论文总字数：32922字

摘 要

在英汉互译的过程中，常常出现词汇空缺的现象，即一种语言中表达的概念及其表达在另一种语言中并不存在，这成为广大翻译人员的棘手问题，本文对此现象进行了探究。本篇论文首先分析了造成词汇空缺的原因，接着在功能对等理论和对抗翻译理论的基础上，从异化和归化两个方面找出了英汉互译中词汇空缺的翻译策略。

关键词：词汇空缺；翻译策略；归化; 异化

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Theoretical Foundation 3

3.1 Functional equivalence 3

3.2 Resistance translation 4

4. Definition and Causes of Lexical Gap 4

4.1 Definition of lexical gap 4

4.2 Causes of lexical gap 5

5. Strategies for the Translation of Lexical Gap 7

5.1 Translatability of lexical gap 7

5.2 Strategies for the translation of lexical gap 7

5.3 Factors influencing the choice of strategies 10

6. Conclusion …..12

Works Cited 14

1. Introduction

English and Chinese differ from each other in many aspects. The lexical and meaning systems are not equivalent in many cases. One thing that is expressed by a single lexical item in one language may take a phrase or a sentence in another. Sometimes a concept and its expression in one language don’t exist or have no equivalents at all in another. They are what usually identified as lexical gaps. Originally it is a term in semantics, and then it is introduced into translation field, referring to the absence of equivalent words of source language in target language. As an intercultural communicative activity, translation does not only involve transference between different languages, but also involve exchange, conflicts between different cultures. Lexical gap, the result of cultural vacancy and discrepancy is an issue that a translator has to handle in the process of translation.

Some people argue that lexical gap is untranslatable. Others believe there are some strategies for solving the problem, with some loss of the author’s intended meaning. To the author of this thesis, there is relative untranslatability of lexical gap. It is possible to translate it between languages. With different cultural backgrounds, English and Chinese have their respective cultural vocabulary, including words, phrases, idioms, literary quotations, etc. most of which sit in a state of vacancy. Those vacancies bring difficulties to intercultural communication and cause obstructions to translation. Therefore, the study on the phenomenon of lexical gap between English and Chinese and its translation strategies are practical and significant.

The present thesis is divided into four parts. The first part mainly reviews previous studies of lexical gap and its translation strategies. Most of previous studies focus on semantic and cultural aspects, seldom on grammatical aspect, lacking of systematic analysis of lexical gap. The second part contrasts Nida’s translation theory with that of Venuti, explores their respective features. Nida’s equivalence theory is a kind of domestication, while Venuti’s foreignization emphasized cultural transmission and intercultural communication in translation practice. The third part examines lexical gap in terms of its definition and causes with examples. The causes of lexical gap include linguistic and cultural factors. The fourth part investigates strategies of translation of lexical gap. The author first studies the relative translatability of lexical gap, and then strategies and methods of lexical gap translation are suggested. At last, the factors influencing strategy choices which consist of readership, translator intention, lexical gap type and context are discussed in detail.

2. Literature Review

In this part, studies of lexical gap between English and Chinese and its translation strategies are reviewed, so as to provide foundation and guideline for the current research.

A term in semantics at first and later introduced into translation field, lexical gap refers to a kind of non-equivalent phenomenon in translation caused by the absence of a ready expression in the target language for a lexical unit in the source one. Originally, the word for non-equivalence is “lacuna” which was proposed by the American linguist Hockett, C. F. in the 50s of the 20^th century who put forward the concept of “random holes in patterns” (Hockett 54). Tan Zaixi (136) stated that causes of lexical gap include different living environment, experiences, tradition, custom, religious belief, worldview, language and non-language factors. Zhang Guangming (49) considered grammatical differences between English and Chinese such as tense, voice, mood, gender and number as part of the factors. On the basis of previous studies, the author divides causes of lexical gap into linguistic factors and cultural factors. Mona Baker (23) notes some common types of non-equivalence at the word level between two languages and classifies them from the perspective of source language and target language. From the aspect of source language, there are culture-specific concepts, source language concept which is not lexicalized in the target language, source language word that is semantically complex and loan words in source language text; from the aspect of target language, there are target language word lacking a superordinate and target language word lacking a hyponym.

