1、 i The Application of the Iconicity to the Translation of Chinese Poetry Abstract The arbitrariness theory of language signs proposed by Saussure is severely challenged by the study of language iconicity in recent years. The theory of iconicity is put forward in contrast to that of arbitrariness and
2、 has been developing gradually. Iconicity, which is an important subject in the research of cognitive linguistics, refers to a natural resemblance or analogy between the form of a sign and the object or concept. This thesis mainly discusses the application of the iconicity to the translation of Chin
3、ese poetry. The paper is better described from the following parts: (1) The development of the iconicity; (2) The definition and classification of the iconicity; (3) The standards of the translation to Chinese poetry; (4) The application of the iconicity to the translation of Chinese poetry, mainly
4、discussed from the following aspects: sound iconicity, order iconicity, quantity iconicity, and symmetrical iconicity. Through in-depth discussion of the above aspects, this paper could come to the conclusion that the iconicity is very important in the translation of poetry. It is conductive to reac
5、h the ideal effect of “the similarity of form and spirit” and “the three beauties”. Key words: the iconicity; poetry; translation ii 象似性在中国诗歌翻译中的应用 摘要 索绪尔提出的语言符号任意性，近些年不断受到质疑，来自语言象似性的研究是最大的挑战。 语言象似性理论是针对语言任意性理论提出来的，并在不断发展。 象似性是当今认知语言学研究中的一个重要课题，是指语言符号的能指与所指之间的自然联系。 本文以中国诗歌英译为例，探讨象似性在中国诗歌翻译中的应用，从以下几个
6、部分阐述： （ 1） 象似性的发展； （ 2） 象似性的定义及分类；（ 3） 中国诗歌翻译的标准；（ 4）象似性在中国诗歌翻译中的应用，主要从以下几个方面论述：声音象似、顺序象似、数量象似、对称象似方面。通过以上几个方面的探究，探讨了中国诗歌翻译中象似性原则的重大作用，在诗歌翻译过程中有助于得到“形神皆似”和“意美、音美、形美”的理想翻译效果。 关键词： 象似性；诗歌；翻译 iii Contents 摘要 .i Abstract .ii Chapter 1 Introduction .1 Chapter 2 An Overview of the Iconicity .3 2.1 The Ico
7、nicity and the Arbitrariness . . 3 2.2 Definition of the Iconicity . .4 2.3 Classification of the Iconicity 5 Chapter 3 The Standards of the Translation to Chinese Poetry .6 3.1 The Similarity of Form and Spirit . .6 3.2 The Three Beauties .7 3.3 The Principle of the Iconicity . . .7 Chapter 4 The A
8、pplication of the Iconicity to the Translation of Chinese Poetry .8 4.1 The Application of the Iconicity to the Translation of Chinese Poetry on the Phonological Level .9 4.1.1 Sound Iconicity and its Translation on Chinese Poetry .9 4.2 The Application of the Iconicity to the Translation of Chinese
9、 Poetry on the Textual Level . . .9 4.2.1 Order Iconicity and Its Translation on Chinese Poetry .9 4.2.2 Quantity Iconicity and Its Translation on Chinese Poetry . . 12 4.2.3 Symmetrical Iconicity and Its Translation on Chinese Poetry.15 Chapter 5 Conclusion . .17 Bibliography . .18 Acknowledgements
10、 .19 1 The Application of the Iconicity to the Translation of Chinese Poetry Chapter 1 Introduction The ancients left a lot of poetry in China which reflects the broad and profound Chinese literature. With the development of Chinese literature, more and more scholars have been widely studied about t
11、he translation of Chinese poetry. Among the standards of the translation to Chinese poetry, the iconicity has aroused more and more concern. The theory of iconicity was first proposed by C.S.Peirce, founder of American practicalism and semiotics. Since then this theme has been discussed and studied
12、by many famous researches like Jakobson, Haiman, and so on. Iconicity is one of the hotly-discussed issues at present in the linguistic and semiotic field. The theory of iconicity is a great challenge to “Saussurean theory of arbitrariness” and a forceful complement as well. Iconicity in language fa
13、lls into the category of cognitive linguistics, which is regarded as an essential part of cognitive linguistics. Iconicity is not only a challenge but also a complement to Saussures arbitrariness of linguistic sign. The discussion over arbitrariness and iconicity is a hot topic in the field of langu
14、age research, which is actually a problem about the relationship of the signifier and the signified. In fact, the study of iconicity has been carried out in recent years, Many philosophers, semioticians and linguists have been concemed with such phenomenon in language for a long time. Iconicity can
15、be found not only in natural language, but also in literary language, especially in poetry, which is said to have the richest presence of iconicity in all literary genres, because poetry allows the most complex and innovative use of language on the typographical level(such as special use of fonts an
