硕士论文(1999)：  导师：蔡新乐教授

论文题目：东边日出西边雨，道是无晴还有晴？

          ——从“关联域”分析文学翻译中的文化亏损

An Analysis of Cultural Loss in Literary Translation through

 the Register of Relevance

Abstract

Ernst August Gutt, on the basis of the Relevance Theory initiated by Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson, put forward the Relevance-theoretic Approach to Translation in Translation and Relevance: Cognition and Context (1991). Since the 1980’s, the Relevance Theory has become a new guiding theory for pragmatic approaches to translation. Gutt’s new approach has gained a place in the field of translation studies and aroused more and more attention form Western theoreticians. This approach, focusing on the information-processing faculties of the translator’s mind, treats translation as a cognitive and inferential communicative process.

   Based on Gutt’s approach, the author tentatively proposes “the Register of Relevance” be used to study the translation process, by which we mean, A cross-cultural scope where the translator’s train of thought operates in the translating process. This framework includes five points: ① Translation is an inferential process of cross-cultural communication. The  of the translation studies is how the translator’s mind works; ② Translation can be considered as interlingual interpretive use. A translation would be a receptor language interpretively resembling the original; ③ While searching for relevance the translator must make his train of thought relevant to the original author’s and the receptor language audience’s cognitive environments;④The translator must perform his responsibility for making the author’s informative intention and communicative intention meet the target readers’ expectations;⑤ In the course of translating, the translator makes contextual assumptions and searches for relevance according to the source lexical information, logical information and encyclopaedic information in his cognitive environment.

This paper makes an analysis of cultural loss in literary translation through the Register of Relevance and suggests methods of avoidance of or compensation for those losses.

The whole paper includes eight chapters.

     Chapter I briefly introduces Pragmatic Approach to Translation, defines culture, cultural image and cultural implicatures; maintains that the Register of Relevance should be used for an analysis of cultural loss in literary translation; and limits the research scope to the losses in cultural image renderings.

  Chapter II reviews the main viewpoints on translation by Chinese and Western scholars. The author points out some shortcomings in the traditional translation studies and then introduces the Relevance-theoretic Approach to Translation as a new point of view.

  Chapter III introduces Gutt’s viewpoints, such as “Basic Framework of the Relevance Theory”; “Context and the Principle of Relevance”; “Translation as Interlingual Interpretive Use” and so on. This chapter finally approaches the heuristic points on translation studies from the Relevance Theory and the Relevance-theoretic Approach to Translation.

  Chpter IV takes “Intertextuality” as a good case of search for relevance; brings it into the field of the Relevance-theoretic Approach to translation; and analyzes， from the angle of “Register of Relevance， the cultural loss in the informative intention and communicative intention of “凭轩” as a unique cultural image in the Chinese cognitive environment”.

  Chapter V cites examples to analyze the cultural loss in the informative intention and communicative intention of cultural images characteristic of a nationality; divides our discussion into two parts: the cultural loss owing to the different understandings of the same cultural images as well as that due to the uniqueness of the cultural images; and finally sums up how the cultural loss appears in the translation process.

  Chapter VI introduces seven methods of avoidance of or compensation for cultural loss in literary translation and suggests that the translator should skillfully employ methods to render the cultural images so as to minimize their losses.

  Chapter VII summarizes three features of the information-process faculties of the translator’s mind: dynamicness, relevantness and indeterminateness, and points out that they operate not in isolation but interdependently in the translation process.

  Chapter VIII sees Concluding Remarks which show the significance of the Register of Relevance to translation studies; outlines the relationship between the cultural loss and the information-processing faculties of the translator’s mind; and finally by emphasizing two points, illustrates how the translator should treat the relationship between conveying the author’s informative intention and communicative intention which the cultural image implies.

内容摘要

恩斯特·奥古斯特·格特在丹·斯珀伯与迪尔德丽·威尔逊创立的关联理论的基础上，在其著作《翻译与关联：认知与语境》中提出关联翻译理论。自从二十世纪八十年代以来，关联理论已经成为语用翻译的新的指导性理论，关联翻译理论已经在翻译理论研究领域争得一席之地，而且引起了西方学者越来越多的关注。该理论认为翻译是一个推理的交际过程，主要研究在翻译过程中译者大脑中的信息处理机制是如何运作的。

以关联理论为基础，本文作者尝试性地提出从“关联域”的视角研究翻译过程。我们给它定义为，在翻译过程中译者思维运作的跨文化区域，它主要包括五点内容：① 翻译是一个认知推理的跨文化交际过程，其研究对象是译者的大脑信息处理机制的运作过程；② 翻译可以视为语际间释意相似性接受语语段；③ 译者作出语境假设寻找关联时，必须使他的思维与原文作者的认知语境和译文读者的认知语境相关联；④ 译者必须履行责任，使原文作者的意图与译文读者的期盼相吻合；⑤ 译者应在原文文本明示的基础上，根据原文的词汇信息，逻辑信息以及它的百科信息作出语境假设，寻找关联。