When it comes to the studies of translation strategies of lexical gap, the term Translation Equivalence should be introduced first. It is believed that A. Smilrov first used the term Translation Equivalence in his article Methods of Literary Translation and defined Translation Equivalence as “to convey exactly the content, the emotion and the language structure of the original text.” In order to achieve the Translation Equivalence of lexical gap, the dealing of cultural elements is critical. Two strategies co-exist: domestication and foreignization. Guo Aixian(42)pointed out that transliteration is the only way to handle semantic gap in many cases, because many new words from other language have to employ transliteration first when there are no equivalents in the target language. Nida advocated “the closest natural equivalence” in translation, thus the suitable strategy is domestication. Pan Huixia and Lihui (61) advised using transliteration, literal translation and liberal translation for English version of Chinese cultural words. On the basis of those former studies of translation strategies of lexical gap, the author considers substitution, paraphrase, transliteration and literal translation as the major methods for the translation of lexical gap.

In spite of the enquiry by scholars into lexical gap and its translation discussed above, its study is still not sufficient and systematic. Most scholars consider lexical gap from semantic or cultural perspective. Few of them analyze lexical gap from grammatical perspective. A further discussion of lexical gap and how to deal with it in translation practice is necessary.

3. Theoretical Foundation

3.1 Functional equivalence

It is a translation theory put forward by Eugene A. Nida, who insists that the target language readers should get the information and effect from the target text that are the same as or as similar as the source text readers. He believes, “translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.” As for this concept, he emphasizes the closest equivalent which means to be natural language. According to this statement, he further explained a translator’s aim is “equivalence rather than identity”.

In Nida’s book Toward a science of Translating, he proposed the concept of “Dynamic Equivalence”. His definition of the feature of dynamic equivalence between two languages is “one is not so concerned with matching the receptor-language message with the source language message, but with the dynamic relationship, that the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message”. (Nida 159) In this concept, equivalent effect is the basis of translation.

Nida’s “dynamic equivalence” is different from "paraphrase". Because of some people’s misunderstanding of the term “dynamic” which is considered as only to something that has impact, Nida uses “functional equivalence” instead of the former one, which he considers “seems more satisfactory in describing the degrees of adequacy of a translation and provides a much sounder basis for talking about translation as a form of communication since the focus is on what a translation does or performs.” (Nida 96) Nida’s proposing of the closest natural equivalent language testifies that his equivalent theory is a kind of domestication.

3.2 Resistance translation

Lawrence Venuti is an important translation theorist and translator. In his two major books on translation---The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation (199) and The Scandal of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference (98), his translation viewpoint is mainly discussed.

With the development of society, intercultural communication becomes more and more frequent. In recent years, more and more translators and translation theorists pay attention to cultural communication and transmission, and become aware of the importance of Venuti’s translation theory. He presents his own translation method of “resistancy” in opposition to the dominance of fluent domestication. He advocates foreignizing translation strategy, which in his words is “an ethno deviant pressure on those values to register the linguistic and cultural difference of the foreign text, sending the readers abroad ” (Venuti 20).

Venuti’s foreignization translation strategy is helpful to improve inter-culture communication, enrich the vocabulary of the target language, and broaden the horizon of the target readers. Venuti approaches translation from a cultural and political perspective which is his most outstanding contribution. However, his translation theory has its limitations. During the process of English and Chinese translation, we cannot always find suitable methods to achieve the foreignizing effect which he emphasizes. Such as the text full of archaism, dialects, jargons and technical terminologies cannot be completely produced in some cases, which will lead to misunderstanding and the failure of communication.

4. Definition and Causes of Lexical Gap

4.1 Definition of lexical gap

The term “lexical gap” originated from the study of historical lexicology and semantic domain. “By a lexical gap is here meant what structuralists often describe, metaphorically, as a hole in the pattern: that is to say, the absence of a lexeme at a particular place in the structure of a lexical field.” (Cruse 76).

Anthropologists and anthropological linguists have studied the phenomena of lexical gap in different languages and cultures, including color terms, plants and animals and kinship terms. When it comes to the comparison between English and Chinese, lexical gap may occur in many cases, such as the kinship system. In Chinese, we have such different addressing terms as “祖父母”, “外祖父母”, “叔叔”, “舅舅”, “阿姨”, “婶婶” for the English “grandparents”, “uncle”, and “aunt”. The terms “伯父”, “叔叔”, “舅父”, “姑父” are obviously different from each in age and in blood in China, while the term “uncle” is always used as the corresponding word to all those Chinese words above. In such cases, lexical gap is closely related to culture.

