The Conceptualization Of Polyseme Category And Its Influence On Translation

The study of polyseme has a long history in language philosophy and psychology. Though there are few consensus on the polysemous degree of polyseme and connecting ways of each meaning, it is widely acknowledged that cognitive ability of human can fully interpret polyseme. Advertisements have become a key issue in language study with advertisements' prompt development, and frequent international communication. The polyseme in advertisements can typically illustrate the conceptualization character of polyseme category.This thesis aims to find out how the polyseme category is formed with metonymy, metaphor and schema in different cultures through case study of typical polyseme in advertisement; and then finds out the influence of polyseme category on the choice of translation. This thesis first analyzes the mechanism and internal structures of semantic microstructure from a cognitive perspective; discusses the relationship between metonymy, metaphor and schema; on the base of this relationship, it tries to find out the effect of conceptualization of polyseme category on translation through a case study of typical polyseme in advertisement translation.Three characteristics of category summarized at the end of the thesis based on the preceding analysis can best represent the findings of the thesis.: a polyseme category with various senses is brought into shape through an approximately human-universal cognitive process; all the senses of a polyseme category are parametered by culture; all senses of polyseme are modulated by context. Based on these three characteristics, the author further analyzes the direction of conceptualization of polyseme category on polyseme translation, and provides three specific translation strategies.