| In the1970s, Prototype Theory was put forward by Eleanor Rosch,an American Psychologist. Though this theory has been widely used inlinguistic research, there are few cases applying Prototype Theory tointerpreting research. By analyzing the examples picked up in practice,this thesis makes attempts to explore the strategies to deal withinterpreting and word-searching routes under the guidance of PrototypeTheory.For a very long period of time, the classical theory of categorizationhas prevailed and consequently consolidated the predominant position ofdualism in translation. As a result, when a case is under analysis, peopleprefer to believe it is black or white, like literal translation orparaphrasing, domesticating translation or foreignization, translatabilityor untranslatability. However, based on human beings’ cognition,Prototype Theory is not restrained by the mode of dualism and makes up for the deficiencies of the classical theory of categorization. It holds thatthe boundaries of categories are blurred and categories have hierarchicalstructures.Word is the basic unit of language. People have different culturesand cognitive approaches and there have been differences in wordsbetween Chinese and English. Hence one can see that word-choosingmight have a direct impact on the quality of interpreting. According toPrototype Theory, a word cannot be defined by a set of semantic features.Moreover, a word or a concept is stored in human’s mind in a form ofprototype, which is the best example. Members of categories havedifferent status, which has made the advent of hierarchical structurejustifiable. Meanwhile, research studies have shown that the basic pointand referential point for humans to perceive the world is the basic level ofcategorization, which has the maximum family resemblance. Centered onthe basic level of categorization, there are super-ordinate level categoriesupwards and subordinate level categories downwards. Therefore, in termsof Prototype Theory, vocabulary can be seen as a category, then hierarchical structure of categories leads to the hierarchical structure ofvocabulary. Because the basic level of categorization is the most directand the basic level for human beings to get to know the outside world, itcan be inferred that people start from the word of the basic level ofcategorization to get to know the entire word category. With theexpansion of category from the prototype, people can get to know moreabout the edge members of the category. Obviously, from the point ofPrototype Theory, interpreters should precisely grasp the hierarchicalstructure of vocabulary and choose the proper words for transformation inorder that rendition can maximally correspond to the category of theoriginal message.The development process of categorization theory is viewed in thethesis to present the background and the theoretical source of PrototypeTheory. Then the thesis makes a brief comparison of Prototype Theoryand the classical theory of categorization and detailedly explainshierarchical structure of categories. Based on Prototype Theory, theauthor analyzes some typical examples picked up in interpreting practice. To deal with the difference between Chinese and English words,transplacement-and-bypassing strategy is proposed. In response to theoccasions when interpreters could not recall the accurate words on sitedue to the high pressure of instantaneity of interpreting and short-termmemory, basic level word substitution strategy is provided so as tocorrespond to the original text as maximal as possible. Then in order torealize self-correction and improve the quality of interpreting,sub-prototype word, which is a transitive word existing between the basiclevel word and the accurate word is proposed to be used at the verymoment the interpreter is about to utter the basic level word. At last, onthe basis of the strategies above, the author proposes two word-searchingroutes, helping interpreters to reduce the on-site pressure and improve thequality of interpreting. |
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