The Persuasiveness Of Metaphor In Diplomatic Discourse And Its C-E Translation Strategies

Metaphor has been research focus a long time ago,dating back to the studies on metaphor in the field of rhetoric conducted by Aristotle more than 2000 years ago.However,for most people metaphor is only a figure of speech,which indicates a linguistic deviation on lexicon.The understanding of metaphor as a trope limits the further studies on metaphor in rhetoric.Lakoff and Johnson propose cognitive metaphor theory in 1980s and thus broaden the research scope on metaphor studies.They think that metaphor is a way of cognition and tool of thinking we live by.As for the field of diplomacy,metaphor structures the way of thinking and discourse reflected by diplomatic reality to strengthen the persuasive power of diplomatic discourse.With the development of modem rhetoric,the studies on metaphor in the field of diplomacy have already been extended to those in discourse from the perspective of rhetorical persuasion,regarding that metaphor structures diplomatic discourse as implying the intended persuasive purpose.Nevertheless,there are few studies aiming to probe into the persuasiveness of metaphor in diplomatic discourse in systematic way,not to mention applying these refined theoretical views to realize the goal of persuading the target international audience quite different from us on ideological stand.Therefore,this research attempts to interpret the persuasiveness of metaphor in diplomatic discourse and the choice of its C-E translation strategies from persuasive perspective by taking metaphors used by President Xi Jinping on diplomatic occasions,in a bid to enrich the research on the theories of metaphor in diplomatic discourse at the same time to provide new insight to the exploration on its C-E translation strategies.Based on metaphor theories in rhetoric the dissertation tries to sort out and summarize rhetorical theories on the persuasiveness of metaphor and then to clarify the functions of metaphor in the concrete context of diplomacy.Under the above conceptions,the dissertation makes tentative proposals on the persuasiveness of metaphor to the systematic justification on its applicability through making analyses on the persuasive effect of metaphor use in diplomacy.Besides,under the domestic situation of better international publicity,the metaphors used by President Xi Jinping on diplomatic occasions are designed to achieve the persuasive effects among the target international audience so as to realize the desired communicative goal in international publicity.Under the framework of persuasive metaphor theories,this paper attempts to discuss how to appropriately choose C-E translation strategies of metaphor in diplomatic discourse to achieve the intended communicative goal of China's diplomatic discourses.In conclusion,this research considers metaphor used as an essentially persuasive power in discourse.The employment of metaphor in diplomatic discourse contains the persuasive intention in the communicative process through structuring new diplomatic reality.Combined with the analysis on the functions of metaphor in diplomatic discourse it is observed that the persuasive power of metaphor in diplomatic discourse mainly demonstrates as reasoning by analogy,enhancing psychological identification,orienting values judgement and bypassing existing sensitiveness.In translating metaphors in diplomatic discourse,three principles have been proposed,which are remaining vehicle,integrating mapping of a Chinese metaphor with that of its English version and conveying complete metaphorical meaning to follow respectively.Under such guidelines,specific C-E translation strategies can be employed to translate metaphor in diplomatic discourse,such as reproducing vehicles,reproducing vehicles plus explaining,substituting vehicles and paraphrasing vehicles,which the author believes can effectively achieve persuading effects among the target international audience.It is also believed that by employing such types of translation strategies,we can not only clarify China's stand in international issues but also help promote China a positive international image as well.