On Metaphor Translation From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Since the publishment of Conceptual Metaphor Theory in 1980,metaphor is no longer a figure of speech,but a cognitive way.Thus,the translators should pay attention to the cognitive experiences rather than the transformation in the linguistic level in the process of translating metaphors.Beloved,which won the Nobel Prize in Literature and was written by Toni Morrison,has been considered as a true portrayal of black American's history.Taking an overview of the related researches both at home and abroad,most studies of Beloved concentrate on its theme,narrative strategies and writing skills,etc,but few of them analyze the metaphors translation in its Chinese versions,especially from the perspective of cognition.This research intends to analyze the cognitive mechanism of the metaphors in Beloved according to the Conceptual Metaphor Theory,which will divide all the metaphors into three kinds for a detailed analysis upon their mapping process,namely,structural metaphors,orientational metaphors and ontological metaphors.At the same time,this research will dig out the implied information hidden in each metaphor.Meantime,in light of the cross-domain mapping of metaphors,this research compares the metaphors' mapping in its two Chinese versions and discusses whether both Wang's version and Pan and Lei's version can properly deliver the source domain and the target domain of the original text to the Chinese readers.Thus,the Chinese readers who read the Chinese versions of Beloved can have the same cognitive experiences as the native readers do.During the research,the quantitative research method is employed to analyze thedistribution of the three kinds of metaphor and its features.Besides,the documentary research is used to conclude the previous studies on the metaphor translation and Beloved.Finally,the comparative analysis is used to discuss the metaphor translation strategies in its two Chinese versions.The result shows that the proportion of structural metaphors in this novel takes 54 percent,the orientational metaphors 18 percent and the ontological metaphors 28 percent.These metaphors valorously expose the cruelty of the slavery and the inhuman life style of the black.By comparing the metaphors in Beloved's two Chinese versions,a conclusion can be drawn that Wang's version put the implied meaning in the first place.Sometimes,he deletes or changes the source domain to convey the implicature meaning.Thus,Wang's version loses the aesthetic effects of the original metaphors.However,Pan and Lei's version keeps the source domains and let the Chinese readers produce the same cognitive knowledge as the native readers.On the whole,Pan and Lei's version achieves the mapping better than Wang's version.Therefore,it is concluded that the translators should put the conveying of the cognitive thinking of the source text in the first place when doing the metaphor translation.