A Study Of The Translation Of Names

In spite of the fact that most of the words introduced from other languages intoChinese are yici (words created according to Chinese word formation but withmeanings or concepts from foreign languages),there has not formed a relativelyindependent research area for them.On the one hand,yici are marginalized in thestudy of loanwords because of their questionable identities as borrowings,and on theother hand,they are often thought to be of no difference from native words created inChinese without any foreign influences.In consideration of yici's important role in Chinese lexicon and their inadequateresearch in lexical studies,the author chooses to,under the name of yiming(translation of names),make a theoretical research of foreign source words withspecial focus on yici.Yiming in this dissertation is a term with two meanings.First itmeans"translated names and terms",i.e.,words absorbed into Chinese throughtranslation or language contacts but referring to foreign things or concepts.Typicalyiming are ordinary names and terms,technical terms or quasi-technical termstranslated or created according to Chinese word formation or with reference to thestructures of their origins.The other meaning of yiming is"the translating process ofnames and terms",i.e.,the process of creating names and terms of foreign origins inanother language.On the basis of a review and survey of the researches and studies on yiming,thedissertation covers the following subjects:the significance of yiming,translating andborrowing,the relationship between names and references,denomination—theessence of yiming,the principle of conventionalism,and the unification andstandardization of yiming.The dissertation falls into nine chapters.Chapter One"Introduction"explains the reasons why the author chooses yiming asher research object.With their large numbers,yici (words created according to Chineseword formation but with meanings or concepts from foreign languages) act animportant role in promoting cultural communications,constructing the Chineseacademic system as well as in influencing and changing Chinese conceptual and lexical systems.The study on this part of words,however,is far from satisfaction due to theirquestionable identities as loanwords.Therefore the author chooses to make a theoreticalresearch of foreign source words under the name of yiming.With the shift of researchemphasis from"borrowing"to"translating"(actually creating),yici,which are ignoredand neglected under the name ofloanwords,become the focus of this research.Chapter Two"A Review and Survey of Yiming Studies"puts forward the purposeand content of the dissertation on the basis of a review and survey of yiming studies.From the review it can be found that great achievements have been made since thestart of Buddhist translation in the researches on such subjects as the difficulties andpossibilities of translating foreign names and terms,the relationship between namesand references,translation methods,the relationship between yiming and thelanguages involved,yiming and cultural communications,and the unification andstandardization of yiming.But still there is much room for improvement in the studyof these problems:the origin of yiming and its signification,a further analysis of therelationship between names and references,the mutual influences and constraintsbetween yiming and the languages involved (especially concerning meaning and theestablishment of the relationship between meaning and form),a profound explorationof some crucial principles like the principle of conventionalism and that of adaptationto original names.Therefore the purpose of this dissertation is to make a theoreticalresearch of foreign source words under the name of yiming by analyzing anddiscussing the following subjects:the significance of yiming,translating andborrowing,the relationship between names and references,denomination theessence of yiming,the principle of conventionalism,and the unification andstandardization of yiming.Chapter Three"Yiming"is centred on the analysis of the term itself.First the authorclarifies that the meaning of ming in yiming is the same as that of ming in ancientChinese on two points:ming contains both the meanings of"name"and"term";mingcan be either what is uttered (phonological form) or what is written down (written form).Ming in yiming includes names and beyond;ming in yiming refers to terms but notincluding all the terms.The English correspondent of the Chinese ming is thecombination of"name"and"term".Then by tracing the origin of the term yiming and its evolution in meaning,the author claims that yiming can be interpreted as"translatednames and terms"and"the translation of foreign names and terms".By"translatednames and terms",the author means words absorbed into Chinese through translation orlanguage contacts but referring to foreign things or concepts.Typical yiming areordinary names and terms,technical terms or quasi-technical terms translated or createdaccording to Chinese word formation or with reference to the structures of their origins.By"translation of foreign names and terms",the author refers to the process of creatingnames and terms of foreign origins in another language.Finally the author makes adetailed comparison of yiming and some relavent terms—loanword,transplanted wordand technical term of foreign origin.Chapter Four"Translation and Borrowing"discusses the relationship betweentranslation and borrowing.According to the definitions and explanations of someresearchers,the core meaning of yi (translation) is"transference of meaning throughthe conversion between languages".And there are three kinds of conversion ratherthan the generally-accepted two,i.e.,translation,creation and borrowing instead oftranslation and borrowing.The focus of the debate upon translating