Simile, Metaphor And Metonymy In English And Chinese Idioms

Idioms are the essence and cream of a language. They reflect and mirror cultures in the most effective way. After a long time of use, they are so popular with people that people inevitably use them in either written or oral communications. Rhetorical devices help make idioms colorful and expressive, among which simile, metaphor and metonymy contribute a lot to its vivid images, conciseness and deep connotations. Starting from the cognitive aspect, the thesis first analyzes the bases of their common existence in both English and Chinese. Then it explores the similarities and differences of their applications in English and Chinese idioms from two aspects: form/structure and vehicles employed, which would reflect English and Chinese similarities and differences in ways of thinking, mentalities, customs, etc.Cultural exchanges between nations pervade in many aspects of society and are indispensable for a nation's development. People attach more and more importance to translation since it is the most important tool for cultural exchanges. The culture-loaded idiom translation is one of the emphases and difficulties in translation study. The thesis seeks guidance from relevance theory for the solution. Translation act is a two-fold ostensive-inferential communication and the translator has double identities. He should work out a RL text which resembles the SL text in relevance aspects. The resemblance between the RL text and the SL text is interpretive resemblance and the RL reader's interpretation of the RL text should resemble the SL author-envisaged interpretation of the SL text. Since relevance is context-dependant, the translator should take into account the contexts of both the SL author and the RL reader.The designing of the diagram of intersecting contexts aims to help the translator adopt flexible strategies in different circumstances and thus facilitate the translation between English and Chinese idioms with simile, metaphor andmetonymy, which would provide broader ways for translation study, promote the transmission and exchange of cultures and maintain the vigor of idiomatic cultures. The whole thesis falls into five general parts:(1) Chapter 1 is the introduction part, which makes an overview of the whole thesis.(2) Chapters 2 and 3 is the second part, of which chapter 2 focuses on the definition, categories and sources of English and Chinese idioms; chapter 3 introduces simile, metaphor and metonymy in English and Chinese idioms and search for their similarities and differences from forms, structures and vehicles employed in the two languages. English and Chinese cultural similarities and differences are identified from the analyses. Comparative and contrastive methods and example illustrations are used in this part.(3) Chapter 4 is the third part. It mainly dwells on the introduction of some important notions in the theory of relevance and tries to seek theoretic guidance for translation. After introducing the notions like ostensive-inferential communication, mutual manifestness, context, relevance, the principle of relevance, and degree of relevance, the thesis goes on to answer the following questions about translation: Why should we consider translation as an interlingual interpretive use of language? What are the translator's identity and tasks? In what aspects should the RL text resemble the SL text? Whether relevance-theoretic translation is free translation?(4) Chapter 5 is the fourth part and applies the theory to practice, that is, to apply the relevance theory to the translation of simile, metaphor and metonymy in English and Chinese idioms for the thesis's regard. By explaining the importance of contexts in translation, the author designs a diagram of contexts to show the situations of the cognitive environments of the SL author, the translator and the RL reader, thus analyzing in what situation the translator should employ which translation strategy. The purpose of designing this diagram is to facilitate the translation of English and Chinese idioms with simile, metaphor and metonymy, diminish the translation errors and promote cultural exchanges. Diagram designing,categorizing and example illustrations are the methods used in this part.(5) Chapter 6 is the conclusion part.