On Rewriting Of The Connotative Meaning Of Lexes In The Chinese Version Of Life Of Pi

The connotation of language is an important feature of language. Identifyingmeanings by analyzing words in the language is the common goal of various linguistsand philosophers. The famous British linguist Geoffrey Leech, in his book Semantics,divides “the meaning of the word” into seven kinds. Among them, the “connotativemeaning” of words refers to “the meaning attached to the conceptual meaning”. It is anon-essential meaning generated by association. Different people, societies, cultures,countries or times as factors would affect the comprehension and expression ofconnotative meanings of words. Andre Lefevere, as one of representatives of thetranslation cultural school, believes that translation is rewriting and rewriting ismanipulation of two cultures. His rewriting theory has expanded the translationresearch field from the text to culture. Therefore, translators, in the process ofrewriting, are subjected to constraints of both the source language culture and targetlanguage culture.Life of Pi is a great fable about faith, which is quite rich in connotations.Combined with the esoteric and bizarre, epic adventure and deep introspection, it hasgained a high reputation in the literary circle and become a hot cultural topic andfocus. In its Chinese version, rewritings are mainly made by the translator from thefollowing aspects: adventure, hope, miracle, humanity, survival, faith, and beliefs.Rewritings made from the perspectives mentioned above are mainly reflected inconnotative meanings of words. In different language, situational and culturalcontexts, the translator interprets the same word into different meanings, which canreflect different interpretations made by the translator in terms of the good and evil inhuman nature, religious beliefs and the meaning of life, reveal the translator’stranslation theory and uncover his manipulation and coordination of the source and target language cultures. Moreover, different words also contain rich connotations.Through changes in the word class, cultural connotations of idioms and wording onthe rhetoric, the translator shows different rewritings in hope, faith, miracle, adventureand other themes in the novel. Moreover, rewritings made by the translator can alsoreflect his subjectivity, carrying a stigma of the translator’s translation and culturalperspectives. On the one hand, the translator plays a role in manipulating both thesource language culture and the target language culture. On the other hand, rewritingsmade by the translation are partly blended together in reality. The translatorcoordinates the source language culture and target language culture through rewritings,thus realizing the communicative purpose by making cultural fusion in translation.