Iconicity and Fictional Translation―A Study of Light in August and Its Chinese Translation.doc

1、1Iconicity and Fictional TranslationA Study of Light in August and Its Chinese TranslationAbstract Iconicity， a widely-discussed concept in cognitive linguistics， refers to the analogical relation between form and meaning. This iconic force also exists between the form （ both narrative and linguisti

2、c form） and the meaning （fictional theme） of a literary text. By taking William Faulkners Light in August and Lan Renzhes Chinese version of the novel as a case study， this paper forms an attempt to demonstrate how iconicity functions in the theme representation of a novel， and how it can shed light

3、 on fictional translation studies. Key Words Iconicity； fictional translation； Light in August； the closed community 中图分类号：H059 1. Iconicity and Fictional Translation Besides F. de Saussures principle of arbitrariness， iconicity is another important notion concerning the relationship between the for

4、m and the meaning of a sign. Iconicity， “as a semiotic notion refers to a natural 2resemblance or analogy between the form of a sign （the signifier， be it a letter or sound， a word， a structure of words， or even the absence of a sign） and the object or concept （ the signified） it refers to in the wo

5、rld or rather in our perception of the world.” 1 Iconicity has secured its position in linguistic and literary studies， but it has hardly been applied to translation studies. In fact， translation can be studied from a semiotic perspective with an iconic approach. As for how iconicity works in transl

6、ation， a figure （Fig 1-1） which is used to demonstrate how a message is transferred from an addresser to an addressee is borrowed from Leech and Short. Zhao Xinxin （2008） has used the same figure to illustrate how iconicity functions in writing and reading processes. Fig 1-1： Fig 1-2： Iconicity in W

7、riting， Reading & Translating Processes Fig 1-2 is the modified version to explain the way iconicity functions in the writing， reading and translating processes of fictions. According to Leech and Short， the level of semantics， as is literally understood， is related to the meaning of language. 3The

8、syntactic level is the level of lexico-grammatical form which mediates between the levels of sound and meaning， and thus includes both “lexical choice- choice of words from the vocabulary of the language- and the grammatical choices involved in combining these words into sentences” （120）. The level

9、of graphology concerns such matters as spelling， capitalization， hyphenation， italicization and paragraphing （131）. Leech and Short illustrate their model with English language as their major concern. However， it can also be applied to the Chinese language. Languages are alike in terms of the simila

10、r iconic relationship between their forms and meanings. One of their differences lies in how their forms resemble the meanings. Back to Fig 1-2， both the fiction （text） and its target text mimic the model of reality through language. As a result， once the meaning （the model of reality） infused by th

11、e author into his/her fiction is perceived through its form of expression， the thus produced target text can be utmost faithful to the source text. 2. Iconicity in Light in August and its Translation Light in August is mainly set in Jefferson County， Mississippi. Some people insist that the tragedie

12、s happened in Jefferson “originate with outsiders”， while some others 4believe that “it is precisely in terms of its capacity to cope with disruptive elements， both from without and from within” and this is the way that any community should be judged （Millgate 2007： 44）. Countless hard facts， lingui

13、stic or narrative， indicate that Faulkner intends to show to the readers a community that fails to offer all its members， locals or outsiders， a community that fails to step out of its backward past， out of its biased social and racial attitudes and rigid religious beliefs. In accordance with the ic

14、onicity model （Fig 1-2） ， sufficient examples taken from Light in August will be used to demonstrate how iconicity functions to guide translation. 2.1 Iconicity on the Semantic Level Semantic iconicity embodies two kinds of metaphor， cognitive metaphor and grammatical metaphor. Grammatical metaphor

15、will not be discussed here. Cognitive metaphor is usually an analogy between two items that both exist in the context of usage， or between one existing item and another one that is supposed to exist. In Light in August， it is observed that the wheel metaphor runs through the whole text. This wheel m

16、etaphor is also an illustration of the cognitive metaphor. The author establishes 5a link between the “wheel” and the “closed community” - the theme that he tries to reveal. Example： （1） Thinking begins to slow now. / It slows like a wheel beginning to run in sand， the axle， the vehicle， the power w

17、hich propels it not yet aware. / The wheel of thinking slows； the axle knows it now but the vehicle itself is still unaware. /The wheel whirls on. / It is going fast and smooth now， because it is freed now of burden， of vehicle， axle， all. / The wheel turns on. / It spins now， fading， without progre

18、ss， as though turned by that final flood which had rushed out of him， leaving his body empty and lighter than a forgotten leaf and even more trivial than flotsam lying spent and still upon the window ledge which has no solidity beneath hands that have no weight； so that it can be now Now （Faulkner，

19、1987： 538-543， slashes added） （1a） 这时思维开始慢下来，像车轮开始驶进沙地，而推动它的车轴，车辆，推动车辆前进的力量还没意识到逐渐缓慢下来的变化。/ 思维的车轮慢了下来，现在车轴已经知道速度在减慢，可是车辆本身却仍然没有意识到。/车轮旋转起来，现在运转得既快又顺当，因为它已经释去了重负，脱离了车辆、车轴以及别的一切。/车轮还在转。/ 现在它开始旋动，愈来愈慢，似乎不再前进，它像是靠着身上最后流出的血在推动，6血渐渐流光了，他的身体比一片遗忘的落叶更轻，比飘浮在水面的渣滓更无价值，他颓然不动地倚在窗边，胳膊下没有实感，双手也失去了重量；这可能是完结的时候了，就在

20、此刻 （Lan Renzhe， 2008：328- 331， slashes added） Here Hightowers flow of thought is compared to a running wheel. Cognitive metaphor like this helps to enhance the understanding of both certain concept and some implicit message the author tries to convey. Like a running wheel， Hightowers thinking runs f

21、or some time and comes to a final stop. After reading the whole process， the reader gets the impression that it is unavoidable that the wheel will stop， and this motionless image lasts forever. This effect is partly achieved through the length of sentences. The progression of sentence lengths in wor

22、ds is： 5-22-17-4-18-4-60. Placing such a long sentence at the end certainly helps to lengthen the time of the end. It forces the reader to read at one go and have possible experience of getting out of breath like Hightower. The translator may have noticed this when doing his work， since the last lon

23、g sentence is not cut into short sentences. The progression of sentence lengths in Chinese characters is： 50-36-39-5-105. After a careful examination of this extract of the source text， one may notice that all the “action” 7clauses are in short sentences， such as “Thinking begins to slow now”， “the

24、wheel of thinking slows” and so on. This form might create a powerful effect that actions change in a twinkle of an eye， while the last step- the state of death is forever. Hence， it is recommended that the first two sentences not be weaved into one. 2.2 Iconicity on the Syntactic Level Syntactic ic

25、onicity can be termed as a fully-developed branch in iconicity studies. The translator can have a better idea of what the author of the text tries to express by adopting the syntactic forms， and with this message in mind， he will produce a more faithful translation. Syntactic iconicity mainly involv

26、es sentences with distinctive structure or grammar. Two types of syntactic iconicity ? sequential iconicity and quantitative iconicity will be focused here. 2.2.1 Sequential Iconicity and Translation In many languages， the sequence of clauses corresponds to the occurrence of events. This is known as

27、 the sequential iconicity. Sequential iconicity refers mainly to the principle of temporal sequence which is explained as follows： “The relative word order between two syntactic units is determined by the temporal order of the states which they present in the 8conceptual world” （Haiman， 1985： 236）. Look at the following example：