析“不A不B”式的英译——基于同源多译本汉英平行语料库的个案分析

English Translations of the Chinese Construction of BU A BU B:A Corpus-Assisted Analysis

在自建同源多译本汉英平行语料库的基础上,对"不A不B"式的英译进行分析,结果显示:A和B是对义或反义语素的结构,使用频率高于A和B是同义或近义语素的结构,前者英译时多用"neither…nor…"句式,后者常用意译法;英译时A和B的排列顺序主要取决于英语的表达习惯;汉译英多以对应为主,语际显化和隐化均不明显;译者的母语背景对译文质量影响不明显,但译文的选词在一定程度上反映了译者的语言修养。

Assisted by the Chinese-English parallel corpus with one source text and its three different English translations, the paper analyzes the Chinese construction of BU A BU B. The study shows that the construction consisting of opposite morphemes is more popular than that of similar morphemes, and the former is often trans- lated as ＂neither... nor.＂ while the latter is often literally translated. The order of A and B in the English translation depends upon the usual linguistic norms of the English expressions. The English translations of the construction are usually equivalent to their Chinese source texts, and the interlingual explicitation or implicitati- on is not so obvious. The translators＇ native language backgrounds have little affect on their translations, but the choice of words in their translations do reflect their language accomplishments to some extent.