本为旨在从“关联域”的视角分析文学翻译中的文化亏损现象,并介绍了避免或补偿文化亏损的翻译策略。

全文共分为八章。

第一章：简单的介绍了语用翻译；给文化、文化意象、文化亏损等下了定义；主张从“关联域”的角度分析文学翻译中的文化亏损，并对讨论范围进行了界定：只讨论文化意象所包蕴的信息意图和交际意图的文化亏损。

第二章：简略回顾了中国和西方学者提出的翻译理论，指出了传统翻译理论研究中存在的问题；随后对关联翻译理论的新视角作了简介。

第三章：介绍了关联翻译理论的一些主要观点，如“关联理论的基本理论框架”，“语境和关联原则”，“翻译作为语际间释意相似性接受语语段”等等，最后涉及到关联理论和关联翻译理论对翻译的启示。

第四章：把“互文性”作为寻找关联的的最佳例证，并将它引入“关联域”的译学思路，主要探讨了中国文化中“凭轩”作为独特的文化意象在翻译时出现的信息意图和交际意图方面的文化亏损。

第五章：举例分析具有民族特色的文化意象包蕴的信息意图和交际意图的文化亏损，讨论分为两个部分：由于同一文化意象在理解时产生的错位造成的文化亏损，以及文化意象的独特性造成的文化亏损，最后总结出在翻译过程中文化意象的亏损现象是如何出现的。

第六章：介绍了避免和补偿文化亏损的七种翻译策略，并建议译者应灵活运用不同的技巧翻译文化意象，从而把文化亏损现象降到最低限度。

第七章：总结了在翻译过程中，译者的大脑信息处理机制运作的三个特点：动态性、关联性、和模糊性；并且指出这些特点不是孤立的，而是相互依存的。

第八章：是全文的总结， 论述了“关联域”对于翻译研究的意义，勾画出文化亏损与译者大脑中的信息处理机制之间的关系；提出了有待进一步研究的两个问题；最后强调两点，旨在说明译者在翻译文化意象所包蕴的原文作者的信息意图和交际意图时如何处理二者之间的关系。

                        Contents

Chapter I  Introductory Remarks

1.1    Pragmatic Approach to Translation…………………………………...…………..1

1.2 Culture, Cultural Image, Cultural Loss, Cultural Implicatures……………………4

1.3  Research ive………………………………………………………………...6

Chapter II Theoretical Discussion

2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………….……….8

2.2 A Survey of Scholars’ Views………………………………………………………9

  2.2.1 Views of the Chinese Scholars………………………………………………..9

  2.2.2 View of British and American Scholars…………………………………..…14

2.3 A Critical Analysis of Previous Viewpoints: Their Problems…………………....16

Chapter III The Relevance-theoretic Approach to Translation

3.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………...….22

3.2 Basic Framework of the Relevance Theory……………………………………...24

3.3 The Relevance-theoretic Approach to Translation……………………………….25

  3.3.1 Context and the Principle of Relevance……………………………………..26

  3.3.2 Translation as Interlingual Interpretive USE…………………………….…..29

    3.3.2.1 Faithfulness in Interlingual Interpretive Use…………………..……….30

    3.3.2.2 Translating the Meaning of the Original……………………………..…31

    3.3.2.3 Style---the Importance of the Way Thoughts Are Expressed………..….33

    3.3.2.4 The Translator’s Responsibility for Making Intentions and

Expectations meet……………………………………………………….34

3.4 Heuristic Points from Relevance Theory and

Relevance-theoretic Approach to Translation…………………………………....37

3.5 Register of Relevance: A New Point of View…………………………………....40

Chapter IV Intertextuality: A Good Case of Search for Relevance

4.1 Introduction……………………………………...……………………………….43

4.2 A probe into A.C. Graham’s Version of Du Fu’s

“Ascending the Yueyang Tower”…………………………………………...……45

4.3 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….54

Chapter V The Analysis of Cultural Loss in Cultural Image Renderings

5.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………55

5.2 Cross-Cultural Differences and Communicative Breakdowns…………………..56

5.3 An Analysis of the Cultural Image Renderings…………………………………..57

  5.3.1 Cultural Loss Owing to Different Understandings

of the Same Cultural Image…………………………………………….…….58

  5.3.2 Cultural Loss Due to the Uniqueness of the Cultural Image…….…….…….71

5.4 Conclusion………………………………………………………….….…………79

Chapter VI Translation Techniques for Minimizing Cultural Loss

6.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………83

6.2 Translation Techniques…………………………………………………………..84

6.3 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….96

Chapter VII Features of the Operation of the Translator’s Mind

7.1 Dual Responsibilities of the Translator…………………………………………..97

7.2 Features of How the Translator’s Mind Works…………………………………..98

7.3 Conclusion………………………………...…………………………………….103

Chapter VIII Concluding Remarks

8.1 The Significance of the Register of Relevance to Translation Studies…...…….104

8.2 Relation and Problems…………………………………………………...……..104

8.3 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………106

Notes…………………………………………………………………..……………108

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………...…..109