On The Translation Of Metaphors In Wei Cheng: A Cognitive Perspective

This thesis takes a cognitive approach to the translation of metaphors in Wei Cheng.As a kind of ordinary linguistic expression, metaphor pervades all languages. As moreand more researches on them have been done, the study of metaphor is no longer confined tothe field of rhetoric. Cognitive linguists like Lakoff and Johnson applied the knowledge ofcognitive linguistics to it. Under their influence, metaphor is now regarded as a kind ofcognitive instruments and thinking modes of human beings.Compared with the popularity of studies of metaphor, its translation was neglected byscholars more or less. The literature review on this subject reveals that studies of metaphortranslation from the cognitive perspective are limited, especially the translation of Chinesemetaphors into English. Under Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual BlendingTheory, the author conducts a qualitative and contrastive analysis of metaphors in both WeiCheng and its translation Fortress Besieged. After a cursory review of the research onmetaphor, metaphor translation and the introduction to the relevant theories of metaphor, theauthor lays a theoretical framework guided by Conceptual Metaphor Theory and ConceptualBlending Theory. The framework shows that in translating, the translator first has to analyzethe emergent structure of the blended space in the source language metaphor as well as thecognitive effect it intends to convey, and then maps it onto the target language. Moreover, thisframework also puts forward that a good translation lies in the relation between the twoblends in the source text and target text, thus establishing an initial evaluation mode ofmetaphor translation.In the case study of Wei Cheng, the author first discusses the relation between metaphorsand the theme of the novel and makes a classification of the metaphors. Then the author laysstress on the analysis and discussion of the treatments of the original metaphors in thetranslation, i.e. the translation methods and principles, and of the gains and losses of suchtreatments in reproducing the literary style and theme of Wei Cheng, in hope of giving an objective evaluation to the English translation Fortress Besieged.