英语专业本科论文范文.docx

1、英语专业本科论文范文Lexical Gap and Methods to Cope with Lexical Gap in Translation外国语学院 *级 指导教师 * Abstract Different kinds of languages all have words with corresponding meaning, which is the basis for cross-cultural communications. However, translators sometimes find that there are no corresponding words or

2、 terms existing in the target language in the process of translation, which results from the cultural difference between the two languages. Lexical gap is a common phenomenon in translation and is also the most difficult part of it. Crystal David had given a definition to lexical gap, “Lexical gap i

3、s the term linguists use to describe a situation in which no single word exists in a language to denote a particular concept” (1995:116). This paper simply discusses the reasons of this phenomenon from the following aspects: first, geography; second, modes of production; third, religion; fourth, his

4、tory and social culture; and the last, science and technology. Then the author proposes different methods through exemplification to cope with problems caused by lexical gap in translations, such as literal translation, free translation, annotation, transliteration, etc. And some preliminary evaluat

5、ions for the translation strategies are given in this paper. Only when the translator is the master of the two cultures and conducts suitable translation strategies, can problems caused by lexical gap be well solved and the aim of cross-cultural communications between China and the west be achieved.

6、Key Words lexical gap; translation; cultural word 1.Introduction Language is the carrier of culture and culture distinctiveness clings very close to words. Living on the same earth, different kinds of languages all have words with corresponding meaning. For example, there are “water” and “fire” in E

7、nglish, and there are equivalent words “水” and “火” in Chinese. However, different environments, ways of thinking, histories and traditions all contribute to culture differences in language, which leads to no corresponding words in the target language. Therefore, translators will sometimes feel it di

8、fficult to find suitable corresponding words for translation. Then lexical gap was proposed by scholars to describe the phenomenon. Up to now, different scholars have given various definitions for lexical gap.“Lexical gap is the term linguists use to describe a situation in which no single word exis

9、ts in a language to denote a particular concept.” (Crystal David, 1995:116)“There are no corresponding or similar terms to describe some unique concepts in a language for the discrepancy of culture background, customs, religion, ideology between the two languages.” (Du Shuping, 2006:62)Zhou Zhipei (

10、1987:321) also uses cultural word to define lexical gap:The word (phrase) that carries the meaning of a cultural trait that particular to a certain socio-cultural community, that is, whose referent is a unique thing or conception, and therefore that has no corresponding equivalent in other community

11、, when it is used in cross-cultural communication, is called word of cultural unique or culture word. Up to now, there has not been a consensus of definition of lexical gap. From the above three definitions, we can see that the three scholars emphasize on different aspects. In my paper, lexical gap

12、is defined as below:There are no terms existing in the target language to define a particular concept or a term of rich cultural connotations in the source language.Lexical gap exists especially when those words or terms are of rich cultural connotation. The 5000 years history of civilization contri

13、butes to so many unique cultural phenomena of China. So in Chinese vocabulary, we can find “天干地支”, “阴阳”, “道”, “气功”, “把脉”, “中医术语”, which all have rich connotations and in English there are no words or terms with corresponding meaning for them. Similarly, due to different geographic reasons, modes of

14、production, region, etc, English also have many words which we cant find equivalent words in Chinese, such as DINK (double income, no kids), hippie, etc. Translators not only deal with two languages, but also cultures of the two languages, which is the most difficult part in translation. In the foll

15、owing, I will present the reasons of lexical gap and summarize some effective methods to cope with lexical gap in translation.2. Reasons of lexical gapLanguage is the carrier of culture. Even a simple word can have a rich flavor of culture. Cultural difference is very common among languages, which r

16、esults in lexical gap among the languages. The following are the main reasons of lexical gap. 2.1 GeographyChina is located in the east of Asia and the west coast of Pacific while most English-speaking countries, such as England, America, Canada, Australia, South Africa, etc, have a far geographic d

17、istance from China. The geographic distance will bring about different climate, ecology, life-style, and then there are different expressions to describe the discrepancy of geographic factors. For example, the ancient Chinese people used “二十四节气”, “三伏三九” to describe different climate in a year. While

18、 the ocean transportation was very developed in the ancient Britain, there are a lot of words or terms with the word “fish”, “water” and “ship”, such as “a kettle of fish” (乱七八糟), “miss the boat” (坐失良机), “draw water to ones mill” (惟利是图) and so on.2.2 Modes of productionIn ancient times, China was a