In translation between English and Chinese, lexical gap not only refers to the non-equivalents of words and expressions, but also includes the lack of concept of some expressions coming from the source language in the target language.

4.2 Causes of lexical gap

The culture of one nation has its peculiarities. Cultural vacancy is one of the main factors that cause lexical gap. The factors that affect the formation of lexical gap include language systems, environment, ways of life and production, religious beliefs, customs, tradition, values, worldviews, etc. Here we generally divide all of those factors into linguistic factors and cultural differences.

4.2.1 Linguistic factors

Different nations in the world have different languages, which have their respective characteristics. As far as English and Chinese are concerned, Chinese words tend to express meaning with the primary method of “象形”, focusing on the analogy of visual effect; English words express sound, emphasizing audible effect. Besides, English and Chinese have different word formations, grammatical rules and expression methods. For example, the different number of English and Chinese words may lead to lexical gap between the two languages. According to blood and marriage relationship, we have “伯父”，“叔叔”, “舅父”, “姨夫”, “表叔” in Chinese, but one word “uncle” is enough to express all of those words in English. Secondly, new words and expressions could cause lexical gap. In the rapidly developed society, the new matters and fresh ideas emerge almost every day. When those words exist in one society’s language and are absent in another one, lexical gap appears. Another reason is the non-equivalence of hyponymy between English and Chinese. The word “professional” is the superordinate of “clergyman”, “doctor”, “lawyer”, “architect” and “accountant”. There is no such a superordinate to those words in Chinese.

4.2.2 Cultural differences

The geographical environment human relies on has four vital facets, which are position, climate, terrain and cultural resource. Language is the reflection of objective world. It is the distinction between regions that causes great differences between English and Chinese, leading to lexical gap and concept vacancy in each other’s vocabulary. For example, “泰山北斗”, “付诸东流”, “暗渡陈仓” are idioms with Chinese domestic culture, having no counterparts in English. The same are “When Dover and Calais meets”, “Indian summer”, “carry coal Newcastle”, etc.

The differences of production and living pattern also result in lexical gap. All their languages in the world contain large vocabulary that reflects people’s productive activities and their way of life. For example, Chinese terms indicating cooking actions such as “煎”,“炒”,“炸”,“煸”，“烧” create lexical gap in English, since there are not so many ways of cooking in English speaking countries.

Religious belief is a manifestation of historical accumulation of particular mental configuration, a representation and important component of different spiritual cultures. Many English words with their special connotation come from figures and incidents of Bible, for example, “messiah” ( 弥赛亚--- 救世主)， the liberator who frees people from oppression; “Judas”, a traitor. The main religions in China are Buddhism and Taoism. Therefore, many Chinese words are related to the two religions, for example, “借花献佛”, “抱佛脚”, “道高一尺魔高一丈” etc.

The differences in national customs and social manners could cause lexical gaps, too. One example is “红白喜事”. The westerners cannot understand “白喜事”，because the color white means pure and elegant in their culture, brides always wear white dresses. There is a culture shock here.

5. Strategies for the Translation of Lexical Gap

5.1 Translatability of lexical gap

The existence of lexical gap makes many scholars consider it as untranslatable. However, it is not untranslatable. Human beings have common features. It is true that all peoples have different ways of thinking and different lifestyles, yet one people can have the capacity of imagining and understanding the feeling and behavior of another people and adjust them in different ways. No matter what kind of race, color of skin, and nation people belong to, their biological condition, life necessity, thought activity, emotional standard and morality standard are similar in general. This is the common feature of human beings. At the same time, they have the wish and possibility to exchange their thought. Then, on the other hand, different areas, nations have their own languages. But those various languages have some similarities in some degree. This is the common feature of languages. The common features of human beings and human languages compose the basis of translatability.

Nida said, all the matters that can be expressed in one language can be expressed

in another. Different languages and cultures can reorganize the form of information and the structure of sense through the finding of translation equivalents to communicate. Development of modern communication and multi-media technology cause frequent contact worldwide. World’s cultures tend to sameness. Those words once particular in one language can find their equal words or expressions in another language. Such as “beer”, “chocolate”, “motor”, “romantic”, etc. Now we can find their equivalents, “啤酒”,“巧克力”,“摩托”, “罗曼蒂克”，etc.

