherelationship,whichisseeminglyinharmonybutactuallyatvariancebetweenthehotelmanagerHurstwoodandhiswife.Soitshouldbetranslatedto“他们之间毫无爱情可言”.Ifthetranslatorofthisbookhadhadawell-thought-outplan,hewouldnothavemadesuchamistake.

2.2.2TimeContext

Timecontext,asonefactorofcontext,isthetimewhencommunicationhappens,whichalsofallsintotwotypes,broadandnarrowtimecontexts.Thenarrowtimecontextreferstothespecifictimeoftheutterance.Thesamesentencealwayshasdifferentmeaningsindifferenttime.Forexample:

Example（3）：

Hepassedawaylastautumn.

Ifthissentenceissaidinthewinter,itshouldbetranslatedinto“他是在今年秋天去世的”,whileithappensintheautumnorsummer,“他是在去年秋天去世的”isthecorrecttranslation.

Broadtimecontextreferstothetimeandhistoricalbackgroundinwhichtheutterancehappens.Sincelanguagedevelopswiththedevelopmentofthesociety,andchangesasthesocietychanges,thesamewordsorphrasesmaybeendowedwithdifferentconnotationsindistincttimes.（Schiffrin,2006）Forexample,inthetimesofChaucer,“women”aregenerallycalled“wife”whileatpresent“wife”isthetechnicaltermof“妻子”;

InthetimesofShakespeare,“deer”isgenerallyknownas“animal”while“deer”means“鹿”inparticular;

Intheworksofearlynineteenthcentury,“pen”shouldbetranslatedinto“鹅毛笔”not“钢笔”and“cab”shouldbetranslatedinto“出租马车”not“出租汽车”.Thusitcanbeseenthatthebroadtimecontextalsoplaysstrongrestrictionsonthemeaningofwordsandphrases,therefore,wemustnotmisinterpretwordsthroughtakingthemtooliterally.

2.2.3PlaceContext

Placecontext,onefactorofcontext,referstotheplacewheretheutterancehappens.Undermostcircumstances,meaningsofutterancehavecloserelationshipwithspecificsites.Let'

sseesomeexamples：

Example（4）:

Attention!

“Attention!

”means“注意”intheairportloungewhileinthedrillground“Attention!

”means“立正”.

Example（5）：

It'

stimetogoaboard.

Translation

（1）：

该上车了。

Translation

（2）：

该上飞机了。

Apparently,ifthissentenceisheardinastation,itmeans“该上车了”andinaairport,weshouldchoose“该上飞机了”.

Itcanbeseenthatsometimesthemeaningsofwords,phrasesandsentencesdependoncertainspecificsituationsandsuchsituationalmeaningswidelyspreadinEnglish,therefore,weshouldpaygreatattentiontothem.（Talmy,2005,176）

2.2.4OriginatorContext

Originator,namely,istheauthororspeakerhimself.Asfarastheworkisconcerned,lifeexperience,thoughtandcharacteristicsoftheauthorirrevocablyhaveimpactonthetrendandstyleofhisworks.Asfortheconversationsbetweenthecharactersoftheworks,thespeaker'

sidentity,socialstatus,physiologyandmentalityalsohavelimitationsontheuseoflanguage,sointhewholecourseofinterpretation,translatorsshouldhavedeepresearchontheoriginator.Let'

sseethenextexamplestoillustratethispoint.

InBernardShaw'

sfamousdrama“Pygmalion”,duetotheinstructionofalinguist,SaintJoanwithfullmouthofdialectturnsintoayoungladytalkingingoodtaste.YangXianyi,acelebratedtranslator,suitablygraspthedifferentstateofmindandabilityoflanguageexpressionoftheflowergirlindifferentstagesofherlife.

Example（6）:

Nahthen,Freddy:

lookwhereyougoin,death.

Sincethissentenceissaidbeforereceivingthelanguagetraining,andwhattheflowergirlsaysisvulgarandnonstandard,thetranslatordoeswelltochooseearthyspokenlanguagetointerpretit.Let'

sseethetranslation.

Translation:

你这是怎么的，佛莱第，你走路不长眼哪。

Example（7）:

Theshadowdepressioninthewestoftheseislandsislikelytomoveslowlyinaneasterlydirection.Therearenoindicationsofanygreatchangeinthebarometricalsituation.

Translation:

英伦三岛以西的轻微低气压大约要慢慢向东移动了。

从气压看来还没有天气巨大变化的迹象。

Thereisnodoubtthattheflowergirlhasbeenreceivingthelanguagetraining,butsheisstillnotproficientinexpression.Duringthetrivialgossipabouttheweather,wecannothelplaughingthattheflowergirlhassuchaninappropriatetalkpayingexcessiveattentiontowording.Therefore,theauthortakesadvantageofstylevariationinsteadoftherigidliterarystylesothattheinterpretationvividlyrespondstheeffectoftheoriginaltext.

Example（8）:

“Howdoyoudo,ProfessorHiggins?

Areyouquitewell…Butofcourseyouare:

youareneverill.Sogladtoseeyouagain,ColonelPickering.Quitechillythismorning,isn'

tit?

”（Shaw,Pygmalion，1916）

您好，息金斯教授。

您身体好吧？

……当然您身体一定很好；

您是从来不生病的。

很高兴看见您.辟克林上校。

今天的天气很凉呢，不是吗？

Aftersix-monthlanguagetraining,theflowergirlhasbeenabletospeaki