19、landlocked agricultural country. As the main tool for plough, cattle have always won the love of the Chinese people. It is very easy to find a lot of Chinese phrases with the word “牛” (cattle). Here are some example: “牛劲”, “牛角尖”, “孺子牛”, “牛角挂书”, “牛顶烹鸡”, “牛衣对泣”, etc, for which it is so hard to find eq

20、uivalent words in English. While English-speaking countries mainly use horses as plough tools, so we can also find a lot of English sayings with the word “horse”, such as “horse doctor”(蹩脚医生), horse laugh(纵声大笑), horse sense(基本常识), change horses(换班), back the wrong horse(下错赌注), put the cart before th

21、e horse(本末倒置), work for a dead horse(徒劳无益), etc (Fu Xiaoling, Shang Yuanyuan, Shang Chunlian, 2004: 230-231). 2.3 Religion Chinese people are mainly Buddhists, while most people from English-speaking countries have faith in Christ. We all know that a lot of English terms originate from the Bible, su

22、ch as “Judas”(犹大，喻为叛徒) , “ministering angel”(护理天使) (Fu Xiaoling, Shang Yuanyuan, Shang Chunlian, 2004: 231). In David Hawks version of “The story of Stone”（红楼梦）, “阿弥陀佛” was translated into “God bless my soul!”, and “谋事在人，成事在天” was translated into “Man proposes, God disposes”. Another version from Ya

23、ng Xianyi and Gladys Yangs version of “A Dream of Red Mansions”(红楼梦), “阿弥陀佛” was translated into “Amitabha” while “谋事在人，成事在天”, was translated into “Man proposes, Heaven disposes” (Jin Huikang, 2003:86-87). Comparing with the two versions from Hawks and Yangs, the latter will be more appreciated for

24、the transfer of the original flavor of the Chinese culture and Hawks may cause misunderstanding by English-speaking readers that Chinese people at that time were also mainly Christians, to say nothing of Buddhists.2.4 History and social cultureChina has a long history with important events, so there

25、 are a lot of unique terms in history to reflect different events. For example, “三八式干部” was translated into “cadres of the 1938” (cadres that went to Yanan and other resistance bases during the Anti-Japanese War around 1938 to participate in revolutionary work) and “三八红旗手”was translated into “March

26、8 red flags (an honorific title for women who have made extraordinary achievements and outstanding contributions on the various fronts of socialist construction (Chen Hongwei, 2000:47-48). Due to the feudal hierarchy in Chinese history, there are “皇后”, “皇贵妃”, “妃”, “嫔”, “贵人”. While in English-speakin

27、g countries, there are “公爵（duke）”, “侯爵(marquis)”, “伯爵(earl)”, “子爵(viscount)” and “男爵(baron)”. For the social culture, In English, the word “uncle” can conclude “伯父”, “叔父”, “舅父”, “姑父”, “姨父” and “cousin” can conclude “堂哥”, “堂弟”, “堂姐”, “表哥”, “表弟”, “表姐”, “表妹” (Si Xianzhu, Zeng Jianping, 2006:140).2.5 Sc

28、ience and technology Science and technology are developing very fast nowadays. The level and developing speed of the two is different between China and English-speaking countries. New terms of the science and technology are coming into being constantly, such as, hacker, AIDS, Internet, clone, “神州五号”

29、, “嫦娥一号” and so on.3. Solutions and evaluation of the solutions3.1 Literal translationLiteral translation is a good way to retain the cultural connotation of the source language and can abound the vocabulary of the target language. By conducting literal translation, so many words with Chinese flavor

30、 have become part of the Standard English. In China, literal translation for lexical gap was not totally accepted in the past. The main reason is related to Chinese peoples traditional characters-they hold the value of collectivism. They often think for others, so they would rather translate for the

31、 easier understanding of the foreigners, which often results in the loss of the culture connotations. In other words, the translator would rather bring the author to the reader, which means they put the reader at ease all the time and always neglect the authors original flavor of the work. Another r

32、eason may be that Chinese is rich in vocabulary and there are a lot of idioms in Chinese. So it is easy for translators to adopt some terms which have similar meanings to the original terms. Maybe some translators are traditional and they would take the former methods of translation and avoid riskin

33、g new ideas of translation.In my opinion, literal translation should be advocated if the aim of the translation is to convey the culture. Though new created culture words are unfamiliar at present, they may gradually become familiar as more and more intercultural communications take place, or as peopl