A Cognitive Approach to Translating Metaphors.docx

A Cognitive Approach to Translating Metaphors.docx

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ACognitiveApproachtoTranslatingMetaphors

Abstract

Translationof'metaphor'hasbeentreatedaspartofthemoregeneralproblemof'untranslatability.'Thistrendbuildsonthefactthatmetaphorsingeneralareassociatedwith'indirectness,'whichinturncontributestothedifficultyoftranslation.Differenttheoriesandapproacheshavebeenproposedwithregardtometaphortranslation,eachofwhichhastackledthisproblemfromadifferentpointofview.Inthispaper,Ifavorofacognitiveframeworkformetaphortranslationwhichbuildsonthe'CognitiveTranslationHypothesis'（HenceforthCTH）proposedbyMandelblit（1995）.UsingauthenticexamplesfromEnglishandArabicalongwiththeirtranslation,thisarticlediscussestranslationofmetaphorswithreferencetotwocognitiveschemesoftherealworldandculturalexperiencemapping,namely:

'similarmappingconditions'and'differentmappingconditions'accordingtothecognitiveapproach.Thecoreofthisframeworkbuildsonthehypothesisthatthemoretwoculturesconceptualizeexperienceinasimilarway,themorethefirststrategy,'similarmappingconditions,'appliesandtheeasierthetaskoftranslationwillbe.Otherwise,thesecondstrategywillapplyandthetaskwillbemoredifficult.

Introduction

Regardlessofitspopularityandmechanismofoperation,metaphorasalinguisticdeviceexistsinallhumanlanguages.Theword'metaphor'comesfromGreekmetapherein,meaning'totransfer'orto'carryover.'ReferencetothisuniversallinguisticphenomenoncanbefoundinthewritingsofGreekphilosophersandrhetoricians,aswellasofcontemporarylinguists（cf.Richards,1965;Leech,1969;Dagut,1976;andMaalej,2002）.Theearliestdefinitionofmetaphor—quotedfromAristotle'sThePoeticsbyRichard（1965:

89）is"ashiftcarryingoverawordfromitsnormalusetoanewone."Underthisquitebroaddefinition,allotherinstancesofsemanticextensionsuchasallegory,synecdoche,metonymy,etc.mightbecategorizedasbeingmetaphoric.Whichevertermisusedforlabelingtheseexpressions,theyallexhibitsomekindofsemanticandlogicalviolationtothereferentialcomponentsoftheirlexicalconstituents.Hencetheyarestudiedasinstancesoffigurative（asoppositetoliteral）language,wherewordsgainextrafeaturesovertheirreferentialones.Therefore,themeaningofanyoftheselexicalconstituentscannotbepredictedfromtheirreferentialmeaning.Unfortunately,thetranslatorhastosuffertwicewhenheapproachesthesemetaphoricexpressions.First,s/hehastoworkouttheirfigurativemeaningintralingually（i.e.inthelanguageinwhichametaphorisrecorded）.Second,s/hehastofindoutequivalentmeaningsandsimilarfunctionsoftheseexpressionsintheTL.

Studiesofmetaphorhavebeenlargelydedicatedtoissuessuchasthemeaning,forms,components,typology,andtheroleofmetaphorsasspeechornamentsandmeaning-enhancinganalogies.Thesestudiesshyawayfromtheexplorationofthecontinuousconnectionofmetaphorsasmentalorpicturesquerepresentationsoftherealworldandthelanguageusedtorealizethesepicturesinwords.Despitethelargeamountofliteratureavailableontheliteraryaspectsofthislinguisticphenomenon,verylittleresearchhasbeendoneonthecogno-culturaltranslationofmetaphors.Thispaperintendstoshowhowmetaphorsreflectcognitiveandculturalhumanexperiencesencodedbylanguageasameansofrecordinghumanexperienceandhowculturemodelsandconstrainsthiscognition.Inparticularthispaperisanargumentinfavorofacognitiveapproachinthetranslationofmetaphors,especiallybetweenculturallydistinctlanguages,e.g.EnglishandArabic.Thestudyofthemetaphoricexpressionsofagivenculturewould,hopefully,giveusachancetoseehowthemembersofthatculturestructureormaptheirexperienceoftheworldandrecorditintotheirnativelanguage.Sinceoneofthebasicassumptionsisthatcultureinfluencesmetaphorinanimportantway,thefollowingsectionattemptstoclarifyhowmetaphorisaculturalobject.Forcognitiveconceptualizationofmetaphor,thepresentresearchdrawsonMandelblit's（1995）"CognitiveTranslationHypothesis,"whichisthesubjectofSection3.

CulturalConceptualizationofMetaphor

Oneoftheoldestdefinitionsofculture,whichisusedbytheEncyclopediaBritannica（1983,vol.4:

657）is"thatcomplexwhole,whichincludesknowledge,belief,art,morals,law,customs,andothercapabilitiesandhabitsacquiredbythemanasamemberofsociety."