and borrowing iswhether the third type of conversion"borrowing"(including phonological conversionand written conversion) can be accepted as translation,and the cause of the debate liesin the different explanation on yi (translation):ifyi is"language conversion",bothphonological conversion and written conversion can be regarded as a type ofyi,whichis understood in its broad meaning;if the emphasis of the meaning of yi is on"language conversion along with the immediate transference of meaning",the firsttype"translation"is the most typical yi,and the second type"creation"is the lesstypical one,while the third type"borrowing"is excluded from yi.The distinction oftranslation,creation and borrowing in actual language conversion is not so clear and itis often the case that translation and creation,creation and borrowing,or translationand borrowing are employed at the same time in introducing foreign names and terms.Chapter Five"Names and References"argues after a probe into the viewpoints ofHermogenes,Aristotle,Saussure,and Xunzi that the relationship between names andreferences is established by convention,which is neither the same as Hermogenes'arbitrary denomination nor equal to Saussure's arbitrariness of signs.The concepts of Ming (names and terms) and Shi (things,references or concepts) in translation andlinguistic studies are of more linguistic value compared with those discussed byphilosophers and scholars during the pre-Qin period,though the latter are the sourcesof the former.In translation and linguistic studies Ming refers to names and terms,andShi both things and concepts,and the discussion on Ming and Yi(meaning) is actuallythe continuation of that on Ming and Shi.The arbitrariness of signs (a combination ofsound patterns and concepts,roughly equal to Ming—Shi in Chinese) andconventionalism between names and references are two different conclusions drawnon two different levels:Saussure's arbitrariness of signs is the result of his viewinglanguage as a self-contained structure of system by excluding all the social or humanfactors,while other scholars argue that names are conventional because they putparticular emphasis on the role of human beings and societies in establishing therelationship between names and references.Chapter Six"Denomination—The Essence of Yiming"demonstrates that theessence of yiming (translation of names and terms) is denomination,or to be more exact,re-denomination across languages and cultures,and after which follows a detailedanalysis of the conflicts and coordinations between different conceptual systems andlexical systems.Many expressions like liming (to set a name),dingming (to establish aname),chuangyi (creative translation) shows that the essence of yiming (translation ofnames and terms) is denomination,and the means of denomination is to build or createa word either by means of translating (an active way of word building) or of borrowing(a passive way of word building).A name features handling more with less,i.e.,implying the whole meaning of a concept with limited sounds or Chinese characters.The process of giving a new name to a concept or reference already existing in anotherlanguage involves the conflicts and coordinations between different conceptual systemsand lexical systems,which lead to the final acceptance of a new tenn.Chapter Seven"The Principle of Conventionalism"puts forward a new point ofview that conventionlism not only means that the relationship between an existingname and a concept or reference is conventional,but also means that the process ofestablishing the connection between a name and a concept is both prescriptive andconventional.Prescriptiveness and conventionalism are two major factors in introducing new names and terms.A name can be set either by the authority orthrough consensus,and can be established either with motivation or arbitrarily.Mostof the establishment of the connection between a name and a concept in a developedlanguage is motivated.New motivation can be built up in the process of creating anew term in Chinese if during which,the original motivation of the term is lost.Theappropriateness of a name or term is not necessarily a word with reasonablemotivation.In other words,a name or term is appropriate as long as it is establishedand widely accepted by the language community.Chapter Eight"The Unification and Standardization of Yiming"discusses sometheoretical problems including the goal and foundations of the unification andstandardization of yiming,the hierarchy of unification and standardization principlesand the long-term nature of the task of unifying and standardizingyiming.The goal ofunifying and standardizing yiming now is to find and adjust the disagreements andconfusions both in yiming translation and assimilation for the perfection of a language.The foundations for establishing unification and standardization principles areconventionalism and other specific laws of language changes and developments.Unification and standardization principles are hierarchical in that they can be dividedinto general and specific principles,principles for yiming translation andconventionalization,and principles for the unification and standardization ofacademic or technical terms and for ordinary terms used in daily life.Distortedreflection of human cognition on reality and language sociality predetermine that it isa long-term task to unify and standardize yiming.And the coexistence of more thanone yiming for the same original during a particular period is normal and discussionsand debates upon different yiming for the same original can to a certain extentpromote the academic progress.The last chapter"Conclusion"summarizes the main aspects of the thesis,pointsout the limitations as well as the innovative points of the research,and makessuggestions for further studies on yiming.