16、d spacing), on the sound level (such as sound symbolism, metre and rhyme), on the morphological and syntactic level (such as changes in regular word order and distancing), and on the 2 textual level. This thesis attempts to analyze Chinese poetry and its translation from a more integrated and origin
17、al perspective, an iconic perspective. Much Chinese poetry can be translated from the perspective of iconicity. The iconicity is an important feature of poetry and should be reproduced in its translation. In the application of the principle of iconicity to the translation of Chinese poetry, it is ad
18、visable to grasp the expressive features of iconic discourse in the source version and properly present them in the target version. This article through the following aspects: sound iconicity, order iconicity, quantity iconicity, symmetrical iconicity so as to realize the re-creating in the form as
19、well as in the spirit. 3 Chapter 2 An Overview of the Iconicity The theory of iconicity is regarded as a great challenge to Saussures arbitrariness of linguistic sign. The theory of iconicity was first put forward by C.S.Peirce, the founder of American practicalism and semiotics. According to Peirce
20、 and Haimans classification of iconic signs, this paper gets six subclasses of iconicity: the sound iconicity, the distance iconicity, the order iconicity, the quantity iconicity, the graph iconicity and the symmetry iconicity. 2.1 The Iconicity and the Arbitrariness The arbitrariness theory of lang
21、uage signs proposed by Saussure is severely challenged by the study of language iconicity in recent years. The view that the language sign is arbitrary is the core of Saussures linguistic theory. Saussure found the nature of language symbol but he left the link unexplained between the signifier and
22、the signified. The theory of iconicity is put forward in contrast to that of arbitrariness and has been developing gradually. Iconicity, which is an important subject in the research of cognitive linguistics, refers to a natural resemblance or analogy between the form of a sign and the object or con
23、cept. Iconicity has been discussed hotly at present in the linguistic and semiotic field. The theory of iconicity is put forward in contrast to that of arbitrariness and has been developing gradually. Meanwhile, it is a forceful complement to Saussures arbitrariness as well. Iconicity in language me
24、ans that the form of the word or sign conveys the meaning of the word or sign. The theory of iconicity is regarded as a great challenge to Saussures arbitrariness of linguistic sign. The study of iconicity has been carried out in recent years. 4 2.2 Definition of Iconicity The theory of iconicity wa
25、s first put forward by C.S.Peirce, the founder of American practicalism and semiotics. Since then this theme has been discussed and studied by many famous researchers like Haiman, Givon, and so on. The following are some of the representative definitions of iconicity. Haiman characterizes iconicity
26、as a set of “signs whose meaning in some crucial way resembles their form”. He also claims that “ linguistic forms are frequently the way is because, like diagrams, they resemble the conceptual structures they are intended to convey”. The relationship between form and meaning is to a considerable ex
27、tent motivated. Cognitive linguists maintain that linguistic structure is a reflection of cognitive or experiential structure. Newmeyer argues that iconicity “embodies the idea that the form, length, complexity, or interrelationship of elements in a linguistic representation reflects of communicativ
28、e strategy that the representation encodes.” Givon claims that any non-arbitrary relation in language qualifies an iconic relation. Therefore, some scholars usually conclude that iconicity is the similarity between the signifier and the signified. Language iconicity refers to the phenomenon of imita
29、tion between the sound, meaning, and form of language and what they signify in the real world. From the above-mentioned definitions, this paper can find that there is still no fixed definition of iconicity so far. Although researchers have made many attempts, none of their definitions is so perfect
30、as to explain all the phenomena in language, and to some extent, its application is dependent on the subjectivity of the researchers and scholars themselves. 5 2.3 The Classification of the Iconicity Outside world is the source of signs meaning, according to Peirce, signs can be placed in to three c
