Translation Of Polysemous Words In Russian Literature From The Perspective Of Context

Polysemy is a common phenomenon in language; polysemous words attribute to concise and economical expressions. They not only represent diverse and complex things and phenomena, but also reflect the process of people's understanding, describing and interpreting the objective world from their own viewpoints. However, the use of polysemous words is constrained by specific context. Context refers to the parts of discourse before or after a word, phrase, etc. helping throw light on particular meaning; it also refers to non-linguistic subjective or objective circumstances. Context is not only a necessary condition for communication, but also a major determinant for the choice of polysemous words. As a speech act in cross-cultural communication, translation is inevitably impacted by the specific context. Especially in Russian literary translation, various contextual factors play a significant role of constraining and interpreting meaning. The Chinese counterpart of a Russian polysemous word is generally determined by a logical analysis of the linguistic context in which the polysemous word occurs. As each translator has their own interpretation of context, their understanding and translation of polysemous words in Russian are always different.In the chapters concerning basic theories, the present thesis first reviews the development of research on translation of polysemous words from the perspective of context, introduces views of leading scholars on this question, explores the reasons for the appearance of polysemous words, summarizes the main features and meaning types of polysemous words, and probes the question of delimiting polysemy. Then, impacts of context on the translation of polysemous words are analyzed based on the theories about context. The chapters of practice involve a comparative analysis of 6 Chinese versions of The Noble Family, in which different translations of representative Russian polysemous words are selected for comparative analysis. In view of context, the problems of polysemous words in literary translation and certain resolutions are discussed, followed by further analysis of the understanding and translation of polysemous words in Russian literary works from the perspective of context.