A Prototype-Theoretical Approach To Translation Equivalence

Translation equivalence (TE hereafter) is one of the most important issues in modern translation studies, but it is very controversial. The main reason for the disagreements on TE is that the different views towards TE generally originate from different perspectives of studying translation itself, which are not compatible. The linguistic school of translation studies approves of TE, takes it as the central issue of translation studies and develops various theories of TE. Theorists of this school believe that TE is to obtain equivalence between the source text (ST hereafter) and the target text (TT hereafter) on various levels of language (e.g. levels of morphemes, words, clauses, sentences, etc) and in various aspects of language (e.g. the form, the meaning, the message, the function, the effect, etc). On the other hand, emphasizing the literary translation and the mutual influence between translation works and culture, the cultural school generally denies the existence of TE. In China, the discussion on TE also does not escape the dichotomy of views.Prototype theory (PT hereafter) in cognitive psychology provides the theoretical foundation for this study. According to PT, a "prototype" is an abstract internal representation, which integrates the most typical features of all members in a category. And the basic characteristics of prototypes are abstraction, integration, priority and expansibility. The characteristics of prototypical categories are summarized as exhibiting degrees of typicality, a family resemblance structure, blurred edges and inefficiency of definition by means of a single set of criterial (necessary and sufficient) attributes.PT can be employed to examine issues of translation studies in a new way. Approaching TE from the perspective of PT, we propose that TE, in general, means that the target language (TL hereafter) readers' holistic perception of the TT should be the same to the source language (SL hereafter) readers' holistic perception of the ST. And in the real sense, the ST prototype is equivalent to the TT prototype. TE is realized between the ST and the best exemplar of the TT prototype. TE is both a goal and an ideal. The task of translation makes it a goal; while the abstractness of prototypes makes it an ideal. TE in the light of PT shows the characteristics of possibility and relativity. TE is possible thanks to the similar human experiential structures; whereas TE is relative due to the rareness of the best exemplars and the degrees of typicality among category members. Therefore, there exist degrees of TE. The best exemplar of the TT can be regarded as the criterion of translation. Under the guidance of such a standard, the most typical features of the ST should be represented in the TT. The typical features of ST prototypes vary, so there should not be prescriptive requirements for specific equivalence between the ST and the TT, and translation strategies should be adopted according to the prototypical features of the ST prototype.