On The Translation Of Foregrounding

The concept foregrounding is a further historical development of ideas generated by the Russian Formalists. It refers to a de-automatic language phenomenon which breaks the rules of everyday language. The concept foregrounding was applied to literature first by the pre-war Prague School linguists and literary critics in 1930s. According to Shklovsky, the purpose of art is to make objects unfamiliar by estrangement or defamiliarization, so that a renewed perception of them creates a fresh awareness in the beholder, beyond the stale routines of automatized schemes: Mukarovsky regards it as the unexpected departures from the accepted norms, referring to the stylistic effects that occur in literature, whether at the phonetic level (e. g. alliteration, rhyme), the grammatical level (e. g. inversion, ellipsis), or the semantic level (e. g. metaphor, irony).Studies on foregrotmding are made mainly at the level of linguistics or stylistic analysis within one language; however, the notion of foregrounding can be applied to translation criticism as well. When we apply the notion of foregrounding to translation criticism, it is necessary to tell the difference between the two kinds of foregrounding, namely, the foregrotmding created by the difference between the two language systems or cultures, and the foregrounding created by the author of the source text on purpose. We should try to avoid the first foregrounding feature, and try to reproduce the second foregrounding feature in the process of translation. Based on text-linguistics and functionalist theory, we discuss the application of the concept "foregrounding" in translation, and then the principles and strategies of translation of foregrounding.The thesis consists of four parts besides introduction and conclusion.In the first part, we give a simple retrospect of the text-linguistic approach and functionalist approach to translation studies The text-linguistic approach in translation studies attaches great importance to text analysis and pragmatic meaning, and it studies not only the two language systems, but also the restricted factors, such as context of situation and context of culture. In functionalist theory, which is based on Skopostheorie, text is a unit of translation, and intentionality and acceptability are the two critical factors in translation. Both can be the theoretical base of the translation of foregrounding.In the second part, we discuss foregrounding from the linguistic angle. At first, a brief introduction is made about the concept of linguistic foregrounding, then comes a discussion about the two categories of foregrounding: qualitative foregrounding and quantitative foregrounding, followed by an analysis of style as foregrotmding, and last, manifestation of foregrounding.In the third part, we apply the concept "foregrounding" to translation. Two kinds of foregrounding are discussed. One is the foregrounding created by the difference between the two language systems or cultures. The other is the foregrounding created deliberately by the author.In the fourth part, we discuss the translation principles and strategies in the translation of foregrounding. The translation of foregrounding might follow the following principles: the integrity principle, the corresponding principle, the acceptable principle and the optimum principle. We can reproduce the foregrounding effects by literal translation and adaptation. We can compensate the foregrounding features with amplification only when necessary. And we can discard the foregrounding features by free translation only when we have to.As a conclusion of the above discussion, we hold the viewpoint that, in the translation of foregrounding, we should analyze the source text in a top-down order, and take text as a unit of translation. We should translate the communicative function as well as the connotation, reproducing the foregrounding effects of the source text in target text, and therefore, transit one culture into another.