Pragmatic Analysis Of Cultural Presupposition In Translating Chinese Classic Novels

Based on the Relevance Theory and Adaptation Theory, this thesis looks at thecommunicative processes of the cultural presupposition in translating Chineseclassic novel Shuihuzhuan. It combines theoretical deduction with specific caseillustrations to study cultural presupposition from a new pragmatic perspective. As apragmatic phenomenon, cultural presupposition is closely related to the culturalbackground. In translation, the cultural presuppositions which are self-evident in thesource cognitive environment will easily become obstacles for adequatecomprehension and successful cross-cultural communication if they are not properlydealt with by the translator.Utterance interpretation and utterance production are two major subjects in thepragmatic studies of translation. From the perspective of Relevance-Adaptationapproach, the course of translation consists of two intertwined stages:discourse-interpreting process and discourse-producing process. The first process isan ostensive-inferential one in which the translator seeks for optimal relevance ofthe author s communicative intentions in the source text; the second process is adynamic one. The translator has to make linguistic adaptations at every level of thetarget language in order to convey the author s intentions and satisfy the needs oftarget readers. In the case of cultural presupposition in translation, the translatorshould enlarge mutual manifestness about the shared cultural presuppositions andmake correct contextual assumptions about the unshared ones to attain optimalrelevance in the first process. In the second process, he should make right linguisticchoices corresponding with the target cognitive environment to convey the author sintentions behind presuppositions on the basis of optimal relevance he has achieved.As one of the masterpieces of Chinese classic novels, Shuihuzhuan is rich in cultural connotations. Through the study of the cultural presuppositions in it, theauthor finds that Relevance-Adaptation Theories can effectively explain thehandling of cultural presuppositions in translating Chinese classic novels. Theresearch within this theoretical framework is significant because it can betterillustrate the functions of RT and AT and better improve the translation whendifferent cultures are involved. In dealing with the cultural presuppositions inShuihuzhan, Buck and Shapiro displayed their cognition and subjectivities to themaximum. They made use of different translation strategies to convey thepresuppositions of culture as much as possible. However, due to various subjectiveand objective factors in the source and target cognitive environments, the translatorcannot always guarantee optimal relevance of the ST and appropriate adjustments tothe TT. Therefore, some translation problems such as misinterpreting, inadequateand excessive translation will arise inevitably.