On The Transition Of Cognitive Metaphor In C-E Translation

Zhang Peiji(1921-)is one of the most famous masters in translation in contemporary China,who has established himself in Chinese to English translation of contemporary Chinese essays.His Selected Modern Chinese Essays covers the translated version of the most quintessential essays since modern China,opening a door for the west world to know more about China.Since its publication,Selected Modern Chinese Essays has been well received,considered a book of great value for translation studies.In Selected Modern Chinese Essays,the translator uses many metaphorical expressions.For some of the metaphorical expressions,the translator copies the mapping from the source text.For some,the author has changed the source domain from the source text.Cases where the translator adds some metaphorical expressions to facilitate his expressing can also be found.According to Lakoff and Johnson,metaphor is more than a kind of rhetorical device,but a tool on which we rely for thinking in our daily life.Translation,on the other hand,though considered a transfer between two languages,is actually a complicated cognitive activity.It requires a lot of thinking conducted by the cognitive subject which in this case is the translator.Translation,therefore as a cognitive process,relies very much on metaphor.This research,through analyzing the metaphorical expressions in Zhang Peiji's Selected Modern Chinese Essays,discusses the following three questions:1)How is the differences in two language systems or two ways of thinking epitomized in translation concerning the use of metaphorical expressions?2)How can cognitive metaphor serve translation,in another word,how does a translator use metaphor in a target language to construct meanings?3)How is "meaning-for-meaning" translation realized through metaphorical expressions on the grammatical level?This research analyses Zhang Peiji's translation works from the perspective of cognitive metaphor on two layers.The first layer is to examine where the metaphors in Zhang Peiji's translation come from.The second layer is to examine how the metaphorical expressions are realized grammatically.As to the first layer,this research finds that the metaphorical expressions in translation are realized through three approaches,namely copying the mapping from the source text,changing the source domain of the original mapping from the source text,and adding metaphor in the target text.As to the second layer,this research finds that there are four ways of realizing metaphorical expressions,namely 1)using the verb in the source domain,2)using the adjective in the source domain,3)using the adverb in the source domain and 4)using the noun in the source domain.The findings from the analysis of Selected Modern Chinese Essays include the following:1)When the cognitive environment is shared by Chinese and English speakers,the translator copies the original mapping as it is,sometimes without adding more information.When the source domain in the source text does not trigger enough cognitive experience in the target language readers,and there is no other concept in the target language to use as the new source domain,the translator usually chooses to copy the mapping while providing extra explanatory information.When the original mapping cannot trigger the same type of effect in the target text,the translator tends to change the original mapping.2)In some cases where there are no metaphorical expressions in the source text,the translator,in order to generate clear,concise and spontaneous translation,often relies on different types of metaphor to structure his/her thinking.Thus,a number of metaphorical expressions are added through the following three approaches:adding dead metaphor(conventional metaphor),adding an action,and adding an image schema.3)As to realize "meaning-for-meaning" translation through metaphorical expressions,there are four approaches to realize metaphorical expressions on the grammatical level:Using verbs from the source domain,using adjectives from the source domain,using adverbials from the source domain and using nouns from the source domain.