Metaphor Translation From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Relevance theory is a kind of verbal-communication theory, which provides translation practice with a theoretical framework. In light of relevance theory, translation is an act of ostensive-inferential verbal interpretation, in which translators should take the target reader's cognitive environment and response into consideration so that they can express the exact information that original writer intends to convey, and make the target reader spend fewer processing efforts for comprehending the translated version so as to achieve the final optimal relevance. This paper offers a brief introduction of this framework and considers it powerful in accounting for metaphor translation in Chinese classical poems.We all know that metaphor is one of the most frequently adopted rhetorical devices. In terms of cognitive linguistics, metaphor is considered as a major cognitive mode to express human's primal and plain understanding of nature and society in concise language.(Sperber and Wilson,1995:77) In the light of relevance theory, metaphor involves an interpretive relation between the propositional form of an utterance and the thought it represents, which constitutes the first level of representation. Meanwhile, metaphors involve a descriptive relation between the speaker's thought and actual state of affairs.(Gutt,2004:34) So translators should completely understand the the propositional form of metaphor to get the thought it represents, and transfer the implicature of metaphor into its explicature to get the best understanding and interpretation of metaphors. So in this paper, the process of metaphor understanding and its translation principles are explained and analyzed in a new way within the framework of relevance theory.Poetry is a form of literature style, which has come forth since man had languages. As the literature crown with a long history, Chinese classical poetry is composed of many romantic and metaphorical lines. Among all the classical poems, those in the Tang dynasty are most splendid, with romantic poet Li Bai and realistic poets Du Fu, Bai Juyi as representatives. Although Bai Juyi is a realistic poet, his poetry is closely related to metaphors, and is an appropriate case for metaphor translation study. Therefore, with cases of metaphor translation selected from Bai Juyi's two classical poems:Chang Hen Ge(《长恨歌》)and Pi Pa Xing(《琵琶行》),three main methods for metaphor translation are introduced under the guidance of Relevance Theory.The thesis is made up of five chapters. Chapter one is a general description including the purpose of the study and the organization of the paper. Chapter two firstly presents different definitions of metaphor, and then there is a general survey of metaphor research from different perspectives abroad as well as in China. Chapter three is the theoretical foundation of the whole thesis. Chapter four is the main part of the thesis. With the relevant translation principles, cases of metaphor translation are selected from Bai Juyi's two classical poems:Chang Hen Ge(《长恨歌》) and Pi Pa Xing(《琵琶行》). On the base of comparisons and quantitative analysis of different translation versions, three main methods to metaphor translation are introduced. Chapter five is the conclusion, which includes the major findings and implications of the thesis and some limitations and suggestions for further study.In general, this thesis provides a new perspective——the cognitive perspective for metaphor comprehension and translation. Besides, three methods for metaphor translation in Chinese classical poems are introduced. In this thesis, metaphor translation is studied within the framework of relevance theory with a case of Bai Juyi's poems, which has certain significance for further study.