Influence Of Linguistic Context And Non-linguistic Context On Translation

Context, that is language environment, is the basis of language communication. In 1923 the anthropologist B. Malinowski, who holds that "they regard context is the sole determiner of meaning without which meaning does not exist", firstly proposed the concept of "context". During the process of linguistics study, context has become prominent as a vital issue and almost all schools of linguistics have involved in it when studying linguistic branches. In the late of 1960s, with the initiation and development of social linguistics and pragmatics, western linguists have got considerable progress. After Firth, many linguists have elaborated context from the different perspectives, such as Hymes, Halliday, Lyons and so on. But as for the elements, the definition and the classification of context, different schools and different linguists hold various views.The thesis concentrates the influence of context on translation as the main issue and expounds it in detail. Firstly, this paper summarizes the study of context at home and abroad. On the basis of the its definitions, features, classifications and functions, the author attempts to make redefinition and reclassification from a new perspective, which divides the context into linguistic context (including phonological context, lexical context, grammatical context and textual context) which determines the meanings and features of the language form, and non-linguistic context (including situational context, social context and cultural context) which determines the using value of the language. The two parts are complemental each other and restrict the commutative language together. The influence of context on the meaning expressed by language can be reflected by the two aspects: both linguistic factors and non-linguistic factors. So in translating the translator not only understands the meanings of the original from the linguistic aspects but also gets to the bottom of the accurate connotations of the original from the non-linguistic aspects.Only in this way can the translator choose the most appropriate version to realize the aim of translation -reappearance of the meaning and style of the original. Adopting the Nida's translation principle as criterion, the paper analyzes the important influence and restriction of context on translation through the translation practice by which the author holds that context plays a vital role in the equivalents of the content and form of translation.The thesis enjoys significance both in theory and practice. In theory, on the basis of general research of scholars, the author takes its rationality and deepens the understanding of the contextual theory; also in practice, the author puts the context study into the translation practice to make the translator pay more attention to contextual factors in translating in order to ensure perfect reappearance of meaning and style of the original.