Cognitive Process Of Translation Of Conceptual Metaphors In English Finance Discourses

According to modern cognitive linguistics, metaphor refers to the way of human thinking and behavior, that is, conceptual metaphor. Metaphor is defined as cross-domain mapping in human conceptual system (mapping from the source domain to the target domain). Metaphorical expressions are the surface manifestation of such a cross-domain mapping. After the identification of conceptual metaphors in the English text (source text) from the data mostly from the finance column in the Economist from January, 2007 to February, 2008, how the metaphors from the source text are manifested in the Chinese text (translated text) is analyzed. There are three types of manifestation after data analysis: the first one is the source text and the translated text have same conceptual metaphors; the second one is the source text and the translated text have similar conceptual metaphors; the third one is the source text has conceptual metaphor while the translated text has non-metaphor structure (abstract structure).Conceptual Integration Theory (also called Blending Theory) is a cognitive linguistic theory evolved from mental spaces theory. A typical conceptual metaphor includes four mental spaces: Input1, Input 2, Generic Space and Blend Space. Applying Conceptual Integration Theory to translation, this thesis attempts to form a Network Model of Conceptual Integration for Translation: The Source Space (SS) and the Target Space (TS) are viewed as the two input spaces in translation network. Similarities of schemas shared by the two input spaces forms the Generic Space (GS). The Blend Space (BS) represents the Translated Text Space (TTS) in which the Source Space (SS) and the Target Space (TS) blend under the constraints of Generic Space. To be specific: SS contains the source text and the schema from the source space; TS, the relevant linguistic expressions and schema from the target space; GS, conceptual structure shared by all four spaces—the blend, the two inputs and the generic; TTS, the translated text and its schema. Under the constraints of the Generic Space, structures from the Source Space (SS) and the Target Space (TS) are selectively projected to the Translated Text Space (Blend) and the emergent structure arises then forms the translated text.The cognitive process of the translation of conceptual metaphors in English finance discourses is illustrated in five steps: Step 1 is blending of Source Space and Target Space themselves; Step 2, cross-space mapping between SS and TS; Step 3, projecting to the Generic Space (G S) from SS and TS; Step 4, projecting to the Translated Text Space from SS and TS; Step 5, blending. When the frame networks are applied in the E-C translation of metaphors in finance discourses, it can be classified into four categories: (1) Shared TF topology (Shared Metaphoric Conceptual Structure); (2) TF topology (Metaphoric Conceptual Structure) from the Source Space; (3) TF topology (Metaphoric Conceptual Structure) from the Target Space ; ( 4) Abstract Structure from the Target Space. The first two categories are for the first type of manifestation of metaphors in the translated texts: the source text and the translated text have same conceptual metaphors. The third category is for the second type of manifestation: the source text and the translated text have similar conceptual metaphors. The fourth category is for the third type of manifestation: the source text has conceptual metaphor while the translated text has non-conceptual metaphoric structure (abstract structure).The theoretic and practical value of this study is as follows: firstly, it helps the translator get a better understanding of the cognitive process of conceptual metaphor translation in the finance discourses. Secondly, this thesis studies the cognitive translation of conceptual metaphor from the perspective of Conceptual Integration, which is an attempt to conceptual integration of translation.