A Study On Xin And Its Translation In Hong Lou Meng From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metonymy Theory

As one of the four great classic works in ancient China, Hong Lou Meng is well-knownas the masterpiece of classical novels for its high value of ideological content and artisticcharacteristics. It is also considered as the encyclopedia of Chinese traditional culture. In thenovel, the Chinese character xin (心) appears at a very high frequency. The author employs alarge number of expressions containing xin to give a vivid depiction of characters, displaytheir different temperaments, and describe their mental and emotional activities, whichprovide abundant resource for the researches of linguistics, literature and rhetoric and so on.Most of the previous researches on xin and its translation in Hong Lou Meng are still in thecultural and metaphorical view. However, scarce research has been made within theframework of conceptual metonymy.From the perspective of conceptual metonymy theory, the thesis attempts to make adetailed analysis of the Chinese character xin in Hong Lou Meng, in hope of exploring thecognitive mechanism and metonymic models of xin. In addition, it also aims to testify theexplanatory power of conceptual metonymy theory on the translation of xin, and find theeffective methods of its translation. The study discovers that the meanings of xin are notrandom and arbitrary, but are systematically motivated by conceptual metonymy, mainlythrough two specific metonymic models of XIN FOR THOUGHT and XIN FOR EMOTION.Based on the metonymic models of the Chinese xin, three different translation methods havebeen presented. Literal translation is the best choice for identical equivalence. Somealternatives, such as mind, think, feel, etc. can be employed for partial equivalence. Whentranslating expressions of xin, which have no equivalence in English, the translator can resortto liberal translation, abandoning the original metonymies and conveying their metonymicmeanings in a straightforward way.