The Translation Of Conceptual Metaphors From The Perspective Of Conceptual Blending Theory

Of all the English versions of The Peony Pavilion,Birch’s and Wang Rongpei’s cover-to-cover translations have been the most concerned in translation studies.The Peony Pavilion abounds in conceptual metaphors,which are carriers of traditional Chinese culture and give full play to the Chinese people’s image schemata and cognitive patterns.The translation of these metaphors poses great challenges to Birch and Wang.Thereon,this thesis takes their translations as the research objects to explore conceptual metaphor translation in The Peony Pavilion from the perspective of the conceptual blending theory.Lakoff and Johnson hold that the daily conceptual system is in essence metaphorical.Conceptual metaphors,grounded in the correlations within experience,are produced through one-way mappings from source domains onto target domains.They classified conceptual metaphors into three types,namely,structural metaphors,orientational metaphors,and ontological metaphors.On this basis,Fauconnier and Turner proposed the conceptual blending theory to study dynamic meaning construction through building mental spaces.Meanwhile,they constructed four kinds of sub-networks including simplex,mirror,single-scope,and double-scope networks to facilitate their research.According to the conceptual metaphor theory,this thesis categorizes conceptual metaphors in The Peony Pavilion into the metaphors of colors,objects,celestial bodies and meteorological phenomena,diseases,and historical stories.Then,in line with the conceptual blending theory,the thesis constructs a six-space conceptual blending model of conceptual metaphor translation and thereon classifies Birch’s translation of the metaphors into three kinds of conceptual blending networks,which consist of the single-scope translation network focusing on the author space,the single-scope translation network focusing on the translator space,and the double-scope translation network.Meanwhile,the thesis makes a comparison between his and Wang’s versions and abstracts their translation activities into cross-space mappings and blendings of the elements in different mental spaces for further analysis of their cognitive processes in translation.Research shows that,first and foremost,the prerequisite for translators to effectively integrate the connotations of conceptual metaphors lies in their clear and accurate awareness of cultural cognitive schemata,cultural background information,and contextual connotations involved in the metaphors.They are obliged to avoid preconceiving cognitive biases before blending the translation of conceptual metaphors.Secondly,Birch’s and Wang’s versions reflect their respective tendency towards the conceptual blending networks of conceptual metaphor translation in The Peony Pavilion.In three kinds of conceptual blending networks seen from Birch’s conceptual metaphor translation,the author space and the translator space occupy different shares in each case.In general,Birch attached great importance to the original images of the metaphors and tried to reconstruct their cognitive schemata in the target language.In the meantime,he took into consideration the readability and accessibility of the translation and steered clear of blending an obscure target text by preserving cultural images.In contrast,Wang on the whole took the translator space as the core.He was prone to project his illustration of conceptual metaphors into the blend,which shows that he gave top priority to the target language readers’ understanding.Finally,seen from the angles of three kinds of conceptual blending networks,Birch’s and Wang’s translations inevitably incorporate their cognition,but the degrees to which they involve vary.To a large extent,this coincides with the intentions and purposes of their translating.For instance,Wang highlighted the conveying of the meanings of the ST in full flavor,while Birch appreciated the literary values of The Peony Pavilion and aimed to reproduce it on all fronts in the target language.