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Exploring Anisomorphism Between English & Chinese In Translation: A Lexicographic Approach

Posted on:2007-06-28Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:W T ZhaoFull Text:PDF
GTID:1115360212984364Subject:English Language and Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Isomorphism is a term in biology that refers to the quality or state of being similar in form and organism. In a linguistic context, isomorphism means a one-to-one correspondence or the state of being identical between the elements of two languages. In contrast, anisomorphism refers to a mismatch between a pair of languages due to their semantic, grammatical and cultural differences, which leads to a relative absence of direct, one-to-one translation equivalents. Since English and Chinese belong to two basically different language families, there exists between them a strong yet often latent confrontation of language and cultural behaviors. This dissertation attempts to conduct a systematic survey as well as a scientific analysis of the anisomorphism shown in the process of translating, especially in the context of a bilingual dictionary.One of the peculiarities of bilingual dictionaries, unlike monolingual dictionaries which are characterized by its function of denoting the designate of headwords, is that the definition in bilingual dictionaries is oriented towards a generalizing function, by which the definition of the headword designate in the source language is given with an equivalent counterpart in the target language. In other words, definition in bilingual dictionaries can be seen in truth as a process of translation, which inevitably adds to the anisomorphic nature of languages. In this sense, any bilingual dictionary might be regarded as a collection of two sets of interchangeable linguistic codes notwithstanding the discrepancies between them. The most essential task of bilingual dictionary makers, therefore, is to study the differences of the two languages concerned in the vocabulary system, and that is why a bilingual dictionary is also called "a dictionary of anisomorphism".The theme of anisomorphism in bilingual dictionaries arises to the fore becausewe are living today in an age of cultural diversity and ever-increasing cultural confrontation as well as convergence, and when we turn to bilingual dictionaries for an exact match for an unfamiliar word or phrase, we might be left at sea by several confusing equivalents provided by the lexicographers. It is thus reasonable to relate this topic to the phenomenon of the variedness of cultures and linguistic factors. Since the present author has been involved in several programs of English-Chinese dictionary compilation and has gained some experience in this field, this dissertation pertains mainly to anisomorphism in English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionaries. However, since a bilingual dictionary is in essence "a translated dictionary", theories and practice of translation in a general sense are also discussed. Equivalence has been endowed with the notion of correspondence, accuracy, fidelity or identity in translation studies, and translation equivalence has always been an essential issue in modern Western translation studies. The dissertation presents two major classifications of translation equivalents proposed by Nida and Zgusta respectively as a foregoing theoretical basis for following discussions. The dissertation also makes a distinction between dictionary translation and literary translation. The second chapter focuses on problems in achieving equivalence in general translation, with a special emphasis on lexical units. Specific problems in achieving equivalence especially in literary translation have been roughly divided in this dissertation into lexical ambiguity, lexical mismatches, lexical gaps, figures of speech, multiword lexemes, nomenclature, and style.Then, the dissertation attempts to present a circumstantial and systematic survey of anisomorphism between English and Chinese strictly in the context of bilingual lexicography, starting from the basic distinction between a word (词/ci/) in English and a character (字/zi/) in Chinese. Anisomorphism can be found at various levels of the language system, including phonology, morphology, cultural connotation, collocation, and usage, all of which may lead to problems in translation.A scrutiny of the nature of culture and language as well as their relations proves that cultural and language behaviors are the fundamental elements in the making of anisomorphism. The dissertation also undertakes a brief study of the"idiosyncrasies" of both the Chinese language and English language, indicating that such differences as those found in history, social customs, religions, ideology, etc. have produced many culture-loaded words and expressions in both languages, which might be a central issue in the study of anisomorphism-related problems in intercultural communication.The dissertation also puts forward some guiding principles and summarizes useful strategies which have been proved effective in dealing with anisomorphism in bilingual dictionaries. Each of these solutions, technical or theoretical, is discussed with a view to presenting the inherent anisomorphism (i.e. the intrinsic nature of being different from each other) between English and Chinese as well as reducing the man-made anisomorphism (i.e. gaps that can be bridged by lexicographers) to the minimum. Among the technical devices in bilingual dictionary making are parenthesized explanation, usage information, pictorial illustrations, encyclopedic information, cross-reference, etc.At the end of the dissertation, the present author reiterates the role of an individual lexicographer as the center and a determinant factor in the making of a bilingual dictionary, in hopes of seeing more bilingual dictionaries of high quality being made owing to the wisdom and diligence of a new generation of lexicographers.
Keywords/Search Tags:Anisomorphism, English and Chinese, Translation, Equivalence, Bilingual Dictionaries, Culture and Language
PDF Full Text Request
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