5.2 Strategies for the translation of lexical gap

Domestication and foreignization are two ways for handling cultural factors in translation practice. Domestication is to take the target language culture instead of the source language culture for the convenience of the target language readers. With the development of modern society and intercultural communication, we need to understand each country’s culture. Thus, the translation practice has the tendency of shifting from domestication to foreignization.

However, in some cases, absolute domestication or foreignization is not practical. The mutual complement of domestication and foreignization is the best way to solve the problem of lexical gap in some degree.

5.2.1 Domestication in the translation of lexical gap

Substitution

Translators make use of substitution to make fluent translation by using synonyms or rebuilding some expressions in a new way in the target language. It has two aspects, one is cultural substitution and the other is language substitution. If we translate “绍兴师爷” into lawyers from Shaoxing, we are using foreignization. But “Philadelphia lawyer” and “expert in legal briefs” belong to domestication. The former is cultural substitution, and the latter is language substitution. Some words in Chinese can find their equivalents or words with similar meanings, which enable us to use substitution, vice versa. For example, 白条---IOU, Rome was not built in a day---冰冻三尺非一日之寒, Meet one’s Waterloo---四面楚歌. The advantage of substitution is that the translator can break the forming structure of source language, translate through careful analysis of words’ deep meanings and cultural connotation.

However, it is hard to find a relatively precise equivalent for some native word or idiom in common case. Substitution is not the best choice if we can find a readable translation.

Paraphrase

The aim of paraphrase is to express the meaning carried in the original to the target readers. It is the description, explanation, to express the denotative meaning of a lexical gap. Peter Newmark said: “As a last resort, explanation is the translation.” In spite of the loss of the foreign flavor, this method can help us translate the content of an expression in a clear way.

For example, “班 门 弄 斧” is translated into “to show off one’s proficiency with the axe before Lu Ban the master carpenter”. Paraphrase translation is suitable to translate those set phrases with a place name in English which have their own connotation, such as “French windows”(落地窗)，“Double Dutch”(莫名其妙的话), “Spanish castle”(空中楼阁) ”, etc.

From these examples, we see that paraphrase is suitable to satisfy target language readers’ acceptability, since it shows a high level of precision in specifying the propositional meaning. But the source language cultural information is lost, especially for those idioms and literature words, such as the translation of “班门弄斧” and those phrases with place names.

5.2.2 Foreignization in the translation of lexical gap

Transliteration

Transliteration means that words are translated according to their pronunciation. The names of Chinese people and places are usually translated this way. In addition, some Chinese traditional cultural words are often transliterated, e.g. “ 胡 同 ”(hutong), “ 饺 子 ”(jiaozi), “ 功 夫 ”(kungfu). The version cited here of those words maintains the rich national cultural connotation, which may be lost in the English version. If “胡同” is translated into “alley” or “lane”, the cultural connotation of “胡同” in China is lost.

Transliteration with annotations or explanations is an effective way to express the cultural connotation of some special words, so that foreign readers can well understand what they mean. It is also called amplification. For example, 二胡---erhu, a two-stringed fiddle, 樽---zun, wine vessel.

Literal translation

Literal translation is word-for-word translation of expressions in the source language, which retains the image of the original, introducing source language culture into target language culture directly without much distortion of the original form. Here are some examples:

五经---Five Classics

春节---Spring Festival

the last supper---最后的晚餐black humor---黑色幽默

There are some disadvantages of literal translation. When the reader of target language doesn’t know the cultural background of the expression in source language, there may exist confusion and misunderstanding. Thus, an effective way to cope with this point of literal translation is adding notes or explanations.

5.2.3 Mutual complement of domestication and foreignization

Although domestication and foreignization are absolutely different translation strategies, they are complementary and interdependent. When we want to handle language forms in translation practice, domestication should be taken as the main translation strategy; when we want to deal with differences in culture, it is much more suitable to adopt foreignization. There is a good example to show how to combine domestication and foreignization in translation practice.

“While it may seem to be painting the lily, I should like to add somewhat to Mr. Alisair Cooke’s excellent articles.”

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