An Analysis Of Cultural Default In Literary Translation From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

This research aims to analyze the cultural defaults in the translation of literary works from the perspective of relevance theory. It is to elaborate the power of relevance theory on interpreting cultural defaults which are commonly employed by the original writer for their economical and aesthetic value to enrich the text and to help achieve a better effect on the part of the readers. Cultural default is defined as the absence of relevant cultural background knowledge shared by the author and his intended reader. Since cultural default is by nature a cognitive and psychological matter in communication and relevance theory is cognition-focused theory of communication, the author holds that relevance theory could be employed to interpret cultural defaults.In the relevance-theoretic framework, translation is an act of communication carried out between two cultures and it involves the cognition of three parts: the original writer, the translator, and the target reader. Since cultural default is culture-specific and the cognitive environment of the original writer and that of the target reader is different, it is probable that the target reader might misread the real intentions of the original writer. Relevance theory, with cognition and communication as its core, sheds light on this phenomenon of cultural default in literary translation and serves as a guide for the translator.This thesis, basically, is an inductive reasoning research. Inductive reasoning draws a general conclusion based on the analysis of specific facts and phenomena. As an important scientific research method for new discoveries, it is widely used in different fields. Based on inductive reasoning, the present study is to prove that relevance theory is qualified to optimize the solution of cultural defaults in literary translation. Elizabeth Gaskell's masterpiece novel Wives and Daughters serves as the data resource. First, different cultural phenomena are categorized; second, cultural default phenomena in the novel are classified and the typical examples of cultural defaults are selected; then a detailed analysis of these typical cultural defaults from the perspective of relevance theory is provided. Since the selected examples cover myths, legends, religion, allusion, customs, and particular typical cultural phenomena, they are qualified to represent the overall cultural defaults and in the end it draws the conclusion that relevance theory has its special power in interpreting all kinds of cultural default phenomena in literary translation.The present study proves the special power of relevance theory in interpreting the mechanism of the formation of cultural default and in performing as the guidance for the translator. It is a heuristic study to serve as a guide for literary translation in future. It is concluded that relevance theory performs as the theoretical foundation for when and how to use certain translation strategies to construct optimal relevance. In translation practice, the translator guided by relevance theory is to convey the original style of the writer on one hand; on the other hand, to seek and realize the optimal relevance between the target readers'cognitive expectation and the original writer's communicative intention. Based on the effective creation of optimal relevance, the translated text could arouse the target readers'interests in further reading and accepting of the foreign literature. In this way, the target readers could successfully comprehend the literary works more efficiently and at the same time fully appreciate the text just as the original readers do. It is beneficial for cross- cultural communication.