彝语民歌“■”考——兼论彝族民歌的汉译问题

Study of Yi Folk Song“■”——Cum the Chinese Translation of Yi Folk Songs

“■”作为一首彝族“曲谷”类民歌的首句,其汉语译文有“月亮明三月”“月亮明朗的三月”“月亮明朗的夜晚”等版本。这些版本译文中的“■”一词被翻译为“第三个月”或“三个月”,这些译文虽不影响整首歌词的理解,但从词语释义、上下文义、相似篇章寓意等多方面进行综合考究,“■”应该解释为“月明的时候”,抑或“月圆相会的某一夜”,而该句歌词应该解释为“月亮明朗的多个夜晚”更佳。鉴于此,彝族民歌的汉译理应对文本整体、相似文本和文化语境进行综合分析,充分考虑译文的押韵性和易懂性,并根据歌词的使用情境采取差别性翻译,方能译出浅显易懂、富有美感的歌词。

■(Lobudesehu), as the first lyrics of the folk song "Qugu" of Yi ethnic group, can be translated into Chinese as "the moon is bright in March","March with bright moon", and "the night with bright moon", which conveys the main idea of the song on the whole. However, in view of lexical definition, context and connotation of similar texts, ■(Lo) should be interpreted as "the time of the bright moon" or "a night with the full moon for meeting", and it is much more appropriate for the first lyrics to be interpreted as "several nights with bright moon". Therefore, the concise and elegant translation of Yi folk songs should be guaranteed by the analysis of the whole text, similar texts and cultural context, combined with full consideration of the rhyme in the targeted texts and the pragmatic use of the lyrics.