31、lasses. Peirce identifies three types of signs: icon, index and symbol. The three kinds of signs are different from each other in terms of the degree of arbitrariness. He also further divides icons into three types: images, diagrams and metaphors, which differ from each other according to the simila
32、rity between the sign and its objects. In accordance with these he concludes three types of iconicity: imagic iconicity, Diagrammatic iconicity and Metaphorical iconicity. Haiman further develops Peirces theory and regards diagrammatic iconicity as “a systematic arrangement of signs, none of which n
33、ecessarily resembles its referent, but whose relationships to each other mirror the relationships of their referents.” Haiman further classifies diagrammatic icon into two types: isomorphism and motivation. According to Peirce and Haimans classification of iconic signs, this paper gets six subclasse
34、s of iconicity: the sound iconicity, the distance iconicity, the order iconicity, the quantity iconicity, the graph iconicity and the symmetry iconicity. The iconicity can be found on the phonological level, lexical level, syntactic level and textual level. This thesis will analyze the four iconicit
35、y principles of them. 6 Chapter 3 The Standards of the Translation to the Chinese Poetry There are many standards of the translation to the Chinese poetry, and among them these three standards are famous. “The similarity of form and spirit” or “the beauty of sense the beauty of sound the beauty of f
36、orm” are the ideal standers and goals of translation, but the iconicity is the most important and effective rhetorical device in poetry creation. 3.1 The Similarity of Form and Spirit In the case of literary text, the most optimal state is “the similarity of form and spirit”. However, it is very har
37、d to both express the verve of the original texts and represent the form of the original texts in the translation practice. Sometimes, it is impossible to get the translation effects with “both form and content integrated” And for exactly that reason, Mao dun propose spirit likeness and Fu lei stand
38、s for “spirit is much more important than form” if you cant have your cake and eat it, you should give up the “shape” and leave the “spirit”. Compared to other literary form, poetry has its unique features on the sound, word, sentence, text structure of its organization and selection. Poetry emphasi
39、zed on the outside world imitation, through mimicking the outside world of sound, form and structure to realize its stylistic effects. 3.2 The Three Beauties Professor Xu Yuanchong proposes that “Three beauties” are the highest standards for poems translation. The “Three beauties” are the beauty of
40、sense, the beauty of sound and the beauty of form. The “Three beauties” are an organic whole; none of them can be ignored. Its basic meaning is: Poetry translation in meaning, sound, form structure these 7 several levels, should use the corresponding and appropriate target language to convey vividly
41、 the poetic charm. That will give us the beautiful enjoyment of art in vision, feeling and hearing. Professor Xu Yuanchong stressed that you should put your hand to the meaning, sound and rhymes these three aspects to translate poetry successfully. Cognitively, the principle of “three beauties” is c
42、onsistent with the iconicity of poetry. The “three beauties” and the “the similarity of form and spirit” are consistent. “Beauty of sound” “beauty of form” correlate “the similarity of form”; “beauty of sense” correlates “the similarity of spirit”. 3.3 The Principle of the Iconicity As “the similari
43、ty of form and spirit” or “the beauty of sense the beauty of sound the beauty of form” are the ideal standers and goals of translation, but how to attend it. Lu Weizhong thinks people should adopt the viewpoint of iconicity and throughout the translation of form especially form of extra meaning to a
44、chieve the ideal translation effect of “similarity of form and spirit” Among the types of literature, poetrys iconicity is the most prominent iconicity. Iconicity is the most important and effective rhetorical device in poetry creation. So, pay attention to recognize and analyze the applying of icon
45、icity technique in the original poems when to translate the poetry that can be able to achieve the ideal goal of “similarity of form and spirit” The iconicity now prevails in the literary works, which is a fact can not be negated. From the perspective of sign iconicity, scholars consider iconicity into literature, which reflects the real life in various ways. Iconicity is ubiquitous in literary language. It is emphasized as one of the constraints in poetic text structure.
