语用、语境与关联——《望夫石》主题的阐释和翻译

Pragmatic meaning,context and relevance:understanding and translation of the Awaiting Husband Stone

翻译的本质是一个跨文化的动态的明示-推理过程,成功的翻译取决于语境效果和认知努力之间的最佳关联性,诗歌的翻译应是意美、音美、形美三者的有机结合。中唐诗人王建的《望夫石》是一首著名的新乐府,其译文的准确与否依赖于译者对作品产生的认知语境的把握和解释,译者应该用自然、贴切、语境效果对等的目标语形式忠实地再现原作的思想内容和交际意图。本文拟从认知语用学、翻译学和文艺学的角度,比较《望夫石》两种译文的得失,并探讨原作的主题。

Translation in essence is a dynamic process of ostensive inference, and successful translation comes from the optimal relevance between the contextual effects and the communicator＇s processing efforts. An ideal translation of a poem should be the dialectical combination of faithful content of the original work with smooth form and beautiful rhythm. A qualified version of Awaiting Husband Stone depends on the penetrating comprehension of the cognitive environment where the poem was produced and on the conveyance of deep connotations of the culture-bound words in the poem, and a good translator should reproduce the communicative intention through the closest natural equivalents in the target language. With a comparative analysis of two versions of Awaiting Husband Stone from the intercultural and cognitive perspective, this article intends to paraphrase the hidden theme of the poem and brings forward a more satisfactory translated version.