Cognitive Metaphor Theory(CMT), originally formulated by Lakoff and Johnson in 1980, rejects the traditional view of metaphor being a rhetorical phenomenon, and redefines it as a cognitive instrument by which humans p...Cognitive Metaphor Theory(CMT), originally formulated by Lakoff and Johnson in 1980, rejects the traditional view of metaphor being a rhetorical phenomenon, and redefines it as a cognitive instrument by which humans perceive, categorize, and conceptualize the world.The cognitive method of metaphor studies offers an innovative research perspective on metaphor translation, which is more a process of reproducing in the target language the mapping relations of the original metaphor than a simple transplantation of the concept on the linguistic level.Metaphor is one of the most common figures of speech in children's literature, but its translation is not as effortless as it might be, for translators have to take into account not only factors such as linguistic, cultural, and social differences, but also children's limited linguistic level and cognitive abilities, which altogether pose a formidable challenge to translators.This paper attempts to construct a cognitive metaphor translation model by exploring the cognitive process that translators go through when dealing with metaphor from the perspective of CMT.The cognitive metaphor translation process is specified as including three steps: metaphor comprehension, metaphor adjustment, and metaphor reconstruction.By analyzing metaphor examples extracted from two Chinese versions of The Wind in the Willows, a masterpiece of Kenneth Grahame in children's literature of Britain, this article summarizes metaphor translation techniques in children's literature.展开更多
Semiotics,mostly as a theory of meaning,has a long history both in China and in the West.Although there had been little interaction between these two independent traditions before the 20th century,we can fi nd some in...Semiotics,mostly as a theory of meaning,has a long history both in China and in the West.Although there had been little interaction between these two independent traditions before the 20th century,we can fi nd some interesting similarities and differences in their semiotic thoughts that continue to influence how we conceptualize things today.Contemporary China,for example,is widely seen as being characterized by a Marxist epistemology which was imported from the West,but a close examination shows that this dominant theory of knowledge is as much a product of its own native tradition of ontological realism propounded by Ouyang Jian 17 centuries ago.With the advent of globalization of semiotics in the 20th century,Chinese and Western scholars are now able to take direct advantage of each other’s theoretical resources which often result in new insights critical to the advancement of human knowledge.Two examples of such East-West interaction are Peirce’s trichotomy of signs being appropriated for the classification of Chinese characters and Qian Zhongshu’s"sides-andhandles theory of metaphor"serving as a critique of the bewildered and bewildering cognitive science championed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson.It is in this sense that semiotics is becoming increasingly global or cross-cultural on top of its interdisciplinary trademark.展开更多
基金sponsored by Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars in Shannxi Provincial Universities
文摘Cognitive Metaphor Theory(CMT), originally formulated by Lakoff and Johnson in 1980, rejects the traditional view of metaphor being a rhetorical phenomenon, and redefines it as a cognitive instrument by which humans perceive, categorize, and conceptualize the world.The cognitive method of metaphor studies offers an innovative research perspective on metaphor translation, which is more a process of reproducing in the target language the mapping relations of the original metaphor than a simple transplantation of the concept on the linguistic level.Metaphor is one of the most common figures of speech in children's literature, but its translation is not as effortless as it might be, for translators have to take into account not only factors such as linguistic, cultural, and social differences, but also children's limited linguistic level and cognitive abilities, which altogether pose a formidable challenge to translators.This paper attempts to construct a cognitive metaphor translation model by exploring the cognitive process that translators go through when dealing with metaphor from the perspective of CMT.The cognitive metaphor translation process is specified as including three steps: metaphor comprehension, metaphor adjustment, and metaphor reconstruction.By analyzing metaphor examples extracted from two Chinese versions of The Wind in the Willows, a masterpiece of Kenneth Grahame in children's literature of Britain, this article summarizes metaphor translation techniques in children's literature.
文摘Semiotics,mostly as a theory of meaning,has a long history both in China and in the West.Although there had been little interaction between these two independent traditions before the 20th century,we can fi nd some interesting similarities and differences in their semiotic thoughts that continue to influence how we conceptualize things today.Contemporary China,for example,is widely seen as being characterized by a Marxist epistemology which was imported from the West,but a close examination shows that this dominant theory of knowledge is as much a product of its own native tradition of ontological realism propounded by Ouyang Jian 17 centuries ago.With the advent of globalization of semiotics in the 20th century,Chinese and Western scholars are now able to take direct advantage of each other’s theoretical resources which often result in new insights critical to the advancement of human knowledge.Two examples of such East-West interaction are Peirce’s trichotomy of signs being appropriated for the classification of Chinese characters and Qian Zhongshu’s"sides-andhandles theory of metaphor"serving as a critique of the bewildered and bewildering cognitive science championed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson.It is in this sense that semiotics is becoming increasingly global or cross-cultural on top of its interdisciplinary trademark.
