英语次要拟声词的语音理据及其翻译探究——以国内主要英汉词典例句为例

A Study on the Phonetic Motivation and Translation of English Secondary Onomatopoeia—Take the Example Sentences in Major English-Chinese Dictionaries as Examples

拟声词是模拟自然界的声响而造的词汇,其发音与其所表达的含义之间往往存在一定的关联,根据关联程度,英语拟声词可分为基本拟声词与次要拟声词。本文用实例分析的方法,对英语次要拟声词的语音理据进行了探究。研究发现英语次要拟声词具有通过部分字母拟声而由音表意的特点。此外,对国内主要英汉词典中部分次要拟声词的翻译进行了统计,并按照译文是否体现出拟声效果进行了分类。统计结果显示,国内主要英汉词典对次要拟声词的翻译不够准确,存在诸多忽视其拟声理据的现象。最后,笔者针对词典中次要拟声词翻译存在的问题,提出了相应的修改意见,以期加深英语学习者与翻译研究者对英语次要拟声词的理解、提高人们对英语次要拟声词翻译的重视。

Onomatopoeia is created by imitating the sound in nature, and its pronunciation is always corre-lated with the meaning it expresses. According to the degree of correlation, English onomatopoeia can be divided into primary onomatopoeia and secondary onomatopoeia. This paper implemented research on the phonetic motivation of secondary onomatopoeic words by exemplification. It has been found that part of the meaning of secondary onomatopoeic words is represented by some letters which imitate a particular sound in nature. In addition, it made statistics on the translations of some onomatopoeic words in major English-Chinese dictionaries and classified them according to whether the translations reflect onomatopoetic effect. The statistics showed that some secondary onomatopoeic words in the examples of popular English-Chinese dictionaries are not properly translated, which suggests negligence of their phonetic motivation. Finally, it put forward some suggestions on the translation of secondary onomatopoeia. It hopes to deepen the understanding of English learners and translation researchers on English secondary onomatopoeia, and to raise people’s attention to the translation of English secondary onomatopoeia.