Thefollowingsectionwillillustratehowthemetaphoricchoicesavailabletoauserarefilteredbythevalueandbeliefsystemsprevailingintheculturalcommunitythetextistranslatedinto.FollowingLakoffandJohnson（1980:

12）,"aculturemaybethoughtofasproviding,amongotherthings,apoolofavailablemetaphorsformakingsenseofreality";"tolivebyametaphoristohaveyourrealitystructuredbythatmetaphorandtobaseyourperceptionsandactionsuponthatstructuringofreality"（ibid）.Thisisrelatedtothefactthatpeopleofagivencultureuselanguagetoreflecttheirattitudestowardstheworldingeneralandthelifeofthecommunitytheyliveinparticular.Thisinturngivesrisetothereasonforourargumentinfavorofacognitiveapproachintranslatingmetaphors,whichtakesintoaccountculturalbeliefsandvaluesespeciallybetweenculturallydistinctlanguages,e.g.EnglishandArabic.Toputitdifferently,sincedifferentculturesclassifytheworld'scomplexitiesindifferentways,translationsfromonelanguagetoanotherareoftenverydifficult.Thisdifficultywouldincreasealotwhentranslatingbetweentwodistantcultureswherealltraditions,symbols,lifeconditionsandmethodsofexperiencerepresentationaredifferent.Forexample,ifyousay"amanhasa'bighead'inEnglish,itmeans'heisarrogant,'whereasinItalian'heisclever.'

Thisalsoexplainstheeaseoftranslatingsomeuniversalmetaphorsdenotingsimilarideasindifferentcultures.Metaphorsrelatedtothepartsofhumanbodyareexamplesofthecase.ConsiderthefollowingEnglishmetaphorsofthehumanbody:

1.a.'Togivesomeoneahand,'meaning'helpsomeone.'

2.a.'Tokeepaneyeonsomething,'meaning'watchorpayattentiontosomething.'

TheArabictranslationoftheabovemetaphoricexpressionsmeansthesameandreadsasfollows,respectively:

1.b.yamudduyada?

almusaa'adah

2.b.yaDa'u'ayynahu'alaa

Butthequestionishowmanyoftheseinstancescanbefoundamonghumanlanguages?

Unfortunately,veryfewexist.Inthisregard,Chitoran（1973:

69-70）statesthat

"thedifferencesinenvironment,climate,culturaldevelopment,etc.,amongvariouscommunitiesmaybeextremelysignificant,butbasically,humansocietiesarelinkedbyacommonbiologicalhistory.Theobjectiverealityinwhichtheyliveisdefinitelynotidenticalbutitisbyandlargesimilar."

However,theuniversewearelivinginismadeupofthings,andweareconstantlyconfrontedwiththem,obligedtocommunicateaboutthem,andtodefineourselvesinrelationtothem.Thisisacharacteristicofallhumansocieties,andduetothisfactvariouslanguagesystemsarenoteasilytranslatable.Therefore,becausedifferentculturesconceptualizetheworldindifferentways,metaphorsarecharacterizedasbeingculture-specific.ThisisinlinewithDagut's（1976:

32）argumentthatthereisnosimplisticgeneralruleforthetranslationofmetaphor,butthetranslatabilityofanygivenSLmetaphordependson

（1）theparticularculturalexperiencesandsemanticassociationsexploitedbyit,and

（2）theextenttowhichthesecan,orcannot,bereproducednon-anomalouslyintotheTL,dependingonthedegreeofoverlapineachparticularcase.

Ashegoesfurther,Dagut（ibid.28）saysthat"whatdeterminesthetranslatabilityofaSLmetaphorisnotits'boldness'or'originality,'butrathertheextenttowhichtheculturalexperienceandsemanticassociationsonwhichitdrawsaresharedbyspeakersoftheparticularTL."WewouldliketogoevenfurthertostatethattheinherentdifficultyofmetaphortranslationisnottheabsenceofanequivalentlexicalitemintheTL,butratherthediversityofculturalconceptualizationofevenidenticalobjectsorworldsinbothcommunitieswhoselanguagesareinvolvedintranslation.Snell-Hornby（1995:

41）expressesthesameideaashestatesthat"theextenttowhichatextistranslatablevarieswiththedegreetowhichitisembeddedinitsownspecificculture,alsowiththedistancethatseparatestheculturalbackgroundofsourcetextandtargetaudienceintermsoftimeandplace."

MetaphorandCognitiveEquivalenceinTranslation

Katan（1999）suggeststhatacognitiveapproachtothestudyofculturecanbeseenintermsoftheformofthingsthatpeoplehaveinmind,theirmodelsforperceiving,relatingto,andinterpretingthem.Thisviewofculturesuggeststhat,whentranslatingatexttoaSLofanyotherculture,oneneedstobeawarenotonlyofthepatternsofthinking,andactinginone'sownculture,butalsooftheTL'sculturalmodelsofreality.Nida（1964）describedthe'best'translationastheonecapableofevokingintheTLreaderthesameresponseastheSLtextdoestotheSLreader.Althoughwefindthisaratherunreachableobjective,westillbelievethatsomeofitcanbeachievedprovidedthatthefollowingtwoconditionsaresatisfied:

First,thetranslatormustunderstandthewayinwhichreceptivereadersperceivetheworldandstructuretheirexperience.Second,hemustalsotryhisbesttofindawaytoaccommodatehistexttotheexperienceofthetarget-languagereader,andtothewayitisrecodedintheTL.Ourargument