Translation Of Conceptual Metonymies In Classical Chinese Love Poetry

Love is one of the basic themes in Chinese literature.As a frequent theme with defining characteristics in classical Chinese poetry,however,manifestation of such a specific theme in classical Chinese poetry has not been paid enough attention,especially in consideration of the large number of translations of classical Chinese poetry and studies on those translations.Manifestation of love theme relies on linguistic expressions and meaning construction and is determined by human experience and cognition.From a cognitive view,metonymy is a way of thinking underlying linguistic expressions.Our understanding of poetry crucially depends on the processing of metonymy.Therefore,it plays an important role in manifestation of love theme in classical Chinese love poetry and metonymy translation has essential effects on the interlingual representation of love theme in the translated poetry.Given that metonymy is essential in translating classical Chinese love poetry,based on the discussions of metonymy by Radden and K?vecses,the study selects five best-known translated anthologies,in which 46 love poems of the Tang Dynasty are selected as research data.Metonymies in the love poems in question and their translations are manually identified and analyzed to elucidate the cognitive operations and the translation strategies adopted by translators.Based on these analyses,this paper also explores the major factors for the translator's choice of strategies and the effects of metonymy translation on the representation of love theme in the translated poetry.The study suggests that three major approaches are adopted in translating metonymy in classical Chinese love poetry: translating metonymy by means of the same metonymy,by a different metonymy,or into non-metonymy.Metonymy constitutes part of object of translation process and functions as a translation strategy in the first two situations.Translation as a cognitive process is both objective and subjective.Metonymy translation is influenced by cognitive difference between source languageand target language and between Chinese culture and Western culture as well as by translator subjectivity.Through the analysis of metonymy translation and the interlingual representation of love theme,the study also finds that people in love are still conceptually prominent in the translated poetry but metonymy translation more or less weakens the interlingual expression of love.In such a way,metonymy translation influences the representation of love theme in the translated poetry.The study on metonymy translation of classical Chinese love poetry may help enhance readers' understanding of poetry,provide inspiration for translators to better represent love theme in the translated poetry and broaden the research scope of cognitive translation studies.