A Study On English Translation Of Chinese Metonymy From The Perspective Of Idealized Cognitive Model

Idealized Cognitive Model (ICM) is first proposed by George Lakoff in1987, whichprovides an idealized model for human beings to know the world. Its proposal causes a greatinfluence in the field of Cognitive Linguistics. Many scholars analyze different domains ofCognitive Linguistics from the perspective of ICM: Zoltán K vecses and Günter Radden(1999:21) define metonymy on the basis of this theory，and classify it depending on thedefinition; Wang Yin (2005) thinks that ICM more emphasizes people’s subjective initiative,and contains richer contents than "framework","schema", and "script", so it has moreexplanatory power, and can therefore act as the cognitive analysis method of discoursecoherence; Li Yongzhong and Fang Xinzhu (2003), Li Yongzhong (2004b) proposes a newICM model of speech act communication, and analyze the explanatory power of metonymy topragmatic reasoning and discourse coherence, which are both based on the consideration ofcognition and pragmatics. ICM is a kind of cognitive mode which is formed by theunderstanding the speakers have to the eternal world. Therefore, ICM does not actually existin the world, but a model of persons’ recognition. It is the idealized model of human beings’recognition about the objective world.Because of the rise of Cognitive Linguistics, linguists re-study metonymy from theperspective of this theory, and put forward that metonymy is not only a kind of figurativespeech, but also a kind of cognitive models. People can recognize metonymy because itcauses a cognitive process in their mind. Because the common sense among different cultures,some metonymies can be recognized commonly. However, in most cases, different people indifferent cultures and different countries have distinctive cognitive models so that somemetonymies are recognized distinctively. Therefore, some metonymies can be translated intoanother language directly, but some cannot. As for various understandings of variouscountries, different strategies can be used to deal with metonymy translation.Lao She is a famous modern Chinese novelist, writer, and playwright. Teahouse is one ofhis classic plays. It describes a variety of changes in Chinese society from Qing Dynasty tothe Domestic Revolution, and it also demonstrates to us the customs and citizens’ spiritualoutlook in that period. This work is one of the Chinese cultural treasures and it plays asignificant role in spreading Chinese culture into the world. It has mainly been translated bytwo translators so far: one is the famous Chinese translator Ying Ruocheng, the other is theCanadian translator John Howard-Gibbon. These two versions have different styles because of the different intentions of two translators. Ying targets to translate it so as to perform on thestage, while Gibbon intends to introduce and explain the traditional Chinese culture to theworld. This kind of difference also shows on their metonymy translation.Because of the human universality, some metonymy can find the relevant form indifferent languages. However, the difference in culture and language makes some metonymycannot find the relevant form in different languages. And another case is, metonymy can befound in different languages, but it is expressed in distinct ways. This thesis is based on theIdealized Cognitive Model, discusses the explanatory power of English translation of Chinesemetonymy in Teahouse, and proposes relative strategies of English translation of Chinesemetonymy on the basis of it.