"dream Of Red Mansions," The English Translation Of The Conceptual Metaphor Study

Since the 1970s research on metaphor has been increasingly framed by the perspectives of cognitive linguistics rather than traditional rhetoric. This reflects a major shift in the emphasis on how metaphor can best be accounted for and understood. In consequence, the new discipline of Metaphorology has emerged, carrying with it significant implications for the translation studies of metaphors that are rooted in empirical approaches to their aetiology, use, function and meaning.In the rhetorical tradition, metaphors has been seen first and foremost as linguistic expressions in translation studies. It is the specific linguistic characteristics that are the focus of discussion rather than the motivations behind a particular translation strategy; matters about the contextual restraints and affordances and their synergy with a particular translation strategy - equivalent translation or undertranslation -were left largely ignored.With the cognitive turn in metaphor studies, the natural relationship between conceptual metaphor and metaphorical expressions can be approached from a cognitive linguistics perspective which is arguably a more illuminating approach and which suggests a new way of looking at the translation of metaphors. The linguistic shift in translating metaphors is actually involved deeply with the cultural communication between the source language and the target language, and the translation would result as a kind of compulsory production of certain contexts, the translator's own general knowledge, and cultural and emotional experiences concerned, as well as the motivation of metaphors in the literary works. We can thus make reasonable explanations to the basic questions in the translation of metaphors convincingly, and then evaluate the translation of metaphor reasonably.With such a theoretical background, this thesis aims to apply the theory of Conceptual Metaphor to the exemplified research on the English translations of six important metaphorical systems (based on the former 80 chapters) in the novel HONG LOU MENG (i.e., A Dream of Red Mansions or The Story of the Stone, in English translations). Its purpose is to explore the bases on which metaphors can be translated, and research questions include: (a) What are the constraints on the choice of strategies? (b) What are the basic contextual factors in the translation? (c) What is the reasonable evaluating criterion? The research methodology is both qualitative and quantitative analyses of two English translations (by D. Hawkes and Yang and Yang respectively) of the specific metaphorical expressions in the form of both words/phrases and sentences.This thesis is made up of seven chapters. Chapter One is the introduction to the thesis. Firstly, it offers a brief survey of the research achievements and problems in the field of English translation studies of the novel and a comprehensive summary of how the cognitive turn in metaphor studies came about and the extent to which it has impacted on the translation study of metaphor. Secondly, the basic concepts (including the mapping structure and metaphorical systems concerned with conceptual metaphor) are introduced to explain the six metaphorical systems of the novel. And here an argument on the interrelationship between daily conceptual metaphors and metaphors in literary works is made. Thirdly, three main issues in the translation study of metaphors are presented (i.e. the embodiment base, the role of the contexts in the translation, and the notion of undertranslation). This is followed by an explanation of Embodiment in terms of culture and cognition, introduction to cultural context, literary context and contextual context, and general strategies (including literal/liberal translation, domesticating/foreignizing method, and transplanting). Finally, the notion of undertranslation of metaphors is illustrated, and a working evaluating model is then established.Chapter Two proposes that cultural and cognitive divergences have predominantly influenced the translation of five RED metaphors, and that the cultural context has restricted the choice of Domesticating in the case of the translation by Hawkes, which has caused undertranslation of RED metaphors as a result. Chapter Three seeks to shed light on the general cultural context and the special literary context in the translation of NAME-metaphor by undertaking an empirical study of the translation of names by Hawkes, and to show how NAME metaphor are dependent on certain works in which it has been produced, and this helps to conclude that it is the literary context that is interfering with the comprehension and expression of NAME metaphor. The detailed analysis of the translation of the servants' names, partial tone names and the special names (Meisi) of some main characters suggests that liberal translation is more effective in conveying the NAME metaphor. The Plot compensation procedure in dealing with the special names is rather successful in decreasing undertranslation, and at the same time the compensation by notes as to the translation of ZIJUAN and HUOQI is suggested to cope with the clash between cultural context and literary context. Chapter Four posits the differences in situational experiences between Hawkes and Yang and Yang, both of whom have placed obvious impacts on the transplanting of LENGXIAO metaphor. The contextual context which restricts the choice of liberal translation in the translation both by Hawkes and Yang and Yang is also illustrated. This chapter has also outlined a kind of Situational compensation procedure from the translation practices, and 12 kinds of extended meaning of LENGXIAO have been summarized. Chapter Five argues that the cultural and emotional experiences of the translators have crucially manipulated the transplanting of LOVE metaphor images, such as WATER, MOON and WINDOW; both the cultural context and the literary context have mediated the choice of strategies. In this chapter the detailed discussion shows that the transplanting of images of LOVE metaphors depends greatly on both cultural and literary context, and that the undertranslation of LOVE metaphor depends on the frequency of transference of the images. Chapter Six suggests that divergent cultural and cognitive experiences between Chinese SHANG-XIA and English UP-DOWN have interfered with the transplanting of SHANG-XIA spatial metaphor, and that the general correspondence between SHANG-XIA in Chinese and UP-DOWN in English has not led to the successful transplanting of SHANG-XIA to UP-DOWN; rather the Preferential Conceptualization embedded in the national cultural models has interfered with the strategy-choice and restrained full translation. Chapter Seven argues that a major conceptual metaphor has construed poetry theme, that in consequence the translation of POETIC metaphor is actually a matter of transplanting of the major conceptual metaphor which is made up of IMAGE metaphor and metaphorical structure, since conceptual metaphor is culture-specific, the foreignizing method is superior in terms of transplanting images of the source text, and of conveying cultural and literary information by a comparative study of CELEBRATING THE CHRYSANTHMUMS, WRITING ABOUT CRABS and WON-DONE SONGIn summary, the present study offers the following observations:The translation of metaphors is grounded in the embodiment of translators in terms of culture and cognition.The cultural context is overwhelmingly influential in translation practice, although the literary context (the literary elements, mainly the description of the characters and conveyance of the theme) and contextual context should not be overlooked. Together with Preferential Conception and the general correspondence of metaphorical concepts, these contextual factors mediate the choice of translating strategy and undertranslation.The translation of metaphor can only achieve undertranslation; therefore it cannot be evaluated by Equivalence. A working evaluation model on the foundation of traditional Chinese evaluation criterion of SI, FUDU and Degree of Membership in fuzzy mathematics is proposed to make rough evaluation of individual cases.There are two effective compensation procedures: Plot compensation and Situation compensation, which are closely related to the translation of literary metaphors.The research in mis thesis has reinforced the idea that a cognitive linguistics approach to the study of translation of metaphor is more than necessary. The exemplified study has enriched the translation study of the great work, has proved the theory of conceptual metaphor to be applicable and efficient, and it will be promising to stimulate further studies in this field.